A big month on the mat for Gomez
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, last weekend in Kansas City, Mo., produced several All-Americans with local ties …
University of Michigan graduate student Austin Gomez (Glenbard North) took second at 149 pounds. Seeded sixth, Gomez (13-3) went 4-0 before falling 15-7 to No. 4 Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech in the title match. Gomez is a three-time qualifier and two-time All-American, having placed fourth at 149 pounds in 2022 with Wisconsin. On March 1 Gomez also qualified for the Olympics at 65 kilograms at the Pan American Olympic Qualifier in Acapulco. He’ll represent Mexico.
A four-time All-American, Iowa redshirt senior Real Woods (Montini), placed fourth at 141 pounds. Seeded third, Woods (23-5) lost his quarterfinal match then won twice in wrestlebacks before losing 7-6 to Nebraska’s Brock Hardy in the third place match. Woods was a three-time state champion.
At 165 pounds, Iowa redshirt sophomore Michael Caliendo (Batavia) finished fourth. No. 6 Caliendo (26-6), who set Batavia’s pins record at 74 and went 36-0 as a senior, repeated as an All-American. At North Dakota State in 2022-23 he went 29-5 and finished seventh at the NCAA Championships.
Michigan redshirt junior Dylan Ragusin (Montini) placed fifth at 133 pounds his first All-American honor. A two-time Academic-Big Ten student from Elk Grove Village, No. 5 Ragusin (28-4) qualified for the NCAA Championship his first three seasons, with 2-2 tournament records in 2022 and 2023.
Thanks to the NCAA and FloWrestling for all this.
Mary Kate Fahey (Hersey), a junior guard at New York University, played for a national champion basketball team. Twice a winter sport All-Academic student in the University Athletic Association, Fahey played in 30 of the unbeaten Violets’ 31 games. She averaged 3.6 points and made 25 3-point baskets, shooting 40% from the arc. NYU beat Smith 51-41 on March 16 in Columbus, Ohio, to win the Division III championship.
At St. Norbert College, junior guard Emma Morrisey (St. Viator) earned Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference first-team honors. The Green Knights’ leader with 52 3-pointers, she averaged 10.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists, leading the NACC in assists. With 123 assists to 49 turnovers, Morrisey had a sterling 2.5 assist-turnover ratio.
In No. 13 seed Yale’s NCAA Division I first-round 78-76 win over No. 4 Auburn on Friday, junior guard John Poulakidas (Neuqua Valley) scored a season-high 28 points. He made six 3-pointers to move to 81 3s on the season, second all-time at Yale. A second-team all-Ivy League and all-district pick this year, and Yale’s most-improved player last season, entering Sunday Poulakidas was averaging 13.5 points.
Yale won the Ivy League tournament to earn the automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament. Poulakidas scored a team-high 18 points in the Bulldogs’ last-second 62-61 championship win over Brown.