After losing in the second round to No. 6 Travis Pascoe 11-5, O’Donnell wrestled in the consolation bracket. After winning his next two matches, O’Donnell found himself pitted against No. 20 Brady Reinke. The match was very competitive and went to overtime tied 2-2. But O’Donnell proved the stronger of the two and won the match, 6-2.

“The overtime scenario is something we practice a lot, so I feel very comfortable when I get in to overtime,” O’Donnell said. “When I get in to overtime I sort of expect to win.”

Unfortunately, O’Donnell was unable to emerge victorious in his next contest and lost 12-0, finishing the weekend unsatisfied at 4-2.

“I want to place in nationals, so I was disappointed not to place in Las Vegas,” O’Donnell said. “It’s not something I look back on with fondness.”

Though O’Donnell and many of the upperclassmen left Sin City disappointed, several of the freshmen wrestled well.

Baria won his first two matches by a total of 12 points to advance to the third round, where he lost 6-0.

Classmate Max Meltzer (133 lbs.) also turned heads, finishing the weekend 3-2. His only losses came against ranked opponents—No. 11 Urijah Faber and No. 18 Joe Malia.

“[The freshmen] are definitely going to be more motivated now, after seeing the competition,” O’Donnell said. “They’re going to have to work that much harder if they want to be All-American.”

Despite the results, the team feels that the time spent in Las Vegas was a great learning experience and remains optimistic about finishing the regular season ranked in the top ten.

“It’s still early in the year, so I don’t think it’s going to affect us that much,” Jantzen said. “We’re facing some of the top teams in the nation, and we’ve got a bunch of really young guys wrestling, so now we have an idea of how hard we need to focus.”