PA Advances 3 Into NCAA Finals; Will Medal 17 Wrestlers

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Despite 4 Pennsylvania wrestlers falling in the semifinals – three will be on the big stage tomorrow night in Oklahoma City. In 2013 Pennsylvania came away with 13 All-Americans including three NCAA Champions. This season Pennslyvania is guaranteed 17 All-Americans and at least one NCAA Champion as Jimmy Sheptock (Northampton Area) and Ed Ruth (Susquehanna Township) will meet in the 184 lbs. finals. Former 2x PIAA State Champion Josh Kindig is the third PA finalist who will appear in the 149 lbs. finals.

Full Brackets Here!

For the first time in his career Penn State junior Nico Megaludis will not be in the NCAA finals. The 3x PIAA State Champion from Franklin Regional fell to sophomore Nahshon Garrett of Cornell for the second time this season. In the semifinals Megaludis was unbelievably close to scoring a late takedown in the third period, however, Garrett held on for (6-4) decision. The second Pennsylvania wrestler to earn All-American honors at 125 lbs. is Lehigh’s true freshman Darian Cruz who will be wrestling for seventh place. The former Bethlehem Catholic 2x PIAA State Champion advanced into the medal round with a (3-2 TB) win over America’s David Terao. Pittsburgh’s redshirt senior Anthony Zanetta (Keystone Oaks High School) fell one win shy of earning All-American honors.

Edinboro’s redshirt junior A.J. Schopp (Tyrone Area High School) was unable to repeat an earlier season victory over Iowa’s Tony Ramos falling (5-1) in the semifinals. Also earning a medal will be Lehigh’s redshirt sophomore Mason Beckman (Reynolds High School) who also fell to Ramos (3-1) in the quarterfinals. Both Beckman and Schopp will wrestle in the consolation semifinals on Saturday.

For the second time in two weeks Penn State’s true freshman Zain Retherford fell to 2x NCAA Champion Logan Stieber of Ohio State. In the semifinals Retherford lost (7-3) to Stieber while University of North Carolina junior Evan Henderson (Kiski Prep) was defeated by Virginia Tech’s Devin Carter (12-3). In the consolation round Retherford will face off against fellow Pennsylvania wrestler Mitchell Port. The Edinboro redshirt junior is the #1 seed but was upset by Henderson in the quarterfinals. Franklin & Marshall junior Richard Durso (Malvern Prep) will be earning NCAA All-American Honors as he competes for seventh place at 141 lbs.

The first Pennsylvania finalist is Oklahoma State redshirt junior Josh Kindig (Blue Mountain High School) at 149 lbs. The Cowboy faced fellow PA and District 11 star sophomore Mitch Minotti (Easton Area High School) of Lehigh. The two former PIAA Class AAA State Champions each will earn their career first NCAA All-American Honors as Kindig takes on Northwestern redshirt freshman Jason Tsirtsis in the finals. The third Pennsylvania All-American at 149 lbs. will be James English (Central York High School) of Penn State who ends his sixth season with the Nitanny Lions on top. English will wrestle for seventh place against returning NCAA Champion Kendric Maple (Oklahoma) on Saturday.

Former PIAA State Medalist and Iowa redshirt junior Mike Evans (Cumberland Valley High School) nearly scored an upset victory over retuning NCAA National Champion Chris Perry of Oklahoma State in the semifinals at 174 lbs.. Perry downed Evans in tie-breaker (3-2 TB). Evans will earn his second straight career All-American Honors as he looks to advance into the consolation finals. Also at 174 lbs. Pittsburgh redshirt junior Tyler Wilps (Chartiers Valley High School) will be earning his first career NCAA Medal as he wrestles for seventh place on Saturday. A pair of former PIAA State Champions each fell one win shy of earning All-American Honors at 174 lbs. Lehigh’s redshirt freshman Elliott Riddick (Bethlehem Catholic High School) fell (1-0) to Bryce Hammond while redshirt senior Tony Dallago (Central Dauphin High School) of Illinois fell (8-3) to the #3 seed Robert Kokesh.

Two Pennslyvania wrestlers will face-off at 184 lbs. as 2x NCAA Champion Ed Ruth (Susquehanna Township High School) and Jimmy Sheptock (Northampton Area High School) clash. The two former PIAA State Medalists will meet for the first time this season as Sheptock enters his first career NCAA Finals with a undefeated (36-0) redshirt senior season. It will be Ruth’s third straight NCAA Finals appearance as the redshirt senior avenged a defeat to Cornell freshman Gabe Dean in the semifinals. Dean upset Ruth earlier this season in the Southern Scuffle finals snapping Ruth’s 84 match win-streak. In the NCAA semifinals Ruth outlasted an agressive Dean (5-3). A third Pennslyvania Native will be earning All-American Honors at 184 lbs. as University of Pennsylvania junior Lorenzo Thomas (Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School) had an impressive Friday going (4-0) advancing into the consolation semifinals. Former 2x PIAA State Champion and Ohio State redshirt sophomore Kenny Courts (Central Dauphin High School) fell one win shy of earning All-American Honors at 184 lbs.

The final NCAA All-American for Pennsylvania is Northwestern junior Mike McMullen (Wyoming Seminary). The Easton, PA native will be earning his third straight All-American finish after becoming an NCAA runner-up last season as a sophomore. McMullen will be wrestling in the consolation semifinals at 285 lbs. on Saturday.

 

Guaranteed 2014 NCAA All-Americans From Pennsylvania

 

125 Results
Guaranteed Places
2nd Place – Jesse Delgado of Illinois
2nd Place – Nahshon Garrett of Cornell
6th Place – Nicholas Megaludis of Penn State
6th Place – Dylan Peters of UNI
6th Place – Cory Clark of Iowa
6th Place – Joey Dance of Virginia Tech
8th Place – Earl Hall of Iowa St.
8th Place – Darian Cruz of Lehigh

 

133 Results
Guaranteed Places
2nd Place – Tony Ramos of Iowa
2nd Place – Tyler Graff of Wisconsin
6th Place – Joe Colon of UNI
6th Place – Aaron (A.J.) Schopp of Edinboro
6th Place – Mason Beckman of Lehigh
6th Place – David Thorn of Minnesota
8th Place – Joe Roth of Central Mich.
8th Place – Cody Brewer of Oklahoma

 

141 Results
Guaranteed Places
2nd Place – Logan Stieber of Ohio St.
2nd Place – Devin Carter of Virginia Tech
6th Place – Mitchell Port of Edinboro
6th Place – Zain Retherford of Penn State
6th Place – Evan Henderson of North Carolina
6th Place – Joey Lazor of UNI
8th Place – Richard Durso of Franklin & Marshall
8th Place – Stephen Dutton III of Michigan

 

149 Results
Guaranteed Places
2nd Place – Jason Tsirtsis of Northwestern
2nd Place – Joshua Kindig of Oklahoma State
6th Place – Drake Houdashelt of Missouri
6th Place – David Habat of Edinboro
6th Place – Eric Grajales of Michigan
6th Place – Mitchell Minotti of Lehigh
8th Place – Kendric Maple of Oklahoma
8th Place – James English of Penn State

 

174 Results
Guaranteed Places
2nd Place – Chris Perry of Oklahoma St.
2nd Place – Andrew Howe of Oklahoma
6th Place – Robert Kokesh of Nebraska
6th Place – Michael Evans of Iowa
6th Place – Matt Brown of Penn St.
6th Place – Logan Storley of Minnesota
8th Place – Tyler Wilps of Pittsburgh
8th Place – Bryce Hammond of CSU Bakersfield

 

184 Results
Guaranteed Places
2nd Place – Jimmy Sheptock of Maryland
2nd Place – Edward Ruth of Penn State
6th Place – Gabriel Dean of Cornell
6th Place – Kevin Steinhaus of Minnesota
6th Place – Lawrence Thomas of Penn
6th Place – Jack Dechow of Old Dominion
8th Place – Jacob Swartz of Boise State
8th Place – Ophir Bernstein of Brown

 

285 Results
Guaranteed Places
2nd Place – Anthony Nelson of Minnesota
2nd Place – Nick Gwiazdowski of North Carolina St.
6th Place – Adam Chalfant of Indiana
6th Place – Bobby Telford of Iowa
6th Place – Michael McMullan of Northwestern
6th Place – Mike McClure of Michigan St.
8th Place – Jeremy Johnson of Ohio
8th Place – Austin Marsden of Oklahoma St.

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