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Budd To Take On All Challengers at NCAA Championships

Mark Budd

Once again, Budd enters the national tournament as one of the bad draws, which means that the top-seeded wrestlers will have a tough time getting past Budd in the opening rounds. Budd, ranked 15th in the nation according to InterMat, drew a first-round match-up with nationally 13th-ranked Andrae Hernandez of Indiana. The winner will meet either Bobby Pfennigs of Oregon State or second-seeded Matt Valenti of Penn in the second round.

Budd and Hernandez are no strangers to each other, as they met last season in the finals of the Mat Town USA Invitational tournament. Budd earned the championship by getting a hard-fought 8-7 over the upstart freshman. Hernandez took second-place at the Big Ten Championships after defeating the second- and third-seeded wrestlers in his bracket en route to the championship bout appearance. He met up with the nation’s top-ranked 133-pounder in Nick Simmons of Michigan State, dropping the contest, 6-4.

The first-round of the NCAA Championships is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Thursday morning with InterMat providing exclusive Live Text Coverage of each match available via InterMat’s website or by listening on Takedown Radio . ESPNU will broadcast the tournament live starting with Friday’s quarterfinals, semifinals and championship medal round, with ESPN covering the finals on Saturday at 8 p.m.