Wrestling finishes seventh at NCAA Championships
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA – The RIT wrestling team finished seventh at the 2022 NCAA D-III Wrestling Championships, Saturday.
Seniors Kaidon Winters and Zach Stedeford joined junior Austin Lamb as All-Americans after finishing in the top-eight in their weight classes. Freshman Josh Harkless didn't make the podium, but was impressive in his first national tournament in his first year of eligibility.
Winters, who was ranked No. 1 at 157 pounds, finished second after falling 5-3 in overtime in the title bout to No. 3 Nathan Lackman of Rhode Island College. The RIT senior led throughout the match with a 1-0 lead after the second period, and a 2-1 lead late in the third. Winters' 3:27 of riding time was the most of any match in the tournament and the point from that factored into taking the match to overtime after Lackman went ahead 3-2 in the final seconds.
Winters gained a finals berth after a 7-2 semifinal win over No. 5 Tyler Shilson (Augsburg). In the quarterfinals, Winters set a program record with 23 pins in a single season after beating Stanley Bleich (Baldwin Wallace) in 6:36. Winters opened the tournament with a fall over Schuyler Caprella (Ohio Northern) in 5:30.
Stedeford finished sixth after going 3-3 in the tournament with two losses coming against No. 2 Zane Mulder (Wartburg). After suffering a 15-1 major decision to Mulder in the opening round, Stedeford strung together three wins to move to the consolation semifinals, where he fell to Mulder again, this time by a 9-1 score.
Stedeford's first win came against Coe's Tristan Westphal with an 11-5 decision, followed by a 4-1 win over No. 8 Charlie Gryas (Oswego). Stedeford began the second day with a 10-4 win over Stefan Major (Stevens Institute of Technology). In the fifth-place match, Stedeford fell by fall to No. 5 Solomon Nielsen in 6:59.
Lamb finished eighth after going 3-3 in the tournament and won two of his first three matches before an overtime loss ended his streak.
The junior started the tournament with a 7-3 win over Preston Morgan (UW-Oshkosh) before falling to No. 6 Philip Rogers (US Coast Guard Academy) by 7-2. A pair of wrestleback wins on the first day guaranteed Lamb All-American status with a fall (5:43) over Fox Maxwell (Bridgewater State) and a 7-0 win over Jaden Datz (Washington and Jefferson).
Lamb fell 5-3 in overtime in the consolation quarterfinals and then fell in the seventh-place match by fall (1:29) to No. 4 Seth Brossard (UW-LaCrosse).
Harkless finished 1-2 in the tournament with two of his three opponents ranked. Harkless lost a tough 3-2 decision in the opening round to the eventual national champion at 197 pounds, Cody Baldridge of Baldwin Wallace. Unlike Baldridge's championship 3-2 win where he led the entire bout, against Harkless the bout was tied heading into the final 30 seconds.
Harkless pinned Central's Gage Linahon in 2:47 in his second bout before falling by a 3-1 decision to No. 8 Tyler Hannah (UW-Platteville).
Wabash took the team title with 79 points, one ahead of Wabash. Augsburg and North Central finished with 62.5 points, followed by Stevens Institute of Technology (46.5), Coe (40.5) and RIT (37).
Gloss