SESSION SIX - Saturday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m.

POST TWO: 2008 All-Americans by state
9 - Ohio
8 - Michigan, Pennsylvania
7 - Iowa, New Jersey
6 - Illinois
5 - California
4 - New York
3 - Tennessee, Wisconsin
2 - Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Utah
1 - Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma Virginia


POST ONE: Pre-finals mill around time allows tension to build

The finals begin in 40 minutes and everybody is still milling around. Athletes are being paged to get together for the Parade of All-Americans. Coaches are wandering around, chatting with each other. Photographers are drifting in, finding their assigned location alongside the raided mat. ESPN cameramen are finding their locations. All of the awards are sitting on tables at the end of the arena, as well as the empty rows of chairs where the athletes will sit before getting their medals. Sports Information Directors are taking pictures of their school's All-Americans.

The ESPN announcers Jeff Blatnick, Tim Johnson and Dave Armstrong are taking their seats alongside the mat, looking over their notes and testing out their equipment. Scott Casber and the crew from Takedown Radio have already begun their final broadcast of the night.

In just a few minutes, all 80 NCAA Div. I All-Americans will march in to the applause of the crowd, which continues to come in and find their seats. There is a gradual increase of sound and a building edge of tension as the clock ticks down. 

If you can get to a TV, tonight's final will be live on ESPN. If you can't, make sure to check back with TheMat.com for updates. We will have 10 NCAA champions tonight and a new NCAA team champion in just a few hours. Enjoy the show.

SESSION FIVE - Saturday, March 22 at 10:00 a.m. 

POST THREE: Wrestleback warrior Todd wins sixth straight for bronze

It is very rare for an athlete who loses his first match to come back and win the bronze medal. One of tonight's finalists, J.D. Bergman of Ohio State, was able to pull off that marathon feat during his freshman year.

There won't be any first round losers able to take third this year, but three losers in the second round were able to battle back for a spot in the third-place match: Mark McKnight of Penn State at 125 pounds, Brandon Becker of Indiana at 157 pounds and Tyrel Todd of Michigan at 184 pounds.

Unseeded McKnight lost his second round match to No. 5 Charlie Falck of Iowa, 5-2. He reeled off five straight wins to make the bronze medal match, including a win over Falck in the consolation semifinals, 7-5.

Becker, seeded No. 4, was upset in round two by unseeded Jonny Bonilla-Bowman of Hofstra. He also won five in a row in the consolation brackets.

No. 3 Todd fell to unseeded Vince Jones of Nebraska, before running five straight in the wrestlebacks. 

Of the three warriors, Todd was the only one to come out with a sixth straight win and capture the bronze medal. He beat Christian Sinnott of Central Michigan of Central Michigan, 3-2.

"I enjoy it. I forgot that wrestling was fun," said Todd of his run through the wrestlebacks. "I have always had the ability to wrestle back for the medal. It comes from my Montana rancher attitude, keep grinding it out and get tougher. I am always going to come back and place."

McKnight could not pull off a sixth win, losing to defending champion Paul Donahoe of Nebraska, 6-3, in his last match to place fourth. Becker also finished fourth, losing to  Dan Vallimont of Penn State, 5-4.

POST TWO: Gillespie finishes fifth but keeps his head up

Three returning NCAA champions did not qualify for the Saturday night finals, including Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro, who ended up fifth at 157 pounds. Although he was disappointed with his finish, Gillespie held his head high after finishing his tournament with a 5-0 victory over Josh Zupancic of Stanford.

"It shows how hard this tournament is," said Gillespie. "(Paul) Donahoe, (Josh) Glenn and me, three of the four went down. (Mark) Perry is the only one fighting. And he's no guarantee. He will have a battle tonight with (Eric) Tannenbaum. Look at Dustin Schlatter. He won two years ago and he is going for seventh today."

"Last year, I had a great tournament and I was right on top of things," said Gillespie. "I didn't match up with Jordan Leen. His coaching staff is incredible. You could tell he was coached well. You have to give credit to him and his coaches."

Gillespie, who is a junior, will have another shot to win again next year. He is seeming to take it all in stride.

"The way I see it, if you are an All-American, you did something right," said Gillespie. "When I came back as a champion and I take fifth, I am a little disappointed. I think of it on a positive note. I am a three-time All-American. At least this is not my senior year. I have another year to come back. But I am disappointed I didn't take first."

Some other notes for the morning

The top two seeds, No. 1 Franklin Gomez of Michigan State and No. 2 Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois met in the bronze-medal match at 133 pounds. Gomez won, 7-2... 

Kirk Smith of Boise State became the first freshman to win NCAA All-American honors for his school, placing 8th at 184 pounds...

Hudson Taylor of Maryland won third place at 197 pounds, becoming the first All-American for his school in 11 years...

The athlete in the finals with the longest champion drought for their program is Chad Mendes of Cal Poly. The last NCAA champion from his school was in 1976...

POST ONE: All-Americans by the numbers

Finalists
3 - Iowa, Ohio State
2 - Penn State, Michigan
1 - Iowa State, Central Michigan, Oklahoma State, Cornell, Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Pitt, Cal Poly

Finalists by conference
14 - Big Ten
2 - Big 12
1 - MAC, EIWA, EWL, Pac-10

All-Americans by school
7 - Iowa, Iowa State
5 - Nebraska
4 - Ohio State, Penn State, Central Michigan, Michigan, Oklahoma State, Cornell, Minnesota
3 - Missouri, Navy
2 - Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Hofstra, Wisconsin, Stanford, American
1 - Pitt, Northern Iowa, Edinboro, Boise State, Maryland, Bloomsburg, Cal Poly, NC State, Army, Harvard, Michigan State, Old Dominion, UT-Chatanooga

All-Americans by conference
32 - Big Ten
19 - Big 12
9 - EIWA
5 - Pac-10
4 - MAC
3 - CAA, EWL
2 - ACC
1 - Western Regional, Southern

SESSION FOUR - Friday, March 21 at 6:00 p.m.

POST TWO: 20 semifinals, 20 interviews

A few years ago, in an effort to improve its media relations at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, the NCAA decided to bring all of the semifinal winners to the interview room on Friday night. In the past, it took a lot of time and effort to hear from these very excited athletes. Now, all you had to do was camp out in the press room and the NCAA brings them all to you.

There are some journalists who are involved in every interview, myself and Mike Finn of W.I.N. Magazine for sure. Finn is there to make sure that he gets some quotes from every wrestler, then he goes back out and watches the next round of matches. This year, there was a TV monitor in the hallway near the press room, so we didn't have to run all the way back into the arena.

Sitting through all the interviews this year for the first time was one of USA Wrestling's new employees, Christina Copple, who works with our broadcasting division. She was filming every interview to post on TheMat.com, something we are glad to bring to our users each year. At the end of the night, Christina realized that her pre-event predictions which she marked on her bracket sheet was a perfect 20-for-20 in her picks. I'm not sure if it is beginners luck or she just has great wrestling perception. Christina says she should go to Vegas with that kind of winning percentage.

It would take hours to go through all of these notes to give you the best from the 20 semifinal winners, something I did a year or two ago here on TheMat.com. However, in a little while, once Christina and our webmaster get the videos posted, you can watch them all for yourself by going to our Special Section.

Meanwhile, a few random thoughts about tonight's interviews…

Jason Ness of Minnesota at 125 is a great interview and seems to be a very interesting person. He is humble and honest at the same time, and is very good at communicating. I liked his attitude about his score late in his match to get the victory. "You never give up. You don't know what will happen."

Angel Escobedo of Illinois, at 125, came into the interview room with a big shoulder guard he needed to wear in his semifinal win. He asked for some additional time to take it off prior to his interview. Later he explained that he had worn this gadget in practice for many months during recovery from surgery, and when his shoulder slipped out in the quarterfinals he decided to wear it for the semis.

Coleman Scott of Oklahoma State at 133, like some of the others who have been NCAA finalists but never a champion, had to answer questions about his loss a year ago. Scott explained that he scored the only takedown last year but still lost, and that this year he's "have to have a better match." 

Joey Slaton, the excitable Iowa finalist at 133, talked about having to sit out a year after his transfer from Virginia Tech. "It is paying off now. But I would have gone wherever Coach Brands went," he explained.

At 141, J Jaggers of Ohio State gave an excellent interview, explaining each answer in depth and with thoughtfulness. He also picked on himself a little bit, calling himself "a wrestling nerd." Jaggers said he loves wrestling to the point that he spends tremendous time watching videos on U-Tube, including bouts of his finals opponent Chad Mendes. Mendes was very honest about his strengths, admitting that he was not very good on the top position until only recent months. His interview was interesting because the Cal Poly coaches John Azevedo and Sammie Henson also answered questions. They all went back and forth on the decision to jump from 125 pounds to 141 pounds, which was Mendes choice because the coaches wanted him at 133 instead.

The 149 finalists were very interesting as well, an all Big Ten finals between Bubba Jenkins of Penn State and Brent Metcalf of Iowa. These two had faced each other twice this year, so both fielded questions about their earlier bouts. Bubba admits that he has a new plan for Metcalf, which includes "going after him." Metcalf, who speaks with the same power and intensity as he wrestles, called Jenkins a "dangerous wrestler," and said he would need "his A Game" to beat him again.

Mike Poeta of Illinois, a 157 finalist, is one of the most direct and honest of the interviews. He was talking about how he prefers to win by big margins. "I want the score to be lopsided as possible. These (close) scores will give my Mom a heart attack. Jordan Leen, the Cornell No. 8 seed who has wrestled so well this week, was also very upfront about his feelings about making the NCAA finals. "I feel like the luckiest kid alive," said Leen. Another interesting part of his interview was his discussion about how his loss in the EIWA finals was "a blessing in disguise," allowing him to make some changes in his approach on the mat.

Mark Perry of Iowa, the returning champion, is like a rock star when it comes to interviews. The Iowa media contingent is the largest here, and Perry always has good stuff to give them for the papers and TV shows. Perry said competing in the finals is "what makes wrestling fun. It is what I have wrestled for my whole life." Perry faces Eric Tannenbaum of Michigan in the finals tomorrow, admitted he would like to do the same things tomorrow as he did when he beat Perry in the Big Tens. "I will be the same thing that worked last time. He won't be in any better shape or have new moves than he did two weeks ago."

The 174 finalists, Keith Gavin of Pitt and Steve Luke of Michigan, did not have very long interviews. This was due to the backlog in the press room, due to the interviews by ESPN as well as some fast moving semifinals. Luke talked a bit about being in the finals alongside his friend and regular training partner Tannenbaum. Gavin talked about his confidence in his takedowns, which he needed to score the winning points late in his semifinal bout.

I only attended one of the 184 pound interviews, listening to Jake Varner of Iowa State but somehow not getting involved in the interview with Mike Pucillo of Ohio State. Varner had to talk about his loss in last year's NCAA finals, and how he is a better wrestler this time around.

The 197 finalists were both good interviews. Wynn Michalik of Central Michigan was pumped up after knocking off defending champion Josh Glenn of American. Phil Davis talked about his pride in being a four-time All-American. However, both talked about their finals opponents, with Michalik calling Davis "a great guy, great wrestler and a great athlete. Davis said Michalik wrestles "very offensive. He wrestle a lot like me. He's an aggressive guy. He will try to score some points."

The heavyweights finalists also talked a lot about each other. Both J.D. Bergman of Ohio State and Dustin Fox of Northwestern grew up in Ohio, and they were workout partners and friends on the Junior circuit. Bergman said Fox is "a smart, nice guy and a big athletic heavyweight." Fox said that Bergman has stayed at his mom's house, calling him "a great guy, a top notch." He also said "there is not guy I'd rather wrestle in the finals. He is hard competitor. There's none I'd rather take the national title from than him."

POST ONE: Semifinalists by the numbers

Schools:
5 - Iowa
3 - Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Penn State
2 - Illinois, Cornell, Michigan, Central Michigan, Missouri, 
1 - Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan State, Cal Poly, Hofstra, NC State, Stanford, Pitt, American, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Navy, Iowa State

By Seeds
9 - No. 1, No.2
7 - No. 4
6 - No. 3
4 - No. 6
2 - No. 5
1 - No. 7, No. 8, No. 12

By Conference
20 - Big Ten
9 - Big 12
4 - EIWA
2 - Pac 10, MAC
1 - CAA, ACC, EWL  

By hometown
6 - Ohio
4 - Michigan, Pennsylvania, 
3 - Iowa, Illinois, New Jersey, California
2 - Tennessee
1 - Indiana, Minnesota, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Carolina, Nebraska, New York, Wisconsin, Idaho, Missouri

SESSION THREE - Friday, March 21 at 10:00 a.m.

POST TWO: Impressions from the Quarterfinals

No round brings out the best wrestling, and often the most emotions, than the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships. Trying to watch all of the matches, and conduct interviews with athletes, is almost impossible. All four matches are held together in the center of the arena, and keeping an eye on them all in really not possible.

Here are some impressions our journey this morning through the quarterfinals.

At 125 pounds, Jason Ness of Minnesota looked dominant in this match against James Nicholson, scoring numerous takedowns before locking him up for the pin. Ness is wrestling with confidence, and his interview was also very under control and intelligent. The rest of the matches in the quarters at 125 were nailbiters, with top seed Angel Escobedo of Indiana needed two tiebreakers to advance. Escobedo was injured late in his bout, but battled the final seconds to keep the victory. Charlie Falck's win for Iowa fired up the Hawkeye crowd and got his team off to great roll for the session. Defending champion Paul Donahoe of Nebraska had a tight bout, but he wrestled like somebody with the experience and confidence to win his bouts.

At 133 pounds, the best match to watch was Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois sudden victory win over Mike Grey of Cornell. Back and forth all match, it ended 8-8, but Kennedy got the winning takedown in overtime. In his interview, Kennedy said scoring the first takedown made a difference in his mind, because he knew he could get his attack when needed. Iowa continued its momentum with another overtime win, this time by Joey Slaton over cross-state rival Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State.

The 141 pounds match that caught my eye was between J Jaggers of Ohio State and freshman Kellen Russell of Michigan. Jaggers scored an early takedown and kept competing aggressively throughout the match to win. Another interesting bout was won by Charles Griffin of Hofstra, who trailed in the first two periods but came back to beat Army's Matt Kyler. A takedown by Griffin closed the gap, then Griffin rode Kyler out to win, even adding a tilt at the end. Griffin said that he knew if he kept up the intensity that he would be able to start breaking through, and was very confident in his top wrestling.

The 149 matches were very interesting and of high quality. Two exciting athletes won their semifinal matches, NC State's Darrion Caldwell and Penn State's Bubba Jenkins. Caldwell knocked off 2006 NCAA champion Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, taking it to Schlatter right from the start. Caldwell is an interesting interview, and has an enthusiasm about competing at this level. Jenkins also took an early lead over J.P O'Connor of Harvard. The battle between No. 4 Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska and No. 5 Josh Churella displayed some tremendous talent. The top seed Brent Metcalf of Iowa won by a single point against a motivated Lance Palmer of Ohio State, having to be at his best to avoid an upset.

At 157 pounds, Cornell's Jordan Leen upset defending champion and No. 1 Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro, because he was getting the takedowns, and was solid in all of the other positions. If was as if Leen was able to pick it up a knotch when facing a talented opponent. Mike Poeta of Illinois got his offense going in his win over Michael Chandler of Missouri. Poeta is a straight-forward and entertaining interview, and is very honest with his assessment of his performances. Dan Vallimont of Penn State showed solid, consistent wrestling throughout his close victory over a game Tyler Sherfey of Boise State. I didn't' see much of Josh Zupancic of Stanford, who edged unseeded Jonny Bonilla-Bowman of Hofstra. Zupancic is 12th seeded but has placed here before, and seems to rise to the occasion at the national championships.

No. 3 Mark Perry of Iowa got his match at 165 pounds finished early, scoring a fall and leaving his mat empty while the rest of the quarterfinals went on. All four top seeds got through at this weight class. No. 1 Eric Tannenbaum of Michigan wrestles with confidence. No. 3 Nick Marable of Missouri seems to feed on the support of all the Missouri fans in attendance and has picked up his game. Mack Lewnes of Cornell, a tremendous talent as a freshman, needed to go to a tiebreaker to edge Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska. Dwyer had an opportunity to win in regulation, but in the overtime, Lewnes was able to display his skills. 

At 174 pounds, Jay Borshell of Iowa wrestled with great poise in his win over Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan. He is wrestling with great control and intensity, and seems to be improving each round. Top seed Keith Gavin of Pitt seems to have the extra talent to win key situations. Steve Luke of Michigan and Brandon Browne of Nebraska also advanced, in matches I did not see very much of because of interviews.

The 184 pound quarterfinals had some interesting moments. No. 2 Mike Pucillo of Ohio State trailed most of the way, before getting a late takedown to beat Iowa's Phil Keddy. Top seed Jake Varner of Iowa State got past a beaten up but very game Roger Kish of Minnesota, who looks like he is being held together by fishing line and straps. Raymond Jordan of Missouri looked very strong in his win, and Christian Sinnott of Central Missouri also advanced. 

At 197 pounds, defending champion Josh Glenn of American is always in control, even if it doesn't look like he has all of the cylanders going. He keeps coming out on top of all the key positions, including his 10-5 win this round over Craig Brester of Nebraska. The battle between Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan and Max Askren of Missouri was as good as advertised, with Michalak coming out ahead by just one point. Dallas Herbst of Wisconsin won by a riding time point, coming back after the surprising semifinalist David Bertolino of Iowa State pushed him hard. Phil Davis of Penn State was sharp in his win over Hudson Taylor of Maryland. The win made him a four-time All-American, something that is rare indeed. Davis takes great pride in his consistency, but also wants to have at least one great tournament here. 

285 pounds
Ed Prendergast of Navy, the No. 3 seed, is a very big man who is difficult to wrestle. He was able to score backpoints in his win over Kyle Massey of Wisconsin. J.D. Bergman of Ohio State seems on a roll, opening up his offense in an 11-1 win over David Zabriskie of Iowa State. Bergman is a very interesting interview, taking time to explain in detail how and why he does things as an athlete. Dustin Fox of Northwestern scored a 2-1 squeaker over Bubba Gritter of Central Michigan. Jared Rosholt's win over Iowa's Matt Fields seemed to help spark Oklahoma State, which went on in the next wrestleback rounds to climb into the top few teams in the standings.

POST ONE: Champions Breakfast kicks off busy day at NCAA Championships

Everybody knows that Friday, the day with the quarterfinals and the semifinals at the NCAA Championships, is the most intense and emotional of the annual championships. For the last 14 years, hundreds of athletes, coaches and fans get together early in the morning to share quiet fellowship and faith at the "Champions Breakfast."

This event is hosted by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the National Wrestling Coaches Association. This year's event had some special meaning as it landed on Good Friday.

The keynote speakers at the breakfast this year were Olympic champion brothers John and Ben Peterson. The Petersons spoke about the blessings of brotherhood and their bond together as they pursued excellence on the mat and service off of the mat.

Another compelling testimony came from Steve Williams, known as Dr. Death during his amateur and professional wrestling careers. Williams is a survivor of severe throat cancer, and shared his journey of recovery and the faith which kept him alive. Williams authored How Dr. Death Became Dr. Life, which tells his personal story of courage and faith.

Nate Carr, Olympic bronze medalist and three-time NCAA champion, and Steve Barrett, a wrestler and coach who works with Athletes In Action, were also part of the compelling presentation.

SESSION TWO - Thursday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m.

POST FIVE: Navy puts three in quarters; Two No. 3 seeds go down

The U.S. Naval Academy placed fourth in the recent EIWA Championships, bringing five athletes to the NCAA Championships. Three of the Midshipmen, all EIWA champions, have advanced to Saturday's quarterfinals, giving Bruce Burnett's troops a chance for a strong showing on the national level.

Both of Navy's high seeded wrestlers came though with wins in tiebreakers. No. 7 Matt Stolpinski edged No. 10 Mike Letts of Maryland, 5-4, in a tiebreaker at 174 pounds. No. 3 Ed Prendergast went to the tiebreaker to beat Dustin Rogers of West Virginia, 5-1, on the strength of an escape and a three-point near fall. The mild upset came at 133 pounds when No. 11 seed Joe Baker defeated No. 6 Lou Ruggierello of Hofstra.

All of the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds survived Thursday's action, but a pair of No. 3's got knocked off. At 184 pounds, Nebraska's unseeded Vince Jones defeated No. 3 Tyrell Todd of Michigan, 7-5. At 197 pounds, unseeded David Bertolino of Iowa State scored a 6-4 victory in sudden victory over Mike Tamillow of Northwestern.

POST FOUR: A few quick updates from Session Two

Army's Matt Kyler, the EIWA champion at 141 pounds who is unseeded here at the NCAA Championships, knocked off a pair of seeded wrestlers on Thursday. Kyler beat No. 10 Cody Cleveland of UT-Chattanooga in the first round, 5-2, the stopped No. 7 Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin, 5-3 in sudden victory. Kyler will get another chance to beat a seeded wrestler on Friday morning when he faces No. 2 Charles Griffin of Hofstra.

Another unseeded wrestler with two wins over seeded opponents is Rider's Doug Unbehauer, who won against both wrestlers from the Bedlam Series today at 184 pounds. He opened with a 9-5 win over No. 5 Josh Weitzel of Oklahoma, then came back in round two with a 3-2 win over No. 12 Jack Jensen of Oklahoma State. 

An upset worth noting came at 157 pounds when No. 12 seed Josh Zupancic of Stanford edged No. 5 seed C.P. Schlatter of Minnesota. The difference in the match was 1:05 in riding time. Schlatter was sixth and Zupancic was seventh last year at the NCAA Championships.

A No. 1 seed almost fell early in the session, when top-ranked Franklin Gomez of Michigan State was stretched into three tiebreakers before beating Reece Humphrey of Ohio State, 5-5. The difference was four seconds of riding time in the third set of rideouts. With only a second or two left on the clock in the final 30-second session, Humphrey dropped Gomez to the mat for an apparent takedown, but officials said that he had stepped out of bounds.

Defending champion Mark Perry of Iowa cruised to a 12-2 major decision over Stephen Crozier of Air Force in their second round bout. Crozier dropped Perry onto his head late in the second period. After time with the trainers working on his neck and shoulders, Perry came out strong and controlled Crozier the entire third period from the top position.

There was a protest in the heavyweight win by No. 7 David Zabriskie of Iowa State over No. 10 Zach Schaeffer of Pitt, which was denied by tournament officials.

POST THREE: 149 pounds is loaded with Big Ten stars

The championship bracket at 149 pounds during the second session was loaded with Big Ten athletes. 

The first match was No. 1 Brent Metcalf of Iowa vs. Kurt Kinser of Indiana. The second match was No. 9 Lance Palmer of Ohio State vs. No. 8 Jake Patacsil of Purdue. The third match featured No. 5 Josh Churella of Michigan.

The bottom bracket also had three Big Ten wrestlers, including a pairing of No. 6 Bubba Jenkins of Penn State against No. 11 Ryan Lang of Northwestern. The other Big Ten wrestler in the bottom bracket is No. 2 Dustin Schlatter of Ohio State.

After the second round, five of the Big Tenners advanced to the quarterfinals. The only losses came in the head-to-head conference battles where Metcalf beat Kinser, 10-5, Palmer beat Patacsil, 14-6 and Jenkins edged Lang, 4-3. Also winning were Churella and Schlatter.

There will only be one Big Ten showdown in Friday's quarterfinals, when Metcalf battles Palmer. 

By the way, the standings at the Big Ten went like this: 1 - Metcalf, 2 - Schlatter, 3- Churella, 4- Patacsil, 5- Jenkins, 6- Palmer, 7 - Lang, 8- Kinser. 

POST TWO: From 10 qualifiers to one, the first session results

Two teams qualified a full team of 10 athletes this year at the NCAA Championships, Big 12 champion Iowa State and EWL champion Edinboro.

A total of 10 teams bring just one wrestler: Boston Univ., Clarion, Delaware State, Duquesne, Eastern Michigan, Michigan State, Millersville, Ohio, VMI and Virginia Tech.

Of the one-person teams, Michigan State has the best possibility for making an impact, as Big Ten champion Franklin Gomez is the top seed at 133 pounds.

Iowa State moved nine of their 10 through the first round. Winners were No. 5 Nick Fanthorpe (133), No. 9 Nick Gallick (141), Mitch Mueller (149), No. 7 Cyler Sanderson (157), No. 6 Jonathan Reader, Aron Scott (174), No. 1 Jake Varner (184), David Bertolino (197) and No. 7 David Zabriskie (HWT). Mueller won two bouts in the session, giving Iowa State 10 wins for the morning. This put the Cyclones in third place with 16 team points.

Edinboro did not fare as well. The Scots lost its first three weight classes, then Daryl Cocozzo (149), No. 1 Gregor Gillespie (157), No. 12 Jarod King (165) and Joe Fendone (HWT) ended up with wins.  Edinboro stood in 21st place with 7.5 points.

The first round saw a match between the two 10-athlete teams, as unseeded David Bertolino of Iowa State beat unseeded Patrick Bradshaw of Edinboro at 197 pounds by major decision, 10-0.

Of the schools with one qualifier, only two wrestlers won a bout. Winners included Gomez, who scored 12-3 major decision over Josh Baldridge of UNI, plus Josh Wine of VMI at heavyweight. 

POST ONE: Brother acts have mixed results during the first session

There are five sets of brothers who are wrestling in the 2008 NCAA Championships. All of the brother pairs compete for the same college team. They are:
- Headlee brothers of Pitt: Drew (141) and Ethan (165)
- Gillespie brothers of Edinboro: Torsten (141) and No. 1 Gregor (157)
- Schlatter brothers of Minnesota: No. 2 Dustin (149) and No. 5 C.P. (157)
- Sinnott brothers of Central Michigan: No. 5 Brandon (174) and No. 4 Christian (184)
- Smith brothers of Boise State: No. 10 Kirk (184) and Nick (285)

Of the brother acts, the Schlatters and the Sinnotts both won their first matches. All three of the other brother combinations had one win, including Drew Headlee, Gregor Gillespie and Kirk White.

Stay tuned to see if either the Schlatters or the Sinnotts can both qualify for the finals.

SESSION ONE - Thursday, March 20, 11:00 a.m.

POST FIVE: A few more things from Session One
Minnesota had a great early start, winning their first two matches by pin with No. 2 Jason Ness at 125 pounds (1:17 over Marcus Orozco of UC Davis) and No. 8 Mac Reiter at 133 pounds (2:13 over Jeff Schell of Brown) and a technical fall by Manuel Rivera at 141 pounds (16-0 over Torsten Gillespie of Edinboro). The Gopher momentum was halted at 174 pounds, when No. 8 Gabe Dretsch lost to Nathan Lee of Boise State.

Defending NCAA champion Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro brought a new look with him to the NCAA Tournament this year. He cut his hair into little clumps, dying them to make him look like a leopard. Earlier this season, Gillespie had a Mohawk cut. He opened the tournament with 17-0 techical fall over Spencer Manley of Navy.

There are five undefeated wrestlers going into the tournament and all of them opened up with victories. After their first round wins, the records of the perfect wrestlers are: Chad Mendes of Cal Poly at 125 (27-0), Keith Gavin of Pitt at 174 (26-0), Jake Varner of Iowa State at 184 (25-0) and Josh Glenn of American (16-0). Of the unbeatens, Glenn is the only returning national champion, and has the longest winning streak in the tournament with 39 in a row going back to last year.

Getting a good first match is a key for these athletes to keeping their streak alive. 

"I pushed through the Pac-10 and had a hard push until this week in practice. I feel like I am peaking," said Mendes. 
"It was a good first match; I scored a lot of points. It was a good warmup. It's good to get this out of the way," said Gavin. 
"It is good to be back here. I have been looking forward to this all year," said Glenn.

POST FOUR: More notes as the tournament winds on
The Univ. of Oregon, which plans to drop its wrestling program after this tournament, has two entries in the tournament this weekend. Wrestling leaders among the alumni and fans in the state are waging an active war to try to convince the administration there to reverse the decision and retain the program. The Ducks won their first match of the day when Ryan Dunn captured his bout at 133 pounds against William Ashnault of Lock Haven. Dunn was second at the Pac-10 Championships and entered the tournament with a 23-7 record.

In a battle of All-Americans at 157 pounds, No. 8 Jordan Leen of Cornell defeated unseeded Ryan Hlusack of Drexel, 4-3 at 157 pounds. Both wrestlers entered the tournament with a drop in ranking based upon the conference tournaments. Leen was upset in the finals at the EIWA Championships and Hluschak lost in the finals of the Colonial Athletic Association.

No. 6 Lou Ruggerello of Hofstra won a match which went three overtimes, defeating Univ. of Tennessee-Chattanooga's Stephen Hromada, 3-2. Chattanooga protested the decision, but it was denied.


POST THREE: Some interesting stuff at the lower weights

There was a wild match in the first round at 125 pounds, when No. 7 Michael Sees of Bloomsburg racked up the points in a 21-10 win over Collin Cudd of Wisconsin to open the tournament.

There were a few upsets, even if considered mild, at 133 pounds in the first round.

Mark McKnight of Penn State stopped No. 12 Tyler Shinn of Oklahoma State, 5-1 in the first round, a match that caught the fan's attention. McKnight had Shinn on his back in danger early in the match, and kept on the pressure.

No 9 seed Zach Tanelli of Wisconsin also took a first-round loss, dropping a 7-5 decision to Conor Beebe of Central Michigan. Beebe took him down in the last seconds for the victory.

At 141 pounds, Bailey of Oklahoma upset No. 8 Dan LeClair of Iowa, 8-7. As often happens, when a wrestler from a major program like Iowa or Oklahoma State goes down, the crowd makes a big deal of things.

POST 2 of 10: Inspiring Robles wins Bout One of the tournament

Bout one of the NCAA Tournament included freshman Anthony Robles of Arizona State, the athlete with one leg who received tremendous national coverage after winning a national high school folkstyle title. Robles, who had a top 20 national ranking at 125 pounds earlier this year, qualified by placing second in the Pac-10 with a 19-7 record.  He drew Brandon Kinney of Columbia in the pig-tail round, bout one on mat one. 

Robles, who starts down on one knee on the whistle, took down Kinney on a low leg shot, and turned him twice with three-point tilts for a quick 8-0 lead. Kinney got an escape late in the first period. The second period saw some position changes with reversals and takedown, but Robles held the edge on the mat. The match ended 11-5 with 2:57 of riding time, it ended 12-5. Robles has a much bigger upper body than his opponent and was very strong in the top position. 

His reward for winning that first match is a first round bout with No. 1 Angel Escobedo of Indiana. 

The first pin of the session came on mat four in the pigtails, when No. 6 Lou Ruggirello of Hofstra put away Cory Vombaur of Wyoming quickly at 133 pounds.

POST 1 of 10: Travel problems plague attendees at NCAA Championships

As often happens at the NCAA Championships, one of the hardest things to do is get all the athletes, coaches, officials and fans to one location. Weather in March can still be pretty harsh, and travel often includes delayed and cancelled flights. This year, the problem in parts of the Southern Plains has been rain and floods.

I (Gary Abbott) ran into some of this on Tuesday, flying from Oklahoma to Missouri. Rain was everywhere in the region, with problems specifically in Dallas, where hundreds of flights were cancelled and the airport closed at times. American Airlines had a system-wide computer problem, which affected Oklahoma City. We arrived a few hours late, but my bag took more than two days to finally get to the hotel this morning.

Leah Howard, SID for Michigan, told of the journey of the Wolverine team, which ran into delays and then a cancelled flight in Chicago. Michigan, which has six entries and some of the top favorites, had to secure a bus to drive down to St. Louis that night. 

Ron Good of Amateur Wrestling News tells of his drive through Missouri where many roads were severely flooded. Because he was in a mobile home, police let the AWN group through an especially bad stretch of flooded roads because of the size of their vehicle. Passenger cars were not allowed to pass. Good explains that about an hour after they passed that hazard, the road was closed.

Fans from the east, especially for teams such as Penn and Drexel, were stranded for most of Wednesday in the airport in Philadelphia, many arriving in the wee-hours of the night last evening. In spite of the delays, most have arrived in time for the 11:00 a.m. start on Thursday morning. 

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TheMat.com will update its blog each session of the NCAA Championships this year, as permitted by the new NCAA Blogging Policy. Please check regularly each session for updates from the mats in St. Louis

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