Cardinale and Hall Earn Top-10 Seeds at NCAA Championships
March 09, 2022 09:38 PM | Wrestling
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University wrestling team's four NCAA qualifiers have been seeded for the 2022 Division I Wrestling National Championships, as announced by the NCAA on Wednesday evening.
The Mountaineers' send four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships for the second straight year as well as four or more in every season since coach Tim Flynn took over the program in 2019.
Redshirt Senior Killian Cardinale (125), redshirt sophomore Michael Wolfgram (HWT), and sophomores Peyton Hall (165) and Dennis Robin (174) are the four that will represent WVU in Detroit. Cardinale, Hall, and Robin each earned an automatic bid, while Wolfgram was awarded one of five at-large bids, given to the heavyweight division, by the NCAA committee on Tuesday.
At 125 pounds, Cardinale (14-1) enters his third NCAA tournament as the No. 5 seed behind a three-match win streak at the Big 12 Championship to secure West Virginia's third individual Big 12 title. The 2021 All-American is scheduled to duel No. 28 Korbin Meink (11-5) of Campbell University for the second time in his college career. As a sophomore, Cardinale escaped with a two-point win (5-3) over Meink in the duo's first meeting at the Navy Classic in 2019. A former two-time Southern Conference Champion and Freshman of the Year, Meinke comes off a loss in the conference finals to Chattanooga's Fabian Gutierrez, 3-1.
No. 9 Hall (25-3) returns to the national stage for the second time in back-to-back seasons, where he will square off against a familiar adversary in No. 24 Riley Smucker (21-4) of Cleveland State at 165 pounds. The Chester, West Virginia, native has outscored Smucker by a combined 15 points in the two previous meetings. Most recently, the duo went head-to-head at a tri-meet in Morgantown on Dec. 20, where Hall recorded five takedowns on his way to a 12-3 major decision over the CSU Viking. Hall exited the Big 12 Championship as the runner-up, while Smucker placed third at the MAC Championships.
Additionally, Robin (13-15) and Wolfgram (20-9) make their NCAA tournament debuts against two former All-Americans in No. 2 Mekhi Lewis (20-1) of ACC runner-up Virginia Tech and No. 6 Jordan Wood (22-2) of Lehigh.
In his Big 12 Championship debut, the No. 31-seed Robin secured an eighth-place finish to clinched the final automatic bid at 174 pounds. He now looks to upset No. 2 Lewis, who was a NCAA and ACC Champion at 165 pounds as a true freshman. After deciding to redshirt in 2020 and withdraw from the NCAA tournament in 2021, the Hokie moved up a weight class to 174 for the 2022 season and returned to championship form by scoring 4-2 victory over top-seeded Clay Lautt of North Carolina to capture his second ACC title at the conference tournament.
No. 27 Wolfgram clashes with No. 6 Wood in the first round, following a seventh-place showing at the Big 12 Championship. The York, Pennsylvania, native holds five wins over ranked opponents and eight wins in tournament play this season. As a fifth-year senior for Lehigh, Wood captured his fifth EIWA title with a second-period reversal, which ended up being the only score of the championship match.
The opening round of the three-day extravaganza kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 17. Fans can catch the first session on ESPNU, before switching over to ESPN for the second session at 7 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
The Mountaineers' send four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships for the second straight year as well as four or more in every season since coach Tim Flynn took over the program in 2019.
Redshirt Senior Killian Cardinale (125), redshirt sophomore Michael Wolfgram (HWT), and sophomores Peyton Hall (165) and Dennis Robin (174) are the four that will represent WVU in Detroit. Cardinale, Hall, and Robin each earned an automatic bid, while Wolfgram was awarded one of five at-large bids, given to the heavyweight division, by the NCAA committee on Tuesday.
At 125 pounds, Cardinale (14-1) enters his third NCAA tournament as the No. 5 seed behind a three-match win streak at the Big 12 Championship to secure West Virginia's third individual Big 12 title. The 2021 All-American is scheduled to duel No. 28 Korbin Meink (11-5) of Campbell University for the second time in his college career. As a sophomore, Cardinale escaped with a two-point win (5-3) over Meink in the duo's first meeting at the Navy Classic in 2019. A former two-time Southern Conference Champion and Freshman of the Year, Meinke comes off a loss in the conference finals to Chattanooga's Fabian Gutierrez, 3-1.
No. 9 Hall (25-3) returns to the national stage for the second time in back-to-back seasons, where he will square off against a familiar adversary in No. 24 Riley Smucker (21-4) of Cleveland State at 165 pounds. The Chester, West Virginia, native has outscored Smucker by a combined 15 points in the two previous meetings. Most recently, the duo went head-to-head at a tri-meet in Morgantown on Dec. 20, where Hall recorded five takedowns on his way to a 12-3 major decision over the CSU Viking. Hall exited the Big 12 Championship as the runner-up, while Smucker placed third at the MAC Championships.
Additionally, Robin (13-15) and Wolfgram (20-9) make their NCAA tournament debuts against two former All-Americans in No. 2 Mekhi Lewis (20-1) of ACC runner-up Virginia Tech and No. 6 Jordan Wood (22-2) of Lehigh.
In his Big 12 Championship debut, the No. 31-seed Robin secured an eighth-place finish to clinched the final automatic bid at 174 pounds. He now looks to upset No. 2 Lewis, who was a NCAA and ACC Champion at 165 pounds as a true freshman. After deciding to redshirt in 2020 and withdraw from the NCAA tournament in 2021, the Hokie moved up a weight class to 174 for the 2022 season and returned to championship form by scoring 4-2 victory over top-seeded Clay Lautt of North Carolina to capture his second ACC title at the conference tournament.
No. 27 Wolfgram clashes with No. 6 Wood in the first round, following a seventh-place showing at the Big 12 Championship. The York, Pennsylvania, native holds five wins over ranked opponents and eight wins in tournament play this season. As a fifth-year senior for Lehigh, Wood captured his fifth EIWA title with a second-period reversal, which ended up being the only score of the championship match.
The opening round of the three-day extravaganza kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 17. Fans can catch the first session on ESPNU, before switching over to ESPN for the second session at 7 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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