Five Penn wrestlers qualify for 2015 NCAA Championships

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Five Penn wrestlers punched their ticket to St. Louis on Wednesday, as the NCAA announced the final list of qualifiers for the 2015 National Tournament.

For three Quakers, the announcement confirmed what they had already known, as junior Lorenzo Thomas, senior Canaan Bethea and senior Brooks Martino earned automatic bids with stellar performances at EIWA Championships on March 6-7.

Thomas, the No. 10 seed entering the upcoming tournament, is no stranger to the national stage. Last year, the then-sophomore went 5-3 in at 184-pound to earn All American honors. Although Bethea missed qualifying for NCAA’s in 2014, he competed in the 184-pound class in 2013, finishing 0-2. Martino, on the other hand, is a first-time qualifier for NCAA’s – the Quakers only first-timer to qualify for the 2015 tournament. Both seniors are unseeded entering the 2015 tournament.

After earning at large bids, sophomore Caleb Richardson and senior C.J. Cobb will join Penn’s trio of automatic-bid earners in St. Louis. Although this will be Richardson’s second trip to NCAA’s, it is his first at 133 pounds. Despite a respectable 25-9 overall season record, the sophomore grappler enters St. Louis without a seed. Cobb, however, earned a No. 13 seed at 149 pounds. Cobb’s last appearance at nationals came in 2013 at 141 pounds, where he finished 2-2.