NCAA Wrestling Tournament 2023: Cameron Amine knocks off Dean Hamiti, clinches spot in semifinals
No. 11 Cameron Amine (Michigan) is back in the semifinals after he defeated No. 3 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) 3-1 in the 165 pound quarterfinals.
With the win, Amine became a three-time All-American. The upset knocked off Hamiti, a young title contender for the Badgers.
The bout was knotted up 1-1 throughout the majority as both guys traded escapes.
That’s when Amine hit the gas late in the third period. Amine re-attacked off Hamiti’s shot and with less than 20 seconds to go, scored the go ahead takedown.
The Wolverine held on for dear life and kept Hamiti down for the remainder of the bout. It clinched All-American status once again and he is one win away from the national finals.
But standing in his way is No. 2 Keegan O’Toole (Missouri), the defending national champion. The two met in last year’s semifinals where O’Toole won 4-0 to get to the finals and defeated Shane Griffith (Stanford).
Griffith fell to No. 1 David Carr (Iowa State) 2-1 in the other semifinal. Carr takes on No. 5 Quincy Monday (Princeton) Friday night.
As far as Amine is concerned, he put himself right back into national title contention with the upset of his Big Ten foe.
More on the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships
The 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships were held March 16-18 at the BOK Center in Tulsa (Okla). The tournament consists of 330 wrestlers in total across 10 weight classes. Each weight class features wrestlers seeded No. 1 through No. 33.
Over the course of the three-day tournament, wrestlers can achieve national champion status by going 5-0 in their bracket, through Saturday night’s finals. The top eight placewinners in each bracket are considered All-Americans.
Losing one match does not eliminate a wrestler from competition. The consolation bracket is designed to determine the remaining spots on the podium (third through eighth place).
Since there are 33 wrestlers in each weight, the competitors seeded No. 32 and 33 compete in a “pigtail bout” prior to the first round to determine who matches up against the No. 1 seed in Round 1.
Losing the pigtail drops the wrestler to the consolation bracket where there is still opportunity to finish as high as third place in the weight class.
The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Tournament is set to take place in Kansas City (Mo.).