Alirez One Step Away From History, Koelzer Punches NCAA Ticket

Saturday, March 5

Tulsa, Okla.

University of Northern Colorado

Big 12 Championships Day 1

Photo by: Ashley Buchholz

3/5/2022 8:52:00 PM | Wrestling

Big 12 Brackets through Saturday

Andrew Alirez advanced to the Big 12 title bout on Sunday

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

TULSA, Okla. – Greeley native Andrew Alirez is one step away from doing something no one in UNC wrestling history has done. Win a Big 12 championship. The sophomore punched his ticket to the NCAA Tournament Saturday and now will wrestle for the Big 12 title on Sunday.

Coming into the tournament Alirez was the No. 3 pre-seed. He defeated Cody Phippen (Air Force) in the opening round by decision 8-1. He then punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships by defeating Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) by decision 7-2. This is the third NCAA Championship Alirez has qualified for.

The semifinal bout brought forth an opponent Alirez was 0-2 against this year in South Dakota State's Clay Carlson. The third time was the charm for him winning by decision 5-3. Alirez earned a takedown in the first period and pair of escapes in the second. Up 4-3 entering the third, he was able to ride the clock out for the extra point.

Alirez will face No. 4 seed Allan Hart of Missouri in the championship match. He defeated him earlier this year in sudden victory, 3-1 in Columbia. It is the third straight year a Bear has reached the final and fourth time in program history.

Another Bear punched his to the NCAA Championships in Jace Koelzer. The redshirt freshman will make his first trip to the NCAA Championships in two weeks. As the No. 8 pre-seed Koelzer opened the tournament with a 6-5 win over Jacob Svihel (Wyoming).

After dropping a tough battle to the top seed Killian Cardinale (West Virginia) Koelzer stayed alive during the night session with a pair of wins.

He made easy work of Tanner Jordan of South Dakota State with an 11-2 major decision that included a four-point near fall. He then punched his ticket to the NCAA Championship with a thrilling 2-1 decision against Noah Surtin (Missouri). The bout came down to the final period with Koelzer earning the winning escape at 1:07.

Koelzer can finish as high as third place Sunday as he faces Joey Prata (Oklahoma) in the consolation semifinals.

Two other UNC wrestler will compete tomorrow morning in the placement matches as Alan Clothier will face Evan Bockman of Utah Valley and Nick Knutson will face Tanner Cook (South Dakota State) in seventh place matches. Both went 1-2 on the day. Clothier's win win came by 3-1 decision over Jackson Moomau (West Virginia). Knutson's was a 3-2 decision over Danny Snediker (Utah Valley).

What They Said
Head Coach Troy Nickerson
"It was a mix of results for us today. Our guys that continue to buy in and trust the process the results are showing. Andrew getting that win over (Clay) Carlson was huge for him and his confidence moving forward. Hopefully, he can finish it off tomorrow night in the finals. I'm really proud of Jace Koelzer for qualifying for the NCAA Championships for the first time. He puts his blood, sweat and tears into it and it's nice to see him reap those rewards. We want to finish out on top tomorrow winning our final matches and punch another NCAA ticket with Alan Clothier."

What's Ahead
The Big 12 Championships wrap up on Sunday with the consolation round starting at 11 am MT. Alirez will wrestle for the 141 lbs title Sunday night on ESPN2 with coverage of the championship bouts starting at 6 pm MT.

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