2024 NCAA DI National Championships Preview (285 lbs)

The 2024 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships are less than a week away! In a few short days, 330 wrestlers will make the trek to Kansas City, with hopes of a national title on their minds. Now it's in a city that hasn't hosted nationals since 2003 , but by all accounts, should be a great host. Before the action on the mat starts, InterMat will go through each individual bracket and highlight the favorites, top matches to watch, and much more. The Top Seed: Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) For the first time, Greg Kerkvliet doesn’t have to worry about a Hodge Trophy winner blocking his way to a national championship. In 2021 and 2022 it was Gable Steveson, last year it was Mason Parris. Now, it’s his turn to make a case for the Hodge and get that elusive national title. Kerkvliet comes into the national tournament with a perfect 15-0 record and bonus points in over 70% of his contests. Kerkvliet is another version of this new breed of heavyweights that isn’t content to handfight and win 2-1 decisions. The nine points he scored in the Big Ten semifinals and championship bout represent his lowest scoring output of the tournament and in the final month and a half of the season. In fact, Kerkvliet was held to less than nine points only three times during the 2023-24 campaign. After winning the Journeymen Collegiate Classic during the second weekend of the regular season, Kerkvliet was selected to compete in the NWCA All-Star Match on Penn State’s campus against 2023 NCAA third-place finisher Wyatt Hendrickson. Kerkvliet needed less than five minutes to rack up an impressive 18-2 tech fall. You could probably argue that Hendrickson was feeling the aftermath of a knee injury suffered during the freestyle season; however, a win is a win. Kerkvliet’s path to a national title may not be as easy as most top seeds. There’s the possibility of a Big Ten finals rematch in the quarterfinals, as Nick Feldman is the ninth seed. The freshman, Feldman, earned the first takedown in the B1G championship match; however, it was all Kerkvliet after that. A potential semifinal could pit Kerkvliet against the only active collegiate wrestler with a career win against him, Cohlton Schultz. As the Hendrickson match got a disclaimer, Kerkvliet will get one as he was wrestling in the 2021 national tournament injured and has improved greatly since then. The Contenders: #2 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State), #3 Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) The Conference Champions ACC: #8 Owen Trephan (NC State) Big 12: #2 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) Big Ten: #1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) EIWA: #5 Nathan Taylor (Lehigh) MAC: #18 David Szuba (Rider) Pac-12: #4 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) SoCon: #7 Taye Ghadiali (Campbell) Top First-Round Matches #16 Cory Day (Binghamton) vs. #17 Grady Griess (Navy) #12 Konner Doucet (Oklahoma State) vs. #21 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) #15 Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) vs. #18 David Szuba (Rider) I’m not sure what’s been more of a pleasant surprise this year, Yonger Bastida’s transition to heavyweight or his surprisingly fun social media/meme game. Another one dropped today! In both area’s Bastida has been a force; however, on the mat, he’s amassed a 24-0 record with bonus points in over 70% of his matches. Bastida put the country on notice a month into the season as he won the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational with bonus points in four of his five matches. A 5-3 win over two-time All-American Lucas Davison in the championship match was the lone regular decision. In early January, Bastida showed he could win a different style of match after he grinded out a 4-3 decision over multi-time All-American and Greco world team member Cohlton Schultz. Bastida locked up the second seed after handing Hendrickson his first regular season loss since December of 2022. In that match, Bastida showed some unreal defense and counter-offense against the dangerous Hendrickson. Speaking of Hendrickson, he’ll hold the third seed. Once again, he’s going to the national tournament with a resume that includes a boatload of bonus-point wins. 17 of Hendrickson’s 22 wins have come via fall. Last year, Hendrickson became Air Force’s first All-American in 20 years. That most recent All-American, Kevin Hoy, is also the last Air Force wrestler to AA twice. Senior Greco-Roman World Team member Cohlton Schultz comes in as the fourth seed. Schultz recently qualified the United States for the 2024 Games in Greco right before the Pac-12 Championships. Back on the folkstyle scene, Schultz captured his fourth Pac-12 title and is in line to get on the podium for the fourth time. This will be the fourth time that Schultz has had a top-five seed at nationals. Before that Schultz/Kerkvliet matchup, the Sun Devil star will likely have to go through EIWA champion #5 Nathan Taylor of Lehigh. Taylor had a breakout sophomore campaign that saw him lose only three times in 26 matches, two of which were against Kerkvliet. Early in the season, Taylor notched wins over #8 Owen Trephan and #18 David Szuba, who went on to win their respective conference tournaments. He’ll be in a position to build off a 1-2 showing at nationals as a freshman. Veteran Zach Elam slides into the sixth seed. Elam only has two losses on the year and both came against the #2 seed Bastida. Elam has been a podium threat his entire career, twice finishing in the Round of 12 and clocking in with a sixth-place finish last season. The SoCon Wrestler of the Year, Taye Ghadiali, holds the seventh seed at this weight. Ghadiali was a third-place finisher at the CKLV and holds a 12-match winning streak. In SoCon action, Ghadiali pinned or teched all of his competitors. The #8/#9 matchup on the top of the bracket is quite interesting with the ACC champion Trephan and Feldman. The pair met at the Collegiate Duals in mid-December and Trephan got the 8-6 victory; however, Feldman is wrestling much better of late and has two late-season wins over Davison. Darkhorse All-American Candidate: #13 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers) Based on seeds alone, a #13 breaking into the top ten can be unexpected. Seeing that #13 seed is Yaraslau Slavikouski, I’m not sure many people would be surprised if he were to make the top eight in his final try. Slavikouski was a sixth seed last year and finished in the bloodround. A late-season lull and a fourth-place finish at the Big Ten took Slavikouski from a top-eight seed to outside of the top ten. While he has a potentially difficult Round of 16 matchup with Schultz staring him in the face, Slavikouski is capable of making a run through the consi’s. Extreme (20+) Darkhorse All-American Contender: #21 Dayton Pitzer (Pittsburgh) I don’t know exactly what to expect from Pitt’s star freshman big man Dayton Pitzer. The Pennsylvania native came into the year with high expectations largely due to his performance at the 2022 Midlands, when he upset All-Americans Cohlton Schultz and Trent Hillger. Pitzer got off to a solid start this season, but was injured during a late-January dual versus Schultz. At the time, Panther head coach Keith Gavin said Pitzer was shut down until a potential postseason run. Pitzer returned for the ACC Championships and seemed to acquit himself well in a 7-3 loss to Trephan. He would get third, but needed to receive an at-large berth since the conference only earned two automatic berths. With another week and a half of preparation and rest under his belt, where is Pitzer? Is he capable of being a bracket-buster? His tournament will start with #12 Konner Doucet. Doucet defeated Pitzer 3-0 in his final bout before getting injured against Schultz. Should Pitzer find a way to get by Doucet, he’d likely have #5 Taylor. Pitzer is responsible for Taylor’s only non-Kerkvliet loss of the year. Again, if healthy, there’s a blueprint for Pitzer to go far in this tournament. The Team Race: There are plenty of potential team race implications involved in this weight class. Someone like Lucas Davison, in particular. At #10, he’s seeded and projected to miss the podium. In reality, I don’t think that happens. Getting Davison to wrestle above his seed certainly is positive for the Blue. There’s a scenario where Davison and Doucet meet in the Round of 12. Both squads will need those points. Speaking of the bloodround, our brackets have Trephan and Elam hitting for a spot on the podium, too. On the front side, the potential quarterfinal between Taylor and Schultz will see two top-heavy, tournament-style teams collide and one will get a guaranteed top-six finish. Projected Quarterfinals #1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #9 Nick Feldman (Ohio State) #5 Nathan Taylor (Lehigh) vs. #4 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) #3 Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) vs. #6 Zach Elam (Missouri) #10 Lucas Davison (Michigan) vs. #2 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) Projected Semifinals #1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. #4 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) #3 Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) vs. #3 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) Projected All-Americans 1st) Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) 2nd) Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) 3rd) Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) 4th) Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) 5th) Nick Feldman (Ohio State) 6th) Lucas Davison (Michigan) 7th) Zach Elam (Missouri) 8th) Nathan Taylor (Lehigh) Projected Round of 12 Finishers: #7 Taye Ghadiali (Campbell), #11 Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma), #12 Konner Doucet (Oklahoma State), #8 Owen Trephan (NC State) Projected Consolation Round of 16 Finishers: #15 Lewis Fernandes (Cornell), #14 Boone McDermott (Oregon State), #13 Yaraslau Slavikouski (Rutgers), #16 Cory Day (Binghamton)

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2024 NCAA DI National Championships Preview (285 lbs)

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