2022 West Delaware graduate and current UNI Panther freshman Wyatt Voelker qualified for the 2024 NCAA Division I National Championships this past weekend as he finished 5th at the Big 12 tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Voelker, the number five seed in the tournament opened the tournament Saturday with a 19-2 technical fall over Eli Sheeren of Cal Baptist, before defeating fourth seed Evan Brockman of Utah Valley 4-1 to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinal Voelker lost by technical fall to Alburnett graduate and current South Dakota State senior Tanner Sloan. Voelker would fall 10-8 in the consolation semifinal to Joseph Novak of Wyoming before pinning Luke Surber of Oklahoma State in the 5th place match.
Voelker will join four of his teammates who were automatic qualifiers for the National Championships will be held from March 21-23 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. At-Large selections for the tournament will be released March 12th with the brackets being revealed live on NCAA.com Wednesday March 13th with the NCAA wrestling selection show at 7:00 pm.
Voelker who was a four-time state place winner for West Delaware, and a two-time state champion becomes just the third wrestler in school history to qualify for the Division I tournament joining Sid Walston who qualified and won a match for the Iowa Hawkeyes in 1962, and Russ Sill who qualified and won a match for the Hawkeyes in 1968.
