DES MOINES, Iowa – Campbellsville's men's wrestling team has six individuals alive following the opening session of the NAIA Men's Wrestling Championships at the Jacobsen Exhibition Center on Friday afternoon.
The second of four sessions at the national tournament begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday night.
Highlighting the Tiger grapplers still alive in the tournament are
Jaedin Sklapsky,
Justin Brown and
Chuck Sharon as they each moved on to the quarterfinals of the championship bracket. As a team, Campbellsville is 10th overall with 15 points.
Sklapsky needed just one win during the first session after earning an opening round bye at 141 pounds. The junior defeated Sonny Gulesian of Briar Cliff University in the second round, 6-3.
Brown started his tournament with an 8-1 decision over Ryan Whittle of Williams Baptist College. In the second round of the 174-pound bracket, Brown took down Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Kody Davis in a narrow 4-2 decision.
Sharon picked up a pin in his opening bout of the day as he earned the fall in the first period against Jacob Hill of Lyon College. Against Mid-South Conference foe Max Emerson of University of the Cumberlands, Sharon won via decision, 10-4.
The trio of
Jordan Martinez,
Kolten Radaz and
Jayce Carr are all stayed alive and picked upset victories during the first session.
At 125 pounds, Martinez earned an 8-7 decision to start off the day against No. 6-seeded Koby Milner of Reinhardt University. However, Martinez could not pull of his second upset of the day after falling to No. 11 Justin Portillo of Grand View University, 10-1.
Martinez stayed alive in the consolation bracket with a 10-5 decision over Chandler Strand of Embry Riddle.
Carr took a familiar path into the second session to pick up two wins. During his first bout of the day, Carr upset fourth-seeded Devin Poppen of Southern Oregon University in a 15-2 major decision.
In the second round of the championship bracket, Carr was sent into the wrestlebacks after suffering a 3-1 loss to Jake Watters of Southeastern University. Carr stayed alive with an 8-3 decision win over Albert Landeros of Hastings College in the 141-pound weight class.
Radaz dropped his opening match of the day after being taken down late in the first overtime period, where No. 10 Blake McNall of Eastern Oregon University escaped with a 6-4 SV-1 decision. Radaz then fell behind early in his second match of the day to No. 9 Cartland Allen from Graceland University. However, Radaz sent Allen to his back and Radaz picked up the pin in the second period to stay alive in the 133-pound weight class.
Michael Diemer and
David Sparks were both eliminated from the tournament at 149 pounds after dropping their first two contests of the day.
Diemer suffered a 9-2 setback against Hasting's Richard Popcock – who was seeded fifth in the weight class. In the consolation bracket, Diemer earned two points late against Chandle Michael of Southern Oregon, but Michael earned an escaped just before time ran out in the third period to win, 6-5, and eliminate Diemer.
Sparks lost to a pair of top 10 opponents at 149 pounds, which began with a 4-0 loss to No. 10 Justin Atkinson of Indiana Tech. Against Menlo College's Terrill Sidner (seeded ninth), Sparks dropped a 6-3 decision.
In the team race, Grand View leads all teams with 40.5 points, followed by Missouri Valley College and Williams Baptist with 26.5 points each. University of the Cumberlands leads all MSC teams with 24.5 points to sit in fourth. There are four MSC teams sitting inside the top five of the team standings and five in the top 15.
The second session of the national tournament is set to begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET, following the opening ceremony inside the Jacobsen Exhibition Center.
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