By Bret Strelow for App State Sports. BOONE, N.C. — The SoCon Championship brackets were released Wednesday with an App State wrestler seeded No. 1 at half of the 10 weights.
The 20th-ranked Mountaineers went 8-0 in SoCon duals and possess five individuals who went unbeaten in league duals during the regular season to earn top seeds: Caleb Smith (8-0 at 125 pounds), Ethan Oakley (7-0 at 133 pounds), Jon Jon Millner (8-0 at 149 pounds), Tommy Askey (8-0 at 157 pounds) and Will Formato (8-0 at 165 pounds).
Will Miller (174 pounds) and true freshman Carson Floyd (197 pounds) are seeded No. 2 in their brackets thanks to 7-1 records in SoCon duals. Heath Gonyer (6-2 at 141 pounds) and Jacob Sartorio (4-2 at heavyweight) are No. 3 seeds, while redshirt freshman Luke Uliano (5-3 at 184 pounds) is seeded fifth despite having the fourth-best record in a bracket with three ranked upperclassmen.
The SoCon Championship will run all day Saturday at the Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, with doors opening at 9 a.m. and competition starting at 10 a.m. Semifinals are tentatively scheduled for noon, followed by consolation matches at 2:30 p.m. and consolation finals at 5:30 p.m. before the championship finals begin at 7 p.m.
There will be eight-man brackets at each weight — there are nine teams in the SoCon, but Bellarmine is not eligible for postseason competition yet.
Each champion in the 10 weight classes Saturday will qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships that will be held from March 16-18 in Tulsa, Okla. Based on pre-allocations from the NCAA, the SoCon’s second-place finishers at 133 pounds and 174 pounds will also qualify automatically — if a runner-up hasn’t faced the third-place finisher in a bracket, they meet after the championship finals to determine a true second place at that weight.
There are typically four to five NCAA at-large berths for each weight class — openings for ranked wrestlers who don’t qualify automatically.
The SoCon has as many as three ranked wrestlers at two weights: 133 pounds and 184 pounds.
That means ranked wrestlers from Campbell and Chattanooga could potentially meet in a semifinal on the opposite half of the bracket from the top-seeded Oakley. At 184, the top seeds in front of Uliano are No. 1 seed Caleb Hopkins of Campbell (ranked No. 30), No. 2 seed Jha’Quan Anderson of Gardner-Webb (ranked No. 33) and No. 3 seed Matthew Waddell of Chattanooga (ranked No. 28).
The SoCon weight classes with two ranked wrestlers are 125, 141 and 165.
WEIGHT CLASS SEEDS
125 (1 NCAA allocation)
#1 Caleb Smith, App State
#2 Dominic Chavez, Presbyterian
#3 Anthony Molton, Campbell
#4 Drew West, Gardner-Webb
#5 Blair Orr, The Citadel
#6 Logan Ashton, UTC
#7 Tony Burke, VMI
#8 Devon Diaco, Davidson
133 (2 NCAA allocations)
#1 Ethan Oakley, App State
#2 Dom Zaccone, Campbell
#3 Brayden Palmer, UTC
#4 Todd Carter, Gardner-Webb
#5 George Rosas, The Citadel
#6 Jackson Sichelstiel, Davidson
#7 Jake Brasseur, Presbyterian
#8 Dyson Dunham, VMI
141 (1 NCAA allocation)
#1 Shannon Hanna, Campbell
#2 Zach Price, Gardner-Webb
#3 Heath Gonyer, App State
#4 Franco Valdes, UTC
#5 Jacob Silka, The Citadel
#6 Freddy Junko, VMI
#7 Trent Donahue, Presbyterian
#8 Josh Viarengo, Davidson
149 (1 NCAA allocation)
#1 Jon Jon Millner, App State
#2 Noah Castillo, UTC
#3 Chris Rivera, Campbell
#4 Ryan Vigil, VMI
#5 Ethan Willis, The Citadel
#6 Noah Frack, Davidson
#7 Khalid Brinkley, Presbyterian
#8 Parker Corwin, Gardner-Webb
157 (1 NCAA allocation)
#1 Tommy Askey, App State
#2 Troy Nation, Campbell
#3 Tanner Peake, Davidson
#4 Lincoln Heck, UTC
#5 Job Chishko, VMI
#6 Anthony Allen, The Citadel
#7 Tyler Brignola, Gardner-Webb
#8 Michael Ramirez, Presbyterian
165 (1 NCAA allocation)
#1 Will Formato, App State
#2 RJ Mosley, Gardner-Webb
#3 Weston Wichman, UTC
#4 Dom Baker, Campbell
#5 Braxton Lewis, VMI
#6 Bryce Sanderlin, Davidson
#7 Tyler Chittum, Presbyterian
#8 Brodie Porter, The Citadel
174 (2 NCAA allocations)
#1 Rocky Jordan, UTC
#2 Will Miller, App State
#3 Ben Haubert, The Citadel
#4 Jon Hoover, VMI
#5 Jaden Hardrick, Davidson
#6 Cole Rees, Campbell
#7 Zach Wells, Presbyterian
#8 Andrew Wilson, Gardner-Webb
184 (1 NCAA allocation)
#1 Caleb Hopkins, Campbell
#2 Jha’Quan Anderson, Gardner-Webb
#3 Matthew Waddell, UTC
#4 Cordel Duhart, Presbyterian
#5 Luke Uliano, App State
#6 Tim Fitzpatrick, The Citadel
#7 Zach Brown, VMI
#8 Cameo Blankenship, Davidson
197 (1 NCAA allocation)
#1 Levi Hopkins, Campbell
#2 Carson Floyd, App State
#3 Sam Mora, Gardner-Webb
#4 Tyler Mousaw, VMI
#5 Jake Boyd, UTC
#6 Malcolm Wiley, Presbyterian
#7 Gavin Henry, Davidson
#8 Mark Chaid, The Citadel
285 (1 NCAA allocations)
#1 Taye Ghadiali, Campbell
#2 Jonathan Chesser, The Citadel
#3 Jacob Sartorio, App State
#4 Logan Andrew, UTC
#5 Josh Evans, VMI
#6 Jake Fernicola, Davidson
#7 Abraham Preston, Gardner-Webb
#8 Morvens Saint Jean, Presbyterian
