At the NCAA Wrestling Championships Friday, senior Nic Bedelyon joined an elite group and cemented his name in Kent State history.

Bedelyon defeated Illinois’ Jesse Delgado 8-5 in a dramatic quarterfinal match to earn All-American honors for the second time in his college career.

The 125-pound Bedelyon joins Don Horning and Dustin Kilgore as the only Kent State wrestlers to become two-time All-Americans. Bedelyon earned his first All-American in 2009.

Trailing 4-1 in the first period against Delgado, Bedelyon spun away for an escape point and took Delgado down to tie the match at four. Neither wrestler could gain an advantage in regulation and the match went into overtime.

In the first sudden victory round, Bedelyon appeared to score a takedown on Delgado, which would have earned Bedelyon the victory. However, the referees determined that Bedelyon did not have full control of the hold and overturned the call.

The match continued into a second overtime period, and Delgado scored an escape point to take a 5-4 lead. With time running down, Bedelyon turned a reversal and earned a near fall for a four-point swing that would prove to be the match-winning move.

Bedelyon advanced to the semifinals and faced Iowa’s Matt McDonough, who won a national championship in 2010 and was the national runner-up in 2011. Bedelyon was able to score a reversal and a takedown in the match, but McDonough proved too much by defeating Bedelyon 15-7.

Bedelyon will attempt to advance to a third-place match when he takes on Minnesota’s Zachary Sanders Saturday morning. Sanders defeated Bedelyon in a close match at the National Duals Championships on Feb. 11.

Sophomore Tyler Small earned a 9-1 major decision over Central Michigan’s Scott Mattingly in a consolation match in the 141-pound bracket.

In his second match of the day, Small suffered a 1-0 loss to Rutger’s William Ashnault in a rematch from the National Duals. The match was scoreless until the end of the third period, when Ashnault scored a bonus point for riding time to earn the one-point victory.

In a hard-fought consolation match in the 149-pound bracket, freshman Ian Miller fell 10-8 to Virginia’s Augustus Sako. Miller had a 4-1 lead in the first period and an 8-7 lead in the third, but Sako scored a reversal and riding time to secure the win.

Miller finished the season with a record of 29-5 and led the Flashes in pins with 12.

Junior Casey Newburg fell 8-2 decision to No. 12-seeded Jon Fausey of Virginia in the 184-pound consolation bracket.

The medal round of the NCAA Championships will begin Saturday at 11:00 a.m., with the finals beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Contact Tim Dorst at [email protected] and @TimmyD_DKS.