Four-Time Qualifiers, Not Yet All-Americans
Four-Time Qualifiers, Not Yet All-Americans
We run down a list of wrestlers making their fourth trip to the NCAA Wrestling Championships who have yet to earn All-American honors.
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Qualifying for the NCAA Championships is extremely difficult. Any athlete that can boost an appearance at nationals has accomplished something the vast majority of the wrestlers in America will never come close to achieving. Appear four times at the big dance and you've set put yourself in even more exclusive company.
The following athletes have all achieved that rare feat of making it to their fourth NCAA Championship, yet they are also all still hoping to earn their first All-American honor. If you will be following the NCAAs and are looking for someone to cheer for to make it to the podium on Saturday, I would suggest considering these worthy candidates.
Sean Fausz (North Carolina State)
#14 seed at 125
Previous finishes: 24, 12, 24
Fausz was the #5 seed last year, the highest seed of any of his trips to the NCAAs.
Elijah Oliver (Indiana)
#15 seed at 125
Previous finishes: 24, 32, 24
Josh Alber (Northern Iowa)
#4 seed at 141
Previous finishes: 24, 16, 32
Alber is the second highest seed in our list of competitors.
Watch Alber win a title at Midlands with his coach Doug Schwab mic'd up:
Bryan Lantry (Buffalo)
#18 seed at 141
Previous finishes: 24, 16, 32
Lantry is the only wrestler in this article who's program does not compete in a Power 5 conference.
Mitch Finesilver (Duke)
#3 at 149 pounds
Previous finishes: 33, 12, 16
Mitch will be competing alongside three of his brothers who also qualified for the NCAAs. They are all part of the Duke program as well. Mitch has the highest seed of any of the wrestlers who are four-time qualifiers without an All-American honor.
Watch Finesilver take out All-American Max Thomsen at the CKLV:
Davion Jeffries (Oklahoma)
#16 seed at 149
Previous finishes: 16, 32, 32
Te`Shan Campbell (Ohio State)
#21 seed at 165
Previous finishes: 32, 16, 16
Ryan Christensen (Wisconsin)
#15 seed at 174
Previous finishes: 32, 16, 24
Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)
#8 seed at 184
Previous finishes: 24, 12, 12
Ryan is the only wrestler in this article who has reached the bloodround more than twice. As the #8 seed, and with Myles Martin as the #1 seed, he will likely have to go through the bloodround once more to finally reach the final eight of the NCAA tournament.
Watch Ryan Preisch beat All-American Jacobe Smith with his coach Brad Dillon mic'd up:
Nick Gravina (Rutgers)
#21 seed at 184
Previous finishes: 24, 12, 16
Injuries have taken a toll one of the gutsiest wrestlers in the NCAA.
Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech)
#10 seed at 197
Previous finishes: 32, 16, 32
Tom competed at Bucknell in the three previous seasons in which he qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Billy Miller (Virginia Tech)
#22 seed at 285
Previous finishes: 24, 24, 16
Like Sleigh, Smith also transferred to the Hokies from a different program, in Smith's case Edinboro, in search of that elusive All-American award.