CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Newberry wrestling team showed out Friday on day one of the 2019 NCAA Division II Championships, with Isiah Royal (141), Austin Palmer (157) and Patton Gossett (285) earning All-American status.
 
The Wolves currently stand in seventh place with 31 points, representing the South Atlantic Conference Carolinas and Super Region 2.
 
Isiah Royal, 141 pounds) – 2-0 (semi-finals)
 
Royal entered the tournament focused on aiming for the All-American status. A season ago, Royal qualified for the national tournament but was eliminated on the first day. Royal came in as the fourth seeded wrestler, facing Dylan Udero of Adams St. in the first round. Royal was able to get out to a fast start and took his momentum to an 8-3 decision win.
 
In the second round, Royal faced the fifth seeded wrestler in his weight class in Travis Swanson of St. Cloud State. Royal faced Swanson earlier in the season at the Newberry Duals where he was defeated by a 5-1 decision. Royal knew that he was going have to battle the whole seven minutes, if not more, if he wanted to come away with the win.
 
Royal was in the hole early as Swanson was able to take control of the match. Swanson had a 6-4 lead to go along with the minute of ride time. Towards the end of the third period, Royal took his shot and was able to get a two-point takedown. Action was stopped with an out of bounds call with Royal still in control. At the time, there was 16 seconds left on the clock. Royal had to maintain control to eliminate Swanson's ride time point, and he did just that.
 
The two went into overtime where neither competitor was able to gain points. With the match at a stale mate, the match would go into double overtime. With the two in the neutral position to start the match, Royal made his move and got behind Swanson. With an emphatic two-point takedown, Royal came out victorious with an 8-6 sudden victory two win.
 
Royal will face Brandon Ball of Fort Hays St. in the semi-finals. Ball is undefeated on the season.
 
Austin Palmer (157 weight class) – 3-1 (consolation round three)
 
Palmer started the day with a match in the preliminary round, going against Corey Falleroni of Pitt.-Johnstown. Palmer, a national qualifier a year ago, got off to a fast start, controlling all seven minutes of the match. Palmer came away with a 15-4 major decision to move on to the championship first round. Palmer faced Nate Smalling of McKendree. Smalling was able to do just enough, coming away with a 6-3 decision win.
 
Palmer came into the tournament with the mindset that he was going to walk away as an All-American. Palmer could do that but knowing that if he were to be defeated again, those dreams would be dashed. Palmer faced Baltazar Gonzalez of American International in the first round of the consolation bracket. Palmer had control of the match from the get go but he wanted to make a statement. Palmer picked up the fall with 30 seconds to spare in the third round.
 
In the second round of the consolation round, Palmer had to get the win in order to become an All-American. Palmer face Skyler Lykins of Colorado School of Mines where he got out to a fast start. With Palmer's quick start, he was able to get out to a comfortable lead, coming away with a 13-6 decision victory.
 
Palmer will face Tyler Miles of Newman. Miles is the second seed and is currently 28-4 on the season.
 
Patton Gossett (285 weight class) – 3-1 (consolation round three)
 
Gossett has been on an absolute tear for the last half of his senior season and continued to do just that. Coming into the championships, Gossett had 10 falls which ranked fourth in Division II and 23rd across all NCAA. Gossett, the eighth seeded wrestler in his weight class, would add three more falls to his total on day one. In the preliminary round, Gossett faced Gerardo Jaime of Mary. Gossett had control throughout the first period, wearing down Jaime. Gossett was able to make his move and get the fall in 3:39.
 
With Gossett moving on to the championship round one match, he would face Logan Radik of Maryville. Gossett would take the same route with Radik, wearing him down and getting the fall 4:27. Gossett would have a tough match in the quarterfinals, going up against the one seeded Terrance Fanning of Wheeling Jesuit. Fanning came away with an 18-2 tech. fall.
 
Gossett found himself in the same boat as Palmer, win and you become an All-American, lose and you go home. Gossett would face Ramon Correa of Coker in the second round of the consolation bracket. Gossett had gotten falls over Correa twice on the season and was the same result in this match. Gossett got the fall over Correa in 5:18 to move onto day two of the tournament.
 
Gossett will face Tristen Weirich of Ashland in the third round of the consolation bracket. The two have met earlier in the season at the Midwest Classic where Weirich came away with a 9-7 decision win.
 
Timmy Martinez (133 weight class) – 1-2 (Eliminated)
 
Martinez was able to pick up one win on the day, coming over Ronnie Pietro of UNC Pembroke in the preliminary round. It was a tightly contested match as neither one was able to gain much of an advantage. Martinez was trailing 3-1 in the final seconds of the match before he was able to gain control of Pietro to get the two-point takedown as time expired. UNC Pembroke threw the challenge brick and after further review, the call on the mat stood.
 
Martinez would advance to the first round of the championship bracket, facing Tate Barnhardt of Mary. Martinez was unable to find any offense as Barnhardt came away with a 4-0 decision win. In the first round of the consolation bracket, Martinez faced Austin Hertel of Gannon. Martinez found himself in another close match but Hertel came away with a 5-3 decision win.
 
Nick Weldon (197 weight class) – 1-2 (Eliminated)
 
Coming out of the gate, Weldon may have had the toughest match on paper, going up against the second seeded Levi Niebauer of Pitt.-Johnstown. Weldon has come into his own, coming off a third-place finish at the Super Region 2 Tournament. Weldon was able to focus on the task at hand and he did just that. Weldon was able to catch Niebauer off guard and before he knew what was going on, Weldon had gotten the fall in 2:35.
 
In the quarterfinal match, Weldon faced Colton Dull of Millersville. Dull was able to get out to a quick lead and Weldon was unable to recover as he was defeated by an 8-4 decision. In the second round of the consolation bracket, Weldon would square off against Khalil Gipson of Adams St. Weldon fell behind early to Gipson in the early going and was defeated by an 8-3 decision.
 
Nick Giantono (165 weight class) – 0-2 (Eliminated)
 
In the first round of the championship bracket, Giantono faced the sixth seed Calvin Ochs of Nebraska – Kearney. Ochs proved to be too much Giantono as he picked up the 17-2 tech. fall. In the first round of the consolation round, Ginatono faced Tyler Harrington of Maryville. Harrington was able to pick up the fall over Giantono in 1:45.
 
ZeBrandon Gant (184 weight class) – 0-2 (Eliminated)
 
In the first round of the championship bracket, Gant faced the fifth seed Konnor Schmidt of Western Colorado. Gant was able to get out to a quick lead over Schmidt and put himself in the driver's seat. Schmidt was able to catch Gant off guard in the last minute of the match, picking up the fall in 6:35.
 
Gant moved on to the first round if the consolation bracket where he would face Justin Pichedwatana of San Fran. St. Gant found himself in a tough battle with Pichedwatana with neither competitor getting the edge. In the late stages of the match, Pichedwatana was able to get the lead. Gant started to come on in late in the match but was unsuccessful as Pichedwatana came away with an 8-5 decision win.
 
Royal, Palmer and Gossett will move on to day two of the 2019 NCAA Division II National Championships at the Wolstein Center starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday.