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Cerminara Wins Opening Match at NCAA Championships

Kyle Cerminara

In a tough, low-scoring match, Cerminara drew first blood with an escape 16 seconds into the second period. In the third period, Cerminara rode Dashiel for a minute and a half, picking up a riding-time point before allowing an escape in the last 10 seconds.

Cerminara will face West Virginia’s Jared Villers in the second round, as Villers bear Northern Iowa’s Andrew Anderson, 5-0, in the first round.

Mark Budd

Junior Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) started off the tournament on the right foot, defeating Oregon State’s Bobby Pfennings, 8-4, in the pigtail preliminary round. With 11 seconds left in the first period, Budd got a single leg and was able to convert it into a takedown and from there kept control of the match, scoring takedowns in the second and third periods, also, to advance to the first round.

In the first round, however, Budd faced a tough challenge going up against fourth-seeded Mack Reiter and fell behind early with a takedown before Reiter earned the fall with 1:28 remaining in the first period, sending Budd to just his fifth defeat of the season.

His road to the All-American round will now have to wind through four consolation bracket matches, starting against Ohio State’s Reece Humphrey, who lost to Gardner-Webb’s Josh Pniewski, 8-2, in the first round. Budd pinned Pniewski during dual meet competition earlier this year.

Senior Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) fought valiantly during his opening round match, but fell 4-0 to UNC-Greensboro’s Tyler Shovlin. Shovlin managed a second-period reversal and got a third-period takedown after Sherrill tried a shot late in the match.

He faces Dusty Hoffschneider of Wyoming in the first round of wrestlebacks, with four matches left to get to the All-America round.

All three will continue their quest for All-American status on Thursday evening with wrestlebacks for Sherrill and Budd and the round of 16 for Cerminara, starting at 7:30 pm.