After a pair of dominating victories in the first two rounds of the NCAA wrestling tournament at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Thursday, Utah Valley star wrestler Terrell Barraclough suffered heartbreak in the quarterfinals.

Barraclough, the No. 4 seed in the 165-pound division, led No. 12-seed Christopher Minto of Nebraska 6-5 as the final seconds ticked off in the third period.

As the Wolverine tried to cap off the victory, Minto managed to get behind Barraclough and dragged him to the mat for a match-changing takedown just as time expired. Minto ended up winning 8-7, advancing to the semifinals while Barraclough dropped into the wrestlebacks bracket to continue his tournament on Friday night.

On Day 1, Barraclough finished 2-0 and outscored his opponents 26-1.

“Terrell wrestled very well today” said UVU head coach Adam Hall. “He was aggressive, tough defensively, and on top, and he listened to the corner. He made small adjustments, both in the match and before his second match, that kept him on a roll.”

In the first round, he squared off with NC State’s No. 29 Derek Fields in a rematch from November’s dual, where the No. 4 seeded Barraclough topped Fields by an 8-3 decision. This time, Barraclough used a different approach, starting with a seven-point first period with a takedown that turned into an immediate four-point near fall.

In the second period, Fields was called for stalling on two occasions before a penalty point was awarded with only a few seconds left in the second. Holding a commanding 10-0 lead, Barraclough secured a bonus point victory in the third period after a second penalty point was awarded for stalling and a final takedown with 38 seconds left in the period. The riding time point was awarded to make the win a technical fall.

The win got UVU 1.5 team points and moved Barraclough into the second round this evening, where he faced Appalachian State’s No. 13 Will Miller. After fighting to a near-scoreless first period, Barraclough responded and came back with a takedown in the period’s final seconds to go up 3-0.

Barraclough pulled away in the second period by scoring first on an escape after choosing bottom to go up 4-0. He once again scored in a period’s final seconds to take a 7-0 lead into the final period. The only point he gave up on the day came in the third period when Miller escaped to cut the lead to 7-1, but the momentum swung again with the final takedown and the riding time point for an 11-1 major decision.

Barraclough improves to 29-2 on the season and will face No. 12 Christopher Minto (Nebraska) in the quarterfinals on Friday morning. A win, and he will wrestle in the night session’s semifinals against either No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) or No. 8 Cameron Amine (Oklahoma State).

He needs one more win to become the Utah Valley’s sixth All-American and the first since Demetrius Romero and Taylor LaMont earned their spots on the podium in 2021.

Mackenzie Miller Lung sets another BYU swimming record

BYU’s Mackenzie Miller Lung rewrote her own school record on Thursday morning as she clocked 1:57.62 in the 200 individual medley in the first of her three entries at NCAA Championships.

Miller Lung cut 0.65 seconds off her previous best of 1:58.27 set three weeks ago at Big 12 Championships. At 1:57.62, Miller Lung finished 43rd in the 200 IM trials, ahead of competitors from Florida State, UCLA and Virginia.

Despite not advancing out of the 200 IM trials, Thursday’s performance marked Miller Lung’s fifth school record time set during her junior season.

Cougar gymnastics ready for Big 12 Championships

BYU gymnastics will compete against West Virginia and Iowa State at the Maverik Center Saturday afternoon for the First Session of the Big 12 Gymnastics Championship. The Second Session will feature No. 4 Utah, No. 18 Denver, No. 21 Arizona and No. 24 Arizona State.

BYU last competed at the Cal Quad Meet, taking home a third-place finish with its second-highest team score of the year, 196.325. No. 6 Cal took home first with a 197.750, followed by ASU’s 196.800. Washington rounded out the competition with a 195.450. The Cougars have now crossed the 196 threshold twice this season, with both coming in the last three weeks. BYU posted its fifth floor score above a 49.225, counting only scores above a 9.8 on the event.

BYU softball starts series at Houston with shutout win

BYU softball hit three home runs en route to a 9-0 victory over Houston at Cougar Softball Stadium in Houston on Thursday night.

The Cougars (17-6, 2-2 Big 12) saw Ilove’a Brittingham homer twice and Lindy Milkowski homer once in the six-inning victory. Kaysen Korth put in five innings of work, giving up just two hits while also striking out two Houston batters as she picked up her 10th win of the season.

BYU and Houston played the second game of the series on Friday and will finish the set on Saturday.

Other events

This weekend BYU men’s volleyball played at Grand Canyon and Cougar baseball played at Cincinnati, while UVU baseball played at Seattle and Wolverine softball squared off against Utah Tech in St. George.