Flames No. 5-seeded sophomore heavyweight Wade Wheeler started out with two impressive wins to back up top-seeded teammate Rick Weaver. (Photos by Robert Leek)
Men’s wrestlers off to strong start after opening day of NCWA Grand Nationals
3/15/2024 12:18:00 AM | Men's Wrestling
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The Flames advanced nine individuals through to the championship quarterfinals with 10 more still competing in the consolation rounds near Shreveport, La.
Liberty University's men's wrestling team advanced nine wrestlers through the first two championship rounds on Thursday's opening day of the NCWA Grand National Duals near Shreveport, La., to move into a virtual three-way tie atop the leaderboard out of 92 colleges and universities represented.
The Flames, who still have all 19 of their wrestlers alive in the championship or consolation brackets, racked up 64.5 team points to trail defending national champion Bellarmine (Ky.) University by one-half point while leading third-place Mid-Atlantic Conference rival Apprentice School by a half point. Thomas More (Ky.) University (57.5) sits in fourth place, followed by Washington State (52), Central Florida (46.5), Lindenwood (Mo.) University (45.5), Allen (S.C.) University and Utah Tech (tied, for eighth, 38.5), and Springfield Tech (Mass., 37).
Liberty's three No. 1-seeded wrestlers and three No. 3 seeds all advanced to the quarterfinals. Graduate Rick Weaver, the two-time defending national champion at heavyweight, pinned Slippery Rock's Roman Vivirito in 1 minute, 43 seconds, and Florida A&M's Vondarius Faulkner in 5:16 while graduate 235-pounder Josiah Murphy, a two-time defending champ at 197 pounds, scored a 19-3 technical fall over Temple's Jonah Dalton in 3:37 and earned a 10-2 major decision over UMass' Jakob Menichini. Meanwhile, 133-pound freshman Jahleel Armstrong scored an 18-3 technical fall over Washington's Arun Khou before pinning Lyon's Jacob Kehrer in 3:00 to also reach the quarterfinals.
No. 3-seeded Aiden Scheeringa advanced at 125 pounds after pinning UMass' Liam Campbell in 2:37 and recording a 19-4 technical fall over Lyon's Ty Ferguson. Fellow Flames freshman Carder Miller needed less than a minute to pin his first two opponents, Utah Tech's Kason Longmore in 54 seconds and UMass' Joshua Kravets in 50 seconds before edging Western Washington's Jacob Westfall by a 10-9 decision in the round of 16. Liberty graduate Reid Stewart, meanwhile, shut out his two opponents, Auburn's Dillon Lutrell (7-0) and Montclair State's Anthony Colavito, 4-0, to move onto Friday's quarters.
Fourth-seeded senior 165-pounder David Over decked Puerto Rico Rio Piedras' Maiky Ferreira in 2:33 before scoring a 9-5 decision over Springfield Tech's Justin Perez to stay in the championship bracket.
Fifth-seeded sophomore heavyweight Wade Wheeler got out to a strong start, pinning Jose Bermudez from Puerto Rico Rio Piedras in 18 seconds before earning a 10-0 major decision over Colorado State's Cannon Kelly.
At 184 pounds, Liberty's No. 9-seeded Timothy Goddard was dominant in his two wins, pinning Stony Brook's Jaimeson Shea in 1:15 before scoring a technical fall over MIT's Samuel Calvert, 20-3.
Action continues with men's consolation and championship quarterfinals rounds and women's preliminaries on Friday morning and before getting into Saturday's consolation and championship finals at 2 p.m. EST (women) and 7 p.m. EST (men). Follow all the matches streamed live on FloWrestling.
Flames 141-pound sophomore Blake Schmitt scored a tech fall over Rhode Island's Sam Luzzi before being pinned by Thomas More's Cole Thomas.
