Jacob Cardenas’ storied college wrestling career came to an end on Saturday in Philadelphia, but not before the Kearny native once again earned All-American status.
The University of Michigan graduate student finished in fourth place at 197 pounds during the NCAA Championships this past weekend. It marks the second consecutive year that Cardenas took home fourth and the third time overall he became an All-American. As a junior at Cornell University, Cardenas took eighth place in 2023, then fourth last year as a senior.
Cardenas concludes his one season at Michigan with a 24-3 record and a Big Ten Championship title. His final collegiate record is 95-25.
Cardenas entered the NCAA Championships as the top seed at 197 pounds as a result of his Big Ten title on March 9. He showed why he was the top seed on Thursday’s first day when he earned a 10-0 major decision over Army’s Wolfgang Frable in the first round, then posted a 4-1 decision over Northwestern’s Evan Bates in the second round.
Cardenas began the second day of the NCAA Championships with a 10-5 decision over Indiana’s Gabe Sollars in the quarterfinals. It was a win that formally secured All-American honors for Cardenas.
His dreams of a national title were dashed later that day when Cardenas dropped a 5-3 decision to Josh Barr of Penn State in the semifinals.
It was the third time Cardenas and Barr squared off this season. Barr took the regular season matchup by sudden victory, but Cardenas evened the score with a sudden victory in the Big Ten semifinals.
On Saturday, Cardenas won his first consolation bout, a a 5-2 decision over Stephen Little of Arkansas Little Rock.
Cardenas’ final match, the third place match against Cal State Barkersfield’s A.J. Ferrari ended with a 2-0 defeat. Ferrari broke the scoreless deadlock with an escape in the second period.
Ferrari and Cardenas were briefly teammates at Bergen Catholic after the two squared off in the Beast of the East final in 2018 when Ferrari was at Blair Academy.
At Bergen Catholic, Cardenas, who began wrestling through the Kearny Recreation program, won the NJSIAA state title at 195 pounds in 2018 and 2019. He has also represented Team USA at the U23 World Championships on multiple occasions.
While it was Cardenas’ fourth NCAA Championships appearance, this weekend was the first for fellow Kearny native and Kearny Recreation alum, Jimmy Mullen of Virginia Tech.
Mullen’s first NCAA match was an 8-1 defeat to Army’s Ben Colbert in the first round of the heavyweight bracket on Thursday. Mullen bounced back with a 9-6 decision over Duke’s Connor Barket.
Mullen’s tournament run came to an end on Friday when he dropped a 12-1 major decision to Ohio State’s Nick Feldman in the second consolation round.
A redshirt freshman, Mullen concludes the season with a stellar 21-7 mark, highlighted by a second place finish at the ACC Championships on March 9. A three-time NJSIAA state champion at St. Joseph Regional, Mullen is now 36-11 for his collegiate career.
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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.)