Heilmann, Ness Earn All-America Honors Friday

Friday, March 16

Cleveland, Ohio

All Day

North Carolina

NCAA Championships

March 16, 2018 | Wrestling

Updated NCAA Brackets

CLEVELAND --- Troy Heilmann and Chip Ness earned All-America honors to lead North Carolina on day two of the 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships at Quicken Loans Arena. With Heilmann and Ness both still alive and guaranteed spots on the podium, Carolina has two All-Americans for the first time since 1995. The Tar Heels enter Saturday's final two sessions with 22.5 team points and stand in 19th place overall.

Heilmann beat Ohio State's Ke-Shawn Hayes 2-1 in the quarterfinals at 149 pounds to clinch his first career All-America finish. In a rematch of a high-scoring 10-8 decision at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December, Heilmann and Hayes had a much cagier affair Friday in Cleveland.

The two men could muster only an escape each in regulation, and after a scoreless sudden victory period, it went to tiebreakers. Heilmann started the first 30-second rideout on bottom and escaped before almost getting an additional two points for a takedown. After an unsuccessful UNC challenge, it was Hayes' turn on bottom. The Tar Heel redshirt senior from South Plainfield, New Jersey, maintained control for the entire 30 seconds and survived an OSU challenge to hold on for a 2-1 victory.

Ness had to do it the hard way after losing 10-6 to No. 2 seed Myles Martin of Ohio State in the quarters. Falling to the round of 12, Ness faced Navy's Michael Coleman in a win-or-go-home bout for a spot on the podium. Trailing 3-2 with less than a minute left in the final period, Ness got a takedown and two back points at the edge of the mat. Leading 5-4 after Coleman escaped, Ness was able to fend off a late attack to seal All-America honors for the first time.

.@CScott60kg recaps a historic day for Carolina wrestling: pic.twitter.com/jCXMAHQpvo
— UNC Wrestling (@UNCWrestling) March 17, 2018

Both Heilmann and Ness will wrestle again Saturday morning. Heilmann faces No. 3 seed Grant Leeth of Missouri in the 149 consolation semis after suffering a 10-4 loss to two-time defending NCAA champion and No. 1 seed Zain Retherford of Penn State in the championship semifinals. Ness will take on No. 9 seed Max Dean of Cornell for seventh place after falling to No. 10 seed Emory Parker of Illinois.

Four other Tar Heels competed on Friday - Zach Sherman, Kennedy Monday, Ethan Ramos and Danny Chaid. Monday won a pair of matches over Garret Hammond of Drexel and No. 10 seed Markus Scheidel of Columbia before falling in the round of 12 to SDSU's Luke Zilverberg. Ramos doubled up Ty Schoffstall of Edinboro 12-6 before dropping a 5-3 decision to Purdue's Dylan Lydy.