Midway through the Big Ten Championships hosted in West Lafayette, Ind., five Spartan wrestlers already have punched their ticket to the NCAA tournament, while one more still is scrapping to make it in.
Seniors 174-pounder Curran Jacobs and 157-pounder Anthony Jones Jr. locked in their places in the tournament by ensuring finishes in the qualifying spots, while senior 165-pounder David Cheza’s upset 7-3 decision of No. 4-seed Ben Jordan put him over the top and into the tournament as well.
Jones still is competing for the third place spot, while Cheza and Jacobs will battle for seventh place when the tournament starts back up tomorrow.
After falling to No. 1-seed Kevin Steinhaus in his first match of the day, senior 184-pounder Ian Hinton bounced back with a 3-2 decision over Indiana’s Luke Sheridan to lock in a NCAA Tournament berth. Junior heavyweight Steve Andrus made a run in the consolation bracket after dropping his second match of the day to round out the Spartans who will be headed to St. Louis on March 15.
Junior 149-pounder Dan Osterman is the remaining MSU wrestler who has a shot to qualify for the tournament, and will get the chance to when he faces Iowa’s Mike Kelly for ninth place and the final open spot in the tournament for the 149 lbs. class.
Sophomore 125-pounder Brenan Lyon, freshman 133-pounder Brandon Fifield, freshman 141-pounder Brian Gibbs and redshirt freshman 197-pounder Nick McDiarmid all were eliminated in the consolation bracket Friday and will not compete on Sunday.
In the tournament as a whole, the Spartans are tied with Indiana for 10th place, with 37.5 team points.
The tournament will resume Sunday at 1 p.m. at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
