Session I Recap

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Brayden Palmer and senior Rocky Jordan advanced to Day 2 of the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., today. 

Palmer scored a first-round win in the early session before dropping a second-round match in tonight's second session. Jordan opened with a loss, but bounced back in the consolations to keep his tournament alive. 

Below is a recap of session two action.  For a rundown of today's earlier Session I, click the link at the top of the page. 

The Mocs did not get the luck of the draw, running up against a pair of Penn State's defending national champions.  Senior Matthew Waddell lost in the first round to Aaron Brooks, while Palmer dropped his second round match to No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young.

133 – No. 17 Brayden Palmer
No. 16 - Joe Heilmann (Rutgers) – W, 4-2
No. 1 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) – L-D, 2-5

Like Waddell in his first round match, Palmer was up against a defending NCAA Champion in the second round.  He faced Penn State's top-seeded Roman Bravo-Young and was looking for a monumental upset.

It was a tough task and Palmer battled in a 5-2 loss.  He gave up two takedowns in the first period but did not allow another the rest of the way.  He was unable to get much going on offense and the last point came from riding time. 

Palmer returns to the mat tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. (E.D.T.) in consolation action. He is set to face off against American's 31^st-seed Jack Maida.

174 – No. 10 Rocky Jordan
No. 23 Mickey O`Malley (Drexel) – L-D, 7-8
No. 26 Sal Perrine (Ohio) – W-MD, 12-0

After the disappointing loss to Drexel's Mickey O'Malley in the first round, Jordan came out firing in his match against Ohio's 26^th-seed Sal Perrine. 

Jordan started with a takedown just after a minute into the match.  After Perrine was hit with stalling, Jordan turned him for a 6-0 lead. 

Perrine deferred to start the second and Jordan chose neutral.  He upped the lead to 8-0 with a takedown 18 seconds into the period.  Another stalling call gave Jordan a 9-0 and riding time all but locked up after two full periods.

Perrine chose neutral to start the third and Jordan scored another quick takedown. He rode Perrine out the rest of way for the 12-0 win.

"Rocky did a great job of bouncing back after a disappointing first match," stated head coach Kyle Ruschell. "He got to his offense and dominated from the start."

Jordan faces Ninth-seeded Edmond Ruth of Illinois in the backdraw tomorrow.  Ruth posted a 5-2 win over Jordan in the Mocs' dual against Illinois on Dec. 3.
 
197 – No. 30 Matthew Waddell
No. 3 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) – L-MD, 4-13
No. 33 Jha'Quan Anderson (Gardner-Webb) – L-D, 1-3

Waddell closed out his UTC career this evening after a 3-1 loss to Gardner-Webb's Jha'Quan Anderson.  The pair were tied at 1-1 with the match looking like it was headed to overtime.  Anderson was able to get the go-ahead takedown with five seconds left to take the match.

Waddell finishes the season with a 17-9 record at 184 pounds.  The 2022 Southern Conference Champion and four-time NCAA Qualifier posted a 67-38 mark for his UTC career.