NCAA Championship Brackets Released
INDIANAPOLIS – None of UNCP's four NCAA Championship-qualifying wrestlers will face individually ranked competition, but all of them will face foes from nationally ranked squads with the release of the brackets for the 2010 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships on Tuesday afternoon.
The University of Nebraska-Omaha will host the 2010 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships, March 12-13, at the Lee Sapp Fieldhouse. The tournament will consist of four sessions, with the top eight finishers from each tournament walking away with all-American status.
Russell Weakley (23-4, eight pins) will get his first look at top-ranked Nebraska-Omaha's Terrell McKinney (29-11, three pins) in the 125-pound tournament. The redshirt freshman reeled off a 3-1 record and a third place finish at the Super Region 2 Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will make his first trip to the NCAA Championships after redshirting last year for the Mavs. The two have just one common opponent this season in Newberry's Matt Oliver. McKinney pulled out an 8-6 win over Oliver in early January, while Weakley defeated Oliver 6-1 just less than a month later.
Mike Williams (10-1, 0 pins) will take on third-ranked Upper Iowa's Justin Decker (18-9, 5 pins) in his first match of the 157-pound tournament. The junior from Westgate, Iowa, booked a 2-2 record and a fourth place finish as the No. 4 seed at the Super Region 3 Tournament and will make his first trip to the NCAA Championships. Williams and Decker do not share any common opponents this season.
J.J. Davis (21-3, 3 pins) will make his third trip to the NCAA Championships, this time as an all-American, and will battle No. 13 Central Oklahoma's Cody Rowell (14-13, 3 pins) in his opener in the 174-pound tournament. The UCO senior registered a 3-2 record and a fourth place finish as the No. 7 seed at the Super Region I Tournament and will make his first appearance in his final season of competition for the Bronchos. Davis and Rowell have not faced any common opponents this season.
Shane Nolan (19-10, three pins) will face seventh-ranked Nebraska-Kearney's Justin McKain in his opening 197-pound match at the tournament. McKain (25-20, four pins) went 3-1 en route to grabbing third place laurels at the Super Region 4 Tournament as the No. 5 seed and will make his first trip to the NCAA Championships after redshirting for the Lopers last season. The duo share four common opponents and have only posted different results against Grand Canyon's Kevin Treftz. McKain defeated Treftz by virtue of a 10-4 decision, while Nolan was pinned in the third period.
Both Nolan and McKain have faced and beaten Mercyhurst's Chris Nocchi with Nolan posting a 2-0 record, including in which was a second period pin. McKain bested Nocchi by an 8-6 decision early in the 2009-10 campaign.
