Eight South Atlantic Conference Carolinas Wrestlers Earn All-American Honors in NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships
BRACKETS | ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Eight South Atlantic Conference Carolinas wrestlers have earned All-American honors at the 2022 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships at Chaifetz Center in St. Louis, Missouri after the first day of competition.
The top eight wrestlers in each of the 10 weight classes earn All-American honors and after the first day of competition, each class is down to the final eight and there are eight SACC student-athletes still alive in their weight classes.
At 125 pounds, Nick Daggett (25-4) of UNC Pembroke will also wrestle in the semifinals on Saturday, March 12 as the fifth-seeded Daggett will face the top seed in Cole Laya (23-4) of West Liberty. Daggett won his first match by fall (1:17) and his second in sudden victory, 3-1. Limestone’s Kevin Radcliff (14-7) won his first match but fell to Laya in the quarterfinals. However, he won his consolation match by fall (6:40) to earn All-American honors and can still wrestle back to third place.
At 133 pounds Majid Corbett (9-0), Radcliff’s teammate, made a surprise run to the semifinals as an unseeded wrestler. He upset the six seed via a 7-5 decision in the first round and then upset the third seed by a 13-4 major decision in the quarterfinals. He will face No 7 Garrett Vos (24-2) of St. Cloud State on Saturday.
At 141 pounds all three South Atlantic Conference Carolinas qualifiers won their first-round matches, but two of them, No. 4 Zeth Brower (16-1) of Lander and No. 5 Christian Small (29-5) of King had to wrestle in the quarterfinals and it was Brower who won via a 2-0 decision. Small won his opening match via fall at 3:56 but lost in the consolation round. Brower won his opening match via a 5-2 decision. In the same half of the bracket, John Carayiannis (14-7) of Belmont Abbey upset the eighth seed by fall at 6:25 in the first round before falling to No. 1 Joey Bianchini (28-0) of St. Cloud State, Brower’s Saturday opponent, in the quarterfinals. He did go on to win his consolation round by a 5-1 decision to earn All-American honors and remain alive for a potential third-place finish. Brower is the first-ever All-American for Lander wrestling while Carayiannis earned his first career honor.
The 2020-21 National Champion at 141 pounds, Isiah Royal (12-0) of Newberry will compete in the semifinals at 149 pounds as the top seed in the field. He won his opening match via a 3-2 decision then won in the quarterfinals with a 10-1 major decision. He will face No. 5 Sam Turner of Nebraska-Kearney (18-4) for the chance at a second national championship.
Mitch Dean (18-3) of Belmont Abbey earned his third All-American honor at 165 pounds as he went 2-1 on the day. The third seed in the bracket won his opening match 11-4, but fell in the quarterfinals 3-2. He won his wrestle-back match 9-3 to secure the honor.
The final All-American came at 174 pounds in Newberry’s Caleb Spears (25-4). Spears upset the No. 6 seed in the first round by fall at 2:59 but lost by fall at 0:42 in the quarterfinals. In his wrestle-back match, he won via a 10-5 decision to earn his first All-American berth.
Twenty-two other SACC student-athletes competed in the championship and their results can be seen in the full brackets for the championship available here. The championship digital program can be viewed
here and live results are available
here.
Tickets to the championship can be bought online here while live video is available
here.
2022 South Atlantic Conference Carolinas NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship Competitors
125
#5 Nick Daggett, UNC Pembroke
Kevin Radcliff, Limestone
Evan Carrigan, Newberry
133
Majid Corbett, Limestone
Elijah Lusk, Lander
Timothy Decatur, Newberry
141
#4 Zeth Brower, Lander
#5 Christian Small, King
John Carayiannis, Belmont Abbey
149
#1 Isiah Royal, Newberry
Demetri Teddlie, King
Jake Piccirilli, UNC Pembroke
157
Dallas Boone, King
Jake Nicolosi, Mount Olive
P.J. Wunderlich, Coker
165
#3 Mitch Dean, Belmont Abbey
Talon Seitz, Newberry
Rahsaan Vereen, UNC Pembroke
174
Caleb Spears, Newberry
Connor Weeks, Belmont Abbey
Stephon Halliburton, Queens
184
#8 JaQuez Bostic, Limestone
Noah Curreri, Queens
Jovaun Johnson, UNC Pembroke
197
Bryce Walker, UNC Pembroke
Austin Watkins, Queens
Darius Parker, Lander
285
Cameron Coffman, Lander
Zach Shaffer, UNC Pembroke
Juan Edmonds-Holmes, Limestone