Sasso, Labriola, Lehigh’s Jakobsen and Wood remain alive for gold

The seedings for the NCAA Wrestling Championships were not particularly favorable for Lehigh University’s wrestling team, and it showed on the first day of the tournament Thursday in St. Louis.

Three of the 10 individuals they qualified made it into the Round of 16. Two of them, Malyke Hines at 133 pounds and Stroudsburg’s Jake Jakobsen at 197, found themselves up against top seeds Thursday evening for the right to advance to the quarterfinals.

Only heavyweight Jordan Wood, a semifinalist at this tournament the last time it was held and the No. 8 seed this year, was able to secure a match against someone seeded lower, No. 9 Greg Kerkvliet of Penn State.

Wood and Jakobsen will not wrestle again until well after 9 p.m., when Session 2B (featuring the final five weight classes) begins. The tournament is being run this way for safety precautions as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The format calls for only half the field to be on or near the tournament floor at the same time.

Hines, however, was eliminated from goldmedal contention when he was tripped by Oklahoma State’s Daton Fix and pinned in the second period.

Jakobsen may have provided the most excitement for the Brown and White in the first round when he pinned J.T. Brown of Army in overtime, earning a berth against Michigan’s Myles Amine late Thursday night.

Wood followed with a solid 6-1 decision over Stanford’s Nathan Traxler for the right to face Kerkvliet.

After losing their first-round bouts, Lehigh teammates Jaret Lane (125) stayed alive for medals, Jimmy Hoffman (149) and Connor McGonagle (141) were eliminated and Wood, and Jakobsen were waiting to wrestle their consolation bouts in Session 2B.

Not content with a major decision or technical fall, Lane pinned Binghamton’s Micah Roes in the third period after building a 9-0 lead.