PHILADELPHIA - Freshman Devin Carter made it to the round of 12, but fell to seventh-seeded Bernard Futrell of Illinois, 10-3, at the NCAA Wrestling Championships Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena. The loss eliminates him from All-America contention, as well as the tournament.
Carter, who tweaked his knee earlier in the day, just couldn’t get anything going against Futrell as the Illinois wrestler took him down in the first period and rode him for over two minutes. In the second stanza, the ninth-seeded Carter chose neutral, but Futrell took him down twice to extend his lead to 6-1. Carter got a takedown in the third period, but Futrell escaped and got a late takedown of his own and with riding time, picked up the 10-3 win. Earlier in the year, Carter wrestled Futrell tough, falling 12-11 in the Las Vegas Invitational, but Futrell controlled the pace from the get-go in this one in picking up All-America honors.
Carter, from Christiansburg, Va., wraps up a stellar freshman campaign with a 35-7 record with 12 major decisions, three technical falls and 11 pins. HIs 35 wins, 12 majors and 11 pins all led the team. None of his seven losses came to a wrestler ranked or seeded below him and he is the heavy favorite to earn ACC Rookie of the Year honors.
With Carter’s elimination, it ends one of the great wrestling seasons in program history. The Hokies won 20 dual meets, tying the school record, and had three conference champions and seven NCAA qualifiers. The team finished sixth in the final NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll, a program high, but once the tournament season rolled around, the Hokies failed to win the ACC title and didn’t have any All-Americans.
“We did not get it done this weekend,” Tech head coach Kevin Dresser said. “We did have some good individual performances, however as a team, we weren’t sharp. I want to thank all who supported us and we will be back, hopefully much tougher and much wiser. I am going to pin this one on myself.”
Next season, the program is slated to return eight of the starters who finished the season in the starting lineup and will welcome another strong recruiting class to campus.
Next season’s NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
Below are the results for all seven Tech wrestlers who competed in the event.
125: #12 seed Jarrod Garnett (ELIMINATED)
First Round: def. Brad Pataky (Penn State), 13-7
Second Round: lost to #5 seed Zach Sanders (Minnesota), 8-6
Consolations: def. Manny Ramirez (UNCG), 8-4
Consolations: lost to #4 seed James Nicholson (ODU), 10-4
133: #9 seed Devin Carter (ELIMINATED)
First Round: def. Ian Paddock (Ohio State), MD 16-6
Second Round: lost to #8 seed Mike Grey (Cornell), 7-4
Consolations: def. Casey Cruz (Northern Colorado), 7-5
Consolations: def. Levi Mele (NW), MD 13-3
Consolations: lost to Bernard Futrell (Illinois), 10-3
141: Chris Diaz (ELIMINATED)
First Round: def. Mike Greck (Millersville), 6-0
Second Round: lost to #4 seed James Kennedy (Illinois), Fall 4:43
Consolations: withdrew due to injury
149: Brian Stephens (ELIMINATED)
First Round: lost #7 seed Mario Mason (Rutgers), 8-5
Consolations: lost to Kyle Bradley (Missouri), 3-2
157: #5 seed Jesse Dong (ELIMINATED)
First Round: def. Matt Cathell (Kent State), 6-2
Second Round: lost to #12 seed Paul Young (Indiana), 9-4
Consolations: def. Kyle John (Maryland), 7-5
Consolations: lost to Mark Lewandowski (Buffalo), 7-0
165: Pete Yates (ELIMINATED)
First Round: def. #11 Aaron Janssen (Iowa), 4-2
Second Round: lost to Paul Gillespie (Hofstra), 5-2
Consolations: lost to Kyle Blevins (App St), 3-1
285: David Marone (ELIMINATED)
First Round: def. Blake Rosholt (Oklahoma State), 2-1 (TB-1)
Second Round: lost to #1 seed Zach Rey, 3-1 (SV)
Consolations: lost to #6 seed Ryan Tomei (Pitt), 6-2
For updates on Virginia Tech wrestling, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Wrestling).