DiCamillo, Mueller Advance To NCAA Championships Quarterfinals
March 16, 2017
Brackets | ESPN3/WatchESPN | Live Results | NCAA Championships Central
ST. LOUIS – Both seeded wrestlers went undefeated Thursday (March 16) on the opening day of the NCAA Championships as redshirt senior George DiCamillo (Highland Heights, Ohio) and freshman Jack Mueller (Dallas, Texas) advanced to the quarterfinal round.
DiCamillo, the six seed at 141 pounds, notched a major decision and a pin to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals, while the 10th-seeded Mueller closed his first day with a win over the seventh-seeded wrestler at 125 pounds.
Action continues at the NCAA Championships on Friday (March 17) beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Fans can see all the action from the morning session on ESPNU or watch coverage from every mat on the WatchESPN app and online through links at VirginiaSports.com.
DiCamillo will face No. 14 seed Thomas Thorn of Minnesota in the quarterfinals, while Mueller will face No. 2 seed Joey Dance of Virginia Tech.
“It was a crazy day and an awesome day,” said Virginia head coach Steve Garland. “There were some highs and some lows. Jack just looked awesome today and is in the quarterfinals as a freshman. It’s hard to do that. George came out of the gates hot and wrestled as well as you could possibly wrestle starting in the first round. Tomorrow if these guys win, they’re All-Americans and if they win a few more they are NCAA Champions, so we’re pretty excited about that.”
Mueller started things off for the Cavaliers, picking up a 16-1 tech fall over Travis Piotrowski of Illinois in the opening round. It was the 12th win by tech fall this season for Mueller as the freshman leads the nation in tech fall victories. He then closed the evening with a 5-2 decision over the No. 7 seed, Sean Russell of Edinboro, to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals. It was the second win over Russell this season for Mueller.
DiCamillo advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals with a pair of bonus-point victories in Thursdays opening rounds. The Virginia senior posted a 13-4 major decision over Christopher Carton of Iowa in his first match of the day. DiCamillo then ended the first day of action with a statement win, pinning No. 11 seeded Randy Cruz of Lehigh in 4:36 for his second victory of the day.
In other action for the Cavaliers on day one, redshirt junior Andrew Atkinson (Lynchburg, Va.) battled through a tight opening match against No. 10 seed at 157 pounds. Colin Heffernan of Central Michigan took the 6-4 decision in overtime to send the Cavalier to the wrestlebacks. Atkinson then dropped an 18-7 major decision to Pitt’s Taleb Rahmani in the first round of wrestlebacks to close his competition at the NCAA Championships.
At 149 pounds, redshirt freshman Sam Krivus (Greensburg, Pa.) opened the day facing the No. 15 seed from Rutgers, Kenny Theobald, and dropping an 8-2 decision. In the first round of wrestlebacks, Krivus battled Cole Mendenhall of Wyoming in a tight contest before a late takedown helped Mendenhall snag a 4-1 decision over the Virginia wrestler.
125 – No. 10 seed Jack Mueller
1st round: Mueller tech fall Travis Piotrowski (Illinois), 16-1
2nd round: Mueller dec. No. 7 Sean Russell (Edinboro), 5-2
Quarterfinals: Mueller vs. No. 2 Joey Dance (Virginia Tech)
141 – No. 6 seed George DiCamillo
1st Round: DiCamillo major dec. Christopher Carton (Iowa), 13-4
2nd Round: DiCamillo fall No. 11 Randy Cruz (Lehigh), 4:36
Quarterfinals: DiCamillo vs. No. 14 Thomas Thorn (Minnesota)
149 – Sam Krivus
1st Round: No. 15 Kenny Theobald (Rutgers) dec. Krivus, 8-2
Conso. Rd. 1: Cole Mendenhall (Wyoming) dec. Krivus, 4-1
157 – Andrew Atkinson
1st Round: No. 10 Colin Heffernan (Central Michigan) dec. (sv.-1) Atkinson, 6-4
Conso. Rd. 1: Taleb Rahmani (Pittsburgh) major dec. Atkinson, 18-7
Friday’s upcoming matches in italics