CLEVELAND, Ohio — A year highlighted by Southern Conference regular season and tournament championships will conclude with another meaningful accomplishment.
Four Appalachian State wrestlers have qualified for the NCAA Championships that begin Thursday at noon in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena. LeBron James' home court will welcome the Kings of the SoCon, as 12th-seeded senior
Forrest Przybysz (174 pounds), junior
Randall Diabe (197), junior
Irvin Enriquez (141) and redshirt freshman
Alan Clothier (184) are among the 330 wrestlers filling the brackets in 10 weight classes.
Additionally,
Gavin Londoff (149 pounds) has been selected as a first alternate. If someone in that bracket is unable to compete, Londoff would take his place.
It's the third straight year that the Mountaineers will have at least four NCAA entries.
"We had a very experienced team last year and had returning national qualifiers," said App State coach
JohnMark Bentley, who was one of eight finalists for the NWCA National Coach of the Year award. "This year, with us redshirting (Matt) Zovistoski, we only had one guy who had ever been to the national tournament and only a few guys that had ever wrestled in the Southern Conference tournament. There were just a lot of questions we needed to answer. You never know how freshmen or young guys are going to respond, but our guys have done a phenomenal job this year."
Here's a closer look at the four App State wrestlers scheduled to compete Thursday:
* Przybysz (24-7) will face Wisconsin's Ryan Christensen (24-13) in the round of 32.
A fifth-year senior from Jefferson, Ga., Przybysz also advanced to the NCAAs as a sophomore, but 2018 was his first time earning an automatic berth as the SoCon champion. He was the conference runner-up in each of his first three years.
"I had a little bit of baggage going into that tournament being a three-time runner-up, so to finally win it my senior year was a great accomplishment," Przybysz said. "I'm blessed to be able to go wrestling in the NCAA tournament."
Przybysz is No. 14 in the national RPI rankings and No. 18 in the Division I coaches' rankings.
* Enriquez (17-11) will face Navy's Nicholas Gil (31-8) in the round of 32.
"As long as I know I'm going out there and laying it all out on the mat and just going after it and having fun, that's really all I'm trying to do," Enriquez said.
A junior from Aberdeen, Enriquez was seeded fourth in the eight-man SoCon bracket, but he earned the automatic berth as the conference champion thanks to a 3-1 semifinal upset of top-seeded Mike Pongracz from Chattanooga and a 14-3 major decision against Campbell's Jonathan Ryan in the final.
* Diabe (19-7) will face Kent State's Kyle Conel (24-10) for a spot in the round of 32 and a matchup with Wisconsin's Hunter Ritter (26-9).
A breakthrough season for the junior from Greensboro included a 7-0 record in SoCon dual meets, plus victories against Ohio, Oklahoma and Duke. He received an at-large berth after finishing third at the SoCon championships.
"I just kept faith and it all paid off in my favor," Diabe said. "I was at home working on some home maintenance when Coach Bentley sent me the text. After the text, I just dropped everything and got real excited."
Diabe is 31st in the coaches' rankings and 28th in the RPI.
* Clothier (27-9) will face Minnesota's Brandon Krone (11-8) for a spot in the round of 32 and a matchup with Lock Haven's Corey Hazel (23-8).
A standout prep wrestler and quarterback in Lawrence, Kan., Clothier went to the NCAA Championships as a spectator during his true freshman season and watched App State's
Denzel Dejournette become an All-American heavyweight. Clothier leads the Mountaineers in victories this season.
"I saw the big show, and I decided I wanted to make it," Clothier said. "That was my whole goal this year, and I still have more goals going in to the future."
Clothier is No. 26 in the coaches' rankings and No. 28 in the RPI.
