Saturday, March 20
St. Louis, Mo.
All Day
Bucknell University
at
NCAA Championships
Photo by: Matt Hawley
Bucknell's Zach Hartman Takes Sixth at NCAA Championships
3/20/2021 1:54:00 PM | Wrestling
ST. LOUIS – Bucknell's Zach Hartman placed sixth in the 165-pound weight class at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, with his time at the event concluding on Saturday afternoon at the Enterprise Center.
Hartman's sixth-place performance is the third highest by a Bison at the NCAA's premier event. Previously, Tom Marchetti (167) finished fourth in 1989 and Andy Rendos (165) went fifth in 2009; Rendos also took sixth in 2010.
Hartman is the sixth Bison wrestler to earn All-America laurels, joining Marchetti, Bryan Burns (190, 1991), Bobby Ferraro (177, 1994 & 1995), Rendos and current assistant coach Kevin LeValley (149, 2010 & 2011). In addition, the EIWA champion joined Marchetti as Bucknell's second NCAA semifinalist.
In Saturday's consolation semifinals, Hartman ceded a 17-4 major decision to sixth-seeded Keegan O'Toole (Missouri), who went on to place third. He then faced off against seventh-seeded Ethan Smith (Ohio State) in the fifth-place bout.
The fifth-place bout proved an exciting, back-and-forth affair. Hartman carried a 5-4 lead into the final frame after scoring a takedown with just a single second left on the clock. Smith chose bottom to start the third period and ultimately escaped to even the score at 5-5; Smith then registered a takedown 30 seconds into the first sudden victory stanza to emerge a 7-5 victor.
On Thursday, Hartman went 2-0 with an 8-6 decision over 28th-seeded Rodrick Mosley (Gardner-Webb) and a 6-0 decision over 21st-seeded Peyton Hall (West Virginia). In Friday's semifinals, Hartman ceded a 9-2 decision to eighth-seeded Shane Griffith (Stanford), the eventual national champion and Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA Championships. Hartman, the fifth seed, advanced out of the quarterfinals following fourth-seeded Mekhi Lewis's (Virginia Tech) medical forfeit.
Hartman finished the 2020-21 season with a 13-3 record. His 13 victories came in a row, representing a new career-long winning streak. The junior captain was previously selected as a 2020 Honorable Mention All-American by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. During the 2019-20 campaign, he went 27-8 (13-1 dual). He qualified for the NCAA Championships for the second-straight season by finishing as the EIWA runner-up; he would have been the 16th seed at that year's NCAA Championships, which were not held due to the COVID-19 public health threat.
165: #5 Zach Hartman (3-3)
First Round: #28 Rodrick Mosley (Gardner-Webb), W, Dec. (8-6)
Second Round: #21 Peyton Hall (West Virginia), W, Dec. (6-0)
Quarterfinals: #4 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech), W, M. Forfeit
Semifinals: #8 Shane Griffith (Stanford), L, Dec. (2-9)
Consolation Semifinals: #6 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri), L, Maj. Dec. (4-17)
Fifth-Place Bout: #7 Ethan Smith (Ohio State), L, SV-1 (5-7)
Hartman's sixth-place performance is the third highest by a Bison at the NCAA's premier event. Previously, Tom Marchetti (167) finished fourth in 1989 and Andy Rendos (165) went fifth in 2009; Rendos also took sixth in 2010.
Hartman is the sixth Bison wrestler to earn All-America laurels, joining Marchetti, Bryan Burns (190, 1991), Bobby Ferraro (177, 1994 & 1995), Rendos and current assistant coach Kevin LeValley (149, 2010 & 2011). In addition, the EIWA champion joined Marchetti as Bucknell's second NCAA semifinalist.
In Saturday's consolation semifinals, Hartman ceded a 17-4 major decision to sixth-seeded Keegan O'Toole (Missouri), who went on to place third. He then faced off against seventh-seeded Ethan Smith (Ohio State) in the fifth-place bout.
The fifth-place bout proved an exciting, back-and-forth affair. Hartman carried a 5-4 lead into the final frame after scoring a takedown with just a single second left on the clock. Smith chose bottom to start the third period and ultimately escaped to even the score at 5-5; Smith then registered a takedown 30 seconds into the first sudden victory stanza to emerge a 7-5 victor.
On Thursday, Hartman went 2-0 with an 8-6 decision over 28th-seeded Rodrick Mosley (Gardner-Webb) and a 6-0 decision over 21st-seeded Peyton Hall (West Virginia). In Friday's semifinals, Hartman ceded a 9-2 decision to eighth-seeded Shane Griffith (Stanford), the eventual national champion and Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA Championships. Hartman, the fifth seed, advanced out of the quarterfinals following fourth-seeded Mekhi Lewis's (Virginia Tech) medical forfeit.
Hartman finished the 2020-21 season with a 13-3 record. His 13 victories came in a row, representing a new career-long winning streak. The junior captain was previously selected as a 2020 Honorable Mention All-American by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. During the 2019-20 campaign, he went 27-8 (13-1 dual). He qualified for the NCAA Championships for the second-straight season by finishing as the EIWA runner-up; he would have been the 16th seed at that year's NCAA Championships, which were not held due to the COVID-19 public health threat.
165: #5 Zach Hartman (3-3)
First Round: #28 Rodrick Mosley (Gardner-Webb), W, Dec. (8-6)
Second Round: #21 Peyton Hall (West Virginia), W, Dec. (6-0)
Quarterfinals: #4 Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech), W, M. Forfeit
Semifinals: #8 Shane Griffith (Stanford), L, Dec. (2-9)
Consolation Semifinals: #6 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri), L, Maj. Dec. (4-17)
Fifth-Place Bout: #7 Ethan Smith (Ohio State), L, SV-1 (5-7)
Players Mentioned
157/165
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