Phipps Reaches Finals, Three Bison Wrestlers Climb Podium at U23 Nationals/U20 World Team Trials

GENEVA, Ohio – The Bucknell wrestling team sent eight Bison to Geveva, Ohio over the weekend to compete at the 2024 U23 Men's Freestyle Nationals and the U20 Men's Freestyle World Team Trials, and three earned podium spots to highlight an impressive showing for the Orange & Blue. Senior Kurt Phipps reached the 61kg finals to secure his spot in the U23 Pan American Championships, scheduled for June 21-22 in Rionegro, Colombia.

Full Brackets

Logan Shephard joined Phipps on the podium by placing eighth at 125kg. Noah Mulvaney, who was competing at 79kg in the U20 World Team Trials, placed fourth. Dylan Chappell (65kg) and Cade Wirnsberger (70kg) both finished the weekend with winning records.

Phipps won his first five bouts to reach the finals before losing in the best-of-three championship round against Ohio State's Nic Bouzakis. He held three of his opponents off the board in 10-0 victories by superiority (VSU). Phipps also beat Iowa's Drake Ayala, who was seeded second, by a 10-8 victory and was leading Penn State's 11th-seeded Aaron Nagao 2-1 before winning by injury default. Ayala was an NCAA runner-up at 125 pounds at the national championships in March, and Nagao was a 2023 NCAA All-American and 2024 Big Ten runner-up.

Phipps put up a fight against top-seeded Bouzakis in the finals, but the Buckeye's 2024 133-pound NCAA qualifier secured victories by 9-4 and 10-5 margins. Phipps was seeded 15th at the tournament and outscored his opponents 52-28 overall.

Shephard went 4-3 for the weekend and blanked three of his opponents before falling to eventual-champion Lucas Stoddard of Army, 11-1. Shapherd earned one more win in the consolation bracket over Missouri's Seth Nitzel, 12-2. The Bison heavyweight joined Phipps with All-American status as the eighth-place finisher.

Mulvaney earned two wins en route to his fourth-place finish. He defeated Simon Ruiz, 12-5, and beat Lucas Condon, 10-0, in the consolation semifinals. Ruiz came back to hand Mulvaney a 12-2 loss in the third-place bout.

14th-seeded Chappell held his first two opponents scoreless before falling to Andre Gonzales in the round of 16 and dropping to the consolation bracket, where he earned one more win over Richard Treanor of Army. Wirnsberger picked up three early wins in the round of 256, the round of 128 and the round of 64 before being sent to consolations. He defeated three more opponents to reach the first consolation round of eight, where he was eliminated by seventh-seeded Dylan Evans of Pitt. Chappell and Wirnsberger went 3-2 and 6-2, respectively.

Trevor Nugent (65kg), Kade Davidheiser (57kg) and Aiden Davis (70kg) each competed over the weekend as well, and Nugent and Davidheiser earned one win each.

U23 Nationals
57kg: Kade Davidheiser (1-2)
Round of 64: Loss by VSU to Roberto Estrada, 12-0 (2:33)
Consi. Round of 32 #1: Win by VSU over Deion Johnson, 12-0 (3:30)
Consi. Round of 32 #2: Loss by VFA to Garrett Lautzenheiser, 4-4 (1:18)

61kg: Kurt Phipps (5-2, runner-up)
Round of 64: Win by VSU over Gavin Caprella, 10-0 (0:23)
Round of 32: Win by VSU over Kase Mauger, 10-0 (1:45)
Round of 16: Win by VPO1 over Drake Ayala, 10-8
Quarterfinals: Win VSU over Ryan Miller, 10-0 (2:41)
Semifinals: Win by VIN over Aaron Nagao
Finals: Loss by VPO1 to Nic Bouzakis, 9-4
Finals: Loss by VPO1 to Nic Bouzakis, 10-5

65kg: Trevor Nugent (1-2)
Round of 128: Win by VFA over Jorden Zigo, 6-4 (2:26)
Round of 64: Loss by VPO1 to Kyler Romero, 8-2
Consi. Round of 64 #2: Loss by VSU to Mark Botello, 10-0 (5:46)

65kg: Dylan Chappell (3-2)
Round of 64: Win by VSU over Alex Turley, 10-0 (4:19)
Round of 32: Win by VFO over Logan Wagner, 6-0
Round of 16: Loss by VSU to Andre Gonzales, 12-0 (1:37)
Consi. Round of 16 #2: Win by VPO1 over Richard Treanor, 12-8
Consi. Round of 8 #1: Loss by VSU1 to Sean Carter, 17-5 (4:43)

70kg: Aiden Davis (0-2)
Round of 128: Loss by VPO1 to Jaivon Jones, 10-4
Consi. Round of 64 #1: Loss by VPO1 to Dresden Grimm, 11-11

79kg: Cade Wirnsberger (6-2)
Round of 256: Win by VPO1 over Macario Calavitta, 9-2
Round of 128: Win by VPO1 over Moses Espinoza-Owens, 2-2
Round of 64: Win by VFA over Joey Fumic, 6-2 (1:36)
Round of 32: Loss by VSU to Edward Scott, 11-0 (2:13)
Consi. Round of 32 #2: Win by VSU1 over Kyle Schickel, 19-8 (1:40)
Consi. Round of 16 #1: Win by VPO1 over Sam McMonagle, 8-5
Consi. Round of 16 #2: Win by VPO1 over Cayleb Atkins, 5-4
Consi. Round of 8 #1: Loss by VPO to Dylan Evans, 5-0

125kg: Logan Shephard (8th Place, 4-3)
Round of 64: Win by VSU over Thomas Tatham, 10-0 (1:30)
Round of 32: Win by VSU over Blake Daniels, 11-0 (1:18)
Round of 16: Win by VSU over Evan Day, 10-0 (1:45)
Quarterfinals: Loss by VSU1 to Lucas Stoddard, 11-1 (3:00)
Consi. Round of 8 #2: Win by VSU1 over Seth Nitzel, 12-2 (3:57)
Consi. Round of 4: Loss by VPO1 to Kail Wynia, 10-3
7th-Place Bout: Loss by VPO1 to Ashton Davis, 11-2

U20 World Team Trials
79kg: Noah Mulvaney (4th Place, 2-2)
Quarterfinals: Win by VPO1 over Simon Ruiz, 12-5
Semifinals: Loss by VSU1 to William Henckle, 12-2 (3:10)
Consi. Semifinals: Win by VSU over Lucas Condon, 10-0 (1:23)
3rd-Place Bout: Loss by VSU1 to Simon Ruiz, 12-2 (4:56)

Scoring Key
VFA: Fall
VPO: Win by points without the opponent scoring (ex. 6-0)
VPO1: Win by points with the opponent scoring (ex. 5-1)
VSU: Superiority (Win by at least 10 points without the opponent scoring, i.e. a technical fall)
VSU1: Superiority (Win by at least 10 points win the opponent scoring, i.e. a technical fall)
VIN: Injury default