Photo credit: Alex Hare
Council Bluffs, IA (March 6, 2025) – The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) released the brackets for the Men’s Wrestling National Championships yesterday afternoon and nine Sussex County Community College wrestlers will be competing on the biggest stage.
The National Championships are taking place at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, IA and will start at 9 a.m. on March 7 and will end the following day on March 8.
Sussex has one wrestler competing in every bracket other than the heavyweight bracket and it gives them the opportunity to compete for individual and team accolades against some of the best junior college wrestlers the nation has to offer.
Each bracket is double elimination and the first one representing the Skylanders on the national stage is Carson Citro at 125. Citro’s first match will be against a tough opponent in Elijah Carter of North Idaho, a district champion.
Following him is Chris Casale at 133. Casale finished fourth in the bracket at Lackawanna two weeks ago and will take on Simon Cervantes of Big Bend who finished runner-up in his district bracket.
Michael VanderMeulen also finished runner-up in his bracket at 141, and his reward for doing so is a first round bye. He’ll take on the winner of the previous round’s match, which will either be Kyron Zoet of Muskegon or Kyler Sherk of Ridgewater.
Next is Thaylor Sibblies at 149 and he’ll wrestle against Pratt’s Kolton Field in the first round. A win against Field, who’s team is ranked sixth in the nation, would send him to the next round against Jacob Gillson of Muskegon.
Carlos Delgado will also be wrestling in the first round at 157, and his first opponent will be Zach Dawson of Northeastern Oklahoma. Delgado finished fifth in his district while Dawson finished third in his. The winner will take on Rochester’s Hunter Gartman in the next round.
Jose Alvarenga Giron did earn a bye in the 165 bracket and so did his first opponent, Pratt’s Melton Powe. Powe took home NJCAA South Central District Championship, while Alvarenga Giron finished fourth in his district.
Mason Mericle and Shawn Pawlowski round out the first round wrestlers for Sussex at 174 and 184. Mericle will take on Iowa Western’s Matteo Nikolov and Pawlowski will take on NIACC’s Jessey Colas.
The final wrestler representing the Skylanders is Ryan Flammer at 197. He gets a first round bye to start but then wrestles against Nate Ronan of Clackamas for his first match.
Day one will feature the quarterfinals, consolation fourth round, and consolation quarterfinals while day two features the semifinals, consolation semifinals and lastly the championship matches.
The championship matches begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday night, and the whole tournament will be broadcasted live on the NJCAA Network.
