All three UB wrestlers competing in last week’s NCAA Championships in Detroit resigned their singlets just one day into the event.
The three-day conference at Little Caesars Arena saw graduate student John Arceri and redshirt freshman Jay Nivison make their first career appearances at the NCAA Championships. Two-time NCAA veteran redshirt-junior Michael Petite also represented the Bulls on the national stage.
All three Bulls fell to big-name opponents at the first hurdle on Thursday.
Arceri competed in the 149 lb. division. The Long Island native dropped a 5-0 decision to Ohio State redshirt junior Sammy Sasso, the fourth seed and the Big Ten runner-up, before getting pinned by Northern Iowa redshirt sophomore Colin Realbuto in the first period.
Nivison was pinned by four-time All-American NC State graduate student Hayden Hidlay, before dropping an 8-0 major decision to Wyoming redshirt senior Hayden Hastings.
A fighting spirit never left Petite, as he trailed 4-2 against NC State freshman Ed Scott — an ACC champion — but rallied to tie the match in the second period with an impressive escape. But Scott got the better of him with a pin, landing Petite in the consolation bracket, where he faced off against Pittsburgh redshirt senior Elijah Cleary and dropped a 3-2 decision.
UB went 12-6 overall and 7-2 in Mid-American Conference duals this season. That’s the most MAC wins the Bulls have ever earned in a season.
The mats will return in fall 2022.
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor and can be reached at sophie.mcnally@ubspectrum.com
Sophie McNally is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. She is a history major studying abroad for a year from Newcastle University in the UK. In her spare time, she can be found blasting The 1975 or Taylor Swift and rowing on a random river at 5 a.m.
Photo: Data Courtesy of UB Office of Institutional Analysis
