Four Bulldog wrestlers survived the first day of the NCAA Super Regional on Friday at the University of Findlay.
However all four will need to be perfect on Saturday in order to advance to the Division II nationals as all are in the wrestlebacks.
Ryan Banning won his first match at 125 by a 9-6 decision over Zach Housley of Central Oklahoma but then lost by major 15-3 to Limestone’s (Pa.) Brandon Felx.
He bounced back with a fall win over Seth Hutchinson (Ouachita Baptist) in the first pigtail and will face Eric Brown (St. Andrews Presbyterian) on Saturday.
Ryan Maus lost a tough 8-6 decision to Central Oklahoma’s Ky Corley in his first match at 141 and rebounded for a tech fall win over Matt Fletcher (St. Andrews Presbyterian) scoring all his points in the first period.
Maus will continue on Saturday against Will James of Belmont Abbey.
One weight class up at 149, Colton Schmitz defeated Kyle Begg (Tiffin) with a second period fall in the opening bout but lost a narrow 5-3 match to Nicolas Stella (King College) in the quarterfinals.
Schmitz picked up his second fall of the tournament by pinning Jeremy Gracey (Ouachita Baptist) to set up Saturday’s opening match against Theran Goodale (Limestone).
Finally after being pinned in his first match, Thomas Redmon has won consecutive wrestle back matches to advance to the second day.
Redmon lost in the first period to King College’s Dondricus Anderson before taking down Bobby Hager (Lake Erie College) 7-3.
A medical forfeit by Justin Hoover (St. Andrews Presbyterian) sets up a Saturday match against Limestone’s Tarek Alaruri for Redmon.
Zach Hayes (184) won his first match of the day by a 4-2 decision over Joseph Miller (Tiffin University) but was pinned and eliminated by a similar 4-2 score to end the tournament at 1-2.
Devon Fenstermaker (157) picked up a wrestleback win before being falling out of the bracket with his second loss on the day.
Nick Shea (133), Andy Bader (165), Chad Kurvoski (174) and Max Muench (197) all had their seasons end with 0-2 records on Friday.
Kurvoski had the toughest day as he dropped a narrow 4-3 decision followed by an overtime loss 9-7.
Courtesy Truman State University