NCAA Wrestling Championships by the numbers

By The Numbers

The 2019 NCAA Division I wrestling championships will be held Thursday-Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. Here are some interesting numbers:

3: Franklin Regional graduates who are entered in the event: Iowa sophomore Spencer Lee (125 pounds), Arizona State junior Josh Maruca (149) and Arizona State junior Josh Shields (165). Lee is a returning champion, and Shields place seventh in 2018. Both are seeded third. Iowa senior Michael Kemerer would have been in the tournament, but an injury forced him to redshirt.

6: Returning champions from 2018: Lee (125), Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis (141), Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia (174), and Penn State trio of Jason Nolf (Kittanning, 157), Vincenzo Joseph (Central Catholic, 165) and Bo Nickal (184). Penn State’s Mark Hall (174) in 2017 and Ohio State’s Myles Martiin (174) in 2016 won it previous seasons.

9: Penn State wrestlers who qualified. Those to qualify are: 133 pounds – Roman Bravo-Young; 141 – Nick Lee; 149 – Brady Berge; 157 — Jason Nolf; 164 —Vincenzo Joseph; 174 — Mark Hall; 184 – Shakur Rasheed; 197 – Bob Nickal; 285 – Anthony Cessar.

21: WPIAL wrestlers qualified for the tournament. Competing in the tournament are Lee, Maruca, Shields, Nolf, Joseph; Latrobe’s Luke Pletcher (Ohio State), Ethan Smith (Ohio State) and Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech); Belle Vernon’s Zack Hartman (Bucknell); Norwin’s Drew Phipps (Norwin); Penn-Trafford’s Cam Coy (Virginia), Derry’s Mickey Phillippi (Pitt); Mt. Lebanon’s Kellan Stout (Pitt); Bethel Park’s Nico Bonaccorsi (Pitt); Waynesburg’s A.C. Headlee (North Carolina); South Fayette’s Michael Carr (Illinois); North Hills’ Gage Curry (American); North Allegheny’s Jake Woodley (Oklahoma); Penn Hills; Te’Shan Campbell (Ohio State); Hempfield’s Sam Krivus (Virginia); and South Park’s Greg Bulsak (Clarion).

330: There are 33 wrestlers in the each of the 10 weight classes. The will be one preliminary-round bout in each weight class.