The Citadel's Dazjon Casto came up just a few seconds short of All-America status at the NCAA Wrestling Championships.
Needing one more victory to become the Bulldogs' fifth All-American, the Fort Dorchester High School graduate lost 7-6 to No. 14 seed Hunter Willits of Oregon State on March 18 in Detroit.
Casto, the No. 22 seed at 157 pounds, won three of five matches in the NCAA Tournament.
Against Willits, Casto trailed by 5-0 in the third period before coming up with two takedowns in the final 27 seconds to tie the bout at 6-6. But Willits was awarded one point for riding time to take the victory.
Casto entered the NCAA championships with a record of 22-7 and the SoCon title at 157 pounds.Â
He pulled an upset of No. 11 seed Austin Connor of North Carolina 8-2 in the opening round, then fell to No. 6 Jared Franek of North Dakota State 10-0 in the second round. Connor was the NCAA champ at 149 pounds last year.Â
Moving to the consolation bracket, Casto knocked off No. 28 Brady Connor of Virginia Tech 3-1, then earned a second-round pin of No. 14 Jake Keating of Virginia.
At Fort Dorchester, Casto was 39-0 and won a state championship as a senior, and he also was an All-Lowcountry defensive back in football.
The Citadel's Michael McAleavey entered the NCAAs as the No. 28 seed at 285 pounds and lost to No. 5 Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force and No. 21 Tyrie Houghton of N.C. State.
The Citadel has had four All-Americans in wrestling: Dan Thompson (2006), Odie Delaney (2013), Ugi Khishignyam (2013) and Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (2014).
