ST. LOUIS - Joey McKenna, Paul Fox and Nathan Butler won opening round matches to remain on the championship side of the bracket after the opening session of the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center.
The No. 3 seed at 141 pounds, McKenna turned in a dominating 6-0 decision over Binghamton's Dylan Caruana in the first round. Leading 2-0 after the first, McKenna picked up the escape and scored another takedown in the second for a commanding 5-0 advantage. He rode out Caruana in the third and finished with 4:23 of riding time to move to 29-1 on the season. He will face No. 14 seed Thomas Thorn of Minnesota on Thursday evening.
Making his first NCAA Tournament appearnace, Fox knocked off sixth-seeded Clayton Ream of North Dakota State, 8-4. The redshirt sophomore led 2-1 after the first and made it 3-1 with an escape to start the second. He tacked on two more takedowns in the third and finished with the riding time advantage to move to 26-13 on the year. Up next, he will wrestle 11th-seeded Russell Parsons of Army for a spot in the quarterfinals in Session II.
Butler grinded out a 3-3 TB2 decision over Drexel's Joseph Goodhart with four seconds of riding time to move to 24-9 on the year. He will face seventh-seeded Tanner Hall of Arizona State in the Round of 16 Thursday night. Butler holds a 3-1 record all-time against Hall.
True freshman Gabriel Townsell also picked up a win for the Cardinal in the morning session. The 125-pounder topped Missouri's Barlow McGhee, 3-1, in sudden victory in the pigtail match. Townsell then fell to second-seeded Joey Dance of Virgina Tech, 17-2, to drop down to the consolation bracket where he will wrestle Michigan's Conor Youtsey in the second session.
Redshirt junior Connor Schram fell in a 4-0 decision to fourth-seeded Cory Clark of Iowa at 133 pounds, while redshirt junior 165-pounder Keaton Subjeck dropped a 5-1 decision to third-seeded Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State. Schram will take on Iowa State's Earl Hall in the evening session Thursday and Subjeck will face North Carolina State's Brian Hamann.
Also wrestling at the NCAA Championships for the first time were fifth-year seniors Peter Galli (174), Zach Nevills (184) and Josh Marchok (197). Galli dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to 14th-seeded Lelund Weatherspoon of Iowa State. Tied 1-1, Galli took a shot late in the third, but Weatherspoon was able to counter and turn it into a takedown for the win. Galli will face Harvard's Josef Johnson in the wrestlebacks. Nevills gave up an 18-0 technical fall to 14th-seeded Dakota Geer of Edniboro and he will take on Nicholas Gravina of Rutgers in Thursday's evening session.
Marchok held an early lead over 14th-seeded Corey Griego of Oregon State, but gave up a takedown and four near fall points that he was unable to overcome in a 10-7 decision. Marchok will face North Carolina State's Malik McDonald in the consolation bracket Thursday evening.
Session II begins at 4 p.m. PT with coverage on ESPN as well as live streams of all eight mats on the WatchESPN app. Stanford set a program record with nine NCAA qualifiers in 2017.
Gabriel Townsell, 125 pounds | 1-1
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| dec. Barlow McGhee (Missouri) | 3-1 (SV) |
| lost to (2) Joey Dance (Virginia Tech) | 17-2 (4:20) |
Connor Schram, 133 pounds | 0-1
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| lost to (4) Cory Clark (Iowa) | 4-0 |
(3) Joey McKenna, 141 pounds | 1-0
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| dec. Dylan Caruana (Binghamton) | 6-0 |
Paul Fox, 157 pounds | 1-0
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| dec. (6) Clayton Ream (North Dakota State) | 8-4 |
Keaton Subjeck, 165 pounds | 0-1
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| lost to (3) Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) | 5-1 |
Peter Galli, 174 pounds | 0-1
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| lost to (14) Lelund Weatherspoon (Iowa State) | 3-1 |
Zach Nevills, 184 pounds | 0-1
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| lost to (14) Dakota Geer (Edinboro) | 17-0 (5:52) |
Josh Marchok, 197 pounds | 0-1
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| lost to (14) Corey Griego (Oregon State) | 10-7 |
(10) Nathan Butler, 285 pounds | 1-0
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| dec. Joseph Goodhart (Drexel) | 3-3 TB2 RT:04 |