Vito Arujau Hands Crookham First Loss, Returns To NCAA Wrestling Finals
Vito Arujau Hands Crookham First Loss, Returns To NCAA Wrestling Finals
After two previous losses to Ryan Crookham, returning NCAA champion Vito Arujau put on a show Friday night, handing the Lehigh freshman his first loss.
Vito Arujau felt he owed Ryan Crookham something after losing twice to the Lehigh freshman this season.
It wasn’t about a settling of the scores for the reigning NCAA and World champion from Cornell but rather putting the best version of himself on display Friday night in the national semifinals.
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“The season’s been very challenging for me in the fact that I’ve been — for the first time ever really in my career — I’ve been dealing with a lot of pretty serious debilitating injuries,” Arujau said Friday afternoon following his 13-3 major decision win against North Carolina State’s Kai Orine in the 133-pound NCAA quarterfinals. “I feel like I had not exactly given my best. More than anything it’s unfair to (Crookham) to let him go on and believe he has bested me twice when in reality I feel like I’ve given out inferior versions of myself. I just want to do right by everybody by bringing my best to the table. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose, it’s just that I wrestle my best.”
Friday night was vintage Vito.
The Cornell senior piled up four takedowns and cruised to a 13-3 major decision win against the previously unbeaten Lehigh freshman.
Crookham knocked off then-#1 Arujau 8-4 on Nov. 12 and posted a 10-6 win in their rematch at the EIWA finals.
“I think I’m wrestling significantly better than I did both times when we wrestled previously,” Arujau said Friday afternoon. “I’m excited to give him a picture of what it actually looks like to wrestle Vito Arujau.”
Arujau will wrestle Saturday night against Oklahoma State’s top-seeded Daton Fix, a three-time runner-up in search of his first title. Arujau stopped Fix’s championship chase last year in the NCAA semifinals with an 11-3 major decision.
Fix survived a pair of overtime battles Friday to secure his return trip to the national finals. He clipped Iowa State’s Evan Frost 2-1 in a tiebreaker in the quarterfinals and then downed Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin 3-2 in a tiebreaker in the semis.
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NCAA Wrestling Tournament 2024 Schedule
The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championship will be held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri from March 21-23.
Complete schedule
- Session 1 - Championship First Round Thursday March 21 12pm ESPNU/ESPN+
- Session 2 - Championship Second Round + Consolations Thursday March 21 7pm ESPN/ESPN+
- Session 3 - Championships Quarterfinals + Consolations Friday March 22 12pm ESPNU/ESPN+
- Session 4 - Championship Semifinals + Blood Round Friday March 22 8pm ESPN/ESPN+
- Session 5 - Medal Round Saturday March 23 11am ESPNU/ESPN+
- Session 6 - Championship Finals Saturday March 23 7pm ESPN/ESPN+
Where Are The NCAA Wrestling Championships 2024
The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championship will be held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri from March 21-23.
The 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Wells Fargo Center while the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships are set for Cleveland, Ohio at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
NCAA Wrestling Championships 2024 At Large Bids
WEIGHT TEAM FIRST NAME LAST NAME CONFERENCE
- 125 California Baptist Elijah Griffin Big 12
- 125 Oregon State Brandon Kaylor Pac 12
- 125 Rider Tyler Klinsky MAC
- 125 Ohio State Brendan McCrone Big Ten
- 125 Northern Colorado Stevo Poulin Big 12
- 125 Harvard Diego Sotelo EIWA
- 133 Ohio State Nic Bouzakis Big Ten
- 133 Pennsylvania Michael Colaiocco EIWA
- 133 Northern Iowa Julian Farber Big 12
- 133 Missouri Kade Moore Big 12
- 133 Minnesota Tyler Wells Big Ten
- 141 Gardner-Webb Todd Carter SoCon
- 141 Cornell Vince Cornella EIWA
- 141 Virginia Tech Tom Crook ACC
- 141 Maryland Kal Miller Big Ten
- 141 Columbia Kai Owen EIWA
- 141 West Virginia Jordan Titus Big 12
- 149 Rutgers Michael Cetta Big Ten
- 149 South Dakota State Alek Martin Big 12
- 149 Pittsburgh Finn Solomon ACC
- 149 Pennsylvania Jude Swisher EIWA
- 157 Virginia Tech Bryce Andonian ACC
- 157 Little Rock Matty Bianchi Pac 12
- 157 Minnesota Michael Blockhus Big Ten
- 157 Northern Colorado Vinny Zerban Big 12
- 165 NC State Derek Fields ACC
- 165 Michigan State Caleb Fish Big Ten
- 165 Pittsburgh Holden Heller ACC
- 165 Bucknell Noah Mulvaney EIWA
- 165 Ohio Garrett Thompson MAC
- 174 Pittsburgh Luca Augustine ACC
- 174 Northern Iowa Jared Simma Big 12
- 174 Penn State Carter Starocci Big Ten
- 174 Navy Danny Wask EIWA
- 184 Gardner-Webb Jha`Quan Anderson SoCon
- 184 Iowa State Will Feldkamp Big 12
- 184 Pennsylvania Maximus Hale EIWA
- 184 Campbell Caleb Hopkins SoCon
- 184 Arizona State Tony Negron Pac 12
- 197 Northwestern Evan Bates Big Ten
- 197 Utah Valley Evan Bockman Big 12
- 197 Franklin & Marshall John Crawford EIWA
- 197 Virginia Tech Andy Smith ACC
- 285 Maryland Seth Nevills Big Ten
- 285 Pittsburgh Dayton Pitzer ACC
- 285 Minnesota Bennett Tabor Big Ten
- 285 Cal Poly Trevor Tink Pac-12
NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Rankings
The updated NCAA D1 Wrestling rankings can be found HERE.
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