“It’s a tough tournament, and some of us wrestled well, but there were some really tough guys that were just outright better than us,” junior 197-pounder Tyler Dickenson said. “I think overall, the team is pretty disappointed.”

Dickenson (23-17 overall), junior 174-pounder Curran Jacobs (25-13) and sophomore heavyweight Joe Rizqallah (21-14) — who were all eliminated in the consolation second round matches — went 1-2 in their first NCAA appearances.

In the first-round match, Jacobs upset Lehigh’s No. 11-seed Austin Meys with a 13-5 major decision and advanced to the second round of his bracket. In the next round, he fell to Central Michigan’s No. 6 seed Ben Bennett, putting him in the consolation bracket.

“I started out the tournament on a great note,” Jacobs said. “Then in my second match, I made a few mistakes that cost me big time, and I just couldn’t recover from that.”

Against Hofstra’s Ryan Patrovich in his final round, Jacobs started off strong but ultimately fell in a 9-5 decision and was eliminated from the tournament. He finished the season, leading the Spartans with 25 overall wins.

After falling to Lehigh’s Joseph Kennedy, Dickenson moved onto the consolation round where he blasted back with an 8-1 major decision over Arizona State’s Luke Macchiaroli. Moving onto the next round, Dickenson took on Stanford’s No. 12seed Zack Giesen but was defeated by a 9-1 major decision.

Opening the tournament in the heavyweight division, Rizqallah took down Eastern Michigan’s David Wade in a 4-1 decision, but he was pinned by Arizona State’s Levi Cooper.

In Rizqallah’s final round of the tournament, he faced Iowa State’s Kyle Simonson. Despite taking an early lead, Simonson caught up and eventually pinned Rizqallah.

“When you get into the pool of the top 15-20 guys in the country, the margin is small, and you’ve got to bring your best game,” Minkel said. “I thought we wrestled hard, and we were certainly in every match that we wrestled, but I think the difference sometimes is a little bit of experience and the ability to handle the pressure of wrestling in front of 17,000 people.”

Sophomore 149-pounder Dan Osterman and freshman 157-pounder Sean McMurray also represented MSU in the tournament.

Osterman was eliminated after losing his first two matches in overtime. In the first round, he fell to Virginia’s Derek Valenti in a 3-1 decision in sudden victory overtime and closed out his NCAA competition losing to Rider’s Zac Cibula.

McMurray’s two losses were 5-0 decisions — first to Clarion’s No. 9-seed James Fleming and then to Northern Illinois’ Bryan Deutsch. Because Osterman and McMurray are so young, they have several more opportunities to build on their weekend experiences, Jacobs said.

“I think they’re going to be extraordinary next year,” he said. “They have this experience, they have this under their belts, and I guarantee that they’re going to be All-Americans.”

With all five wrestlers returning next season, Dickenson said they will all use the NCAA Championships as motivation to work harder in the future. They plan to put this weekend in the past and grow from it.

“Our kids did a nice job, and every one of them is back next year,” Minkel said. “I have no doubt that the next time they’re at the NCAAs, they’ll have a little more success when it’s all said and done.”