Jackrabbit grapplers fail to get any wrestlers past western D-I regionals

Chris Mangan

Chris Mangan

The Jackrabbit wrestling team failed to qualify a national qualifier at the NCAA Division I West Regional held in Fargo, N.D., on March 8.

As a whole, the team only won five of their 22 matches and finished last of the six teams. Three of the wins came from sophomore Tyler Sorenson, who finished third in the regional and will be the alternate to the National Championships on March 20-22.

Sorenson was the top seed in 184-pounds heading into the regional but was defeated 9-8 by the fourth-seed, Jacob Devlin of Air Force. Sorenson would win his next two matches to finish third.

Northern Iowa had six individual winners and finished first by a wide margin; Air Force was 54.5 points behind. The win gave UNI its 23rd consecutive regional championship.

“UNI has an established program, and we are only in our second year being eligible,” SDSU Head Coach Jason Liles said. “We need more kids who are committed to the hard work.”

Sophomore Ryan Meyer failed to repeat as regional national qualifier at 165-pounds. Meyer received a first round bye but fell in the second round to Eric Coxbill of Wyoming by a score of 3-2. Meyer would win his next match to get into the third place game, where he would fall to Stephen Crozier of Air Force by the score of 6-2.