The Hofstra wrestling team sent seven wrestlers to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Wrestling Championships that began on Thursday, March 18. Three members of the Pride survived day one while none made it to day three.
Senior Charles Small came into St. Louis as the 23 seed in the 184-pound division. Down 3-2 in the third overtime period, Small scored a reversal on the 10th-seeded University of Wyoming wrestler Tate Samuelson. The move gave Small a 4-3 advantage which he would hang on to for the final 13 seconds to complete the upset. Small then lost to Northern Illinois University’s Brit Wilson, the seven seed, 5-2 in the second round to drop him to the consolation bracket. Small was defeated on day two via tech fall 16-0 by Ohio State University’s Rocky Jordan.
Graduate student Greg Gaxiola lost in the preliminary round to Utah Valley University’s Cameron Hunsaker 5-1, but made noise in the consolation bracket. The 32-seeded member of the Pride shut out the 30 seed, Cleveland State University’s Marcus Robinson 4-0 and dropped the 19 seed, Navy’s Casey Cobb 3-2 thanks to a last-second takedown. Gaxiola was eventually stopped on day two by Campbell University’s Joshua Heil 5-2.
Heavyweight Zachary Knighton-Ward was the third Hofstra wrestler to make it to the second day. He was doubled up by the six seed, Iowa State University’s Gannon Gremmel 8-4 to open the tournament but bounced back later in day one. Knighton-Ward needed just 55 seconds to pin North Dakota State University’s Brandon Metz in the first round of the consolation bracket. Knighton-Ward’s season was ended the next day by Ohio State’s Tate Orndorff via an 11-3 major decision.
Four other Hofstra wrestlers participated in the NCAA championships. At 141 pounds, Vinny Vespa dropped two major decisions to Cayden Rooks of Indiana University 10-1 in the preliminary round and to Ohio State’s Dylan D’Emilio 8-0. 157-pound Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Champion Holden Heller was taken down in a sudden-victory first overtime period by the University of Michigan’s Will Lewan. Heller was then upset in the consolation bracket by Army’s Markus Hartman 3-0.
Ricky Stamm was defeated in the 165-pound preliminary round by Northern Iowa University’s Austin Yant via a 12-4 major decision. He picked up a 5-3 sudden-victory win over Drexel University’s Evan Barczak but was pinned in the next round by Purdue University’s Gerrit Nijenhuis. Finally, Trey Rogers was defeated in the first round by the 197-pound bracket’s three seed, Arizona State University’s Kordell Norfleet via a 12-3 major decision. He beat the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Logan Andrew in the consolation bracket preliminary round 6-1 but fell in the next round via a 10-1 major decision to Clarion University’s Greg Bulsak.
As a team, the Pride finished with 5.5 points overall, good for 44th out of the 60 teams at the tournament. Hofstra tied with Kent State University. The University of Iowa finished with the most team points with 129.0 for its first championship since 2010. Pennsylvania State University with 113.5 points, Oklahoma State University with 99.5 points and Arizona State with 74.0 points also finished on the podium.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
