TULSA, Okla. — For the fourth straight year, App State Wrestling has had at least five wrestlers qualify for the NCAA Championships, which begin Thursday morning at the BOK Center in Tulsa.
Five wrestlers are set to compete Thursday, with seeds attached: No. 5
Caleb Smith (125 pounds), No. 33
Ethan Oakley (133 pounds), No. 24
Tommy Askey (157 pounds), No. 27
Will Formato (165 pounds) and No. 32
Will Miller (174 pounds).
Jon Jon Millner, a two-time All-American at 149 pounds, was seeded No. 9 in his bracket before he had to withdraw Monday because of an illness.
The five remaining Mountaineers have goals of performing well on the sport's biggest stage. Oakley, Askey and Miller all will be making their NCAA debuts, while Formato is a three-time qualifier and Smith is appearing for the second time.
ESPNU (day) and ESPN (night) will have overarching coverage of this week's championships. The best way to watch App State matches in the early rounds will be via ESPN+ and the live streams for each mat (1-8). App State Wrestling's Twitter account (@appwrestling) will provide updates of mat assignments and approximate match times as they become available in real time.
Here are the first-round matchups (brackets subject to change if any wrestlers withdraw):
125: No. 5
Caleb Smith (26-5) vs. No. 28 Killian Cardinale (West Virginia, 10-1)
133: No. 33
Ethan Oakley (20-11) vs. No. 32 McGwire Midkiff (North Dakota State, 15-11)
157: No. 24
Tommy Askey (30-11) vs. No. 9 Will Lewan (Michigan, 21-6)
165: No. 27
Will Formato (28-8) vs. No. 6 Patrick Kennedy (Iowa, 19-3)
174: No. 32
Will Miller (24-10) vs. No. 33 John Worthing (Clarion, 19-9)
Thursday's schedule
11 a.m. CT (Noon ET): Session 1 - First Round
6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET): Session 2 - Second Round and Consolation First Round
Friday's schedule
11 a.m. CT (Noon ET): Session 3 - Quarterfinals and Consolation Second/Third Rounds
7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET): Session 4 - Semifinals and Consolation Fourth/Fifth Rounds
Saturday's schedule
10 a.m. CT (11 ET): Session 5 - Consolation Semifinals and 3rd/5th/7th Place Matches
6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET): Session 4 - Championship Matches
Opening Round ESPN+ links
goapp.st/NCAAMat1
goapp.st/NCAAMat2
goapp.st/NCAAMat3
goapp.st/NCAAMat4
goapp.st/NCAAMat5
goapp.st/NCAAMat6
goapp.st/NCAAMat7
goapp.st/NCAAMat8
Second Round ESPN+ links
goapp.st/Mat1
goapp.st/Mat2
goapp.st/Mat3
goapp.st/Mat4
goapp.st/Mat5
goapp.st/Mat6
goapp.st/Mat7
goapp.st/Mat8
Since
JohnMark Bentley became coach, App State has had 55 NCAA qualifiers and five All-America finishes.
In his debut last year as a No. 25 seed, Smith opened the event with a win against No. 8 seed and eventual fifth-place finisher Patrick McKee. This year, Smith arrives as a single-digit seed with a talented first-round foe — West Virginia's Killian Cardenale is a four-time national qualifier who was an All-American in 2021 and a Round of 12 finisher in 2022. He is 10-1 this season in just 11 matches.
Smith has gone 26-5 this season (including 7-3 vs. fellow NCAA qualifiers) with headline-making wins against No. 3 seed Liam Cronin of Nebraska (12-2 major decision against a wrestler who is now 20-4), No. 6 seed Stevo Poulin of Northern Colorado (who is 28-5), No. 19 Braxton Brown of Maryland, No. 20 seed Jarrett Trombley of NC State, No. 26 Jack Wagner of North Carolina, No. 27 Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech and No. 33 Tucker Owens of Air Force.
Oakley, who entered the bracket after initially being the first alternate, and Miller will wrestle immediately in pigtail matches to open the event. Those are matches that pit the No. 32 seed against the No. 33 seed for the right to advance to a Round of 32 matchup against the No. 1 seed, so there's the plus that even a high seed has the opportunity to win an NCAA match before becoming a heavy underdog in the next round.
Coming off SoCon titles in their weight classes, Askey and Smith both have 14-match winning streaks. Formato, who advanced in last year's NCAA bracket via a medical forfeit in Round 2, had a 12-match winning streak entering the SoCon final.
App State has 24 national qualifiers over the last four seasons, and 13 of the nation's 17 NCAA qualifiers from North Carolina high schools over the last four years have come from App State. That includes three of the five this year (Smith, Oakley, Millner), and Miller is one of two Alabama natives in the field.
ENTRY BIOS:
CALEB SMITH
Career entering 2023 NCAAs: Career record of 60-14, including 23-2 in duals and 14-1 in SoCon duals at 125 pounds ... Automatic NCAA qualifer in 2023 as SoCon champion ... At-large NCAA qualifier in 2022 in his first year as a starter with a first-round win by an 8-5 decision against Minnesota's Patrick McKee, who placed third the previous year and followed the loss to Smith with five straight wins and then a 6-1 record to place fifth ... Placed fifth at Southern Scuffle as a redshirting true freshman in 2019 ... U23 World Team Trials fifth-place finisher (freestyle All-American) at 57 kg in Geneva, Ohio ... NWCA All-Academic winner in 2022 ... NWCA All-Academic winner in 2022.
2022-23: SoCon champion and All-SoCon at 125 ... Enters NCAA Championships with a 26-5 record after going 14-0 in duals, 8-0 in SoCon duals and 3-0 at the SoCon Championship at 125 pounds ... Won 6-3 against Presbyterian's Dominic Chavez in the SoCon final ... Has eight wins against ranked or NCAA-qualified wrestlers, highlighted by a 12-2 major decision against Nebraska's Liam Cronin (No. 3 seed who is 20-4) in Las Vegas and a 5-4 win at the Southern Scuffle against Northern Colorado's Stevo Poulin (No. 6 seed who is 28-5) ... Also had wins against Maryland's Braxton Brown (who is 24-6), NC State's Jarrett Trombley, Virginia Tech's Eddie Ventresca, UNC's Jack Wagner, Air Force's Tucker Owens and Campbell's Anthony Molton ... Had dual wins against ranked opponents from NC State, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Campbell ... In App State's 19-16 victory at North Carolina, with each team winning five matches, came up with six huge points with a pin in a ranked showdown against Wagner ... Opened App State's 22-14 victory against Campbell by getting a tiebreaking takedown with 25 seconds left to win 4-1 in a ranked matchup at 125 ... Won 3-2 against Trombley in NC State dual by earning a tiebreaking takedown with 39 seconds left ... Quarterfinalist at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational before finishing 2-2.
ETHAN OAKLEY
Career: In the field after initially being the first alternate for the NCAAs at 133 pounds ... Possesses a 20-15 career record ... Went 7-0 in SoCon duals and 9-0 in all duals in 2023 after becoming App State's starter in mid-January... Reached 2023 SoCon final before dropping a 4-3 decision in the final and a 6-3 decision in the true second place match against a pair of ranked opponents ... Placed eighth at the Southern Scuffle as a redshirting, unattached wrestler during the 2021-22 season ... Pinnacle Award winner (given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA on the championship-winning team) at the 2023 SoCon Championship.
2022-23: All-SoCon at 133 ... Has a 20-11 record after the SoCon Championship ... Top seed reached 2023 SoCon final before dropping a 4-3 decision in the final and a 6-3 decision in the true second place match against a pair of ranked opponents ... Was extremely close to scoring before time ran out in 4-3 finals loss to Brayden Palmer ... Went 9-0 in duals and 7-0 in SoCon duals ... Moved into starting role after a former SoCon champ and NCAA qualifier,
Sean Carter, suffered a season-ending knee injury against Virginia Tech on Jan. 13 ... Won first 10 matches after becoming the starter and had won 18 of his last 22 matches going into the SoCon final ... In consecutive matches, beat top-25 opponents from Chattanooga (5-2 decision thanks to a tiebreaking takedown with 18 seconds left) and Campbell (3-1 decision in Sudden Victory thanks to an OT takedown) ... Also won duals against The Citadel (4-3), VMI (major decision), Duke (major decision), Gardner-Webb (8-3), Presbyterian (8-1) and Davidson (6-0) ... Fell behind 5-4 in the third period of SoCon semifinal against Gardner-Webb's Todd Carter before producing a tying escape with 1:13 left, then turning defense into offense to deliver a tiebreaking takedown with 22 seconds remaining ... Pinnacle Award winner (given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA on the championship-winning team) at the 2023 SoCon Championship.
TOMMY ASKEY
2022-23: SoCon champion and All-SoCon at 157 ... Has a career record of 49-26 ... Enters NCAAs with a 30-11 record after going 11-1 in duals, 8-0 in SoCon duals and 3-0 at the SoCon Championship at 157 pounds ... Won 6-2 in the SoCon final against Davidson's Tanner Peake ... Enters NCAAs with 14 straight victories ... In the last 10 matches, won by a combined score of 136-39 (scores before a pin vs. Duke) with no takedowns allowed and eight bonus point victories ... Placed eighth at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational with three wins — including a ranked win against Northern Iowa's Derek Holschlag — and placed seventh at the Southern Scuffle with four wins ... Only dual loss was a 9-4 decision against 2021 national champion Austin O'Connor of UNC — and has an 18-2 record since that loss in his first career dual start ... Had five major decisions and two tech falls in his eight SoCon dual wins ... Went 5-1 and placed third at the Keystone Classic ... Only loss was a 5-4 decision — decided by a riding time point — against 12th-ranked Anthony Artalona of Penn.
WILL FORMATO
Career entering 2023 NCAAs: Three-time NCAA qualifier (all at-large) ... SoCon Wrestler of the Year in 2021 ... Career record of 90-35 with a 39-6 record in duals and 26-4 record in SoCon duals ... Unbeaten record in SoCon duals in 2021 and 2023 ... With 90 career wins, ranks 12th in program history ... NWCA All-Academic honors in 2020, 2021 and 2022 ... Two-time All-SoCon performer (2021, 2023) ... Last season, at the Southern Scuffle, won a 6-4 overtime decision against Iowa's Patrick Kennedy, his first-round opponent in Tulsa.
2022-23: All-SoCon at 165 ... Takes a 28-8 record into the NCAA Championships after posting a 13-0 dual record, an 8-0 record in SoCon duals and reaching the SoCon final ... Lost a 3-1 decision to a ranked opponent from Gardner-Webb in the SoCon final ... Had won 12 straight matches (by a combined score of 110-6) leading into the SoCon final ... Won 2-1 in a ranked showdown against Gardner-Webb's RJ Mosley on Jan. 30 in their seventh career matchup, before the eighth meeting in the SoCon final ... Won first two matches and went 2-2 at the Southern Scuffle ... Placed seventh at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational by going 4-2, including a 10-3 decision against #29 Legend Lamer of Cal Poly, a 5-2 decision against NC State's Donald Cates and a medical forfeit against sixth-ranked Carson Kharchla of Ohio State in the seventh-place match ... Went 5-1 to place third at the Keystone Classic ... Followed a first-round win by fall with a 5-2 loss to No. 22 Connor Brady of Virginia Tech, then rattled off four straight wins ... A 3-2 (SV-1) victory against NC State's Don Cates in a season-opening dual ended with a one-point penalty against Cates for a second stall call in overtime.
WILL MILLER
2022-23: Enters NCAA Championships with a 24-10 record after going 11-3 in duals and 7-1 in SoCon duals before being a SoCon finalist at 174 pounds ... 18-5 in his last 23 matches (including a controversial 6-5 loss in which no back points were awarded on a late takedown of Virginia Tech's Mekhi Lewis, the No. 3 seed at 174) ... NCAA wrestler of the week following his key victory in the win at UNC ... The 7-5 decision against returning All-American Clay Lautt of UNC (helped by a tiebreaking takedown with 36 seconds left) started the 18-5 run over the last 23 matches ... Lost 6-5 to 2019 national champion and 2022 runner-up Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech after tying the match at 5-all on an explosive takedown in the final 30 seconds — no additional back points were given after an official's review, and Lewis' escape with seven seconds left gave him the win ... Earned bonus points in each of his last five SoCon dual wins ... Held a 5-0 lead before suffering an 11-5 loss to Chattanooga's Rocky Jordan in the regular season, and Jordan won 4-2 in the SoCon final ... Went 5-0 en route to the Keystone Classic title ... Claimed a 6-0 decision against Rider's Shane Reitsma in the 174-pound final ... Earned a 10-5 victory against Cal Poly's Jarad Priest at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational following an opening-round loss in which he delivered an early takedown against third-ranked Mikey Labriola from Nebraska.
