Correa Ends Season on Day One of NCAA Championships

CLEVELAND, OH - Coker College wrestler Ramon Correa ended just short of becoming an All-American on Friday (Mar. 8) at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships in Cleveland, Ohio as he went 1-2 on the day.

Correa began the day against one of the top wrestlers in the nation, Kameron Teacher of Notre Dame. Correa and Teacher battled it out early in the bout with Teacher getting a takedown but Correa quickly escaped for a point. Correa would be taken down midway through the third period in a close match and eventually pinned by Teacher to put Correa in the wrestleback bracket.

In his next bout, Correa was matched up against Jordan Mill of Minot State and Correa needed a win to move on. Correa was clearly the more dominant competitor as he took control early in the first period. Around 30 seconds into the period he picked the wrestler from Minot State and slammed him straight to the mat and pinned Mill to put him within one win of becoming an All-American.

In the final bout of the day Correa would be tasked with facing off with a familiar face in Newberry's Patton Gossett. The two had already squared off once this season with Gossett getting the best of Correa but none of that mattered now. The two heavyweights refused to give in a were scoreless heading to the second period. Gossett had the first choice and chose to go down, picking up an escape point shortly into the period. Gossett added on two more after a takedown but Correa managed to escape to make it 3-1 heading to the final period. Correa chose the bottom in the third period and came close to an escape before Gossett turned and pinned Correa to end it. 

The loss ended Correa's day at the NCAA Championships and officially closed the books on a promising first season for head coach Derrick Nelson.