Zac Braunagel Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals
March 17, 2022 | Wrestling
Recap
Detroit, MI – Fighting Illini redshirt sophomore Zac Braunagel advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 184-pound bracket on the first day of NCAA Wrestling Championships at Little Caesar Arena. The No. 9 seed, Braunagel scored two victories, highlighted by a sudden-victory pin of No. 8 seed Marcus Coleman (Iowa State) in Friday night's second round. No. 7 Lucas Byrd (133 pounds) and No. 14 Luke Luffman (285 pounds) remain alive in consolation brackets after splitting their two matches on Thursday.
Brackets | Championship Central
"With the strength of a bolder tumbling down a hillside."@BraunagelZac ?? pic.twitter.com/wl3btdNbSu
— Illinois Wrestling (@IlliniWrestling) March 18, 2022
Coming off a third-place finish at Big Ten Championships, Braunagel opened his 2022 NCAA Championships with a commanding 11-4 decision against No. 24 seed Caleb Hopkins (Campbell), scoring three takedowns in the first period and two more in the final period to clinch it.
The Belleville, Illinois native returned Thursday night and battled through a defensive struggle against Iowa State's 184 pounder. With both wrestlers scrambling in and out of trouble for three periods, the match reached sudden victory where Braunagel put Coleman on his back and quickly got both shoulders on the mat. The two victories on Thursday set up a match against top-seeded Myles Amine (Michigan) on Friday morning.
No. 14 seed Luke Luffman split a pair of major decisions on Thursday, winning his opening match, 10-2, against (19) Luke Surber (OKST) with five takedowns. Luffman dropped his evening match against No. 3 (3) Tony Cassioppi (Iowa), 12-3 and will begin competition in the heavyweight consolation bracket on Friday.
No. 7 seed Lucas Byrd bounced back from an opening-round defeat with a 3-1 decision over No. 23 seed Anthony Madrigal (Oklahoma) in the 133-pound consolation bracket. Tied 0-0 in the third period, Byrd, starting on bottom, executed a reversal and added a point for riding time to advance to the second round of wrestlebacks.
The No. 27 seed at 125 pounds, Justin Cardani dropped both of his matches to conclude his NCAA Championships appearance.
The action continues on Friday at 10 a.m. central time on ESPNU with quarterfinal matches as well as two rounds of the consolation bracket. Friday's evening session begins at 7 p.m. central time on ESPN with semifinals and two more rounds of wrestlebacks.
Match by match:
125: (27) Justin Cardani
Champ Round 1: Lost by major dec. to (6) Eric Barnett (WIS), 9-0
Cons. Round 1: vs. Lost by decision to (22) Ryan Miller (PENN), 5-1
Justin Cardani is eliminated.
133: (7) Lucas Byrd
Champ Round 1: Lost by fall to (26) Matt Ramos (PUR), 2:27
Cons. Round 1: vs. Won by decision over (23) Anthony Madrigal (OU), 3-1.
Cons. Round 2: vs. (9) Michael Colaiocco (PENN)
184: (9) Zac Braunagel
Champ Round 1: Won by decision over (24) Caleb Hopkins (CAMP), 11-4
Champ Round 2: Won by fall over (8) Marcus Coleman (ISU), SV-6:47
Quarterfinals: vs. (1) Myles Amine (MICH)
285: (14) Luke Luffman
Champ Round 1: Won by major decision over (19) Luke Surber (OKST), 10-2
Champion Round 2: Lost by major decision against (3) Tony Cassioppi (Iowa), 12-3
