10 South Atlantic Conference Carolinas Wrestlers Earn All-American Honors in NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship
RESULTS | CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – After the first day of competition at the 2023 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 10 South Atlantic Conference Carolinas (SACC) wrestlers have earned All-American honors.
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 10 SACC student-athletes still alive in their weight classes.
The story of the first day is at 141-pounds where a pair of SACC student-athletes, top-ranked and defending national champion Zeth Brower of Lander and unseeded John Carayiannis of Belmont Abbey, are both in the semifinals and could potentially meet in the finals on Saturday. Brower, who was the South Atlantic Conference Carolinas Wrestler of the Year and is a perfect 32-0 on the season, won by a pair of major decisions, 11-3 and 11-0. He will face Christian Small of Lake Erie in the semifinals. Carayiannis is the first Crusaders wrestler to reach the semifinals since 2007 and he did so by defeating second-seeded Cayden Henschel of Wisconsin-Parkside 8-5 in round one and Jake Niffenegger of Mercyhurst 12-8 in the quarterfinals.
At 125 pounds, James Joplin of Lander, who was seeded third in the field, will wrestle in Saturday’s semifinal after he won his first match via an 11-4 decision and advanced to the semis with a 16-7 major decision. He will face second-seeded Brendon Garcia of Adams State.
At 133 pounds, Elijah Lusk, another Bearcat who was seeded fourth, won his opening bout, 3-1, but fell in the quarterfinals to No. 5 Decin Fannery of Millersville, 9-6. He won his wrestle-back match over Collin Metzger of Colorado Mesa via a 16-5 major decision and can reach as high as third-place. He will open Saturday against No. 8 Dylan Lucas of Central Oklahoma.
Devan Moore of Newberry remains alive at 149 pounds and can also wrestle-back to as high as third. Moore lost his opening match against No. 3 Nick Young of Gannon by tech fall, but won his next two by decision, 2-1 and 10-4. He will face Brik Filippo of Central Oklahoma after he defeated Dallas Wilson of Mount Olive by a 3-0 decision.
King’s Trent Mahoney earned All-American honors at 157 pounds after he defeated Gage Bernall of Lander 10-5. Mahoney opened the day with a 9-3 upset of No. 3 Gabe Johnson of Central Oklahoma before falling in the quarterfinals to No. 6 Nathan Smith of Pitt-Johnstown, 5-2. Bernhall lost his first match of the day but then won two-in-a-row before falling to Mahoney.
A pair of SACC student-athletes earned All-American honors at 165 pounds as David Hunsberger, the league's Freshman of the Year and four-seed in the bracket, and Mike Vernagallo of Mount Olive remain alive. Hunsberger earned a trip to the semifinals with an 11-6 decision in round one then a fall (0:57) over Alec Cook of West Liberty in the quarterfinals. He will face No. 8 Hunter Mullin of Western Colorado on Saturday. Vernagallo won his preliminary round match over Drew Wiechers via a 26-15 major decision but then lost in the first round to No. 7 Ty Lucas of Central Oklahoma, 3-2. He wrestled back to have a shot at third-place with a 14-12 decision and a fall (0:34) over No. 1 Shane Gantz of Wisconsin-Parkside.
Lander has another semifinalist at 184 pounds in No 4 Logan Hall. Hall advanced via a pair of decisions, 8-3 and 3-2. He will face top-seeded Billy Higgins of Nebraska-Kearney in Saturday’s semifinal.
Juan Edmond-Holmes of Lander wrapped up the All-Americans at 285 pounds as he wrestled back to have a shot at third. The eighth seed in the bracket, Edmond-Holmes opened the championship with a 9-1 major decision before falling to top-seed Shawn Streck of Central Oklahoma, 8-3. He won his wrestle-back bout via fall (6:18) to earn his All-American award. He will face Jake Swirple of Minot State (N.D.) on Saturday.
As a team, Lander is currently in second place with 56 points, just 6.5 behind Central Oklahoma (62.5). West Liberty is in third with 38.5 points followed by St. Cloud State (38.0) and Western Colorado (31.5) to round out the top five.
In total, 30 South Atlantic Conference Carolinas 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 and live video are available
here.
2023 South Atlantic Conference Carolinas NCAA Division II Wrestling Championship Competitors
125
#3 James Joplin, Lander
Kevin Radcliff, Limestone
Zach Shupp, Newberry
133
#4 Elijah Lusk, Lander
Harold “Taylor” Robinson, Mount Olive
Logan Robinson, UNC Pembroke
141
#1 Zeth Brower, Lander
Josh Blatt, Newberry
John Carayiannis, Belmont Abbey
149
Jack Tangen, Lander
Devan Moore, Newberry
Dallas Wilson, Mount Olive
157
Maxwell Kiel, Belmont Abbey
Trent Mahoney, King
Gage Bernall, Lander
165
#4 David Hunsberger, Lander
Patrick Wunderlick, Newberry
Mike Vernagallo, Mount Olive
174
Calan Staub, Mount Olive
Hunter Haven, Limestone
Dayton Fields, Newberry
184
#4 Logan Hall, Lander
Clinton Morrisette, King
Shylik Scriven, UNC Pembroke
197
#6 Anthony Yacovetti, Lander
Bryce Walker, UNC Pembroke
Micha Clemson, Emmanuel
285
#8 Juan Edmonds-Holmes, Limestone
Devon Rice, Newberry
Nico Ramirez, Mount Olive