March 16, 2000

ST. LOUIS, Mo.-- North Carolina's Brad Byers moved into Friday's quarterfinal round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships at 133 pounds in the Kiel Center here Thursday night.

Byers, a sophomore from Hudson, Ohio, scored his second major upset of the Championships by pinning eighth-seeded Paris Ruiz of Fresno State in 1:18 during the second round of competition. Byers, the Atlantic Coast Conference runner-up in his weight class, had eliminated Stanford's ninth-seeded Zach Zimmerer Thursday afternoon.

Of the 80 seeded wrestlers in the NCAA Tournament, 71 reached the quarterfinals. Byers is one of the nine non-seeded competitors still in the championship bracket. His quarterfinal opponent will be Iowa's top-seeded Eric Juergens.

Carolina's other two first-round winners were defeated in Thursday night's matches. Skyler Holman lost to Nebraska's Paul Gomez, 7-3, at 125 pounds. Heavyweight Matt Kenny, who had upset 10th-seeded Sean Hage of West Virginia, in the first round, was pinned by Oklahoma State's Dave Anderton in 1:01. Holman, a freshman from Sallisaw, Okla. who had been seeded seventh, now faces fourth-seeded Quantress Bates of Oklahoma in Friday's wrestle-backs. Bates advanced to the second round of the consolations Thursday night after suffering a first-round upset in the championship bracket. Carolina's Clint Osborn, who was defeated in the first round of the championships, received a bye into the second round of the wrestle-backs where he will face Dane Stine of Pittsburgh Friday.

The Tar Heels' Corey Bell dropped his opening match and wrestled in a late consolation match Thursday.