KTVB - Justin Corr

St. Louis – Centennial's Kirk Smith became the first Boise State University wrestler to earn NCAA All-American honors in his true freshman season as captured eighth place at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis.

Smith the No. 10 seed at 184-pounds faced the No. 12 seed Jack Jensen for seventh place Saturday, Mar. 22. Jensen took the early 2-0 lead in the first period with a takedown. Smith then escaped to make it 2-1 heading into the second period. Jensen chose down to start the second and escaped to extend his lead to 3-1. Smith chose down in the third period and managed an escape to make the match 3-2 but was unable to convert his two takedown attempts in the final 28 seconds as he captured eighth place in his first trip to the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

He was planning on redshirting this season. But, after dominating early on, Smith and his coaches thought the former Patriot could really make some waves nationally, and they were right.

“I thought it took a lot of guts by Kirk Smith to agree to have his redshirt pulled this season,” said head coah Greg Randell. “For a true freshman to walk into the meat grinder at the NCAA Wrestling Championships and come away an All-American is incredible.”

Smith’s was the first Boise State All-American since Ben Cherrington in 2006.