Northwestern University Athletics
Four Wildcats to Compete at 2018 NCAA Championships
3/6/2018 2:04:00 PM | Wrestling
EVANSTON, Ill. — Four Wildcats will compete at the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, from March 15-17.
FULL LIST OF NCAA QUALIFIERS
No. 8 Sebastian Rivera (125), No. 5 Ryan Deakin (149), No. 18 Johnny Sebastian (174) and No. 17 Conan Jennings (285) will represent Northwestern at the 88th NCAA Championships.
It will be the second-straight year of NCAA qualification for Sebastian and Jennings, while Rivera and Deakin will be competing in the post-season event for the first time in their rookie campaigns.
The Wildcats placed five grapplers at the 2018 Big Ten Championships in East Lansing, Michigan, which wrapped up on Sunday. For NU, its five place-winners were its most since 2015, when six Wildcat wrestlers finished in the top-eight at Big Tens.
Chicago's Big Ten Team was highlighted by a career-best finish by Sebastian, who finished in fourth place. His path included a 2-1 decision over No. 12 Dylan Lydy (Purdue) and a 3-2 decision over Joey Gunther of Iowa.
Jennings notched a pair of ranked victories leading up to his career-best fifth-place finish, knocking off No. 6 Youssif Hemida (Maryland) via 3-2 decision in the final bout of the event. The Centerville, Ohio, native also pinned No. 17 Shawn Streck (Purdue) in only 44 seconds in his wrestleback path.
Rivera (fifth place) and Deakin (sixth place) both placed in their first trip to Big Tens.
The brackets for the NCAA Championships will be announced on the Selection Show on NCAA.com tomorrow at 5 p.m. CT.
FULL LIST OF NCAA QUALIFIERS
No. 8 Sebastian Rivera (125), No. 5 Ryan Deakin (149), No. 18 Johnny Sebastian (174) and No. 17 Conan Jennings (285) will represent Northwestern at the 88th NCAA Championships.
It will be the second-straight year of NCAA qualification for Sebastian and Jennings, while Rivera and Deakin will be competing in the post-season event for the first time in their rookie campaigns.
The Wildcats placed five grapplers at the 2018 Big Ten Championships in East Lansing, Michigan, which wrapped up on Sunday. For NU, its five place-winners were its most since 2015, when six Wildcat wrestlers finished in the top-eight at Big Tens.
Chicago's Big Ten Team was highlighted by a career-best finish by Sebastian, who finished in fourth place. His path included a 2-1 decision over No. 12 Dylan Lydy (Purdue) and a 3-2 decision over Joey Gunther of Iowa.
Jennings notched a pair of ranked victories leading up to his career-best fifth-place finish, knocking off No. 6 Youssif Hemida (Maryland) via 3-2 decision in the final bout of the event. The Centerville, Ohio, native also pinned No. 17 Shawn Streck (Purdue) in only 44 seconds in his wrestleback path.
Rivera (fifth place) and Deakin (sixth place) both placed in their first trip to Big Tens.
The brackets for the NCAA Championships will be announced on the Selection Show on NCAA.com tomorrow at 5 p.m. CT.
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