TULSA, Okla. — Tanner Sloan secured All-America honors and three other Jackrabbits remain in contention for spots on the podium after an impressive showing during competition Friday morning and afternoon at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at BOK Center.
SDSU entered the day with six of eight wrestlers remaining and that Jackrabbit half-dozen went on to combine for an 8-2 mark, highlighted by Sloan’s 6-4 overtime victory over second-seeded Bernie Truax of Cal Poly in the 197-pound weight class.
Truax posted an early takedown, but Sloan escaped quickly and grabbed a momentary 3-2 lead later in the period with a takedown of his own. The two wrestlers traded more escapes in the final two periods of regulation to send the match to overtime tied at 4-all.
Sloan took down Truax on the edge of the mat 49 seconds into the extra session to clinch becoming the second Jackrabbit All-American under head coach Damion Hahn. A senior from Alburnett, Iowa, Sloan is scheduled to face third-seeded Rocky Elam of Missouri in the semifinals Friday night in a rematch of their Big 12 Conference championship match 12 days ago.
SDSU will have a chance to match or exceed its record number of Division I-era All-Americans as three more Jackrabbit wrestlers stand one win away from a spot on the podium after winning two matches in the wrestlebacks earlier on Friday. The Jackrabbits produced three All-Americans in 2018, when Seth Gross, Luke Zilverberg and David Kocer accomplished the feat.
Clay Carlson, an All-American at 141 pounds in 2021, claimed two wins by decision Friday, downing Saul Ervin of SIU-Edwardsville, 3-2, before avenging two losses earlier in the season to Northern Iowa’s Cael Happel with a mix of dense and offense en route to a 7-3 victory.
Carlson, who now stands at 98 career victories, will face another longtime nemesis, Missouri’s Allan Hart, in the blood round Friday night.
Redshirt freshman Cael Swensen remained in contention in the 157-pound weight class after notching a pair of decisions over wrestlers from the Big Ten Conference. He opened the day with a 9-6 decision over Wisconsin’s Garrett Model, then survived an early takedown to outlast Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State, 4-3.
Swensen meets ninth-seeded Will Lewan of Michigan Friday night.
At 174 pounds, Cade DeVos accumulated nearly five minutes of riding time in recording a 6-1 decision over Army’s Benjamin Pasiuk in his first match of the day. About an hour later, DeVos needed overtime to oust 12th-seeded Aaron Olmos of Oregon State, 3-1.
DeVos is set to face No. 7 Peyton Mocco of Missouri.
Heavyweight A.J. Nevills made it 3-for-3 in overtime matches for the Jackrabbits as he advanced with a 3-1 sudden victory against Maryland’s Jaron Smith to open the day. Nevills’ final tournament run came to an end, however, with a 5-3 loss to Harvard’s Yarasalu Slavikouski.
Tanner Cook was also eliminated from the tournament Friday morning after suffering an 8-1 loss to Izzak Olejnik of Northern Illinois.
The Jackrabbits moved into a tie with Air Force for 15th in the team standings with 20 points. Penn State is the runaway leader with 78 points, followed by Iowa with 48 and Cornell with 45.5.
Friday’s night session begins at 7 p.m. Central and will be televised on ESPN.
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 (3-1 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
• vs. #8 Allan Hart, Missouri
157: #20 Cael Swensen, R-Fr., Plymouth, Minnesota (3-1 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
• vs. #9 Will Lewan, Michigan
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 (3-1 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]
• vs. #7 Peyton Mocco, Missouri
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]
• vs. #3 Rocky Elam, Missouri
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
1 Penn State 78.0
2 Iowa 48.0
3 Cornell 45.5
4 Nebraska 44.0
5 Michigan 39.0
6 Missouri 34.0
7 Ohio State 31.0
8 NC State 29.0
9 Iowa State 28.0
10 Arizona State 27.0
11 Lehigh 22.5
12 Northern Iowa 22.0
12 Princeton 22.0
14 Virginia Tech 21.0
15 Air Force 20.0
15 South Dakota State 20.0
17 Minnesota 18.0
17 North Carolina 18.0
17 Oklahoma State 18.0
20 Wisconsin 17.5
Check out Jackrabbit Wrestling at gojacks.com and on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram. Buy Jackrabbit Tickets
