Two locals advance through championship bracket at NCAA wrestling tournament

CLEVELAND — Nothing beats home cooking. With the NCAA Division I wrestling tournament at the Rocket Arena, a handful of former Medina County standouts embraced the opportunity to wrestle in the biggest collegiate tournament so close to where they grew up. Former Buckeye standout Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming) and former Wadsworth star Jaxon Joy (Cornell) reached the quarterfinals with two victories Thursday. With one more win today, Joy and Neitenbach would join Highland's Richard Burton and Buckeye's Nick Nutter as the county's only D-I collegiate All-Americans. Both wrestled for Ohio State, with Burton (134 pounds) taking sixth in 1983 and Nutter (275) seventh in 1996. "It's such a blessing to be home," Neitenbach said. "I get to share it with my family and friends, so it's an awesome experience." Neitenbach is seeded sixth at 184 and looking for All-America status after finishing 2-2 in his first NCAA Championships as a freshman. He entered Thursday with a 20-6 record. Neitenbach kicked off the tournament with a 14-1 major decision over North Dakota State's Aidan Brenot. He followed with a 7-2 decision victory against Oklahoma State's Zack Ryder, the 22nd seed. Neitenbach faces Minnesota's Max McEnelly, the third seed, in the quarterfinals. "Last year was a great experience, but this year is going to be totally different," he said. "I'm not just coming here for experience. I want to be an All-American." Joy, who is ranked second at 149, also thrived, picking up a 16-1 technical fall in the second period against Edinboro's Ryan Michaels in the first round. In the second round, Joy beat Iowa's Ryder Block, the 15th-seed. Joy will face Stanford's Aden Valencia in this morning's quarterfinals. Valencia is the 10th seed. The first experience at the NCAA Championships was thrilling for the greyshirt freshman, who entered competition 24-1. "We wrestled in here (Wednesday) for practice, and I didn't think it seemed that crazy," Joy said. "With the fans all here, it felt loud. I felt it, and it felt amazing. I like the atmosphere with the people watching, and hopefully I can put on a good show." Fellow former Wadsworth great and current George Mason wrestler Logan Messer (26-6) won one of the most thrilling first-round matches when he beat San Diego State's Moses Espinoza-Owens 6-3 in sudden victory at 174. Messer, who entered seeded 19th, rode out the 14th-seeded Espinoza-Owens in the third period to tie and got a takedown with 1:34 left in the first overtime to advance. In the second round, Messer was defeated by 11-3 major decision against third-seeded Christopher Minto of Nebraska. He'll have a chance to wrestle through the consolation bracket to earn All-America status by finishing in the top eight with three straight wins today. "What I did (against Espinoza-Owens) was just wrestle longer than my opponent," Messer said. "It was awesome to win at a national tournament. Hopefully, I've got more wins to come tomorrow." Wadsworth was also represented by Chris Earnest (165). The 2022 state champion, wrestling for Kent State after transferring from Campbell, suffered a 12-1 loss to 10th-seeded Will Denny of North Carolina State. The 23rd-seeded Earnest then was pinned by Aurora graduate Tyler Lillard of Indiana in 5:20. Despite being eliminated, Earnest was honored to get to wrestle in front of so many friends and family. "It's an absolute blessing," Earnest said after his first match. "I'm doing it for Kent State now, for my family and for all those people from Wadsworth here supporting me. It's a blessing to have so many people here watching me." Joining Joy at 149 were former Brecksville standout Brock Herman (13-3), now a Medina resident, and Hinckley Township native Kade Brown (14-8), who wrestled for St. Edward. Herman (Arkansas-Little Rock) was seeded 19th and lost 3-1 to Northern Iowa's Caleb Rathjen, the 14th seed, in the first round. Brown (Pitt) dropped a 4-0 decision to North Carolina State's Koy Buesgens in the first round. Herman bounced back with a 9-3 decision win over Rider's Dylan Layton, the 30th seed. Brown was eliminated in the first round of consolation matches by Wyoming's Gabe Willochell. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.