BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—The CSU Bakersfield wrestling team will be sending five wrestlers to the NCAA Division I Championships this week. The tournament will be held in Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers and the New York Knicks.
Session I begins Thursday at 12 p.m. (EDT) with the second session getting underway at 7 p.m. (EDT). The whistle will be blown to begin day two at 11 a.m. (EDT) before closing at 8 p.m. Saturday gets going at 11 a.m. (EDT) with the finals scheduled for 8 p.m. (EDT).
All of the matches will be available on ESPN 3, the Watch ESPN app, and the ESPN app. The semifinals and finals will be televised be on ESPN.
The five-member contingent that CSUB is sending into Madison Square Garden is the most for the Roadrunners at nationals since the 2010 season when CSUB also sent five to the meet. The brackets were released last week.
At 141 pounds, Ian Nickell (26-11) was the Pac-12 runner-up, earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Nickell will face Ohio State's Micah Jordan. Jordan is the sixth seed, going 25-2 in the regular season. Jordan is No. 5 in the latest InterMat rankings.
Coleman Hammond will wrestle in the pigtail match at 149 pounds. Hammond (21-13) finished fourth at the Pac-12 Tournament. Hammond and his opponent, Gardner-Webb's Chris Vassar (18-7) both received at-large spots into the national meet. The winner of the Hammond-Vassar match will face the No. 1 seed, Penn State's Zain Retherford (29-0).
Adam Fierro placed second at 165 pounds in the Pac 12 Tournament to earn one of the league's automatic bids into nationals. Fierro finished the season 17-9 and he will face the second seed, Wisconsin's Isaac Jordan. Jordan finished the regular season 25-0, winning his second straight Big 10 title.
Bryce Hammond won his third 174-pound Pac-12 Tournament to receive his NCAA Tournament credential. Hammond (19-3) has received the sixth seed and will face Rutgers' Phil Bakuckas (18-13) in the first round.
Reuben Franklin rounds out the CSUB national entries. Franklin went 30-6 at 197 pounds, placing second at the Pac-12 Tournament. Franklin received the ninth seed and he wrestle the winner of the pigtail match between Lehigh's John Bolich (17-10) or Shawn Scott (23-9) of Northern Illinois.
As a team, CSUB first wrestled in the NCAA Division I tournament in 1977 when teams from Division II, Division III, and the NAIA were allowed to enter the D-1 meet. CSUB wrestled in the Division I championships from 1977-83 before returning to the national tournament in 1988 as a full D-1 member. CSUB has had at least one entry in the Division I Tournament in 28 consecutive Division I tournaments. The top finish for the 'Runners at the national meet came in 1996 when CSUB finished third.
Seven Roadrunners have won Division I national championships, the most recent being Stephen Neal who won the heavyweight title in both 1998 and 1999. CSUB wrestlers have earned 45 NCAA Division I All-American certificates since 1977.
~www.GoRunners.com~
