Vicente, Soderblom to Face LWU Wrestlers as NAIA Releases Official Brackets
William Penn University Athletics
Oskaloosa–Joao Vicente (Fr., East Providence, R.I., Secondary Education) and Kyle Soderblom (So., Newton, Iowa, Biology) will have quite different paths to national titles this weekend as they face the best at the NAIA Wrestling Championships.
For the second year in a row, the 56th Annual Championships will be held in the Jacobson Exhibition Center on the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. The event, due to the NAIA’s new more stringent qualifying process, will now only run on Friday and Saturday. The double-elimination event will feature just 210 individuals from 37 programs, compared to 322 grapplers from 35 schools a year ago.
First-round competition begins Friday at 10 a.m. with three more sessions to follow, including the championship round Saturday night at 7 p.m. Free match-by-match live scoring is again available through Track Wrestling by going to http://s303.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/MainFrame.jsp?sport=wrestling&TIM=1362093534112&pageName=&ie=true&frameSize=500
NeuLion’s live streaming of Saturday night’s championship bouts by can be purchased by visiting http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=27900&ATCLID=205423235 The cost is $9.95 for the event.
The official brackets were released Thursday afternoon and can be viewed at http://www.naia.org/fls/27900/1NAIA/SportsInfo/Championships/2013WR/Brackets_Opening.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=27900
Vicente earned a favorable draw in his 19-man bracket at 133 pounds. The freshman, who is 30-5 on the year, is one of several individuals to receive a draw in the first round. He will begin his tournament against Jacob McCombs of Lindsey Wilson (Ky.). The sophomore is 16-8 on the season.
The winner will meet the winner between Jason Arreola (York-Neb.) and Miguel Baltazar (Southern Oregon). Both juniors, Arreola is 10-2 and Baltazar is 4-5.
Soderblom has a bit tougher road in his 197-pound weight class, which also features 19 wrestlers. The sophomore, who is 22-12, did not collect a bye in the opening round. He, like Vicente, will also meet a Lindsey Wilson Blue Raider to open the Championships in the form of Andrew Hairston (5-3). The senior has plenty of experience, garnering All-America honors at 184 pounds two years ago (eighth place).
The winner meets Dylan Lemery of Great Falls (Mont.). The freshman is currently 24-20.
