Trent Hidlay in Championship as NC State Wrestling Looks to Crack Top-Five

Coming into the latter part of the night, there were hopes that State could push three wrestlers into the Championship match. Both Hidlay’s and Tariq Wilson looked solid through early matches, but only Trent Hidlay prevailed.

State currently sits in a tie for 6th, with an opportunity to squeeze out a few more points to bump up.

Not Complaining About the Refs but…

Let’s just say, the calls this NCAA Championships have been less than ideal. That, by the way, is a blanket statement, as multiple matches have been skewed towards the Hawkeye state.

Unfortunately, the Wolfpack were on the end of two bad ones.

On Day 1 it looked as though State’s Reenan had Iowa’s top 197 guy beat…then a late stall call and “missed” pins, sent Reenan into the consolation bracket. Tariq Wilson had a similar situation against #1 seed (and Iowa wrestler) Jaydin Eierman in the semifinals of 141. Wilson was aggressive from the get go. A takedown with one second left in the first and then a tech fall pushed Wilson into the third place match.

Heartbreak for One Hidlay, Anticipation for Another

Hayden Hidlay was flying through the tournament, until a semifinals matchup against Iowa State’s Carr. Hidlay was taken down late in the first, then an escape by Carr to start the second, was all that was needed for the upset. Hayden spent most of the match setting up his underhook, but Carr was excellent in defensive stance. It just looked like Hidlay was a little gassed and unable to make that final push to end his stellar career.

Luckily, for State and the Hidlay family, Trent Hidlay pulled out a complete grind it out win, to move to the championship. A match that went into double OT with a 1-1- score, had plenty of moments of close takedowns and narrow escapes. With quicker, ride time heavy, double OT, Hidlay was able to hold Rutgers Pozonanski for the duration of the first half, before escaping for the one point win in the second.

After the match, Trent’s one word to describe the experience thus far, “emotion”. Between the grind of the tournament, knowing his brother didn’t make it in an early match, yet himself being in the top-2, it was quite the roller coaster for Trent.

Four All-Americans

With a top-8 finish at Nationals, Hayden Hidlay, Trent Hidlay, Tariq Wilson and Daniel Bullard will all be All-Americans for State. Quite the weekend of wrestling and an another amazing building block for next year’s squad.

Final matches for the year are now through the championship rounds tonight.