11 Mind-Blowing Blood-Round Matches
11 Mind-Blowing Blood-Round Matches
Check out 11 of the craziest blood-round matches at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
Do you want to have your mind exploded and your faith in reality shattered into a billion tiny shards of consciousness? Then check out these insane blood-round matches at the 2018 NCAA Championships. These hammers have all taken one loss in Cleveland. One more and their dreams of All-American status is over.
Don't forget to check out all 40 blood-round matches, full brackets, team scores, and more on the sturdy and reliable FloArena.
125 Pounds: #6 Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma St.) vs. #8 Ethan Lizak (Minnesota)
Last year’s fourth- and second-place finishers at 125 pounds. The 125 weight class has been a charnel house all year long and this tournament is no different.
133 Pounds: #4 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma St.) vs #9 Jack Mueller (Virginia)
Brock was sixth in 2017 at 133 pounds, and Mueller was sixth at 125. Neither have an All-American honor for 2018 sewn up yet. One of them never will.
141 Pounds: #6 Dean Heil (Oklahoma St.) vs. #14 Chad Red (Nebraska)
The two-time defending NCAA champion wrestling just to secure a place on the podium?
Watch Yianni Diakomihalis stun Dean Heil at the 2018 NCAA quarterfinals:
149 Pounds: #2 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) vs. #4 Ke-Shawn Hayes (Ohio St.)
Sorensen is a three-time All-American who’s never finished lower than fourth. Hayes making the podium is crucial for Ohio State’s team title aspirations.
157 Pounds: #3 Joey Lavallee (Missouri) vs. #6 Michael Kemerer (Iowa)
Last year’s second- and third-place finishers in St. Louis. These should theoretically be the two best 157-pounders after Nolf.
165 Pounds: #8 Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma St.) vs. #9 Chad Walsh (Rider)
Last year’s fifth- and seventh-place finishers. Walsh suffered a minor upset in the quarterfinals, while Rogers lost in the opening round and had to win three matches in a row just to get to this point.
165 Pounds: #4 Richie Lewis (Rutgers) vs #10 Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven)
A weight class so nice we needed to mention it twice. Last year’s third-place finisher Logan Massa didn’t make it out of the round of 24.
184 Pounds: #5 Pete Renda (NC St.) vs. #7 Taylor Venz (Nebraska)
This was a turbulent bracket, as upsets sent these two top eight seeded and ranked wrestlers to the consolation round earlier than expected.
184 Pounds: #3 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh) vs. #8 Emery Parker (Illinois)
More upsets at 184 and more top 10 guys facing off for a podium step.
197 Pounds: #7 Shakur Rasheed (Penn St.) vs. #8 Frank Mattiace (Penn)
We couldn’t figure out 197 pounds all year so why should the NCAA tournament be any different? Precious team points on the line for Penn State in this bout.
Watch Michael Macchiavello send the Rasheed into the blood round in this 2018 NCAA quarterfinal thriller:
285 Pounds: #5 Sam Stoll (Iowa) vs. #7 Nathan Butler (Stanford)
Stoll losing in the quarters was the biggest upset for the normally staid heavyweights. Iowa would very much like to salvage an All-American at this weight.