NC State’s Ryan Jack advances to quarterfinals at NCAA tournament

Danbury High graduate Ryan Jack of North Carolina State, left, won his first two matches at Thursday’s NCAA championship tournament to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals. Jack beat Virginia Tech’s Tom Creen for the fifth time in the last two years, 13-4. More photos of the tournament

KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 21, 2024 – The wrestling was over but the work continued.

North Carolina State’s Ryan Jack (141 pounds) continued his long mastery of Virginia Tech’s Tom Creen with a 13-4 second round victory Thursday night at the NCAA Division I national championship meet at the TMobile Center advancing to Friday’s quarterfinal matches.

Shortly after it was completed, Jack and teammate Jakob Camacho (125) were working out again in one of the rooms under the grandstands of the arena to maintain their weight. Competitors have to make weight again each day they compete.

“That is why is this tournament is so hard,” Jack said. “If you want to be national champion or want to be up on the podium, you have to make (weight) three days in a row. Be disciplined and keep working.”

Camacho (125) won his first match but stumbled in an 8-2 loss to two-time All-American Eric Barnett of Wisconsin in the second round. Both Camacho and Jack are graduates of Danbury High.

Stratford’s Nico Provo, who wrestles for Stanford at 125, also went 1-1 on Thursday. Provo won his first match with a dominating 13-4 win over West Virginia’s Jeff Strickenberger. But Provo was beaten in the second round by No. 3 Drake Ayala of Iowa, 19-4 in a technical fall.

All three remain alive in the double-elimination tournament. Wrestling begins again on Friday at noon with the quarterfinals and the second and third round of the consolation bouts.

Stratford’s Nico Provo, who wrestles for Stanford, went 1-1 on the first day of the NCAA championships in Kansas City. More photos of the tournament

Jack had a strong performance in his first bout of the day with an 8-3 win over two-time All-American Clay Carlson (17-9) of South Dakota State. Thanks to a pair of takedowns, Jack had a 6-2 lead after two periods.

“Getting that kind of (win) in the first round definitely helped me go into the second round more confident and ready to go,” Jack said.

In the second round, Jack (20-3) beat Creen for the third time this season and for the fifth time in his collegiate career. Jack beat Creen in the final regular season dual against Virginia Tech and in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament before facing him again last night.

“He’s good. Being able to control him and keep him from going forward, that’s how you beat him,” Jack said. “It’s hard to beat the same guy three weeks in a row.”

Jack had four takedowns in the first period, including one with seven seconds left in the period to take a commanding 12-3 lead after one period.

Jack, who has won eight in a row, takes on No. 5 seed Anthony Echemendia (22-4) of Iowa State in the quarterfinals on Friday. A win over Echemendia would give Jack All-American honors.

The last Connecticut wrestler to earn All-American honors at the Division I nationals was Jack’s older brother, Kevin, in 2018.

Camacho had three takedowns in his opening round match victory over No. 26 seed Blake West of Northern Iowa, 10-7. Camacho had two takedowns and a 6-2 lead after one period and added another takedown in the second period when he took a 9-4 lead.

But Wisconsin’s Barnett, a four-time NCAA qualifier and a two-time All-American, snapped Camacho’s ten-match winning streak with his victory.

Barnett (28-6) got the first takedown with 33 seconds left in the first period to grab control of the match. Thanks to an escape in the second period, Camacho cut Barnett’s lead to two, 3-1 after two periods.

After an escape, Barnett was able to come out ahead in a scramble with a second takedown with 1:16 remaining in the match to take a commanding 7-1 lead.

Camacho (14-5) will face No. 24 seed Kysen Terukina of Iowa State on Friday in the consolation round.

Provo opened up the tournament with a 13-4 win over Strickenberger, the No. 19 seed. The match was tied 3-3 after one period but Provo got a takedown near the edge of the mat and turned Strickenberger to his back for a seven-point move (three-point takedown and four-point near fall) to take a commanding six-point lead, 10-4.

Ayala (25-4) had five takedowns in the first two periods as he built up a commanding 15-4 lead over Provo after two periods. It was the tenth win by technical fall this season for the sophomore from Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Provo will face No. 29 seed Brendan McCrone of Ohio State Friday in the consolation round.

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Michigan State’s Tristan Lujan has Brown’s Michael Joyce on his back during Thursday’s NCAA Tournament in Kansas City. More photos of the tournament

Brown’s Mike Joyce (125), who won four straight matches at the EIWA championships to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament, lost his opening round match to Michigan State’s Tristian Lujan, 8-4. The sophomore from Ponaganset, Rhode Island, is the first Bruin to wrestle in the NCAA tournament since 2019.

Joyce was eliminated in a 7-3 loss to Elijah Griffin of Cal-Bakersfield in the consolation round.

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Harvard, Massachusetts’ only Division I program, had three wrestlers in the tournament. No. 28 seed Diego Sotelo (125), a junior from Plainfield, Illinois, upset No. 5 Jore Volk of Wyoming in the first round, 5-3 thanks to a two-point near fall with 21 seconds left in regulation that put him ahead by one. He picked up a point for stalling with six seconds left. Sotelo scored four points in the third period to win.

Sotelo lost to No. 12 Anthony Noto of Lock Haven in the second round, 9-2.

Three-time qualifier Philip Conligliaro (Dedham, Mass.) lost his opener at 174 while Jack Crook (Tampa, Fla.) lost his opener at 149. Conligliaro was eliminated by technical fall by Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy in the consolation round, 18-3 while Crook was eliminated by technical fall, too, by Rider’s Quinn Kinner, 16-1.

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Tournament officials said that 15,044 fans attended the first round session of the championship tournament.