Division I Championship Notebook: Day 3

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Jason Bryant (USA Wrestling)
03/19/2011


Day 3 Notebook
Finals Notes & Updates

Outstanding Wrestler: Anthony Robles, Arizona State
Coach of the Year: Mark Cody, American
Most Falls, Least Time: Ed Ruth, Penn State

125 pounds
Arizona State's Anthony Robles capped a perfect season with his first NCAA championship with a 7-1 win over returning NCAA Champion Matt McDonough of Iowa. Robles struck first with an early takedown then hit two tilts to take a 7-0 lead with riding time after the first period. McDonough took neutral in the second period and the two battled to a scoreless two minutes. Robles took down and was ridden out by McDonough and Robles was hit twice for stalling, giving McDonough his only point of the match. The move put Arizona State into eighth place as a team.

133 pounds
Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State, like Robles, capped an undefeated season and beat Andrew Hochstrasser of Boise State for the third time this season to win the championship at 133 pounds. Oliver hit a quick double 10 seconds in to take an early lead, then after a Hochstrasser escape, Oliver tripped Hochstrasser to the mat and got two nearfall to build a 6-1 lead. Oliver would score another double leg later in the match and cruised to an 8-4 decision. Oklahoma State maintained its lead on American for fourth place, and has 70.5 points moving forward. 

141 pounds
Kellen Russell of Michigan made it 3-for-3 with undefeated wrestlers in the first three weights as the Wolverine beat Cal Poly's Boris Novachkov 3-2 at 141 pounds. After the two traded escapes in the second and third periods. Russell countered a Novachkov attempt with a go-behind to take a 3-1 lead with 35 seconds to go. Novachkov got free with 15 seconds to go but couldn't score as Russell takes home his first NCAA championship.

149 pounds
Kyle Dake of Cornell repeated as an NCAA champion with a punishing victory over second-seeded Frank Molinaro of Penn State. Dake recorded an amazing 6:17 riding time advantage in the 8-1 decision. The only point take gave up was in the first period on a penalty point, which wasn't clear to many in the stands or the coaching staffs. Dake scored a takedown in the first and after two and a half minutes on bottom, Molinaro shook off coaches Cody Sanderson and Troy Letters, who told him neutral, and took bottom. Dake turned Molinaro with a power half to build a 5-1 lead, then hit a reversal in the third. 

157 pounds
Bubba Jenkins of Arizona State stunned the sold-out crowd at the Wells Fargo Center hitting a suicide cradle in the second period, countering a David Taylor shot and scored the fall, giving the Sun Devil senior his first national championship. Jenkins tied up Taylor's arms and controlled ties leading to a scoreless first period. Taylor got free to take a 1-0 lead before getting in on a leg. Jenkins sat out and slapped a cradle, then came across his own back and put Taylor on his back and secured the fall shortly after.

165 pounds
Jordan Burroughs capped his senior season with an undefeated year and his second NCAA Division I Championship. He scored five takedowns on Oklahoma's Tyler Caldwell en route to a dominant 11-3 major decision. Burroughs is the first two-time national champion in Huskers history. Burroughs wasn't going to make anything close like in the Big 12 Finals. 

174 pounds
Bloody and bruised, Iowa State's Jonathan Reader overcame a bad cut by his eye to cap his senior season undefeated with a 10-3 finals win over Stanford's Nick Amuchastegui. Reader scored two takedowns and two two-point nearfalls and a riding time point to claim the championship. Both wrestlers took several blood timeouts. Reader's head was wrapped in the early seconds and was re-wrapped two more times throughout the bout. 

184 pounds
Finishing his heroic run into the finals, Penn State's Quentin Wright rebounded from a tumultuous mid-season stretch to win the NCAA championship at 184 pounds with a 5-2 win over second-seeded Robert Hamlin of Lehigh. Wright started with a second-period escape and quickly got in on a double leg, stepping around and finishing for the first takedown of the match. Wright added another double leg late in the second and gave up just an escape in the third. Wright is the lowest seed to win a championships since Jake Rosholt won in Kansas City at 184 pounds in 2003.  

197 pounds 
A come-from-behind victory gave Kent State its first NCAA champion as Dustin Kilgore rallied from a 5-1 deficit to pin Oklahoma State's Clayton Foster at 4:56. Down 5-1, Kilgore was in on a shot when Foster stepped around and tried to counter. Kilgore scooped up the leg, nearly getting a defensive fall, but seconds later Kilgore turned in on Foster, putting him to the mat and getting the fall, again stunning the Wells Fargo Center crowd. 

285 pounds
Lehigh's Zach Rey gave the Mountain Hawks a champion at heavyweight with a tight 2-1 victory over EIWA rival Ryan Flores of American. The two trades escapes, but the key was the riding time point Rey achieved in the third period. There was one big scramble where Flores nearly reverse Rey, but Flores was befuddled as to why he didn't even get an escape. Rey avenges his loss in the EIWA finals. 

Medal Round Notes
285 pounds
Past Junior World Champion Dom Bradley of Missouri finished third with a 3-2 win over Central Michigan's Jarod Trice. Indiana's Ricardo Alcala finished fifth beating unseeded Spencer Myers of Maryland 5-4. Alcala was a transfer from UC Davis after the program was dropped last season. Tony Nelson of Minnesota ended his freshman campaign with a fall to take seventh place, topping Arizona State's Levi Cooper. 

Team Scores after 285
1. Penn State 103.5
2. Cornell 89.5
3. Iowa 86.5
4. Oklahoma State 66.5
5. American 65
6. Minnesota 61
16. Missouri 35
25. Indiana 23.5

197 pounds
Cornell's Cam Simaz finished third for the second straight year and is now a three-time All-American with a 5-2 win over Wisconsin's Trevor Brandvold. Luke Lofthouse of Iowa finished fifth after fighting off Stanford's Zack Giesen 6-3. Sonny Yohn of Minnesota finished the season with his second All-American honor, finishing 7th with a 5-2 victory over Indiana's Matt Powless.

Team Scores after 197
1. Penn State 103.5
2. Cornell 89.5
3. Iowa 86.5
4. Oklahoma State 66.5
5. American 65
6. Minnesota 58


184 pounds
Iowa's Grant Gambrall came into the tournament as the #12 seed and finished third with a sound 6-3 decision over Cornell's Steve Bosak. Edinboro's Chris Honeycutt finished fifth after picking up a forfeit against Joe LeBlanc of Wyoming while Travis Rutt of Wisconsin topped Minnesota's Kevin Steinhaus 4-2 for seventh place.

Team Scores
1. Penn State 103.5
2. Cornell 88.5
3. Iowa 85.5
4. Oklahoma State 66.5
5. American 65
8. Wisconsin 54.5
25. Edinboro 24

174 pounds
Ed Ruth's 6-2 decision over Cornell's Mack Lewnes locked up the team championship for Penn State. Ruth took Lewnes down twice in the match and built up over three minutes of riding time. Colby Covington of Oregon State finished fifth with a 3-2 win over Virginia's Chris Henrich, while Mike Letts of Maryland finished seventh with a 7-2 victory over Ben Bennett of Central Michigan.

Team Scores after 174
1. Penn State 103.5
2. Cornell 88.5
3. Iowa 84.5
4. Oklahoma State 66.5
5. American 65
15. Maryland 35.5
22. Oregon State 26


165 pounds
Andrew Howe of Wisconsin finished third and became a three-time All-American in the process with a 6-4 win over Ohio State's first-time All-American Colt Sponseller. Shane Onufer of Wyoming avenged two previous losses in his career and beat Maryland's Josh Asper 5-4 with a takedown in the third period. Lehigh's Brandon Hatchett earned a seventh-place finish with a 3-0 victory over Hofstra's Paul Gillespie. 

Team Scores after 165
1. Penn State 102.5
2. Cornell 88.5
3. Iowa 84.5'
4. Oklahoma State 66.5
5. American 65
8. Lehigh 54.5
9. Wisconsin 53.5
15. Wyoming 35

157 pounds
American's Steve Fittery finished as a four-time All-American with a 13-1 major decision over Iowa's Derek St. John. Fittery was a two-time Division II runner-up at Shippensburg at 141 pounds and placed twice for American at 157 pounds. Adam Hall of Boise State avenged a quarterfinal loss to Jason Welch of Northwestern to take a 5-1 win for fifth place. Bryce Saddoris of Navy finished as a two-time All-American, finishing 7th with a late takedown in the tiebreakers to edge Harvard's Walter Peppelman 4-3. 

Team Scores after 157
1. Penn State 102.5
2. Cornell 88.5
3. Iowa 84.5
4. Oklahoma State 66.5
5. American 65
6. Boise State 56.5
36. Navy 11

Update: Northwestern was docked a team point for unsportsmanlike conduct. 

149 pounds
Jason Chamberliain's 3-0 win over Ganbayar Sanjaa of American moved Boise State into 6th place, while Oklahoma State extended its lead on American in the race for fourth with Jamal Parks' 6-2 win over Northwestern's Andrew Nadhir. Riding time is the difference as Bucknell's Kevin LeValley held off hard-charging Derek Valenti of Virginia 5-4. 

Team Scores after 149
1. Penn State 102.5
2. Cornell 88.5
3. Iowa 84.5
4. Oklahoma State 66.5
5. American 63
6. Boise State 56.5
36. Bucknell 11.5

141 pounds
Mike Thorn of Minnesota finished third with a dramatic takedown at the buzzer to beat Iowa's Montell Marion. Thorn converted a single leg starting with nine seconds to go on the restart. Marion slammed his headgear down afterwards, and it will likely cost Iowa a team point, but it has not been reported as yet. Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois finished fifth with a dominating peformance over Missouri's Todd Schavrien. Kennedy finished as a three-time All-American with the 11-1 major decision. Oklahoma's Zack Bailey finished his career as a two-time All-American, besting Penn's Zack Kemmerer 5-2. It was Kemmerer's first All-American finish.

Update: Iowa was docked two team points after the Marion match. One for Marion's spiking of the headgear and another for another coaches warning. 

Team Scores after 141
1. Penn State 102.5
2. Cornell 88.5
3. Iowa 84.5
4. Oklahoma State 65.5
5. American 63
7. Minnesota 57
13. Oklahoma 39
22. Illinois 25


133 pounds
Andrew Long of Penn State finished third with a come-from-behind win over Central Michigan's Scotti Sentes. Long chose neutral in the third trailing 5-4, scored a takedown and added the riding time point. Tyler Graff of Wisconsin topped Mike Grey of Cornell 6-2 to finish fifth. Lou Ruggirello of Hofstra finished seventh after building a big lead, then holding off Illinois' B.J. Futrell 9-6. It's Ruggirello's first All-American honor after qualifying four times and twice losing in the Round of 12. 

Team Scores after 133
1. Penn State 102.5
2. Cornell 88.5
3. Iowa 86.5
4. Oklahoma State 65.5
5. American 63
9. Wisconsin 52.5
25. Hofstra 22

125 pounds
Brandon Precin of Northwestern finished his career as a three-time All-American, beating unseeded Ben Kjar of Utah Valley 5-0. Kjar finishes fourth and is the first All-American in Utah Valley's short Division I history. Zach Sanders of Minnesota is now a three-time All-American. The junior beat Stanford's Ryan Mango 6-2 for fifth place. Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma used a riding time point to defeat Old Dominion's James Nicholson 3-2. Of note: Nicholson is only the second two-time All-American in ODU history. The other was Olympian Buddy Lee. 

Team Scores after 125
1. Penn State 101.5
2. Cornell 88.5
3. Iowa 86.5
4. Oklahoma State 65.5
5. American 63
10. Minnesota 56
12. Northwestern 40
13. Oklahoma 37


Sixth Fall for Penn State
Andrew Long of Penn State picked up a fall in the consolation semifinals over Cornell's Mike Grey. The consolation semifinals are worth 3.5 points, giving wrestlers three points for placing at least fourth, a half-point for advancement, plus bonus. So Long's fall earned Penn State 5.5 more points.

Super Sentes
Central Michigan's #11 Scotti Sentes moved into the third place match with a 5-0 win over Wisconsin's Tyler Graff. Graff will now face Grey for fifth place. Sentes scored a takedown in the first, an escape in the second and hit a headlock for a takedown in the third for the final outcome.

Kjar and Precin going for third
Ben Kjar of Utah Valley was the only unseeded wrestler in Friday night's semifinals, but the 28-year-old senior will face Northwestern's Brandon Precin in the consolation final. Kjar beat Ryan Mango of Stanford 3-1, while Precin beat Minnesota's Zach Sanders 5-4.

Right position for Thorn
After getting snapped down to the mat hard by Illinois Jimmy Kennedy, Minnesota's Mike Thorn worked from bottom, popped up and pinned Kennedy with a defensive fall at 1:29. 

Fittery tops Hall in battle of top two seeds
Steve Fittery of American led Adam Hall of Boise State heading into the third period when he turned Hall to his back with a tight side headlock, earning three nearfall and then adding a point for riding time in the 5-0 win in the match between the #1 and #2 seeds.

St. John wins scramble-fest against Welch
Wrestilng matches are seven minutes ... Derek St. John of Iowa topped Northwestern's Jason Welch 6-1 in a match that had approximately six minutes of the two wrestlers twisting and contorting all over the mat. St. John outscrambled Welch and will advance to the third place match. Combined with Montell Marion's win over Todd Schavrien at 141, Iowa has moved into second place ... as of 11:35 a.m.

Penn State breaks 100
With Ed Ruth's 6-2 win over Virginia's Chris Henrich, Penn State officially moved over the 100-point mark in the tournament. Ruth will face Cornell's Mack Lewnes for third place. 

Cornell moves back into second
Wins by Marion, St. John and Gambrall, Iowa briefly took hold of second place, but Cornell countered with a fall from Cam Simaz at 197, a decision by Lewnes and a major decision from Steve Bosak, Cornell currently has 88.5 points, while Iowa sits third with 86.5 prior to Luke Lofthouse's match at 197.