Mayes moves into quarterfinals of NCAA Division I Wrestling Tournament

The first day at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Tournament proved to be both good and bad for a pair of former local wrestlers on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

University of Missouri junior and former Mascoutah High School standout Lavion Mayes won both his matches in the 149-pound bracket during the first day of competition and is three wins away from a national championship.

Seeded third, Mayes defeated Davion Jeffries of Oklahoma 3-2 in his first round match then held off Mitch Finesilver of Duke 5-3 in his second round match. Mayes, a former state champion when he wrestled for Chris Lindsay at Mascoutah and an All-American a year ago is now 28-2 for the season and will take on 11th seed Anthony Collica (27-7) in the 149-pound quarterfinals on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, former Cahokia High School and current North Carolina State University star Thomas Gantt wasn’t as fortunate as he fell in the second round of the 157-pound bracket.

A former state tournament runner-up with the Comanches, Gantt defeated Andrew Morse of Northern Illinois University 17-2 in his first round match. But the second-seeded Wolfpack senior then saw his year-long 25 match winning streak snapped in the second round with an 11-8 loss to Chad Wallace of Rider College.

Seeded second before the tournament, Gantt will be wrestling in a consolation round match on Friday morning and could still earn all-American status.

Dean Criddle: 618-239-2661, @CriddleDean

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 10:32 PM with the headline "Mayes moves into quarterfinals of NCAA Division I Wrestling Tournament."