Weakley set to compete in NCAA Wrestling Championships Thursday in St. Louis
NCAA Championship 197-pound bracket
ST. LOUIS – Senior wrestler John Weakley (Cleveland, Ohio) will represent Campbell at the NCAA Wrestling Championships beginning Thursday morning at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. Weakley qualified for the NCAA Championships after finishing second at the Southern Conference Championships on March 3.
Weakley will face Purdue redshirt senior A.J. Kissel in the opening round. Kissel was 6-5 this season and a sixth-place place-winner at the Big 10 Championships for the Boilermakers. He qualified for national last season, finishing 22-10 in his junior campaign.
Currently tied for sixth on the single season wins list in program history, Weakley stands at 29-10 overall on the season. He has recorded nine pins this year, which puts him tied for third among the single season charts in team history. Weakley is just the second CU wrestler to qualify for NCAA nationals in the past decade. Parker Burns was an NCAA qualifier in 2010 and '11 for the Camels.
The Fighting Camels concluded an exciting Southern Conference Championship earlier this month that saw four wrestlers take second-place honors and one wrestler earn a third-place finish. Three of the four second-place recipients lost the conference championship match by a single point.
"I thought we were wrestling great, and we surprised some people," head coach Joe Boardwine said of his team's performance at the SoCon tournament. "Our kids were wrestling the way we felt they were capable of. We are excited for John to be able to participate at the next level this week, and we look forward to bringing many more guys with us to nationals next year."
Fans can follow Weakley's performance on Thursday on ESPN3 at the link above. The exact match times and mat assignments will be decided Thursday morning.
