Panther wrestling: Farber, Downey stay alive in consolations of NCAA Championships

CLEVELAND --- Julian Farber (133 pounds) and Ryder Downey (165 pounds) both secured a pair of victories on Friday in consolation bracket completion at the NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena, keeping both wrestler's hopes of All-American honors alive.

Caleb Rathjen (149 pounds), Jared Simma (174 pounds) and Nick Fox (184 pounds) all meanwhile wrapped up their national tournaments with Rathjen and Fox coming up short in the third round of consolations and Simma in the second round of consolations.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Farber advanced in the consolation bracket at 133 pounds with a controlled victory over No. 14 Ethan Berginc (Army). After building on two first period takedowns for a 6-2 lead, Farber added an escape and successfully defended Berginc's offensive attempts, including a reviewed sequence that was overturned and ruled no takedown. Farber maintained control the rest of the match to secure the 7-2 win.

In the third round of consolation matches, Farber took on No. 12 Evan Mougalian (Penn). Winning by riding time Faber finished 6-5 sending him into the next round of consolation action. Farber will take on seventh-seeded and defending national champion Lucas Byrd (Illinois) in the consolation quarterfinals.

Downey showed a dominant performance in the first period against No. 23 Cody Goebel (Wisconsin) finishing with a 18-3 technical fall victory at 165 pounds. Downey followed his first win of the day with a second technical fall victory against No. 18 Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell), finishing with an 18-2 technical fall. Heading into Friday's consolation semifinals, Downey will take on ninth-seeded Bryce Hepner (North Carolina) tonight.

At 149 pounds, Rathjen battled in the second period with two takedowns and back points to defeat No. 22 Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) in a 10-4 decision in the second round of consolation matches. In the third round Rathjen faced No. 17 Gabe Willochell (Wyoming), falling by major decision, 11-1, concluding his national competition. Rathjen, who joined the Panthers this season as a transfer from Iowa and making his second NCAA Championship appearance, finishes the year with an 11-8 record.

Jared Simma concluded his national championship run at 174 pounds battling against second seed No. 2 Simon Ruiz (Cornell), falling by pin in the second period. Simma, who was competing in his third NCAA Championships, finishes the season with a 15-10 record. At 184 pounds Nick Fox finishes his national run after a battle until the end against No. 18 Jaden Bullock (Virginia Tech), finishing 4-3 in overtime.

UP NEXT
The fourth session of this year's national championships will begin tonight at 7 p.m. CT with semifinal round and consolation matches. Fans can catch all the action on the networks of ESPN with links to all matches on UNI's NCAA Championship Hub.

UNI RESULTS (Through Session 3)

[Seed] (NCAA Coaches rank) #Intermat/FloWrestling ranking listed

133 | [20] (24) #20/19 Julian Farber (3-1)

W - [13] (10) #9/9 Jacob Van Dee (Nebraska), 5-4
L - [4] (5) #4/5 Aaron Seidel (Virginia Tech), 22-4 TF
W - [13] (17) #14/17 Ethan Berginc (Army), 7-2
W - [12] (13) #12/14 Evan Mougalian (Penn), 6-5

149 | [14] (24) #21/16 Caleb Rathjen (2-2) | DNP

W - [19] (19) #16/16 Brock Herman (Little Rock), 3-1
L - [3] (6) #9/10 Cross Wasilewski (Penn), 8-5 SV-1
W - [29] (22) #27/22 Kaden Cassidy (George Mason), 10-4
L - [21] #17/23 Gabe Willochell (Wyoming), 10-1 MD

165 | [11] (6) #6/6 Ryder Downey (3-1)

W - [22] #21/19 Matthew Olguin (Oregon State), 10-4
L - [27] #24/20 EJ Parco (Stanford), 4-3
W - [28] #25/23 Cody Goebel (Wisconsin), 18-3 TF
W - [19] (22) #18/22 Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell), 18-2

174 | [17] (13) #13/14 Jared Simma (1-2) | DNP

L - [16] (22) #23/30 Nick Fine (Columbia), 3-2
W - [33] Grant O`Dell (Bellarmine), 4-1
L - [2] (2) #2/2 Simon Ruiz (Cornell), 5:57 Fall

184 | [29] (19) #21/19 Nick Fox (1-2) | DNP

L - [4] (4) #9/9 James Conway (Franklin & Marshall), 4-1
W - [13] (11) #10/10 Isaac Dean (Iowa State), 4-1
L - [14] (24) #20/18 Jaden Bullock (Virginia Tech), 4-3 SV-2

UNI wrestling action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (University of Northern Iowa Wrestling), X (@UNI_wrestling) and on Instagram (@uni_panther_wrestling). Check out the latest Panther news and information online at UNIpanthers.com.

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