RICHLAND, Wash. – Eight students from Washington State University Pullman and Tri-Cities will compete at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association national championships starting today after placing at the Northwest Conference Wrestling Championship at the end of February.
Under coach Kevin Poitra, WSU took third in the Northwest against 11 teams.
The WSU students to earn national championship berths include:
• Jerdon Helgeson, junior, 149 pounds – first place
• Joseph Traverso (WSU Tri-Cities), senior, 174 pounds – first place
• Hunter Haney, freshman, 133 pounds – second place
• Zachary Volk, freshman, 157 pounds – second place
• Robert Mendoza (WSU Tri-Cities), 149 pounds – third place
• Bailey Poitra, junior, 165 pounds – third place
• Xavier Henderson, junior, 235 pounds – third place
• Jason Nicholson, junior, 174 pounds – fourth place
“We would like to thank the Tri-Cities and Pullman communities for giving us the tools we used to get this far in wrestling and academics,” Traverso said. “Without their support, we wouldn’t have this team or the ability to train.”
The NCWA national tournament runs March 10-12. The top eight students in each weight class will earn the designation of “All-American.”
The matches will be live streamed on FloWrestling at https://www.flowrestling.org/event/252930-2016-ncwa-national-championships. To view the brackets and the schedule of the tournament, visit https://www.ncwanationals.org/.
Contact:
Maegan Murray, WSU Tri-Cities public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, Maegan.murray@tricity.wsu.edu
