INDIANAPOLIS – Appalachian State’s Colby Smith and Gardner-Webb’s Austin Trott were among the 53 at-large selections for the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships, the governing body announced Tuesday. The two at-large picks moved the Southern Conference’s total to 19 that will attend the championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 16-18.
Smith (133 pounds) and Trott (174) will join the 17 SoCon wrestlers that clinched their NCAA spots on Saturday at the SoCon Wrestling Championship in Charleston, South Carolina.
Six of the eight SoCon wrestling schools will be represented at the NCAA tournament, with SoCon tournament champion Campbell leading the way with five participants. League champions Josh Heil (141) and Quentin Perez (165) will be joined by automatic qualifiers Nathan Kraisser (125). Ville Heino (184) and Jere Heino (285).
Regular-season SoCon champion and 24th-ranked Appalachian State will send four wrestlers to NCAAs, with Smith joining Matt Zovistoski (149) and two-time SoCon Wrestler of the Year Denzel Dejournette (285), who won their respective weight classes at the SoCon tournament, and automatic qualifier Vito Pasone (125).
Gardner-Webb, SIUE and Chattanooga will send three wrestlers each. Trott joins 157-pound SoCon champion and tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler Ryan Mosley and automatic qualifier Hunter Gamble (184) in representing the Runnin’ Bulldogs, while the Cougars are sending three league champions in Freddie Rodriguez (125), Jake Residori (174) and Jake Tindle (197). The Mocs saw champions Chris Debien (133) and Bryce Carr (184) and heavyweight Jared Johnson earn NCAA spots.
The Citadel will be represented in the postseason by Aaron Walker, who earned his NCAA spot by beating Campbell’s Austin Kraisser in a true-place match at 157 pounds at the SoCon Championship. Walker will be making his fourth NCAA appearance.
The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, rating percentage index, coaches ranking and qualifying event placement.
Individual champions/NCAA qualifiers
125 – Freddie Rodriguez, SIUE
133 – Chris Debien, Chattanooga
141 – Josh Heil, Campbell
149 – Matt Zovistoski, Appalachian State
157 – Ryan Mosley, Gardner-Webb
165 – Quentin Perez, Campbell
174 – Jake Residori, SIUE
184 – Bryce Carr, Chattanooga
197 – Jake Tindle, SIUE
HWT – Denzel Dejournette, Appalachian State
Additional NCAA allocations
125 – Nathan Kraisser, Campbell
125 – Vito Pasone, Appalachian State
157 – Aaron Walker, The Citadel
184 – Ville Heino, Campbell
184 – Hunter Gamble, Gardner-Webb
HWT – Jere Heino, Campbell
HWT – Jared Johnson, Chattanooga
At-large NCAA selections
133 – Colby Smith, Appalachian State
174 – Austin Trott, Gardner-Webb
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