COLLEGE WRESTLING: ATHENS GRAD BRADLEY AN ALL-AMERICAN; POSTS 2-1 MARK ON DAY 1 AT D-III NATIONALS (2024-03-15)
Valley Sports ReportLA CROSSE, Wisc. — Athens grad
Gavin Bradley, a sophomore on the Castleton wrestling team, is an All-American after posting a 2-1 record on Day 1 of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships here at the La Crosse Center.
After a loss in the quarterfinals, Bradley, now 36-5, scored a fall in his first consolation bracket match to guarantee a top-eight finish, and All-America status.
In his opening match, Bradley registered a fall of Elizabethtown’s Ethan Lipton in 4:47.
He scored a takedown 57 seconds into the bout, then rode top for more than a minute. The duo spent the final 47 seconds on their feet in the opening stanza. Bradley led 3-1 after the first three minutes.
After being warned for stalling early in the second period, Bradley registered another takedown for a 6-1 lead with 1:07 remaining, and worked Lipton to his back less than a minute later for the fall.
In the quarterfinals, Bradley dropped an 18-3 technical fall to North Central’s second-seeded Christian Guzman.
Guzman scored a pair of takedowns in the first period, and led 6-1 after the first three minutes.
After registering a reversal with 3 seconds remaining in the second period to extend his lead to 8-1, Guzman picked up a stalling point early in the third period, then scored three takedowns in 40 seconds to close out the tech fall.
In the blood round, Bradley pinned Augsburg’s Wyatt Kaczrowski in 2:00, after scoring a takedown with 1:18 remaining, and working him to his back.
On Saturday, Bradley will wrestle the third seed, Millikin’s Zac Blasioli, in the consolation round-of-4 to start his day.
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IN PHOTO: Gavin Bradley.
