Greeley’s Andrew Alirez, the top-seeded wrestler at 141 pounds for the Big 12 Conference championships and one of the best in the sport, lost in the semifinals Saturday afternoon in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Fourth-seeded Tagen Jamison of Oklahoma State beat Alirez 13-6 in sudden-victory at the BOK Center.
The loss was the first of the season for Alirez (14-1), who came into the championships ranked third nationally at 141 as of March 3, according to FloWrestling.org. Jamison was ranked sixth.
Alirez was chasing a second Big 12 championship, and the loss sent him into the consolation semifinals on Sunday afternoon. Alirez will wrestle unranked Jordan Titus of West Virginia for the right to get into the third-place match.
Alirez won the 141-pound Big 12 title two years ago on the way to winning the NCAA title.
Windsor’s Dominick Serrano, seeded second at 133, won by decision in all three of his matches Saturday to reach the finals.
Serrano beat unranked Julian Chlebove of Arizona State 7-3 in the opener. Serrano then defeated No. 7 Derrick Cardinal of South Dakota State 8-5 before dispatching another unranked foe, Hunter Leake of California Baptist 10-3 in the semifinals.
Serrano (22-2) will face No. 5 Kyle Burwick of North Dakota State on Sunday evening for the 133-pound title and the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Serrano was ranked 14th this week by FloWrestling.
Vinny Zerban, the sixth seed at 157, will also wrestle for a conference title for the Bears. He earned decisions in all three of his matches Saturday. Zerban (17-4) will face fourth-seeded Cobe Siebrecht of South Dakota State in the finals.
Siebrecht is ranked 19th this week by FloWrestling. Zerban is ranked 21st.
Alirez wasn’t UNC’s only high seed to end up in the consolation rounds Sunday.
Stevo Poulin, seeded second at 125 and in the top 10 nationally, also went out in the semifinals. He was pinned by No. 3 Jett Strickenberger in 2:15. Poulin was ranked ninth this week by FloWrestling.
Poulin is also in the consolation semifinals Sunday with a chance to make the third-place match. Poulin will face No. 1 seed Richard Figueroa of Arizona State.
Other UNC results from Saturday:
165: Unranked Clayton Ulrey will wrestle for seventh place on Sunday after winning one match and losing another in the consolation round. He’ll face No. 7 Jack Thomsen of Northern Iowa. Ulrey, a senior in his final year of collegiate wrestling, beat Logan Fowler of Air Force 7-5 in his first consolation match. Aiden Riggins of Iowa Stat beat Ulrey on a major decision (11-3), sending Ulrey to the seventh place match.
174: Aydin Rix-McElhinney will also wrestle for seventh place Sunday after going 1-1 in consolation matches. He advanced after an injury to West Virginia’s Brody Conley before losing to Iowa State’s MJO Gaitan on a decision.
184: AJ Heeg lost his opening match to undefeated No. 1 seed Parker Keckeisen by technical fall. Heeg lost in the consolation round later in the day on a 2-0 decision to eighth seed Colton Hawks of Missouri.
197: Andrew Donahue also lost his first two matches. He dropped a 5-0 decision to No. 7 Brian Burburija of Air Force. Donahue then lost to California Baptist’s Eli Sheeren on a major decision, 11-2.
285: Jose Valdez also went out after two matches. Valdez lost in the opener on a 6-4 decision to No. 3 seed Lance Runyon of Northern Iowa. North Dakota State’s Andrew Blackburn-Forst pinned Valdez (1:18) in a consolation match.