Session IV Notebook
Semifinal & Round of 12 Notes

125 pounds
A first-period takedown was all that Iowa's Matt McDonough needed to beat Northwestern's Brandon Precin for the third time this year to reach the NCAA finals with a 3-1 victory. ... Anthony Robles of Arizona State moved into the finals with a 4-2 win over unseeded Ben Kjar. Robles built up riding time in the second period and then added an escape and a third-period takedown to move on. The top two seeds will meet in the finals. 

Round of 12 winners: James Nicholson (Old Dominion), Ryan Mango (Stanford), Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma), Zach Sanders (Minnesota).

133 pounds
Second-seeded Andrew Hochstrasser of Boise State moved into the finals, beating Penn State's returning NCAA runner-up Andrew Long of Penn State. Hochstrasser got up early and added nearfall points in the third, then held off a late-charging Long to advance. Hochstrasser will face top-seeded Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State. Oliver bested Tyler Graff of Wisconsin scoring takedowns in the first and third periods. 

Round of 12 winners: Scotti Sentes (Central Michigan), B.J. Futrell (Illinois), Mike Grey (Cornell), Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra)

141 pounds
Boris Novachkov of Cal Poly powered past Mike Thorn of Minnesota to make the finals at 141 pounds. Kellen Russell of Michigan had 18 seconds of riding time in the tiebreakers to get past a tenacious Montell Marion of Iowa. It's Russell's first finals appearance and second All-American honor of his career. 

Round of 12 winners: Zack Kemmerer (Penn), Todd Schavrien (Missouri), Zack Bailey (Oklahoma), Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois)

149 pounds
A second period escape and a riding time point and a pair of penalty points was all Kyle Dake of Cornell needed to advance to the finals with a 4-0 win over American's Ganbayar Sanjaa. Dake rode out Sanjaa the third period. Penn State's Frank Molinaro used a first period takedown, a strong second period ride (adding the riding time point) and a third period escape to upend Jason Chamberlain of Boise State 4-1. 

Round of 12 winners: Kevin LeValley (Bucknell), Andrew Nadhir (Northwestern), Derek Valenti (Virginia), Jamal Parks (Oklahoma State.

157 pounds
In the tournament's most anticipated semifinal of the round and a battle of unbeatens, David Taylor used a second-period reversal and nearfall to build a 4-0 lead, then added a takedown and a riding time point to beat American's Steve Fittery. Taylor will see former teammate Bubba Jenkins of Arizona State. Jenkins took advantage in a third-period scramble and scored a late takedown to ice an 8-5 win over Northwestern's Jason Welch. 

Round of 12 winners: Derek St. John (Iowa), Bryce Saddoris (Navy), Adam Hall (Boise State), Walter Peppelman (Harvard)

165 pounds
Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs rolled into the finals with six takedowns and a reversal to earn a major decision over Ohio State's Colt Sponseller. Burroughs scored four in the first, two more in the second and a late reversal in the third. Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma used 18 seconds of riding time in the THIRD tiebreaker period to advance past Andrew Howe of Wisconsin to reach the semis. 

Round of 12 winners: Paul Gillespie (Hofstra), Shane Onufer (Wyoming), Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh), Josh Asper (Maryland)

174 pounds
Jonathan Reader of Iowa State remained undefeated, using two takedowns to edge Virginia's Chris Henrich 4-3 to reach the finals. Reader will see #7 Nick Amuchastegui of Stanford. Amuchastegui upset Cornell's Mack Lewnes 5-2, using two takedowns and an escape to upend the third-seeded Lewnes. 

Round of 12 winners: Ben Bennett (Central Michigan), Ed Ruth (Penn State), Mike Letts (Maryland), Colby Covington (Oregon State)

184 pounds
Quentin Wright of Penn State sent the Wells Fargo Center into a frenzy as he first put Iowa's Grant Gambrall in a body lock and put him to the mat for a 5-0 lead, then did it again, getting the fall at 3:53. Wright, who lost to Gambrall in high school and earlier this season, then jumped into the arms of Casey Cunningham and Cael Sanderson. It'll be an all Pennsylvania final as Robert Hamlin of Lehigh topped Cornell's Steve Bosak 4-2 in sudden victory. 

Round of 12 winners: Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming), Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota), Chris Honeycutt (Edinboro), Travis Rutt (Oklahoma)

197 pounds
In a wild match at 197 pounds, Kent State's Dustin Kilgore knocked off top seed Cam Simaz of Cornell 10-9. Kilgore and Simaz traded takedowns and escapes throughout before Kilgore picked up a decisive score in the third period. Kilgore will face Oklahoma State's Clayton Foster, who scored a takedown in the last minute of the match to knock off Wisconsin's Trevor Brandvold. 

Round of 12 winners: Zack Giesen (Stanford), Sonny Yohn (Minnesota), Matt Powless (Indiana), Luke Lofthouse (Iowa)

285 pounds
Top-seeded Zach Rey of Lehigh used a riding time point to get past Missouri's Dom Bradley and gave the Mountain Hawks their second finalist of the night 2-1. It will be a rematch of the EIWA final, where Rey met American's Ryan Flores. Flores countered a late throw attempt by Central Michigan's Jarod Trice and ended with a 4-0 win. 

Round of 12 winners: Spencer Myers (Maryland), Tony Nelson (Minnesota), Ricky Alcala (Indiana), Levi Cooper (Arizona State)

Pre-Round Notes

At 125 pounds, Trent Sprenkle has reached the Round of 12, the first North Dakota State wrestler to reach this far in the tournament since the program moved up to Division I in 2005. Sprenkle wrestles Ryan Mango of Stanford and will try to become the first NDSU Division I All-American since Pat Johannes placed 7th at 177 pounds in 1988. ... Two past All-Americans will meet in the Round of 12. Old Dominion's James Nicholson faces Kent State's Nic Bedelyon. 

At 133 pounds, Penn's Rollie Peterkin will face Central Michigan's Scotti Sentes in the Round of 12 to determine All-American status. In 2009, the two faced off in the Round of 12 with Sentes earning a 4-0 decison at 125 pounds. ... Hofstra's Lou Ruggirello is looking to place for the first time in his distinguished career. The four-time CAA champion has twice finished short of a medal, losing in the Round of 12. In 2009, Ruggirello lost to Illinois Jimmy Kennedy, while in 2008, he lost to Iowa State's Nick Fanthorpe. Ruggirello faces Iowa's Tony Ramos.

At 141 pounds, six seeded wrestlers match up in four of the Round of 12 bouts. Unseeded wrestlers Michael Mangrum of Oregon State and Stephen Dutton of Lehigh are looking to break the bracket. Dutton faces All-American Zack Bailey of Oklahoma, while Mangrum faces #10 Todd Schavrien of Missouri.

At 149 pounds, UNC Greensboro's Ivan Lopouchanski is trying to become that school's first All-American. Current assistant Daren Burns reached the Round of 12 back in 2005. In an ironic, but sad twist of fate, UNC Greensboro announced Monday the program would be cut after this season. ... American's Ganbayar Sanjaa is vying to become the school's second international All-American. Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov was third in 2006. He is from Uzbekistan. 

At 157 pounds, Buffalo's Mark Lewandowski is trying to become the first Bulls All-American since Kyle Cerminara earned honors back in 2004. He'll face #6 Derek St. John of Iowa. 

At 165 pounds, Clarion's Bekzod Abdurakhmanov is trying to become the second of his family to earn All-American status at the NCAA Division I Championships. As noted above, his brother Muzaffar placed third for American in 2006. 

At 174 pounds, Stanford's Nick Amuchastegui is trying to become just the second Cardinal wrestler to make the NCAA finals. Amuchastegui, an All-American last season, is trying to match 2004 NCAA Champion Matt Gentry. Amuchastegui has a tall order in #3 Mack Lewnes of Cornell

At 184 pounds, a win by Wyoming's Joe LeBlanc would make him just the second three-time All-American in school history. Reese Andy was a three-time All-American and a two-time finalist from 1994-1996. 

At 197 pounds, Penn's Micah Burak along with his brother Stephen at 165 try to become this year's only set of brothers to place in this year's championships. Micah has Stanford's Zack Giesen, while older but smaller brother Stephen wrestles Hofstra's Paul Gillespie. 

At 285 pounds, Indiana's Ricky Alcala was a good shot to earn All-American honors at UC Davis, but the Aggies program was dropped. Alcala, instead of becoming the second All-American for UC Davis, is one match away from earning All-American status. He'll face a banged up Cameron Wade of Penn State. 


Session III Notebook
Scratched
Returning All-American Chris Diaz was a scratch prior to the second day of competition at 141 pounds. Diaz was slated to wrestle Josh Kindig of Oklahoma State.

Wolverines! Part Three
After knocking off the fourth seed yesterday, 125-pound senior Ben Kjar was at it again, this time knocking off fifth-seeded Zach Sanders of Minnesota to advance to the semifinals. Kjar, unseeded, has assured himself of becoming the first All-American in Utah Valley University history.

Wrapping up 125
Top seed Anthony Robles of Arizona State had a bit of trouble with Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma, but still maintained a good enough lead to advance to the semifinals to face Kjar with a 9-3 win over Patterson. Returning champ Matt McDonough of Iowa rolled through Stanford's Ryan Mango 11-0, while third-seeded Brandon Precin of Northwestern topped Kent State's Nic Bedelyon 9-5. 

Reversal of Fortune
Trailing 2-0 with over two minutes of riding time against, Penn State's Andrew Long picked a fine time to come up with a reversal of fortune. Long reversed Central Michigan's Scotti Sentes to his back and earned the fall at 2:46. The fall gave Penn State nine team points -- six placement, one advancement and two for the fall.

Wrapping up 133
Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State picked up his third bonus victory in a row, dismantling Cornell's Mike Grey to the tune of a 10-2 major decision. Oliver fill face fourth-seeded Tyler Graff of Wisconsin, who beat Lou Ruggirello of Hofstra on riding time 2-1 to advance. Long will face Andrew Hochstrasser in the semifinals. Hochstrasser majored B.J. Futrell of Illinois to move on.

Not all-Big Ten
Boris Novachkov of Cal Poly wasn't overly impressive, but he did what he needed in order to beat Penn State's Andrew Alton 2-0. Novachkov kept Alton on the mat the entire second period and then scored a third-period escape to advance to the semifinals and better his placement from a year ago. Novachkov will face Minnesota's Mike Thorn. Mike Thorn got things over quickly, pinning 10th-seeded Todd Schavrien of Missouri at 2:03. 

What a comeback
Iowa's Montell Marion scored a takedown in the closing seconds to edge fourth-seeded Jimmy Kennedy 8-7 at 141 pounds. Trailing 5-2 in the third, Marion chose neutral, scored a quick takedown, cut Kennedy, who by that time had riding time locked up. A pair of stalling calls got it within a point (with riding time), but Marion gained control on the edge. After the match, Marion looked over to his coaches, expecting the start of overtime, but Marion said "I won?" and after receiving confirmation, Marion exploded into a celebration, igniting the Iowa crowd. Marion will face Kellen Russell of Michigan, a tiebreaker winner over Oklahoma's Zack Bailey with the difference being three seconds of riding time. 

Chamberlain gets through
In a controversial finish where Bucknell coaches ended up following the official off the mat, Boise State's Jason Chamberlain advanced to the semis with  4-3 tiebreaker win over third-seeded Kevin LeValley of Bucknell. In the tiebreakers, LeValley rode out Chamberlain, then in the second 30-second period, LeValley broke free, but Chamberlain was in on the ankle on the edge, reached across grabbed the other ankle but LeValley turned in, locking on Chamberlain's ankle, trying to draw a stalemate. The officials gave Chamberlain two for the takedown, much to the dismay of Bucknell coaches Dan Wirnsberger and Dave Hoffman. Chamberlain will face Penn State's Frank Molinaro, who beat fellow New Jersey native Mario Mason of Rutgers. On the top half, Ganbayar Sanjaa of American dominated Michigan's Eric Grajales 10-4 and will face returning champion Kyle Dake of Cornell. Dake beat Oklahoma State's Jamal Parks 3-0. 

Welch tops Hall, Taylor gets past St. John
A scramble on the edge of the mat saw Jason Welch of Northwestern get a takedown with two seconds to go to upend top-seeded Adam Hall of Boise State. Welch will face Bubba Jenkins of Arizona State, a 4-3 winner over #12 Paul Young of Indiana. David Taylor gave Penn State its third semifinalist, beating Derek St. John of Iowa 6-3. Steve Fittery of American will await Taylor in the semifinals. Fittery pinned Navy's Bryce Saddoris to advance. 

Burroughs amazing in quarterfinal win
Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs dominated Rutgers' Scott Winston with a 23-8 technical fall at 165 pounds to advance to the semifinals. Burroughs led by 12 going into the third and was wicked with his reshot double. He'll face Ohio State's Colt Sponseller who upended Josh Asper of Maryland 3-1. It will be Sponseller's first All-American honor after failing to place the last three years. Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma needed riding time to knock off unseeded Paul Gillespie of Hofstra, while Andrew Long of Wisconsin was sound in his 4-1 win over Wyoming's Shane Onufer. 

Elite 88's Amuchastegui tops Ruth
Stanford's Nick Amuchastegui won the NCAA's Elite 88 Award for the second straight year, then found himself up 9-2 against Penn State's Ed Ruth before Ruth injury defaulted. The Elite 88 Award is presented to the athlete in the 88 NCAA Championship sports who is competing in the national championships with the highest GPA. Grades aside, Amuchastegui will face Mack Lewnes of Cornell in the semifinals, while Jonathan Reader of Iowa State rolled past Maryland's Mike Letts and will face Virginia's Chris Henrich in the semifinals. Henrich got past Oregon State's Colby Covington 7-5. 

Wright tops Honeycutt
Penn State's Quentin Wright upended previously unbeaten and top-seeded Chris Honeycutt of Edinboro 7-3 at 184 pounds to advance to the semifinals. Wright scored early with a headlock, then had two third-period takedowns to ice the victory. The bottom bracket is set with a third match between Cornell's Steve Bosak and Lehigh's Robert Hamlin. Hamlin beat Chris Perry of Oklahoma State 4-2, while Bosak teched Duke's unseeded Diego Bencomo to move into the semifinals. The marathon match came as Iowa's Grant Gambrall upset fourth-seeded Travis Rutt of Wisconsin 4-2 in the tiebreakers. Gambrall hit a reversal in the last 30-second tiebreaker to advance, where he will face Wright. 

Cornell keeping pace
While much of the nation is looking at Penn State and Iowa battling for the team title, Cornell is still in the thick of it, putting their fourth wrestler into the semifinals with Cam Simaz's first-period fall over Indiana's Matt Powless. Simaz will face fourth-seeded Dustin Kilgore of Kent State, who was a 10-3 winner over Iowa's Luke Lofthouse. Down at the bottom, Oklahoma State's Clayton Foster beat Pitt's Zac Thomusseit 8-2 while a second-period escape was all Wisconsin's Trevor Brandvold needed to oust Penn's Micah Burak. 

Rey advances as Wade defaults
For the second time in the quarterfinals, Penn State had a wrestler lose by injury default. While trailing Zach Rey 2-0 in the first period when heavyweight Cameron Wade screamed out and started clutching his knee. He tried to give it a go after all but three seconds of his injury time expired. After another Rey score, the match was stopped and Rey advanced by injury default. Rey will face past Junior World Champion Dom Bradley of Missouri. Bradley got past a tough, but unseeded Levi Cooper of Arizona State 5-3. Ryan Flores gave American its third semifinalist of the round, beating Nebraska's Tucker Lane. Flores will face second-seeded Jarod Trice of Central Michigan, who was a 3-2 winner over Oklahoma's Nathan Fernandez.