Kolodzik Defeats Smith To Become Princeton's 10th All-American Honoree

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RECAPS: Session I l Session II l Session III
VIDEO REVIEWS: Day 1 l Day 2

There will be a new photo on the All-American wall in the Princeton wrestling room, and there will be a new rider in the Jadwin Gym elevator.

Fourth-seeded freshman Matthew Kolodzik was nothing short of dominant in the critical NCAA Round of 12, recording five takedowns en route to an 11-3 major decision over Bucknell's Tyler Smith to join the most illustrious list in the tradition of Princeton Wrestling:

Warren Taylor '43. Bradley Glass '53. Emil Deliere '72. John Sefter '78, Henry Milligan '81, John Orr '85, Dave Crisanti '86, Greg Parker '03, Brett Harner '17.

And now, there is Matthew Kolodzik '20.

He is the first freshman in Princeton history to achieve the honor, and he did so by shaking off his quarterfinal loss to Rutgers' Anthony Ashnault and powering through Smith early in Session IV of the NCAA Championships. If there was any concern about Kolodzik's resilience, it was put to rest immediately; Kolodzik got Smith around the waist and drove him to the edge of the mat for the takedown.

From there, Kolodzik was a technician. One takedown after another, he cemented his status as one of the top newcomers in the sport, and he didn't stop until he secured a major decision for the Tigers.

Kolodzik dropped his Friday night finale to eighth-seeded Jaydin Eierman of Missouri. Eierman scored on two takedowns in the first period to open a 4-1 lead, and he used a strong ride in the second to carry his way to a 6-2 win.

Kolodzik will wrestle 14^th-seeded Thomas Thorn of Minnesota Saturday morning for seventh place.

133 — Pat D'Arcy
R1: Won by decision over #13 Earl Hall (Iowa State) 8-1
R2: Lost by decision to #4 Cory Clark (Iowa) 10-5
C2: Lost by decision to Scott Delvecchio (Rutgers) 4-0

141 — #4 Matthew Kolodzik
R1: Won by decision over Ryan Diehl (Maryland) 8-3
R2: Won by decision over Jimmy Gulibon (Penn State) 6-3
QF: Lost by decision to #5 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) 6-2
C4: Won by major decision over #15 Tyler Smith (Bucknell) 11-3
C5: Lost by decision to #8 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) 6-2
7th place: #14 Thomas Thorn (Minnesota)

149 — #16 Jordan Laster
R1: Won by decision over Nick Barber (Eastern Michigan) 5-2
R2: Lost by technical fall to #1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) 16-0
C2: Won by decision over Cole Mendenhall (Wyoming) 6-4, sv-1
C3: Lost by decision to #9 Justin Oliver (Central Michigan) 4-0

157 — Mike D'Angelo
R1: Lost by decision to #11 Russell Parsons (Army) 7-1
C1: Won by decision over Colt Shorts (Cal Poly) 9-5
C2: Lost by decision to May Bethea (Penn) 10-6

174 — Jonathan Schleifer
R1: Lost by fall to #15 Trace Engelkes (Northern Iowa) 5:33
C1: Won by fall over Devin Skatzka (Indiana) 5:35
C2: Lost by major decision to #16 Christian Brucki (Central Michigan) 13-5

197 — Brett Harner
R1: Lost by fall to #7 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska) 4:52
C1: Won by fall over Jake Tindle (Southern Illinois) 1:50
C2: Lost by decision to Daniel Chaid (North Carolina) 8-4

285 — Ray O'Donnell
R1: Lost by #2 Connor Medbury (Wisconsin)
C1: Lost by fall to Ross Larson (Oklahoma) 0:40

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