Ashnault seeded at 141 pounds in NCAA Tournament
College: Ashnault highest seed among New Jersey wrestlers in NCAA Tournament
Ashnault seeded at 141 pounds in NCAA Tournament College: Ashnault highest seed among New Jersey wrestlers in NCAA Tournament Check out this story on app.com: http://on.app.com/1GsWly0
Brett Bodner and Steven Falk, Published 5:14 p.m. ET March 11, 2015 | Updated 9:26 a.m. ET March 12, 2015
Rutgers' Ken Theobold wins the 149lb match with a 7-6 decision over Jake Short of Minnesota, Sunday, January 11, 2015, at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in Piscataway, NJ.Jason Towlen/Staff Photographer(Photo: Jason Towlen/Staff Photographer)Buy Photo
Rutgers University redshirt freshman Anthony Ashnault was seeded seventh at 141 pounds in the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Wednesday night.
The tournament will take place March 19-21 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
Ashnault, who went 170-0 with four state championships during his scholastic career at South Plainfield to become the state's first unbeaten for his career four-time state champion, is the highest seed among those wrestlers with New Jersey connections in the tournament.
Ashnault (26-6), who was fifth last weekend in the Big Ten Tournament, will wrestle Appalachian State's Mike Longo in the first round.
Penn State senior heavyweight Jimmy Lawson (15-4) is the next highest seed among those wrestlers in the tournament with New Jersey connections.
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Lawson, who was a three-time state champion at heavyweight from 2008-2010 when he was at Manchester High School, is the No. 8 seed.
He will wrestle Cornell's Jacob Aiken Phillips (18-15) in the first round. Lawson was sixth in the Big Ten Tournament.
In the same quarter bracket as Lawson is Rutgers redshirt junior Billy Smith (18-8). Smith will wrestle No. 1 seed and defending national champion Nick Gwiazlowski (30-0) of North Carolina State in the first-round.
Other wrestlers with New Jersey connections who were seeded are Rutgers' redshirt junior Anthony Perrotti (157), Rider redshirt freshmen B.J. Clagon (149) and Chad Walsh (157) and West Virginia senior Mike Morales (141).
RELATED: Here is a list of Region VI's medal winners
Perrotti (20-8), who was eighth at 157 last year and became Rutgers' first All-America since 2002, is the No. 13 seed. He will meet Drexel's Noel Blanco (22-14) in the first round. Perrotti defeated Blanco by technical fall on Feb. 19. Perrotti was seventh in the Big Ten Tournament.
Clagon (24-9), who was a two-time state champion in 2012 and 2013 when he was at Toms River High School South, is the No. 15 seed.
He will wrestle Gardner-Webb's Ryan Mosley (26-9) in the first round.
Clagon won the Eastern Wrestling League championship by defeating Dave Habat of Edinboro in the final. Habat was the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the nation at the time. Habat is the No. 3 seed in the nationals.
The No. 2 seed at 149 is Northwestern's Jason Tsirtsis, the defending national champion. Clagon has lost to Tsirtsis 10-8 and 2-1 this year. If both he and Tsirtsis win their first-round bouts, they would meet in the pre-quarterfinals
Also at 149, is Clagon's former scholastic teammate and Rutgers junior Ken Theobold. He was awarded a wild card berth after he failed to place in the Big Ten Tournament when he sustained a calf injury iand had to injury default in his first bout and was majored decisioned, 16-4, in his second bout.
Theobold (23-7) will wrestle No. 10 seed Christian Pagdilao (21-3) of Arizona State in the first round. That would put him in the same quarter bracket as Clagon.
Walsh (29-8) is the No. 14 seed at 157. He will wrestle George Mason's Gregory y Flournoy (27-10) in the first round. Walsh won the Eastern Wrestling League championship.
Morales, the 2009 state champion at 130 and the 2010 state runner-up at 135 when he was at Brick Memorial, is the No. 16 seed. He was awarded a wild card berth because the NCAA does not consider the Big 12 Tournament as a qualifying tournament.
It is the third time Morales (28-12) has been in the national tournament. He will wrestle George Fischer (24-17) of Michigan in the first round.
If Morales wins his first-round bout, he would meet No. 1 seed and three-time national champion Logan Stieber (24-0) in the pre-quarterfinals.
The other Rutgers wrestler in the tournament ise Scott Delvecchio (133). Delvecchio (21-10) will wrestle No. 7 seed James Gulibon (22-7) of Penn State in the first round. Gulibon defeated Delvecchio, 12-2, on Jan. 16.
Other Rider wrestlers in the tournament are Robert Deutsch (133),, Conor Brennan (165), Ryan Wolfe (174) and Chuck Zeisloft (141).
Deutsch,Brennan and Wolfe were all Eastern Wrestling League champions.
Brennan (13-5), a redshirt junior who was third in the state at 152 in 2011 when he was at senior at Brick Township High School, will wrestle No. 9 seed Jackson Morse (26-6) of Illinois in the first round.
Zeisloft earned a wild card invitation and will wrestle Princeton's Jordan Laster in a preliminary-round bout.
Princeton's other tournament participants are Chris Perez (157), Jonathan Schleifer (165) and Brett Harner (174).