Central Michigan wrestlers Mason Shrader and Andrew Austin both saw their runs at the NCAA Championships conclude Thursday at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Austin, a redshirt junior competing in the 133-pound weight class, finished the tournament with a 1-2 record, concluding his season at 21-15 overall. He began his championship bracket competition with an 11-3 major decision loss to Oklahoma’s Carter Schmidt, seeded 33rd. Austin rebounded with a 6-5 victory over Oregon State’s Gabe Whisenhunt, seeded 30th, before being eliminated by Army West Point’s Ethan Berginc, the No. 16 seed, in a 19-5 major decision.
This year’s NCAA Championships marked Austin’s first appearance in the tournament.
Shrader, a redshirt senior wrestling at 157 pounds, went 0-2 at the championships, ending his season with a 24-12 record. Throughout his career at Central Michigan, Shrader amassed a 96-45 record. He opened his tournament against Ohio State’s Brandon Cannon, the No. 8 seed, and suffered a 10-4 defeat. His tournament run concluded with a 7-1 loss to Jaivon Jones of Little Rock, seeded 24th.
This was Shrader’s second consecutive qualification for the NCAA Championships.
The NCAA Championships, featuring 333 wrestlers across 10 weight classes, will continue through Friday, culminating in championship matches on Saturday night. The top eight wrestlers in each weight class will earn All-America honors.
Earlier in the day, Iowa State’s Yonger Bastida and Ohio State’s Ben Kueter advanced to the quarterfinals in the 285-pound weight class, as did Michigan’s AJ Ferrari and Juan Mora of Oklahoma. In the 157-pound class, Taye Ghadiali of Michigan and Isaac Trumble of NC State similarly secured their spots in the quarterfinals.
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