The NCAA D1 Finals saw several historical feats, including underdogs Aden Valencia and Cesar Alvan outperforming their seed brackets, dishing out upsets, and garnering appraisals. Both achieved a favorable place on the podium at the end of the night alongside eight of their peers, coming from the same place.
Stanford’s Valencia entered the finals as the No. 10 seed and faced Penn State’s Shayne Van Ness, the No. 1 seed. At 149 lbs, Valencia took home the title with an 8-5 sudden victory, creating the biggest mat upset in recent history.
Columbia’s Alvan came was the No. 12 seed and beat Arizona’s Nicco Ruiz with a 7-2 decision in the quarterfinals. However, he lost the semifinal match to Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink. Despite the loss, Alvan was third at the overall NCAA Championships after falling into the consolation bracket. Both Valencia and Alvan led due to the sheer difference in their seeding and their final positioning.
Besides the two, others left their mark as well. Coming in at No. 27 seed, Gabe Arnold of Iowa was placed seventh, followed by Chance Lamer from Nebraska, who finished fourth with a No. 20 seed.
This was also followed by Zack Ryder (No. 5 seed), finishing third, Carter Nogle (No. 18 seed), finishing fifth, and Christian Carroll (No. 18 seed), finishing eighth. The night ended with Tyler Knox, Ryder Block, and Danny Wask, each coming in as No. 15 seeds and finishing sixth.
Aden Valencia Talks About the Relief Garnered Through the NCAA Victory
Aden Valencia produced one of the greatest upsets by beating Penn State Nittany Lions’ No. 1 seed Shayne Van Ness to win his first NCAA Championship as a redshirt freshman for Stanford.
During the post-fight press conference, Valencia spoke about the relief that came after the victory, highlighted team effort, and praised his coach and the program as a whole.
“It’s a relief, when they recruited me, they recruited me for a reason and thought I could bring this program up. I feel like I helped do that this weekend by winning and speaking about our team and all around, it’s bee great performance, and I’m honestly blown away,” he said.
He also appreciated his teammate Daniel Cardenas, calling him a hero and speaking very optimistically about Cardenas’s journey ahead, putting enormous confidence in the fellow Stanford student.
Aden has made his goal clear: to continue this momentum.
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