There’s little that Jacob Cardenas hasn’t accomplished during a storied wrestling career. The Kearny native can now place a new accomplishment right on the top of his resume – Big Ten champion.
Cardenas, now a graduate student at the University of Michigan, reached the top of college wrestling’s top conference on March 9 when he defeated top-seeded and previously unbeaten Stephen Buchanan of Iowa, 4-2, in the 197 pound final of the Big Ten Championships in Evanston, Ill.
On the tournament’s first day, Cardenas, who entered the Big Ten Championships as the three seed, started his tournament run with a tech fall victory over Wisconsin’s Niccolo Colucci in the first round. He followed it up with an 8-1 decision over Northwestern’s Evan Bates in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Cardenas avenged his only loss of the season when he earned a 4-1 sudden victory over Josh Barr of Penn State on a takedown with 51 seconds left in the overtime period.
In the final, Cardenas took the lead in the second period with a takedown of Buchanan. In the third, Buchanan quickly escaped for a point, then stopped any scoring attempts from Buchanan to seal the victory.
It is the second career conference title for Cardenas, who won the EIWA championship at 197 pounds in 2023 at Cornell.
Cardenas now takes a 20-1 record to the NCAA Championships where he’ll be the top seed in the 197 pound bracket. The NCAA Championships are scheduled for Thursday thru Saturday at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
At Cornell, Cardenas was a two-time All-American, finishing fourth at 197 pounds last year. It will be the fourth NCAA Championships appearance for Cardenas, who took 10th at 197 pounds in 2023 as a sophomore.
Cardenas won’t be the only Kearny native competing at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday. Virginia Tech’s Jimmy Mullen has earned the No. 11 seed in the 285 pound bracket off the heels of a strong performance at the ACC Championships on March 9 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Mullen’s tournament began with a pin fall at 1:49 over Virginia’s Gabe Christenson in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Mullen got a 11-3 major decision over Duke’s Connor Barket, to formally punch his ticket to the NCAA Championships.
In the final, Mullen’s title hopes were dashed when he lost a 4-1 sudden victory to North Carolina’s Lachlan McNeil.
It will be the first NCAA Championships appearance for Mullen, a redshirt freshman, who has a 20-5 record, including eight wins over ranked opponents.
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)