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 10th seed at 184
pounds for the tournament. Kirk is 22-3
this season; he also placed 2nd 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 12th 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 (16th 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 10th 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