NCAA Wrestling Tournament 2023: Rocky Elam clinches All-American status, punches ticket to semifinals

No. 2 Rocky Elam (Missouri) is an All-American for the third time in his career. He took down No. 11 Jaxon Smith (Maryland) 6-3 to advance to Friday night’s semifinals.

Elam landed the opening takedown of the bout and took a 2-0 lead in the first period. He rode Smith for the remainder of the frame and took that lead into the second period.

Smith was on top to start the period but Elam eventually escaped after the Terrapin built up 48 seconds of riding time. 

After a neutral start in the third period, Elam landed a takedown with less than a minute to go in the match and took a 5-0 lead.

Smith would escape to make it 5-1 late, but it was not enough for the Maryland freshman, despite landing another takedown.He opted to cut Elam, making it 6-3, but Elam held on for the win.

Elam will take on No. 7 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) for a chance to get to the finals. Salon won in sudden victory over No. 2 Bernie Truax (Cal Poly).

The winner heads to Saturday night’s finals but both wrestlers already made the All-American podium (top eight).

More on the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships

The 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships were held March 16-18 at the BOK Center in Tulsa (Okla). The tournament consists of 330 wrestlers in total across 10 weight classes. Each weight class features wrestlers seeded No. 1 through No. 33.

Over the course of the three-day tournament, wrestlers can achieve national champion status by going 5-0 in their bracket, through Saturday night’s finals. The top eight placewinners in each bracket are considered All-Americans.

Losing one match does not eliminate a wrestler from competition. The consolation bracket is designed to determine the remaining spots on the podium (third through eighth place).

Since there are 33 wrestlers in each weight, the competitors seeded No. 32 and 33 compete in a “pigtail bout” prior to the first round to determine who matches up against the No. 1 seed in Round 1.

Losing the pigtail drops the wrestler to the consolation bracket where there is still opportunity to finish as high as third place in the weight class.

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The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Tournament is set to take place in Kansas City (Mo.).