NCAA Conference Week #1 Roundup
NCAA Conference Week #1 Roundup
If you missed any of the action from NCAA conference weekend #1, check out the roundup for the weekend's top stories.
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One of the benefits of this strange pandemic season is a double dose of conference weekend. The EIWA, MAC, SoCon, PAC-12, and ACC all wrapped their conference tournaments this weekend, and we still have Big Tens and Big 12s to come next week.
We've been keeping track of results as well as NCAA automatic qualifiers, so if you need results from each conference, check them out below and then read the weekend's top stories.
NC State Keeps ACC Title At Home
The NC State Wolfpack hosted perhaps the second toughest conference tournament in the country, and they kept the ACC title in Raleigh along with individual conference crowns at 141 lbs (Tariq Wilson), 157 lbs (Hayden Hidlay), 174 (Daniel Bullard), 184 lbs (Trent Hidlay), and 285 lbs (Deonte Wilson).
Trent Hidlay avenged his three losses to Virginia Tech's Hunter Bolen and celebrated with an air-guitar solo followed by raising the roof.
OT win over #1 to win his first ACC Championship, @hoagieboyhidlay Raised the Roof!!! pic.twitter.com/1j9DkTjuoW
— NC State Wrestling 🤼♂️ (@PackWrestle) March 1, 2021
The final bout of the night came at 125 between Virginia Tech's #2 Sam Latona and NC State's #3 Jakob Camacho. This bout finished the dual between the top two squads in the ACC, and it was the final match of the night again. Latona won the bout on rideouts in a match that again proved how tight this rivalry remains.
Lehigh Wins 4th Straight EIWA Title
The Lehigh Mountain Hawks have faced their share of adversity this season, but their four individual EIWA champs were enough to propel the team to its fourth conference championship in as many years. They also qualified all ten starters for the NCAA Championships in St. Louis.
Probably the biggest individual star of the conference tournament was Bucknell's Zach Hartman who won the title at 165 lbs by upsetting Navy's Tanner Skidgel. Hartman will look to do damage at NCAAs.
Sacred Heart made big noise at EIWAs by qualifying two wrestlers for NCAAs. They haven't had a national qualifier since 2007. Sacred Heart will bring 157-pounder Nick Palumbo and 184-pounder Joe Accousti to St. Louis.
Missouri Punches 10 To St. Louis With MAC Title
The Missouri Tigers will take a fully loaded team to NCAAs after outpacing second place Central Michigan by 59.5 points at the MAC Championships. Missouri ended up with four champs, followed closely in the title count by Central Michigan who had three.
Perhaps the least likely results came at 141 lbs where #4 Alan Hart was knocked off in the semis by Rider's McKenzie Bell. Ultimately, #10 Dresden Simon took out Bell for the MAC title at 141 lbs.
Campbell Wins Third Straight SoCon Title
The Campbell Camels took home their third Southern Conference championship in a row, and they automatically qualified five wrestlers for the NCAA Championships in three weeks.
Appalachian State followed close on the heels of the Camels by finishing in second and automatically qualifying five wrestlers of their own for NCAAs by winning titles at the first five weights in the SoCon finals. With just 13 total automatic bids for NCAAs, Campbell and App State were the hands-down winners of conference weekend.
That’s 3 straight SoCon Team Championships! #GoCamels🐪 pic.twitter.com/uFHfiu5xjJ
— Campbell Wrestling (@GoCamelsWrestle) March 1, 2021
Arizona State Cruises to PAC-12 Crown
The Sun Devils will bring half of the PAC-12 titles back to Tempe along with the conference team trophy. Arizona won conference crowns at 125 lbs (Brandon Courtney), 157 lbs (Jacori Teemer), 165 lbs (Anthony Valencia), 197 lbs (Kordell Norfleet), and 285 lbs (Cohlton Schultz).
BIG GUY TAKES GOLD🥇🥇@TheCohlTrain WITH THE DUB 🏆🏆 #ForksUp x #O2V
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) March 1, 2021
📺 Pac-12 live stream: https://t.co/lco0MUZQNk pic.twitter.com/PemF5F8Gxg
The host team, Oregon State, finished in second in Head Coach Chris Pendleton's first season at the helm. Stanford, who has been fighting for the life of the program since this summer, finished in third.