Jason McCroskey, the last hope for a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga all-American wrestler, was eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Southern Conference rival Andrew Saunders of UNC-Greensboro.
Wrestling in the fourth round of consolations, Saunders pulled out a 6-5 decision.
Wrestling in the 184-pound weight class, McCroskey won his first consolation match earlier today with a 3-1 decision of Ohio University’s Nick Purdue.
McCroskey, a Soddy-Daisy product, had split two matches with Saunders this season. Saunders won 5-4 in the dual meet and McCroskey took a 7-4 conference tournament win.
McCroskey won his first match at the NCAA wrestling tournament in Omaha, Neb., defeating former championship finalist Mike Miller of Central Michigan 5-2 on Thursday before losing in the championship round of 16 to Wyoming’s Joe LeBlanc, the No. 7 seed, by 5-1.
Dean Pavlou, a redshirt freshman and the Mocs’ other NCAA qualifier, lost his first match to Edinboro 149-pounder Torsten Gillespie, a three-time tournament qualifier, and was then eliminated by Navy’s Glenn Shober in his first consolation match on Thursday.