Army, Harvey Caps Season in Blood Round

Friday, March 22

Pittsburgh, Pa.

All Day

Army West Point

NCAA Championships

Ben Harvey caps his season in the blood round for the second season in a row

Army, Harvey Caps Season in Blood Round

March 22, 2019 | Wrestling

PITTSBURGH – Junior 174-pounder Ben Harvey of the Army West Point wrestling team finished his season one-win shy of being an All-American for the second year in a row on the second day of the NCAA Championships at PPG Paints Arena on Friday evening.

Harvey fell to reigning NCAA champion Zahid Valencia of Arizona State in his first match as Army's first quarterfinalist since Matt Kyler in 2010. The New Palestine, Ind., native wrestled in the blood round for the second time in as many years but dropped an 11-2 major decision to the 9-seed Devin Skatzka of Minnesota.

HOW IT HAPPENED
157 Lbs.: 20-seed #29 Lucas Weiland: 0-1 (1-2)
Cons. Round of 16 #2: L, 6-5 vs. 14-seed #14 Zach Hartman (Bucknell)
165 Lbs.: 24-seed #26 Cael McCormick: 0-1 (1-2, Fall)
Cons. Round of 16 #2: L, TB-2 RT, 4-4 vs. 26-seed #27 Joseph Gunther (Illinois)
174 Lbs.: 22-seed #23 Ben Harvey: 0-2 (2-2)
Quarterfinals: L, Fall at 2:12 vs. 3-seed #3 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State)
Cons. Round of 8 #2: L, Major Decision, 11-2 vs. 9-seed #8 Devin Skatzka (#8 Minnesota)
184 Lbs.: 28-seed #28 Noah Stewart: 0-1 (1-2)
Cons. Round of 16 #2: L, 6-1 vs. 11-seed #12 Lou DePrez (Binghamton)

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

Harvey advanced to the blood round for the second consecutive season.

WARD'S WORDS

Head coach Kevin Ward – "Our guys continued to wrestle very hard and I am really proud of the fight they showed. Bottom line, we just didn't get it done in some matches. There were no bad calls or anything, we just made too many mistakes and let some wins slip away.
"I'm really proud of our entire team, especially Ben. He gave it everything he had and competed with the best in the country. Sometimes you don't get the results that you want, and that's life. But our guys have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hang their heads about. These losses hurt, and they will hurt for a long time, but the future is bright for our program and bright for each individual in it. I'm proud of the way they represented West Point and the U.S. Army at the NCAA Championships."