BUFFALO — The initial brackets for the 2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships were released on Wednesday. The University at Buffalo wrestling team has three wrestlers competing. Kyle Akins (125 lbs.), Bryan Lantry (133 lbs.) and Jake Gunning (285 lbs.) will all be making the trip to St. Louis beginning March 16.
Akins will face off against Penn State’s Nick Suriano, the three seed, in the first round. This will be the first meeting between the two this season. Suriano went 16-3 on the season. Akins has a 20-5 record on the year and finished fourth at the MAC Championships.
Lantry, wrestling at the National Tournament for the second straight year, is the 12 seed and will face D.J. Fehlman of Lock Haven in the first round. Fehlman finished second in his weight class at the EWL Tournament. Fehlman wrestled at 141 earlier this season and earned a 12-4 major decision over UB’s Jason Estevez in November. Lantry nearly won the MAC title at 133, but lost in overtime to Missouri’s John Erneste. The redshirt-sophomore is 20-5 on the season and is ranked 11th by InterMat.
Finally, Gunning, the 2017 Mid-American Conference champion at 285 lbs. will go up against top-seed and defending national champion Kyle Snyder of Ohio State. Snyder, the nation’s top-ranked wrestler at 285 lbs., won the 2017 Big Ten championship. Snyder is 12-0 this season and 53-4 over his career. Gunning is 20-5 on the year and has won six straight matches.
In addition to the three Bulls going to the NCAA Championships, Brett Perry has been named the first alternate at 184 lbs. Perry will go if someone in the 184-lb. weight class drops out.
The double-elimination tournament begins on March 16 and runs through March 18.
