ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Navy senior Peyton Walsh (Glen Allen, Va.) and freshman Jadaen Bernstein (Glen Gardner, N.J.) will advance to the second day of action at the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championship held at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. after posting 1-1 records on Thursday.

"The lessons learned competing in and being a part of the NCAA Championship are irreplaceable," said first-year Navy head coach Joel Sharratt. "The training and preparation all means more in this event when the competition is intense and mistakes can cost you dearly. Both Peyton and Jadaen gained a great deal of experience and knowledge today and I think we have a great day of wrestling to look forward to tomorrow."

Walsh became just the fifth different wrestler in school history to win 40 matches in a season when he earned a 5-1 victory over Air Force's Jesse Stafford in his opening match of the tournament. Seeded eighth at 165 pounds, Walsh jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and built more than a minute of riding to time heading into the second stanza. Stafford broke free and trimmed the deficit to one 59 seconds into the second, however, Walsh pushed his riding time advantage to 2:00 before giving way to the escape. Leading 2-1, Walsh chose the down position to begin the final period and spent the first minute fighting to get loose, but gained control of the match when he scored the reverse to take a 4-1 lead. He went on to gain the extra point with just under three minutes of riding time for the 5-1 victory.

It marked the third time this season that Walsh has beaten Stafford, twice pinning him, including in the championship match of the All-Academy Championship in February.

"Peyton came on strong in the first round. He wrestled aggressive and smart against a tough competitor that he has had a couple dog fights with this year."

Walsh, however, was unable to maintain the momentum into the evening session as ninth-seeded Jackson Morse of Illinois dealt the Navy senior his first loss of the tournament behind a 7-2 victory.

Walsh, who is now 40-9 on the year, etched his name into the Navy record books and joins the likes of Mark Conley (2001-02), Matt Stolpinski (2006-07, 2007-08), Tanner Garrett (2005-06) and Bryce Saddoris (2008-09) who all won 40 matches during their careers at the Academy. Meanwhile, Walsh captured his 108th career victory which stands 10th all-time at Navy. He will face Northern Colorado's Mitchell Polkowske on Friday morning.

"Peyton's competitive fire will bring him back ready to fight tomorrow, keeping his plan for achieving a spot on the podium alive. It's one match at a time in this event."

Meanwhile Bernstein, unseeded at 174 pounds, made his NCAA debut facing 12th-seeded Kyle Crutchmer of Oklahoma State. Crutchmer scored a quick takedown, but Bernstein allowed his foe just 12 seconds of riding time before wiggling out of his grasp to trail 2-1 with 1:45 to go in the opening period. Crutchmer tacked on a point for the escape to begin the second period and with 25 seconds left in the period, brought Bernstein to the mat for the takedown and a 5-1 lead. Bernstein again was able to quickly free himself and entered the final period down by three. Bernstein trimmed Crutchmer's lead to two with an escape 38 seconds into the final stanza, but the Navy rookie would fall short, 5-3.

"Jadaen wrestled at a good pace in the morning session, but did not keep the pace high enough and long enough to make fatigue a factor. When he is on the attack he is tough to beat."

Bernstein dropped to the consolation bracket where he would get a chance to avenge an earlier loss this season to Central Michigan's Jordan Ellingwood. Ellingwood edged an under-the-weather Bernstein, 3-2, at the Southern Scuffle in early January and bounced the Navy rookie from the tournament.

In Thursday night's match Bernstein got on the scoreboard first with an escape 20 seconds into the second period. Ellingwood would even the bout at one apiece when he picked up the escape just six seconds into the final period. Bernstein scored the match-winning takedown with 1:15 remaining in the bout and despite giving up the escape with one second left, he gained the point back thanks to 1:14 in riding time for the 4-2 victory.

"Jadaen wrestled his match tonight and has now experienced what it feels like to win at the NCAA Championship. He will need to come back hungry tomorrow as he pursues his goals."

"I give Peyton, our team captain, a great deal of credit as I believe his leadership helped Jadaen recover quickly and come back strong tonight."

Bernstein will face 11th-seeded Zach Brunson of Illinois on Friday morning after Brunson was sent to the consolation bracket following a 4-0 loss to sixth-seeded Logan Storley of Minnesota.

The ESPN family of networks will continue its television coverage of Friday's action beginning at 11:00 am (ET) with the second and third rounds of the wrestlebacks, as well as the quarterfinals. Live stats are also available by logging on to TrackWrestling.com(.)



### Go Navy ###