Brackets

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Weston Hunt and Anderson Salisbury will wrestle into Saturday as all-Americans, and Grayston DiBlasi provided a debut performance to remember on the first day of the 2022 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships for Colorado School of Mines.

Both Salisbury and Hunt dug deep to get through consolations and assure themselves of top-eight finishes tomorrow, as both men repeat as all-Americans. DiBlasi went 2-2 with a couple of wins by fall in a gutsy performance.

In the team standings, Mines is 11th scoring 16.5 points on day 1. 

141 POUNDS
DiBlasi had a superb start to his first nationals trip to with a win by fall over Tiffin's Matthew Zuckerman in the prelims. After a scoreless first, DiBlasi escaped quickly to begin the second, then converted a single-leg shot into a takedown before rolling Zimmerman into a quick pin off a return at 4:56. DiBlasi's first loss came in the Round of 16 against fifth-seeded Christian Small of King as Small had takedowns in the first and second period, then turned DiBlasi for the pin at 3:55.

In the consolation first round, DiBlasi was on the ropes against Upper Iowa's Tate Murty, down 7-0 in the third period when the freshman reversed Murty into a pin to advance with his second fall of the tournament. DiBlasi faced a tough final match against sixth-seeded Nick James of Nebraska-Kearney; after a scoreless first, James worked a nearfall-2 at the edge of the match, then rode out the second period and earned a third-period escape, takedown, and back points to win 10-1. 

With a 26-7 record, DiBlasi ended the season with the most wins by a Mines freshman since John Crowley won 31 in 2012-13.

184 POUNDS
Salisbury also used some late heroics to stay alive in the 184-pound bracket. Salisbury survived his prelim against Maryville's Joey Williams with a late takedown to secure a 5-3 win; tied 3-3, Salisbury finished a takedown with less than 20 seconds to go and held on for the win. Against Reece Worachek of UW-Parkside, in the Round of 16, the bout went to overtime where neither man scored in the first two-minute period. In the ride-out period, Worachek escaped after 23 seconds, and Salisbury couldn't make it out as Worachek took a stall warning to win 3-2. 

That sent Salisbury to the consolation side of the bracket against Cole Houser of Glenville State, and Salisbury survived by dominating on top in the third period, tilting Houser for four early in the period and getting a late takedown to win 8-3 with riding time. In the consolation second round against Northern State's Treyton Cacek, Salisbury found himself on top tied 2-2 after two periods, but Cacek escaped five seconds shy of Salisbury securing riding time; that set up a wild finish as Salisbury hooked Cacek on the edge of the mat and finished his takedown with three seconds remaining to come from behind and secure his all-America status.

Salisbury will face fifth-seeded Caden Steffen of Southwest Minnesota State in the consolation quarterfinals Saturday morning. 

285 POUNDS
Hunt became the sixth three-time all-American in Mines Wrestling history as he battled to a 2-1 Friday. Hunt had a tough draw against third-seeded Shawn Streck of Central Oklahoma to start, and with the bout tied 2-2 after two, Streck earned his escape to start the third and neither man scored over the rest of the period to send Hunt to wrestlebacks. 

Hunt dominated his consolation first-round bout with Tiffin's David Henson, leading 8-0 on a takedown and two near-falls before pinning his opponent at 2:07.  In the consolation second round, Hunt scored a pair of first-period takedowns on McKendree's fifth-seeded Ian Kuehl, then added a third-period escape, takedown, and riding time in an 8-5 win to secure his podium finish.

Hunt will wrestle Gannon's Freddie Nixon in the consolation quarterfinals on Saturday.

NEXT UP
Saturday's Session III will begin at 10 a.m. CT with live streaming on ncaa.com.