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TULSA, Oklahoma -- West Virginia University freshman Peyton Hall finished fourth at the Big 12 Wrestling Championship on Sunday.
Hall, a four-time state champion at Oak Glen High School, went 3-2 at 165 pounds on the weekend to capture an automatic qualifying berth in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
"We are happy," West Virginia coach Tim Flynn said. "We have three automatic qualifiers, and there is chance we can get an at-large. We also had six guys place, and they all wrestled pretty well today. Again, I think the team did notably better than last year, especially without 133 and 149 competing."
The second-seeded Hall opened Sunday's competition at the BOK Center with a 13-7 decision over Oklahoma's Troy Mantanona in the consolation semifinal. Then Hall dropped a 9-3 decision to top-seeded and defending league champion Travis Wittlake of Oklahoma State in the third-place match.
Hall is 13-4 on the season with two losses to Wittlake.
On Saturday, Hall won two of his first three matches.
He decisioned Utah Valley's Koy Wilkinson, 7-6, and then seventh-seeded Northern Iowa's Austin Yant, 5-4.
Hall fell 5-4 to third-seeded Cole Moody of Wyoming in semifinals.
Fourth-seeded Luke Weber of North Dakota State won the 165-pound with a 10-7 decision over Moody in the finals Sunday night. They were tied 3-3 at the start of the third period and Weber opened up a 10-5 lead. He transferred after three season at Nebraska.
The top five finishers at 165 pounds earned automatic berths to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on March 18-20 in St. Louis, Mo.
There will be 33 qualifiers in each weight class.