Schram leads local wrestlers looking for NCAA gold
Connor Schram has made a smooth transition from high school wrestling to competing for Stanford University.
The 125-pound redshirt sophomore from Canon-McMillan High School became the 20th wrestler in Stanford history to win a PAC-12 title and was the first to be named Wrestler of the Week in the program’s history.
Now, he and three other former Canon-McMillan wrestlers will be shooting for the gold medal when the NCAA Wrestling Championships begin today in New York City.
Schram will be joined there by Dalton Macri, a 125-pound freshman from Cornell; Solomon Chishko, a 141-pound redshirt freshman from Virginia Tech; and Cody Wiercioch, a 165-pound redshirt sophomore from Pitt.
Schram is making his second consecutive trip to the tournament, which gets under way at noon. Schram drew the 10th seed in the weight class and wrestles Lorenzo Bentley (18-10) of Pitt in the first round. If successful, Schram could run into seventh-seeded Darian Cruz (28-5) of Lehigh in the second round (7 p.m.). A win there could send Schram against second-seeded Joey Dance (25-1) of Virginia Tech in Friday’s quarterfinals (11 a.m.).
Semifinals are at 8 p.m. Friday and the finals are at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Schram holds three wins over ranked opponents this season, including two over Oregon State’s Ronnie Bresser, who is the 11th seed and in the same part of the bracket as Schram.
Bresser’s first-round opponent is Macri, who takes a 16-7 record into the match. Macri earned a wild card berth from the EIWA tournament, where he placed fourth. He lost two bouts in the tournament, both to Zack Fuentes of Drexel.
Macri has won nine of his last 16 bouts with bonu -points, including four by fall. Four of his losses have come by two points or fewer.
Chishko is a seventh seed at 141 and has Mike Pongracz (22-4) of Chattanooga in the first round. Chishko enters the tournament as the runner-up in the Atlantic Coast Conference, losing a 3-2 decision to Kevin Jack of North Carolina State in the finals.
Chishko has a 26-4 record, including 17-1 in the ACC, and 4-1 in dual meets.
Wiercioch (17-11) is one of six wrestlers from Pitt in the tournament. His first-round opponent is 10th-seeded Austin Wilson (23-9) of Nebraska. Wiercioch earned his spot in the bracket with a fourth-place finish at the ACC Championships. Wiercioch has a 29-21 career record.
Other local wrestlers who performed well but failed to make it into the NCAA tournament included Ty Buckiso of The Citadel. Buckiso, a graduate of Peters Township, finished third at 141 pounds in the Southern Conference tournament with a 12-3 major decision victory over Ryan Hull of Gardner-Webb.
Colton Shorts, a junior at Cal-Poly and a graduate of Canon-McMillan, finished fifth at 157 pounds in the PAC-12 tournament and did not receive an at-large bid. Shorts finished the season at 15-10.