ST. LOUIS, MO. – Campbell junior
Austin Murphy finished top-12 at 174 pounds, rounding out competition for the school record seven Camels at the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships.
Murphy, in his first year as a starter in the Campbell lineup, wrestled for All-American status Friday night at the Enterprise Center against the No. 8 seed Daniel Bullard from North Carolina State. With the ACC and Southern Conference champions squaring off, Bullard topped Murphy 7-0.
A Cincinnati, Ohio native, Murphy, the No. 11 seed, made his run to Friday night with a pair of wins in the consolation bracket, pinning Edinboro's Jacob Oliver (6:40), seeded No. 21, in the third period, then defeating No. 14 Hayden Hastings from Wyoming with a second period takedown, followed by an escape in the third for a 3-1 victory.
Murphy finishes his 2020-21 campaign at 15-2 overall, with his only defeats coming in St. Louis.
Murphy was one of five Camels to advance to day two of the NCAA Championships, joined by No. 20
Josh Heil at 149 pounds, No. 14
Caleb Hopkins at 184, No. 22
Benjamin Barton at 157 and No. 22
Chris Kober at 197.
After a controversial ending to Thursday's round, Heil, CU's first four-time NCAA qualifier, bounced back with a 5-2 win over Hofstra's Greg Gaxiola. Looking for a berth to Friday night's blood round, Heil then met Duke's Josh Finesilver, taking a 3-3 match to the third before Finesilver posted a takedown and two escapes in the period for an 8-5 win.
At 184 pounds, Hopkins fell to Iowa State's Samuel Colbray 7-3, while Barton was topped by fifth-seeded Kaleb Young of Iowa, 8-2. Kober was also eliminated by Northwestern's Lucas Davison in a 9-3 decision.
No. 29
Zurich Storm at 125 pounds and heavyweight
Taye Ghadiali, seeded No. 33, also qualified for the tournament, going 0-2 on Thursday.
Led by first year head coach and SoCon Coach of the Year
Scotti Sentes, the Camels claimed their third consecutive and fourth SoCon tournament title in five years in 2021, while winning their third straight conference regular season championship.
CU, ranked No. 22 in the NCWA team poll and No. 19 by InterMat, finished the regular season at 8-1 overall under, with a perfect 7-0 SoCon mark, going unbeaten in conference duals for the second straight season, sending seven Camels to the NCAA Championships.
