TOPEKA, Kan. — After Day 1 of the 59th NAIA Men's Wrestling National Tournament, the seventh-ranked Tigers earned five All-Americans while recording 52.5 points — placing them in fourth place.
Results
Five All-Americans is the most for Campbellsville since 2012 when the Tigers had seven and the best team finish was third place.
After session one, seven Tigers headed into session two with hopes of a podium view. Davion Caston, Jaedin Sklapsky and Kyle Terry headed into the quarterfinals while the other four Tigers — Christian Clary, Sean Black, Chuck Sharon, Nate Knauf — headed into their own consolation brackets. Caston, Sklapsky, Terry, Sharon and Black all earned 2016 All-American honors in the 13th NAIA appearance for the Tigers.
Four-time defending national team champion Grand View leads all teams with 117.5 points with eight grapplers heading into the semifinals. Montana State-Northern checks in next with 74 team points while Indiana Tech is just a few points ahead of Campbellsville with 56.2.
Caston, the reigning 133-pound national champion, was the first Tiger to lock in a semifinal bout. He started the day with a bye then proceeded to win a 6-4 decision over 14th-seeded Blake Ivie from Montana State-Northern. Caston, a two time All-American, won by a 6-4 decision over sixth-seeded David Berg from Midland in the quarterfinals.
Sklapsky, the 149-pound freshman from Eaton Rapids, Mich., earned his semifinal bout with a 5-2 decision over 14th-ranked Drake Randall from Montana State-Northern. Sklapsky, started session one with a 44-second fall over Brandon Archuletta from Bethany University.
Terry, the 157-pound senior from Elizabethtown, Ky., pulled a major upset with a win in sudden victory over top-ranked and seeded Tanner Werner from Grand View. In championship rounds one and two, Terry won by 9-8 decision over eighth-seeded Andrew Simmons (Missouri Valley) and won by a 9-1 major decision over Austin Coy (York).
Sharon and Black each earned All-American status by winning three-straight matches in the consolation brackets. Each Tiger lost in the second championship round. Sharon, a 15th-seed met 14th-seed, Kyle Delaune  (Cumberland U.) in the fourth consolation bout — winning by a 11-5 decision. Black, a six-seed in the tournament, faced eighth-seed John Weldon from Indian Tech and won by 5-2 decision in the consolation bout four.
Wrestling will resume at 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 5 at the Kansas Expocentre. Watch live streaming for session 3 at www.NAIANetwork.com. Fans will be able to find the specific match they're looking for using the interactive live scoring system Trackwrestling. The title bouts (session 4) will be delivered on ESPN3.
