Record Nine Broncos Ready For NCAA's

A record contingent of Bronco wrestlers is in St. Louis for the opening of the NCAA national championships tomorrow morning. Coach Greg Randall's squad blew away the competition two weeks ago to capture their fourth Pac-10 title.

Boise State sends a record nine wrestlers into tomorrow’s NCAA National Tournament in St. Louis.  The Broncos blasted the competition to capture the Pac-10 Championship two weeks ago in Eugene.

Although Boise State has captured four Pac-10 titles, numerous Big Sky championships and have placed as high as #10 at the NCAA’s, Coach Greg Randall’s Broncos are a team on the rise.  Intermat ranked last year’s recruiting class fourth in the nation.  While most of those recruits are waiting in the wings, the nine Broncos who will be competing in St. Louis are strong competitors.

Tyler Sherfey will take on Christopher Stout of American in the first round at 157 pounds.  Sherfey was 27-6 this season, including a second place showing at the Pac-10 tournament. 

One of the freshman from that highly touted Bronco class is Kirk Smith.  Smith earned the 10^th seed at 184 pounds for the tournament.  Kirk is 22-3 this season; he also placed 2^nd at the Pac-10 Championships.  Smith will take on Jacob Devlin of Air Force in the second round—both wrestlers received first-round byes. 

Cory Fish (20-6) will meet 12^th seed Andrae Hernandez from Indiana in the 133-pound bracket.  Hernandez was 20-11 but finished sixth at the Big 10 tournament.  Sophomore Levi Jones takes on Germaine Lindsey of Ohio in the opening round at 141 pounds.  Jones battled through an injury this season with an 8-4 record but finished third in the Pac-10 while Lindsey is 19-14. 

Adam Hall received a bye at 149 pounds and will meet 2006 national champion Dustin Schlatter from Minnesota.  Schlatter is the #2 seed this year and finished second at the Big 10 tournament.  Hall was second in the Pac-10.  These two have already met this season with Schlatter taking a 7-3 decision.

Freshman Kurt Swartz (16^th in the country) will meet Chad Porter of Liberty in the opening round at 165 pounds.  Swartz was 24-4, with one of those losses coming in the Pac-10 championship match.  Porter (25-17) won the East Regional.

Nate Lee has the task of facing the #8 seed at 174 pounds, Minnesota’s Gabe Dretsch.  That’s a rather tough opening match for the Pac-10 Champion who is 16-4 this season!  Dretsch is 28-10 but finished second at the Big 10 tourney.

Matt Casperson will face 10^th seed Joel Flaggert from Oklahoma at 197 pounds.  Casperson was 13-2 after moving up in weight and finished third at the Pac-10 championships.  Flaggert (22-5) was fourth at the Big 12 tournament.

The complete bracket can be found here:  http://www.ncaa.com/uploadedFi...resBrackets.pdf