Thirteen teams will be represented in Saturday’s finals, four of which will send multiple individuals to title bouts. Notre Dame will have finalists at 149, 157, 197 and heavyweight. Southern Oregon sends three, but at 141 pounds Kyle Wirkuty and Barry Johnson will go head-to-head. Wirkuty advanced by knocking off defending national champion Adam Koballa of Notre Dame in a 4-3 decision.
Koballa wasn’t the only defending national champ to go down Friday. Of five returning titlists that were in the championship field, only two will be back in action Saturday night aiming for a second crown. McKendree senior Aaron Winning returns to the championship bout at 165 pounds after notching a 6-1 decision over Grand View’s Brad Lower. Arjan Bhullar of Simon Fraser (B.C.) notched a 5-3 decision of Dickinson State’s (N.D.) Frank Lopez to clinched his spot in the heavyweight title match.
Great Falls and California Baptist will have two grapplers in the finals. Cambellsville (Ky.), Cumberland (Tenn.), Dana (Neb.), Dickinson State (N.D.), Grand View (Iowa), Lindenwood (Mo.) and Missouri Valley will also be represented in championship bouts.
Saturday’s session of medal-round matches gets underway at 10 a.m. with third, fifth and seventh-place matches taking to the mat. Notre Dame, McKendree and Dickinson State each have six grapplers still alive in the consolation bracket, while Missouri Valley has five.
Saturday night’s Wrestling National Championships will be streamed live via NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. All 10 individual weight class Championship bouts on March 6 will be available to view starting at approximately 6:30 p.m. CST. A fee of $7.95 is set to view the Saturday Championship finals event.
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