March 13, 2013

NCAA Brackets | NCAA Championship Central

BOSTON - For the third time in five years, Boston University will send three wrestlers to the NCAA Championships with freshman Dane Harlowe (133), junior Nestor Taffur (157) and junior Kevin Innis (285) all kicking off next week's competition against top-four seeded opponents.

The NCAA Championships will be held at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday, March 21 - Saturday, March 23.

Winner of his first career CAA title on Saturday, Taffur owns a 34-7 record this season, including an 18-6 mark in tournament action. Making his first trip to the NCAAs, he will face off against Northwestern's top-seeded and reigning Big 10 champion Jason Welch (30-1). Coincidentally, the two men faced earlier this season at the Keystone Classic with Welch claiming an 8-6 decision.

Innis earned his first career title on Saturday as well but will be making his second trip to the NCAAs after going 1-2 last season with an at-large bid. He is 19-6 this season and will start the competition against Oregon State's No. 4 seed and reigning Pac-12 champion Chad Hanke (32-3).

Though he only finished third last weekend, Harlowe (9-5) was still able to clinch an automatic NCAA bid due to the competitiveness of the division in the CAA. Unseeded, he lost his first match at the CAA Championships but rebounded by earning a thrilling 7-6 decision over Rider's No. 2-seed Jimmy Morris and pinning Old Dominion's top-seeded Scott Festejo.

Becoming the first BU freshman since Hunter Meys in 2009 to reach the NCAAs, Harlowe will open against Virginia's No. 11-seed and ACC champion George DiCamillo (30-3).