UCO Foursome Ready For National Tourney

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Four Central Oklahoma wrestlers look to contend for All-America honors in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend at the 2019 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships.

Set to compete for the Bronchos in the two-day, double-elimination tournament at the Wolstein Center on the Cleveland State campus is 141-pounder Nate Keim, 174-pounder Devin Crawl, 184-pounder Heath Gray and heavyweight Greg Wilson.

Preliminary and first-round action gets underway at 10 a.m. (Oklahoma time) Friday, with the championship quarterfinals and two rounds of consolation matches set for 4 p.m. The tournament resumes Saturday at 9 a.m. with the championship semifinals and completion of all consolation bouts before finishing with the 6 p.m. championship finals.

"Our guys have prepared hard all season for this opportunity and they're all excited about the weekend," head coach Todd Steidley said. "It's obviously going to be tough, but I feel like we can come back with four All-Americans and that's certainly our intention."

Eighteen wrestlers qualified in each of the 10 weights, with the top-three placers advancing from six regional tournaments held around the country Feb. 22-23. Fifty-six teams have at least one national tournament participant.

Keim is 16-6 on the season with six bonus-point wins and stamped his ticket to the national tournament with a runner-up finish in the Super Regional IV Tournament Feb. 23 in St. Charles, Mo.

The redshirt freshman from Collinsville will take on Jose Rodriguez of Notre Dame (Ohio) in a preliminary match Friday morning.

Crawl is 10-12 for the year and qualified with a runner-up showing at the regional meet. The junior from Chattanooga, Tenn. will face off against Notre Dame's Cornell Beachem in a preliminary match.

Gray enters the national tournament riding a 17-match winning streak and is 32-1 on the season. The second-ranked sophomore from Chandler has 20 bonus wins – nine major decisions, eight technical falls and three falls.

Gray's lone defeat of the season came in the finals of the Midwest Classic to McKendree's Michael Pixley, a loss he has avenged twice, including 8-5 in the regional finals. Gray's first-round opponent is Brody Conner of Indianapolis.

Wilson has the only previous national tournament experience for UCO's qualifiers, having made it for the Bronchos at 197 pounds two years ago. He didn't compete again until joining the team for the second semester and is 10-3 with five bonus wins.

The senior from Keller, Texas will have a rematch in the preliminaries against Weston Hunt of Colorado School of the Mines. Wilson edged Hunt 4-3 in a Jan. 19 dual.

Central finished ninth in last year's national tournament as Eli Hale – now an assistant coach for the Bronchos – captured the individual title at 125 and Caleb Cotter finished fifth at heavyweight.

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Players Mentioned

Caleb Cotter: 6' 2"; Junior; 197

Heath Gray: 5' 11"; Sophomore; 174

Nate Keim: 5' 7"; Redshirt Freshman; 141

Devin Crawl: 5' 10"; Junior; 174

Greg Wilson: 5' 10"; Senior; 197

Players Mentioned

Caleb Cotter
: 6' 2"; Junior; 197

Heath Gray
: 5' 11"; Sophomore; 174

Nate Keim
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Freshman; 141

Devin Crawl
: 5' 10"; Junior; 174

Greg Wilson
: 5' 10"; Senior; 197