TULSA, Okla. — Clay Carlson earned All-America honors for the second time in his career and Tanner Sloan will wrestle for a national title as South Dakota State wrestlers wrapped up a successful Friday at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at BOK Center.
After six Jackrabbit wrestlers combined for an 8-2 record during the first session of the day, Sloan and Carlson teamed for three more victories in Friday’s night session.
A senior from Willmar, Minnesota, wrestled his way to All-America honors in dramatic fashion by winning four times on Friday. After posting a pair of wins in the morning and afternoon, Carlson faced longtime 141-pound rival Allan Hart of Missouri with a spot on the podium at stake.
Carlson trailed for much of the match, including facing a 5-2 deficit entering the third period. He escaped early in the final stanza and momentarily tied the match at 5-all on a takedown with about 50 seconds remaining. Hart regained the lead with an escape, but Carlson had the final answer with another takedown with two seconds remaining on the clock to pull out a 7-6 victory.
Later in the session, Carlson earned a berth in Saturday’s consolation semifinals with a 3-1 victory over Purdue’s Parker Filius, which also was the 100th win of his career. Carlson first earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in 2021 and became the 15th Jackrabbit wrestler to reach the century mark in career victories.
Carlson is slated to meet Penn State’s Beau Bartlett for the second time in the tournament during Saturday’s 10 a.m. session — this time for the right to wrestle for third place. Bartlett downed Carlson, 3-2, in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
Sloan, who knocked off second-seeded Bernie Truax of Cal Poly in the morning quarterfinals, squared off against No. 3 seed Rocky Elam in a 197-pound semifinal that also was a rematch of their Big 12 Conference title bout 12 days ago claimed by Elam in an overtime tiebreaker, 2-1.
This time, Sloan turned the tables despite giving up a quick takedown to Elam in the opening period. Sloan was awarded his first point of the match when, after a lengthy video review, Elam was penalized for locking hands and Sloan escaped shortly after the restart to knot the match at 2-all.
The momentum swung firmly in Sloan’s favor in the second period when Sloan was able to work a turn from the top for a 4-point near-fall. He added another point in the third period on an escape to clinch a spot in the finals with a 7-2 victory.
Sloan will meet top-seeded Nino Bonaccorsi of Pittsburgh in the championship match at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Two other Jackrabbits finished one win away from earning All-America honors. Redshirt freshman Cael Swensen dropped a 7-4 decision to Will Lewan of Michigan at 157 pounds, while Cade DeVos was upended by Peyton Mocco of Missouri in a 174-pound matchup. Both Swensen and DeVos ended the tournament with 3-2 records.
The Jackrabbits vaulted into 13th in the team standings with 34 points and are six points behind 10th place Virginia Tech. Penn State remains the runaway leader with 116.5 points, followed by Iowa (77) and Cornell (64).
South Dakota State Results
125: #32 Tanner Jordan, Jr., St. Paris, Ohio (1-2 record)
• lost to #33 Tucker Owens, Air Force, by dec., 2-1
• def. #30 Antonio Lorenzo, Cal Poly, by dec., 4-0
• lost to #14 Noah Surtin, Missouri, by fall 4:26
Jordan eliminated; ends season with 18-16 overall record
141: #11 Clay Carlson, Sr., Willmar, Minnesota (5-1 record)
• def. #22 Malyke Hines, Lehigh, by dec., 6-1
• lost to #6 Beau Bartlett, Penn State, by dec., 3-2
• def. #28 Saul Ervin, SIU-Edwardsville, by dec., 3-2
• def. #14 Cael Happel, Northern Iowa, by dec., 7-3
• def. #8 Allan Hart, Missouri, by dec., 7-6
• def. #12 Parker Filius, Purdue, by dec., 3-1
• vs. #6 Beau Bartlett, Penn State
All-American
157: #20 Cael Swensen, R-Fr., Plymouth, Minnesota (3-2 record)
• lost to #13 Trevor Chumbley, Northwestern, by dec., 6-3
• def. #29 Corbyn Munson, Central Michigan, by dec., 7-0
• def. #19 Garrett Model, Wisconsin, by dec., 9-6
• def. #28 Paddy Gallagher, Ohio State, by dec., 4-3
• lost to #9 Will Lewan, Michigan, by dec., 7-4
Swensen eliminated; ends season with 24-10 overall record
165: #22 Tanner Cook, Jr., Ilion, New York (1-2 record)
• lost to #11 Cameron Amine, Michigan, by fall 6:30
• def. #27 Will Formato, Appalachian State, by fall 1:11
• lost to #12 Izzak Olejnik, Northern Illinois, by dec., 8-1
Cook eliminated; ends season with 17-9 overall record
174: #13 Cade DeVos, Jr., Altoona, Iowa (3-2 record)
• def. #20 Alex Cramer, Central Michigan, by fall 2:13
• lost to #4 Chris Foca, Cornell, by dec., 8-2
• def. #14 Benjamin Pasiuk, Army, by dec., 6-1
• def. #12 Aaron Olmos, Oregon State, by dec., 3-1 [SV-1]
• lost to #7 Peyton Mocco, Missouri, by dec., 4-2
DeVos eliminated; ends season with 26-9 overall record
184: #24 Cade King, Sr., Waseca, Minn. (0-2 record)
• lost to #9 Isaiah Salazar, Minnesota, by dec., 3-0
• lost to #8 Matt Finesilver, Michigan, by dec., 7-2
King eliminated; ends season with 16-11 overall record
197: #7 Tanner Sloan, Sr., Alburnett, Iowa (3-0 record)
• def. #26 Gavin Hoffman, Ohio State, by dec., 8-1
• def. #10 Jacob Cardenas, Cornell, by dec., 4-0
• def. #2 Bernie Truax, Cal Poly, by dec., 6-4 [SV-1]
• def. #3 Rocky Elam, Missouri, by dec., 7-2
• vs. #1 Nino Bonaccorsi, Pittsburgh
ALL-AMERICAN
285: #14 A.J. Nevills, Grad., Clovis, California (2-2 record)
• def. #19 Jonah Niesenbaum, Duke, by dec., 8-1
• lost to #3 Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State, by major dec., 14-2
• def. #29 Jaron Smith, Maryland, by dec., 3-1 [SV-1]
• lost to #6 Yaraslau Slavikouski, Harvard, by dec., 5-3
Nevills eliminated; ends season with 22-8 overall record
Team Scores (top 20)
1 Penn State 116.5
2 Iowa 77.0
3 Cornell 64.0
4 Ohio State 62.0
5 Missouri 55.0
6 Michigan 51.0
6 Nebraska 51.0
8 Iowa State 44.0
9 NC State 41.5
10 Virginia Tech 40.5
11 Arizona State 37.5
12 North Carolina 34.5
13 South Dakota State 34.0
14 Minnesota 29.5
15 Northern Iowa 29.0
15 Princeton 29.0
15 Wisconsin 29.0
18 Purdue 27.0
19 Oklahoma State 25.0
20 Northwestern 23.5
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