Wrestling Concludes First Day of NCAA Championships

DETROIT – The Falcons concluded the first day of the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships with both wrestlers still in the hunt for All-America status, Thursday evening, in Little Caesars Arena. Both Wyatt Hendrickson and Sidney Flores went 1-1 on the day.

SESSION ONE - FIRST ROUND

Air Force's 28-seed Sidney Flores was the first Falcon to take the Championship mats, squaring off against Iowa's fifth-seeded All-American, Austin DeSanto. Flores struck first, getting a takedown in the opening exchange and riding the Hawkeye out for 30 seconds. Following a DeSanto escape, the Hawkeye went to work, racking up 10 more points via two takedown and two four-point near falls. Flores was unable to fend off DeSanto in the second period, tallying an escape point to the Hawkeye's pair of take downs and two-point near fall. DeSanto claimed the technical fall at 4:09.

In the heavyweight division, fifth-seed Wyatt Hendrickson took on 28-seed Michael McAleavey (Citadel). It didn't take Hendrickson long to find a groove and score a takedown. The Falcon cut McAleavey after a few seconds of riding and looked for a second opportunity— scoring his second takedown moments later while setting up a headlock. Hendrickson turned and rolled McAleavey and pinned him at 2:04. The pin marked Hendrickson's 16^th of the season.

SESSION TWO – CHAMPIONSHIP/CONSOLATIONS

Hendrickson opened for the Falcons in the second session, taking on 12-seed Christian Lance (Nebraska). Lance made it to match by way of 3-2 decision over (21) Tyrie Houghton (NC State).

Hendrickson and Lance spent the first period trying to find a rhythm, going scoreless in the opening three minutes. Lance took the bottom position in period two and mounted an escape; however, the wrestlers closed the second period with no offensive points for either wrestler.

With a 1-0 lead in favor of lance at the beginning of period three, Hendrickson began in the bottom position where he escaped 18 seconds later to knot the bout at 1-1. The Husker was hit with his second stall warning, yielding a point to Hendrickson early in the third. Lance got some traction with a takedown for the first offensive points of the match—Hendrickson matched with an escape. Moments later Lance secured his second takedown to go up 5-3. The Falcon added another escape point but ran out of real estate while chasing the match-winning takedown. It was the first loss of Hendrickson's season (25-1).

Hendrickson will take on (22) AJ Nevills (SDSU) in the consis, tomorrow afternoon.

In the first consolation round, Flores squared off against (21) Codi Russell (Appalachian State) who dropped a 4-0 decision to (12) Micky Phillipi (Pitt).

Flores was the first to strike, scoring a takedown and going big with four near fall points. After giving up more than a minute of riding time, Russell mounted an escape—only to be taken down by Flores in the waning seconds of the first period.

Flores opened period two with an 8-1 lead over the Mountaineer, starting in the bottom position. Flores made a quick escape, but it was Russell who scored the only takedown of the second period. Trailing 9-3, Russell turned up the heat in the third period, scoring three takedowns in the round while giving up an escape point for each score. Flores, who added a riding time point at the conclusion, fended off the App State wrestler to secure a 12-9 decision to keep his run alive.

Flores will take on 11-seed Devan Turner of Oregon State tomorrow afternoon. Action continues Friday morning with 125 division championship bouts starting at 11 a.m. ET.

Wrestling Concludes First Day of NCAA Championships

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Players Mentioned

Sidney Flores

Wyatt Hendrickson

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