UNI Wrestling: Holschlag Pins #2 for 5th at NCAAs

Thursday, March 15

Cleveland, Ohio

University of Northern Iowa

NCAA Championships

Photo by: Mike Smith / MatShots

UNI Wrestling: Holschlag Pins #2 for 5th at NCAAs

3/17/2018 2:02:00 PM | Wrestling

No. 15 UNI wrestling at 2018 NCAA Championships
March 15-17, 2018
Quicken Loans Arena | Cleveland, Ohio

PDF OF 2018 FINAL BRACKETS

ATTENDANCE OF SESSION I: 18,660
ATTENDANCE OF SESSION II: 18,680
ATTENDANCE OF SESSION III: 18,680
ATTENDANCE OF SESSION IV: 18,680
ATTENDANCE OF SESSION V: 19,267
ATTENDANCE OF SESSION VI: 19,776

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Jacob Holschlag fought his way through the consolations of his second trip to the NCAA tournament to take fifth in the 197-pound weight class at the 2018 championships.

"Sometimes you got to have a little something extra, and I guess I had it today," Holschlag said. "You just have to work, work, work, work."

Holschlag is the Panthers' 81^st All-American. In all, UNI has earned 123 medals at the national tournament.

"I couldn't be prouder of that guy," said head coach Doug Schwab. "You know, you lose first round and come back and get fifth place, that's not an easy thing to do. You watch. He has to dig deep for everything."

A loss to No. 25 Kyle Conel of Kent State by fall in 2 minutes, 48 seconds pushed Holschlag into the fifth-place match with No. 3 Ben Darmstadt of Cornell. He came out firing to pin Darmstadt in 2:37.

"I'm finally an All-American, and that's a credit to my teammates," Holschlag said. "There's a whole variety of people who put time into my life, and I appreciate all of them."

Holschlag finishes the season 23-12.

Since Schwab has taken over the helm of Panther wrestling, eight Panthers have earned nine All-America titles.

David Bonin was the last Panther to enter the NCAA tournament unseeded and finish with All-America honors. He took fourth at 157 pounds in 2013.
UNI finished in a tie for 24^th place with 20 points.

HOLSCHLAG'S JOURNEY

A first-round loss to No. 6 Willie Miklus of Missouri sent Holschlag to the consolations, where he won four consecutive matches to earn a spot on the podium.

He topped it off with a fifth win over Miklus to take a run at the bronze medal.

Holschlag was UNI wrestling's only unseeded wrestler and the only one to earn a spot on the NCAA podium.

He opened the second day of the tournament avenging a loss from earlier in the season to No. 17 Danny Chaid of North Carolina with a 10-5 decision. Chaid beat Holschlag in his first dual of the season, 5-3.

Next, he secured a riding time point to take down No. 29 Eric Schultz of Nebraska, 3-2. And in similar fashion, Holschlag earned his first national honor with a 3-2 decision over No. 21 Chris Weiler of Lehigh.

His night ended with another shot at Miklus. It was the third meeting of the year for the duo, and Miklus and won the first two matches that included the opening round of the tournament. Holschlag kept attacking to earn a 7-5 decision and his fifth top-20 win of the year.