UNI’s Parker Keckeisen taking risks and succeeding in NCAA Wrestling Championships

DETROIT — There are a lot of adjectives that could be used to describe Northern Iowa wrestling All-American Parker Keckeisen.

This week it is risky.

Third a year ago in the NCAA championships in St. Louis, Keckeisen has been a man on a mission to take more risks than his opponents, feeling those chances lead to more points.

The plan has worked after scoring a major decision over Wisconsin’s Christopher Weiler in his 184-pound first-round match. Keckeisen, seeded fourth, rolled to a 9-3 win over Kyle Cochran of Maryland to advance to the quarterfinals.

“I feel good. I’m out there taking risks,” Keckeisen said. “That is what I needed to do for the team. I feel good. I’m wrestling with confidence.”

An early scramble gave Keckeisen an early lead and he continued to build throughout the entire match.

“He was disengaging well. I knew he is good at scrambling so when I won that scramble, I felt pretty good. He is a good wrestler, tough,” Keckeisen said.

Keckeisen nearly converted a takedown in the closing moments of his win over Cochran, but time elapsed before he could finish. He will face Bernie Truax of Cal Poly in the quarterfinals Friday.

It was a mixed bag of results for UNI, whose eight qualifiers were most for the Panthers since they qualified nine in 2008.

UNI was 6-4 through pigtail and first-round matches and was tied for fifth after the opening session. But the Panthers ran into several roadblocks throughout the day, especially in the second round.

Brody Teske lost 9-3 to second-seeded Vito Arujau of Cornell, Kyle Biscoglia lost 10-4 to third-seeded Michael McGee of Arizona State, and Lance Runyon dropped an 8-5 decision to second-ranked Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech.

In all, the Panthers lost matches Thursday to an Olympic Gold Medalist (Tyrell Gordon to Gable Steveson, and two Junior World Champions (Derek Holschlag to David Carr and Runyon to Lewis).

Optimism remains for the Panthers as six of their eight qualifiers will wrestle on day two. Keckeisen will be in the quarters, while Teske, Biscoglia, Colin Realbuto, Austin Yant, and Runyon are on the backside.

Realbuto pinned Buffalo’s John Arceri in 2:16 in a 149 consolation match. At 165, Yant beat Caleb Fish of Michigan State 6-2 to move on.

Holschlag and Gordon, at 157 and 285, respectively, went 1-2 and were eliminated.

“Just got to keep fighting,” UNI head coach Doug Schwab said. “We had every guy win at least one match so that is something to build off. Now you got to win a second, and a third … win that first match, that point. We can score a lot, a lot of points.

“Really, got to lick your wounds a little bit. We still can leave here feeling really, really good. Some days you’ve got to pack that stuff away and get ready for the next one.”

In the morning session, Runyon exorcised a couple of demons.

A year ago, Runyon had to scratch from the NCAA championships because of a pair of torn labrums and a grade three AC joint separation. That was a bitter pill to swallow.

Runyon got to wrestle Thursday and he made the most of it. After twice losing to Oklahoma’s Anthony Mantanona, Runyon locked up a nearside cradle midway through the second period and pinned Mantanona in his opening match. He was then game against Lewis, the 165-pound national champion in 2019.

“It feels great,” Runyon said. “Especially after last year getting the tournament taken away from me. It was just seizing the moment, having fun, enjoying the experience, and being ready to go.

“It was just about wrestling through every position. I think one thing we talk about leading up to this match was trusting yourself. Trust your wrestling, and then go take risks. That leads to good things for me. I’ve never been a guy who could sit back, wrestle not to lose.”

Despite not getting all the exact results they wanted, UNI is in a good position to put multiple wrestlers on the podium.

“We’ve got to continue to build on it and make some hay on the backside,” Schwab said. “We must start beating people we aren’t supposed to beat. That is what it comes down to.”

Additionally, the Panthers with three pins and a major decision have already surpassed their bonus-point total from St. Louis a year ago.