Overview
The Chattanooga Mocs saw Cooper Flynn advance to Day 2 of the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Flynn captured a win early Thursday evening over a former Big Ten rival to move on to Friday. True freshman Kade Rule took two tough losses but impressed with his work against a 2-time All-American.
 
Next up for Flynn…9 seed Maximo Renteria of Oregon State Friday afternoon. He has four wins ahead to reach Saturday's podium.
 
Quotable
"I think bouncing back from that first round loss just shows his character. As a senior, it's all about how you want to leave a legacy and what you're made out of, and he came out and wrestled hard and kind of dominated that match from the start." –Coach Kyle Ruschell on Flynn moving on to Friday
 
"I think there's some young positions in there. I think he needs to obviously get a little bit bigger. He's pretty small for the weight class, but he wrestles hard and so you see how good he is. We all know what he needs to work on over the summer is in his positions and finishing, but some of that's just the strength. But it's a great taste of what this actually looks and feels like when you've never been here before. That's a lot of experience for a true freshman to have moving forward in this career." – Ruschell on Rule's learning experience
 
Resources: Scoring | Brackets | Notes
 
Breakdown
Cooper Flynn
Round 1: (7) Nico Provo, Stanford, L, Dec., 2-8
Provo got the first takedown. Flynn got the quick escape and went into the second down 3-1. Cooper deferred choice in the second period with Provo going down. He escaped and got another takedown for a 7-1 advantage. Flynn chose bottom for the third and got his escape. He could not find the takedown the rest of the way and lost 8-2 with a riding time bonus for Provo.
 
Conso Rd1: (23) Nicolar Rivera, Wisconsin, W, Dec., 9-5
It was all Cooper Flynn in this one. After a scoreless first where Flynn was the clear aggressor, he got on the board with an escape right from the start. The two battled late in the period as Flynn's mat work paid off with a buzzer-beating takedown to go up 4-0 through five minutes. Rivera chose down and Flynn caught him and got his Badger opponent to his back for a 2pt near fall before Rivera escaped at 1:40. Forty seconds later Flynn got a second takedown for a commanding 9-1 advantage. Rivera escaped with 16 seconds remaining and got a takedown inside 10 seconds but it was too late to overcome Flynn's dominance over first 6:44.
 
Conso Rd of 16: (9) Maximo Renteria, Oregon State
 
Kade Rule
Round 1: (3) Stephen Little, Little Rock, L, Dec., 3-10
Came down to finishing. Little, a returning All-American, was able to complete three takedowns. He was also successful in fending off several deep shots from the Mocs true freshman. Kade quickly escaped each of the takedowns keeping riding time off the board; however, he just couldn't find his own finish with several single legs over the seven minutes.
 
Conso Premlims: (33) Karson Tompkins, Air Force, L, Dec., 0-2
It was a match that saw a lot of offense from Rule and good defense from Tompkins. Rule got in on the leg three times only for Tompkins to fend him off throughout. The Falcon got an escape in the second and then rode out the third for the final score. Even then, he had to work hard for it with Rule almost securing reversals twice before time allowed for a third attempt.
 
Mat Schedule
Friday: Survival day starts at Noon with quarterfinals and consolations. The evening session begins at 8 p.m., with the final four in each bracket as well as wrestle-backs. At the end of this night, every wrestler still standing earns a place on their respective podiums on Saturday.
 
Saturday: Championship Saturday starts at 11 a.m., with places 3-8 decided in every weight class. National Champions are determined in the evening beginning at 6:30 p.m.
 
Notes

• Multiple qualifiers for the 29th straight year and 48th of the 49 NCAA trips.
• Flynn & Rule earned auto bids winning SoCon titles at 125 & 197, respectively.
• Last All-American? 2008-Cody Cleveland, 141.
• Last Moc in the blood round? 2018-Bryce Carr, 184.
• Best all-time DI finish? Individual: 2nd-Charlie Heard, 1983. Team: T14-1983 | 29.0 pts-2005.
• Six DII National Champions: 1975: Randy Batten (118) & Turner Jackson (158); 1976: Randy Batten (118), Turner Jackson (158) & David Weeks (177); 1977: Randy Batten (126).
• Last Mocs senior to earn the podium? 133-Matt Keller, 2007.
• No Mocs freshman has claimed a spot on a DI podium.
• The Mocs ranked T20 in the final NWCA Mid-Major poll sharing the spot with Bucknell and Central Michigan. App State and The Citadel were among others receiving votes.

 
Upcoming Schedule
March 20-21: NCAA Championships (Cleveland, Ohio)
 
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