NAIA CHAMPIONSHIP DAY 1: Men's Wrestling earns four wins on first day; Alayan advances to NAIA Quarterfinals

(Park City, KS) - The Rochester Christian men's wrestling team kicked off the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championships on Thursday with RCU wrestlers Nicklas Alayan and Jacob Gonzales going 4-1 on the day. 

Nickolas Alayan came into the tournament ranked fifth and would go 2-0 on the day. His first match had him go up against Leland Camp from Reinhardt and would earn his 10th fall win of the season, doing so in 2:36, being the only wrestler in his bracket to earn a fall win. His next matchup on the day would see him take on #21 Jarrod Gilliam from Briar Cliff and and would also earna fall win, pinning Gilliam in 32 seconds. 

Jacob Gonzales entered the tournament as the 30th seed and went 2-1 on the day. He would take on the third-ranked Kris Ketchum from Grand View and fall in the match to move over to the consolation bracket. His first round in the consolation bracket earned a tight 7-6 win over #14 Sean Houston to advance to the next round. In that next round, Gonzales continued his solid wrestling with a 20-4 Tech Fall win over #20 Benedict Holtaus. 

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Alayan advances to the Quarterfinal round of the 133-lb weight class and will take on the fourth-ranked Vincent Citrano tomorrow.

Gonzales advances in the Consolation bracket and will take on the twelfth-ranked Jagger Tyler.