Heilmann, Ness Lead Carolina On Day One At NCAAs

Thursday, March 15

Cleveland, Ohio

All Day

North Carolina

NCAA Championships

March 15, 2018 | Wrestling

Updated NCAA Brackets

CLEVELAND --- Troy Heilmann and Chip Ness advanced to the quarterfinals to lead North Carolina on day one of the 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships at Quicken Loans Arena. Carolina had five of its eight competitors win opening-round matches, the most for the Tar Heels since 1997. With 9.5 team points, UNC stands in 17th place in the overall standings after day one.

Heilmann started his day with a major decision, blanking SIU-Edwardsville's Tyshawn Williams 9-0. The redshirt senior 149-pounder then outlasted Iowa State's Jarrett Degen 7-5 to book his spot in the quarterfinals. Heilmann, who has doubled his career win total at NCAAs, will face No. 5 seed Ke-Shawn Hayes of Ohio State Friday morning.

It wasn't easy, but it's not supposed to be. Heilmann talks his second-round win: pic.twitter.com/jjuQL95rut
— UNC Wrestling (@UNCWrestling) March 16, 2018

Ness knocked off a pair of seeded opponents to reach his first career NCAA quarters at 184. In the opener, Ness fought off a late shot to upset No. 10 Emory Parker of Illinois, 4-3. The redshirt junior then avenged an overtime loss from the regular season with an 11-6 victory over No. 7 seed Taylor Venz of Nebraska. Ness will take on No. 2 Myles Martin of Ohio State in the final eight.

Chip Ness has been stewing over an OT loss for four months. Tonight he got his revenge. pic.twitter.com/qBPuoSvaWR
— UNC Wrestling (@UNCWrestling) March 16, 2018

Kennedy Monday, Ethan Ramos and Danny Chaid joined Heilmann and Ness as first-round winners, with Monday scoring the biggest upset of the day at 157. The redshirt freshman used first-period three takedowns and a 2-point near fall to stun No. 2 seed Joey Lavallee of Missouri, 8-6. Monday then suffered a 10-7 loss to No. 15 seed John Van Brill of Rutgers in the round of 16.

Ramos started his day with a 7-3 win over Hunter Bolen of Virginia Tech in a rematch of the ACC final at 174. The redshirt senior then came out on the wrong end of a high-scoring 16-12 decision against No. 7 seed Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa.

Chaid rolled to a 12-4 major decision against No. 12 seed Stephen Loiseau of Drexel in the opening round before suffering a 14-3 loss to No. 5 seed Shakur Rasheed of Penn State in the round of 16.

Zach Sherman added to Carolina's win tally against seeded opponents in the wrestle-backs at 133. The true freshman eliminated No. 15 seed Ali Naser of Arizona State with a 4-2 overtime win.

A.C. Headlee and Cory Daniel both went 0-2 and were eliminated from the tournament.

Session III begins Friday at 11 a.m. with second-round consolation matches and quarterfinals. Every match will be available on WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app.