Earlier this morning (March 22, 2014), 60 wrestlers earned their place in the top eight at the NCAA Division-1 national championships, which took place in Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In addition, they looked to earn points for their school for the tightly-contested team title.
To check out the four recaps across the last two days of wrestling coverage, click HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
The coverage continues at MMAmania.com, as we cover the end of the wrestle-back bracket, which gives wrestlers who have lost earlier in the competition a chance to work back to All-American status. It's a much harder road, but these wrestlers struggled back into the top eight of their respective divisions. Plus, take a look at the updated team standings and the championship match ups for later tonight.
Once they're released, we will update in the brackets as well.
Confirmed All-Americans/winners of wrestle-back division
125 pounds
Third: Nicholas Megaludis (Penn St.)
Fourth: Joey Dance (Virginia Tech.)
Fifth: Cory Clark (Iowa)
Sixth: Dylan Peters (Uni)
Seventh: Darian Cruz (Lehigh)
Eighth: Earl Hall (Iowa St.)
133 pounds
Third: Joe Colon (Uni)
Fourth: AJ Schopp (Edinboro)
Fifth: David Thorn (Minnesota)
Sixth: Mason Beckman (Lehigh)
Seventh: Joe Roth (Central Roth)
Eighth: Cody Brewer (Oklahoma)
141 pounds
Third: Mitchell Port (Edinboro)
Fourth: Evan Henderson (North Carolina)
Fifth: Zain Retherford (Penn St.)
Sixth: Joey Lazor (UNI)
Seventh: Steven Dutten III (Michigan)
Eighth: Richard Durso (Frank. and Marsh)
149 pounds
Third: Eric Grajales (Michigan)
Fourth: David Habat (Edinboro)
Fifth: Drake Houdashelt (Missouri)
Sixth: Mitchell Minotti (Lehigh)
Seventh: Kendrick Maple (Oklahoma St.)
Eighth: James English (Penn St.)
157 pounds
Third: James Green (Nebraska)
Fourth: Ian Miller (Kent. St.)
Fifth: Derek St. John (Iowa)
Sixth: Brian Realbuto (Cornell)
Seventh: Isaac Jordan (Wisconsin)
Eighth: Anthony Perrotti (Rutgers)
165 pounds
Third: Nicholas Sulzer (Virginia)
Fourth: Steven Monk (North Dakota St.)
Fifth: Michael Moreno (Iowa St.)
Sixth: Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (Citadel)
Seventh: Daniel Zilverberg (Minnesota)
Eighth: Pierce Harger (Northwestern)
174 pounds
Third: Logan Storley (Minnesota)
Fourth: Robert Kokesh (Nebraska)
Fifth: Matt Brown (Penn St.)
Sixth: Michael Evans (Iowa)
Seventh: Tyler Wilps (Pittsburgh)
Eighth: Bryce Hammond (CSU Bakersfield)
184 pounds
Third: Gabriel Dean (Cornell)
Fourth: Jake Deschow (Old Dominion)
Fifth: Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota)
Sixth: Lawrence Thomas (Penn)
Seventh: Jacob Swartz (Boise St.)
Eighth: Ophir Bernstein (Brown)d
197 pounds
Third: Scott Shiller (Minnesota)
Fourth: Kyvin Gadson (Iowa St.)
Fifth: Connor Hartman (Duke)
Sixth: Chris Penny (Virginia Tech.)
Seventh: Morgan McIntosh (Penn St.)
Eighth: Nathan Burak (Iowa)
285 pounds
Third: Michael McMullen (Northwestern)
Fourth: Bobby Telford (Iowa)
Fifth: Mike McClure (Michigan St.)
Sixth: Adam Chalfant (Indiana)
Seventh: Jeremy Johnson (Ohio)
Eighth: Austin Marsden (Oklahoma St.)
There you have it!
Team standings
1. Minnesota 104.0
2. Penn St. 101.5
3. Oklahoma St. 87.5
4. Iowa 74.5
5. Edinboro 62.0
6. Cornell 53.0
7. Ohio St. 52.0
8. Virginia Tech 49.0
9. Oklahoma 45.0
10. Nebraska 43.5
Although Penn St. has been holding the lead for a majority of the tournament, Minnesota managed to overtake them. However, Penn St. will have an opportunity to retake the lead later tonight and possibly capture their fourth straight win.
Championship matches
125 pounds
Jesse Delgado (Illinois) vs Nashon Garrett (Cornell)
133 pounds
Tyler Graff (Wisconsin) vs Tony Ramos (Iowa)
141 pounds
Devin Carter (Virginia Tech) vs Logan Stieber (Ohio St.)
149 pounds
Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern) vs Joshua Kindig (Oklahoma St.)
157 pounds
Dylan Ness (Minnesota) vs Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma St.)
165 pounds
David Taylor (Penn St.) vs Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma St.)
174 pounds
Andrew Howe (Oklahoma) vs Chris Perry (Oklahoma St.)
184 pounds
Jimmy Sheptock (Maryland) vs Edward Ruth (Penn St.)
197 pounds
J`Den Cox (Missouri) vs Nick Heflin (Ohio St.)
285 pounds
Anthony Nelson (Minnesota) vs Nick Gwiazdowski (North Carolina St.)
These matches start tonight at 7:00 p.m. and conclude the tournament. If you can't make it, be sure to check back at MMAmania.com afterward to see the full results.
UPDATE
The brackets are now available, check them out right HERE.