KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Led by quarterfinalists Cade DeVos and Tanner Sloan, six South Dakota State wrestlers won matches Thursday to advance to the second day of competition at the 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships held at T-Mobile Center.
Sloan, the No. 3 seed at 197 pounds and a finalist a year ago, earned a pair of bonus-point victories Thursday. He opened the day with a pin of Buffalo’s Sam Mitchell before turning in a 14-4 major decision over No. 14 seed John Poznanski of Rutgers during the evening session.
In his Round of 16 matchup, Sloan set the tone with a takedown about 25 seconds into the match and took Poznanski down three more times en route to racking up more than four minutes of riding time.
Sloan, who improved to 25-1 on the season, is set to face sixth-seeded Lou Deprez of Binghamton in Friday morning’s quarterfinals.
DeVos, the two-seed at 174 pounds, began the day with a 15-0 technical fall (4:43) over Rider’s Michael Wilson, followed by a 10-4 decision over No. 18 Benjamin Pasiuk of Army West Point.
Pasiuk scored the first points of the match on a takedown in the front half of the first period, but DeVos began to shift the momentum with a reversal moments later. DeVos, who also improved to 25-1 by defeating Pasiuk at the national meet for the second year in a row, notched takedowns in each of the final two periods to seal the victory.
DeVos is set to face seventh-seeded Lennox Kolak of Columbia in the quarterfinals.
Also wrestling in a Round of 16 matchup Thursday night was sophomore 157-pounder Cael Swensen, who took second-seeded Jacori Teemer of Arizona State to overtime. Each wrestler managed only an escape in regulation to send the match to sudden victory tied at 1-all. The 15th-seeded Swensen scrambled to avoid a Teemer takedown attempt midway through the overtime session, but the Sun Devil wrestler made good on a second opportunity in the closing seconds.
Swensen, who began the day with a 4-1 victory over No. 18 Vinny Zerban of Northern Colorado, will be matched up against Isaac Wilcox of Ohio State in the wrestlebacks on Friday.
Three Jackrabbit wrestlers won consolation matches Thursday night to stay in contention after suffering opening-round losses. Both Tanner Jordan (125 pounds) and Bennett Berge (184 pounds) won by major decision, while 133-pounder Derrick Cardinal earned a win by decision.
Jordan was scoreless after one period against Blake West of Northern Illinois, but ended the second period with a flourish by scoring on a takedown and four-point near-fall for a 7-0 lead. Jordan continued to apply the pressure in the final stanza, recording another takedown and more back points for a 16-2 victory and the right to face No. 9 Patrick McKee of Minnesota in Friday’s consolation action.
A senior from St. Paris, Ohio, Jordan suffered a loss by fall to No. 10 Eric Barnett of Wisconsin in the opening round.
Berge, a redshirt freshman from Mantorville, Minnesota, shook off a 9-1 loss to Wisconsin’s Shane Liegel in the opening round of the 184-pound division in a big way. Facing Air Force’s Sam Wolf for the fourth time this season, Berge evened the season series at two wins apiece after falling twice to Wolf at the Big 12 Championship two weeks ago with an 11-0 major decision. Berge tallied a takedown in each of the three periods en route to his 20th win of the season.
Cardinal dropped a 12-4 major decision against Iowa Brody Teske in the opening round, but never trailed against Maximilian Leete of American University in the wrestlebacks Thursday night. Cardinal wrestled his way to an 8-2 decision over Leete and earned a second match this season with Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State, which the Buckeye wrestler won at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December.
Two of SDSU’s record-tying eight NCAA qualifiers were eliminated Thursday, most notably two-time 141-pound All-American Clay Carlson. In a season in which he was slowed by injury, Carlson entered the tournament as the No. 29 seed and dropped decisions to No. 4 Ryan Jack, 8-3, and No. 13 Jordan Titus, 5-3.
Carlson ended his career sixth on the SDSU wins chart with a 116-50 overall record.
Also bowing out of the tournament was 149-pounder Alek Martin. After an opening-round loss by technical fall to No. 4 Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech to begin the day, Martin was forced to withdraw from his first NCAA Championships experience after suffering an injury in the first period of his consolation match against Iowa’s Caleb Rathjen.
SDSU finished the first day of the three-day event with 13 points to stand in a tie for 12th place with Arizona State and Wisconsin. Defending champion Penn State leads the field with 34.5 points, while Iowa and Iowa State are tied for second with 24.5 points.
UP NEXT
Competition resumes at 11 a.m. Friday with the quarterfinals and two consolation rounds.
SDSU RESULTS
125: #23 Tanner Jordan, Sr., St. Paris, Ohio (1-1 record)
• lost to #10 Eric Barnett, Wisconsin, by fall 0:45
• def. #26 Blake West, Northern Illinois, by major dec., 6-2
• vs. #9 Patrick McKee, Minnesota
133: #18 Derrick Cardinal, So., Forest Lake, Minn. (1-1 record)
• lost to #15 Brody Teske, Iowa, by major dec., 12-4
• def. #31 Maximilian Leete, American, by dec., 8-2
• vs. #16 Nic Bouzakis, Ohio State
141: #29 Clay Carlson, Sr., Willmar, Minn. (0-2 record)
• lost to #4 Ryan Jack, North Carolina State, by dec., 8-3
• lost to #13 Jordan Titus, West Virginia, by dec., 5-3
Carlson eliminated — ends season 15-9 overall
149: #29 Alek Martin, So., St. Paris, Ohio (0-2 record)
• lost to #4 Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech, by tech. fall, 18-3 (4:47)
• lost to #13 Caleb Rathjen, Iowa, by injury default (2:37)
Martin eliminated — ends season 20-12 overall
157: #15 Cael Swensen, So., Plymouth, Minn. (1-1 record)
• def. #18 Vinny Zerban, Northern Colorado, by dec., 4-1
• lost to #2 Jacori Teemer, Arizona State, by dec., 4-1 [SV-1]
• vs. #32 Isaac Wilcox, Ohio State
174: #2 Cade DeVos, Sr., Altoona, Iowa (2-0 record)
• def. #31 Michael Wilson, Rider, by tech. fall, 15-0 (4:43)
• def. #18 Benjamin Pasiuk, Army, by dec., 10-4
• vs. #7 Lennox Wolak, Columbia
184: #9 Bennett Berge, R-Fr., Mantorville, Minn. (1-1 record)
• lost to #24 Shane Liegel, Wisconsin, by major dec., 9-1
• def. #8 Sam Wolf, Air Force, by major dec., 11-0
• vs. #23 Layne Malczewski, Michigan State
197: #3 Tanner Sloan, Sr., Alburnett, Iowa (2-0 record)
• def. #30 Sam Mitchell, Buffalo, by fall 5:25
• def. #14 John Poznanski, Rutgers, by major dec., 14-4
• vs. #6 Lou Deprez, Binghamton
TEAM STANDINGS (Top 15)
1. Penn State – 34.5
T2. Iowa State – 24.5
T2. Iowa – 24.5
T4. Michigan – 22.0
T4. North Carolina State – 22.0
6. Nebraska – 21.0
7. Ohio State – 20.5
8. Cornell – 18.5
9. Virginia Tech – 17.5
T10. Missouri – 14.0
T10. Oklahoma State – 14.0
T12. Arizona State – 13.0
T12. South Dakota State – 13.0
T12. Wisconsin – 13.0
15. Pittsburgh – 12.5