Alirez Advances to Friday at NCAA Championships

Thursday, March 17

Detroit, Mich.

University of Northern Colorado

NCAA Championships Day 1

Photo by: Ashley Buchholz

3/17/2022 9:44:00 PM | Wrestling

Brackets

Andrew Alirez went 1-1 on Thursday at the NCAA Championship

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

DETROIT, Mich. – Mat Madness began Thursday in the Motor City as the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships had their first and second rounds take place. Northern Colorado sent a trio of wrestlers to the national tournament in Andrew Alirez, Alan Clothier and Jace Koelzer.

Alirez will advance to day two after going 1-1 on the day. The Big 12 champion for 141 lbs entered as the No. 5 seed defeating Collin Gerardi of Virginia Tech 5-1. The majority of his work came in the first period with a pair of takedowns to lead 4-1 after that. He earned one more point with an escape in the second period.

In the night session, he fell to CJ Composto of Penn in the first tiebreaker 5-4. Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, Alirez chose the neutral position to start the third. With time ticking away he went up 3-2 with a takedown and just 24 seconds remaining. Composto tied the dual with an escape and 13 seconds left on the clock. In overtime, both wrestlers earned the escape, but Composto eclipsed the one-minute mark of riding time to defeat Alirez.

Jace Koelzer made his NCAA Championship debut on Thursday dropping his first dual to Princeton's Pat Glory 16-2. He started the second session he kept his season alive with a 1-0 decision against Patrick McCormick of Virginia. His season ended in a 4-1 loss to Joey Prata of Oklahoma.

Alan Clothier made his four appearance in the NCAA Tournament competing in the 197 lbs bracket. The graduate senior went 0-2 on the day to end his illustrious career losing to Jacob Warner of Iowa and Owen Pentz of North Dakota State.

What's Ahead
And then there was one. Andrew Alirez is the one Bear left in the championship entering Friday. The Greeley native looks to keep his season going when he takes on Joseph Zargo of Wisconsin to start the day. The first session will start at 9 am MT and the second session at 6 pm MT.

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