AKRON, Ohio – For the first time since 2005, three Stanford wrestlers placed at the U23 Nationals, held June 2-3 in Akron.
Gabriel Townsell (57 kg) and Paul Fox (70 kg) both finished fourth for the Cardinal, while Austin Flores (86 kg) placed seventh in the freestyle tournament. The three All-Americans tied a program record at the event. The only other time three Cardinal earned the status was in 2005 when Tanner Gardner, Matt Gentry and Scott Loescher all placed.
Townsell went 8-2 over the weekend to finish fourth. After dropping his second match of the tournament, the Oak Park, Illinois native reeled off seven straight wins on the backside of the bracket before falling in the third-place bout. All of his wins were by technical fall, including 12-2 (2:15) over NCAA qualifier Drew Mattin of Michigan and 11-0 (0:20) against Louis Hayes, also an NCAA qualifier, from Virginia. Both wins avenged losses from last season for Townsell.
Fox, who was seeded ninth, was also 8-2 overall to take fourth. He defeated three NCAA qualifiers, including Alfred Bannister of Maryland, Cole Martin from Wisconsin and Ryan Blees of Virginia Tech. He fell 8-4 in the third-place bout to Nebraska's Tyler Berger. HE is now a two-time U23 Nationals All-American after placing seventh last year.
Flores earned his first freestyle All-America honor after going 7-2 and placing seventh. He won the seventh-place bout by forfeit. The Clovis, California native tallied four wins by technical fall. He fell into the consolation bracket after being defeated by All-American Chip Ness from North Carolina, 16-5 (5:57). He then posted five consecutive wins in the consolation bracket before losing 10-0 (1:40) to NCAA qualifier Cash Wilcke of Iowa.
Also competing for Stanford were Jared Hill (74 kg), Nainoa Calvo (74 kg) and Trevor Rasmussen (125 kg). Rasmussen lost his first match of the tournament, but won four in a row in the consolation bracket to advance to the second day of competition. He finished with a fall and three technical falls.
Overall, Stanford wrestlers were 27-12 during the tournament.