St. Louisan Ryan Mango made a triumphant return to his home town at last week’s NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center.
The former Whitfield High star finished in fifth place at 125 pounds to earn All-American honors for the second consecutive year. Mango becomes the fifth wrestler in Stanford history to earn multiple All-American honors. He finished sixth at the NCAA Championships in 2011.
The fifth-place finish put the capper on what was a stellar junior campaign for Mango. He won 30 matches, which was best on the team. He also won the 125-pound title at the Pac-12 Conference Championships in February.
Mango entered last week’s NCAAs as the No. 8 seed in his weight class. He won five of his seven matches in St. Louis to earn his All-American status. In the fifth-place match, Mango came from behind to defeat Nick Bedelyon 6-4 in overtime.
Mango was a two-time state champion at Whitfield in 2008 and 2009. In those two years, Mango won 95 consecutive matches and was named the Class 1 Wrestler of the Year by the Missouri Wrestling Association.
With the collegiate season over, Mango will now set his sights on trying to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Team which will compete in London this summer. Ryan will be trying to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Spenser, a former star wrestler at CBC who competed in the Olympics for the USA in China in 2008.
