Palmer Named All-American Wrestler

While their fellow students were on vacation, four Columbia wrestlers spent the end of their spring break in Auburn Hills, Mich. Junior Brandon Kinney, freshman Matt Dunn, and seniors Devin Mesanko and Matt Palmer competed in the NCAA wrestling tournament between March 15 and 17.

The competition was intense, but when the smoke cleared, Palmer had clinched eighth place in the 174-pound class and become an All-American. The award was the culmination of one of the Lions' best seasons in recent memory, one punctuated by two tournament wins and a top-25 ranking.

Kinney opened his first bout at 125 pounds against third-seeded Tanner Gardner of Stanford. The match was close, but Gardner eventually prevailed 1-0 over the Columbia junior. The loss dropped Kinney to the consolation round, where he initially defeated Nick Ramirez of Wyoming 9-4. The run ended, however, with a 6-1 loss to Oklahoma State's Tyler Shinn in the next round.

"He [Kinney] was really close to beating Tanner Gardner right off the get-go," head coach Brendan Buckley said. "Kinney was in on a couple of takedowns; he just couldn't finish. But he wrestled well."

Like Kinney, the 149-pound Dunn entered his class with a close match. After leading through most of the bout, he lost to Matt Moley of Bloomsburg, who narrowly won 10-8 in sudden victory. For Dunn, it would be an early exit from the tournament, as he was defeated on Thursday night 8-2 by Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska.

At 157 pounds, Mesanko nearly outlasted seventh-seeded Craig Henning, but the Wisconsin senior pinned him in 6:52. In the consolation round, he was upended 3-2 by Jacob Yost of Chattanooga.

Palmer, however, made it clear in the first round that he would not go out after two matches. Seeded ninth at the 174-pound level, he prevailed 7-4 over Doug Umbehauer of Rider. In the second round, he again came out on top, winning an 8-3 decision over Nick Hayes of Northwestern. Palmer then faced the top-seeded wrestler in the bracket, undefeated Ben Askren of Missouri. In a tough struggle, Askren managed to pin Palmer in 4:42. Yet Palmer continued to fight in the consolation rounds, triumphing over Oklahoma's Joshua Weitzel 4-3. In the next match, a rematch of the EIWA final at 174 pounds, he fell 11-8 to Matthew Stolpinski of Navy. In the bout for seventh-place, Palmer lost 7-3 to Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan. Despite the two final losses, Palmer secured eighth place in the tournament, good enough for a position as an All-American.

Buckley was, for the most part, satisfied with his wrestlers' performance.

"Of course we wish we could have had more All-Americans, but ... it was a good season," he said.

For him, to send even four wrestlers to the national tournament was an achievement, and he felt that it helped raise Columbia's profile in wrestling.

"It just shows the progress we've made," he said. "We had four guys here this year. Two years ago, we had five. We're sustaining a high level, and the expectation is to get ... several guys in the national tournament. I think it's going to open the door and open recruits' eyes that they can be like this."