CLEVELAND (March 17, 2018) – Montorie Bridges capped off his redshirt freshman season with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning. The All-American became just the second Cowboy to earn the distinction in his freshman season. In the medal round, Bridges fell to two-time All-American and No. 6 Scott Parker of Lehigh, 5-2.
 
"It's great to celebrate the fact that Montorie (Bridges) is the second freshman All-American in the history of our program," UW head coach Mark Branch said. "It puts him in a great place for next year. He had to beat wrestlers that he was not supposed to and he did just that to get to where he finished. I'm proud of his tournament. It was a great season for him."
 
After falling behind from a Carter takedown, Bridges earned an escape point less than a minute in. Carter added another takedown and took a 4-1 lead in to the second. Bridges would tack on an additional escape in the second and the two would move to the third with Carter up, 4-2. Carter scored one more escape in the final period to take it 5-2.
 
"This weekend was great for next year," the Altus, Okla., native said. "It was really fun. I wish I could have been able to get this last one. I wanted to go out there and put it all on the line. I'm looking forward to enjoying the rest of the day with my family and seeing what Bryce (Meredith) can do. I'll use it as motivation for next year."
 
On his way to the seventh-place match, Bridges beat Ben Thornton of Purdue, No. 9 Dennis Gustafson (VaTech), and No. 5 John Erneste (Mizzou) in his first NCAA Championships. He is one of four Cowboys to wrestle at Nationals at 133 pounds and the only one with more than one win.
 
Bridges joined Joe LeBlanc as the only freshmen to earn All-American honors in their first season. LeBlanc (184 pounds) did so in 2009 when he finished in fifth place. LeBlanc is also UW's only four-time All-American. Bridges completed his season with a 35-7 overall record. His 35 wins are tied 16th all-time in a single season for UW.
 
Tonight's finals are set for 6 p.m. MT on ESPN2. Senior Bryce Meredith (33-1) will face freshman Yianni Diakomihalis (33-1) of Cornell. Meredith, now a two-time finalist, will go for Wyoming's second individual title. Dick Ballinger became the Brown and Gold's only champion in 1960 at 167 pounds. 
 
Wyoming Results
133 pounds: No. 8 Montorie Bridges- 3-3
Champ. Round 1: Bridges major Ben Thornton (Purdue), 16-3
Champ. Round 2: Bridges No. 9 Dennis Gustafson (VaTech)
Quarterfinals: No. 1 Seth Gross (SDSU) dec. Bridges, 6-3
Blood Round: Brides, dec. John Erneste (Mizzou), 5-4
Conso. Round of 8: No. 4 Kaid Brock (OSU) dec. Bridges, 12-7
Seventh-Place Match: No. 6 Scott Parker (Lehigh) dec. Bridges, 5-2

141 pounds: No. 1 Bryce Meredith- 4-0
Champ. Round 1: Meredith dec. Colton Schilling (Cal Poly), 5-1
Champ. Round 2: Meredith dec. Vincent Turk (Iowa), 5-2
Quarterfinals: Meredith fall Sa'Derian Perry (EMU), 1:36
Semifinals: Meredith dec. No. 4 Joey McKenna (OSU), 1-0
 
149 pounds: Sam Turner- 0-2
Champ. Round 1: No. 16 Alfred Bannister (Maryland) dec. Turner, 4-3 TB2
Conso. Round 1: Eleazar Deluca (Rutgers) dec.  Turner, 5-3
 
157 pounds: No. 9 Archie Colgan- 1-2
Champ. Round 1: Colgan dec. Hunter Willits (Oregon State), 3-1 SV1
Champ. Round 2: No. 8 Tyler Berger (Nebraska) dec. Colgan, 2-1 TB2
Conso. Round 2: Luke Weiland (Army) dec. Colgan, 4-2
 
165 pounds: No. 14 Branson Ashworth- 2-2
Champ. Round 1: Ashworth dec. Connor Flynn (Mizzou), 5-2
Champ. Round 2: No. 3 Vincenzo Jospeh (Penn State) dec. 3-1
Conso. Round 2: Ashworth dec. Gordon Wolf (Lehigh), 8-5
Conso. Round 3: No. 6 Richie Lewis (Rutgers) dec. Ashworth, 7-4
 
184 pounds: Chaz Polson- 1-2
Champ. Round 1: No. 7 Taylor Venz (Nebraska) tech Polson, 19-1
Conso. Round 1: Polson dec. Alan Clothier (Appalachian State), 8-5
Conso. Round 2: Emory Parker (Illinois) major Polson 17-3