NEW YORK, N.Y. - Cleveland State seniors Riley Shaw and Sam Wheeler both split their matches on the opening day of the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
The duo will be back in action on Friday in the second round of the consolation bracket as both battle back to try and finish in the top-8 of their respective weight classes, which would earn All-American status.
Shaw, who is making his third appearance at nationals, opened the tournament with a 5-1 setback to fourth-seeded Austin Marsden of Oklahoma State. He came back late Friday night to defeat 13th-seeded Jared Johnson of Chattanooga with a dominant 10-1 major decision.
Shaw will be back in action on Friday morning against Drexel's Joseph Goodhart who won his first match of the tournament before dropping into the wrestleback round with a setback to third-seeded Ty Waltz of Virginia Tech on Thursday night.
Wheeler, who is making his second career apperance at the NCAA Championship and first with CSU, dropped his first match of the day, 6-2, to sixth-seeded Jared Haught of Virginia Tech. However, like Shaw, he came back late Friday night in the wrestleback round with a strong performance, topping 11th-seeded Phil Wellington of Ohio, 6-1.
Wheeler returns to the mat on Friday morning with a match in the wrestleback round against 12th-seeded Michael Boykin of North Carolina State. Boykin won his first match before a 3-2 setback sent him into the consolation round.
The wins were the 29th of the season for both Shaw and Wheeler and was also Shaw's 101st career victory.
