Army Posts Strong Opening Day at NCAA Tournament

Thursday, March 18

St. Louis, MO

Army West Point

NCAA Wrestling Championships

Army Posts Strong Opening Day at NCAA Tournament

March 18, 2021 | Wrestling

ST. LOUIS, MO – After having their shot at competing in the tournament last March canceled, the Army West Point wrestling team entered day one of the 2021 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships eager to take advantage of the opportunity.

Freshman Ben Pasiuk made a statement in the opening day, claiming his first tournament victory over Clay Lautt from the University of North Carolina to send him to the championship round two, the only Black Knight to do so.

Despite taking losses in the first round, P.J. Ogunsanya, Markus Hartman and J.T. Brown battled back to strong victories in the following bouts. Ogunsanya and Brown grabbed strong victories in the first consolation round, giving them the opportunity to continue to compete on Friday.

Hartman got a tough matchup in No. 3 David Carr for his first loss of the afternoon. The junior then commanded the mat against Luca Frinzi in the pigtail prelims and Holden Heller in the first consolation round, giving him another chance to battle back to the top.

With their second match victories, all four athletes will get a shot at the consolation round two tomorrow.

141 | Lane Peters (No. 19)
Champ. Round 1: L, MD 13-2, Dylan Duncan (Illinois)
Cons. Round 1: L, Dec. 10-4, Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State)

149 | P.J. Ogunsanya (No. 16)
Champ. Round 1: L, SV1 7-5, Kyle Parco (Fresno State)
Cons. Round 1: W, Dec. 5-3, Cameron Hunsaker (Utah Valley)

157 | Markus Hartman (No. 30)
Champ. Round 1: L, MD 16-2, David Carr (Iowa St.)
Prelims: W, Dec. 3-0, Luca Frinzi (Lehigh)
Cons. Round 1: W, Dec. 8-4, Holden Heller (Hofstra)

174 | Ben Pasiuk (No. 17)
Champ. Round 1: W, 8-3 Dec., Clay Lautt (NC)
Champ. Round 2: L, 17-1 TF (5:06), Michael Kemerer (Iowa)

184 | Taylor Brown (No. 27)
Champ. Round 1: L, 13-2 MD, John Poznanski (Rutgers)
Cons. Round 1: L, Dec. 8-5, Devin Kane (NC)

197 | J.T. Brown (No. 17)
Champ. Round 1: L, SV1 3-1, Jake Jakobsen (Lehigh)
Cons. Round 1: W, Dec. 5-3, Billy Janzer (Rutgers)

Tomorrow's matchups (Consolation Round 2):
149 – Ogunsanya vs Griffin Parriott (Purdue)
157 – Hartman vs Hunter Willits (Oregon St.)
174 – Pasiuk vs Jake Logan (Lehigh)
197 – (J) Brown vs Owen Pentz (North Dakota St.)