Sooners, Cowboys In Good Position After Day One Of NCAA Wrestling Championships

The Sooners and Cowboys are both within six team points of the lead after the first day at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. 

Friday, March 21st 2014, 12:17 am

By: News 9


ALL EIGHT SOONERS STILL ALIVE AT NCAAS

All eight Oklahoma qualifiers are still alive at the 2014 NCAA Championships inside Chesapeake Energy Arena, and four Sooners are still in contention for individual titles.

After beginning the second session tied for 11th place with eight points, OU climbed the leaderboard to finish the day tied for fourth with 20.5 points.

"It was good," OU head coach Mark Cody said of the day. "A lot of ups and downs and a lot of emotional ups and downs like it always is in this tournament. We're pretty happy with the way things are going, especially with that round (session two). We went 9-1, and it was a pretty good round for us.

"We just have to keep going and getting as many guys on the podium as we possibly can and hopefully get those four (Jarrod Patterson, Cody Brewer, Kendric Maple and Andrew Howe) through to the semifinals," Cody continued.

One of the Sooners' biggest wins came in the 133-pound bout, which saw No. 13 seed and redshirt sophomore Brewer take on No. 4 seed and Big 12 foe Jon Morrison from Oklahoma State.

The first period saw lots of actions as Brewer registered three takedowns and Morrison added three escapes and a takedown to make the score 6-5. However, those points did not matter as Brewer reversed Morrison early in the second, winning by a 2:45 fall. The win was Brewer's first against the Cowboy in seven tries.

"Brewer did a really good job," Cody shared. "It was the fourth time that they've met this year, and he was 0-3 against him. He finally put a good match today and had confidence going out there and let it fly. He's capable of doing that to everybody, and hopefully now he has the confidence. Sometimes you get a breakthrough match like that, and you're a different person. We're hoping that he takes that to heart and he realizes how great of a wrestler he really is."

Starting the championship bracket action for the Sooners, where they went 4-1, was No. 6 seed Patterson. The redshirt senior faced No. 11 seed Robert Deutsch from Rider at 125 pounds. The bout remained scoreless until late in the second period when Deutsch registered an escape. Patterson answered with an escape to start the third period and went on to claim the match by a 2-1 decision after accumulating 1:03 riding time.

As the No. 4 seed, redshirt senior Maple took on No. 13 Brody Grothus from Iowa at 149 pounds. Maple jumped to a 7-1 lead after the first period and, after starting the second on the bottom, stretched it to 10-4. With another takedown and the riding time point with 3:34, Maple took the match by a 13-5 major decision, his 10th such win this season.

With an 18-7 major decision, redshirt senior Howe marched on to the quarterfinals after downing No. 15 seed Billy Curling of Old Dominion. Howe, the No. 2 seed at 174 pounds, was aggressive throughout the bout, registering eight takedowns and grabbing the riding time point with 2:19.

At 197 pounds, No. 7 seed Travis Rutt suffered OU's only loss of the session as he was upset by Duke's Conner Hartmann by decision, 6-0.

The session started with pigtail consolation matches, in which redshirt senior Nick Lester and redshirt junior Justin DeAngelis competed. Both grabbed wins to advance to the consolation round later in the session, where they also recorded victories.

At 141 pounds, Lester rolled to a 13-2 major decision of Undrakhb Khiskignya of The Citadel in the pigtail match. Later in the session, Lester shut out Boston's Tyler Scotton by a 7-0 decision to advance to Friday morning's session.

DeAngelis faced No. 15 seed Cody Pack from South Dakota State. DeAngelis, who is competing in his first NCAA Championships, tied it at six right before end of the second period. He added an escape to start third to take a 7-6 lead and went on to win by decision, 9-7.

Later in the consolation round, DeAngelis added his second decision of the day, this time by a 6-3 score against Lehigh's Joseph Napoli. In the bout, DeAngelis scored with two takedowns, an escape and the riding time point with 2:38.

OU's last wrestler to compete Thursday night was redshirt freshman Ross Larson. He faced Eloheim Palma from Campbell at heavyweight and won by a 10-2 major decision.

Session three of the NCAA Championships will begin at 10 a.m. CT Friday, with the broadcast on ESPN. Session four is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and will air on ESPN. For both sessions, all mats can be found online at ESPN3.com.

 

Oklahoma's Session Three Matchups (with tournament seed)

125: No. 6 Jarrod Patterson (OU) vs. No. 3 Nicholas Megaludis (Penn State)

133: No. 13 Cody Brewer (OU) vs. No. 5 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin)

141: No. 13 Nick Lester (OU) vs. Stephen Dutton III (Michigan); in consolations

149: No. 4 Kendric Maple (OU) vs. No. 5 Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern)

157: Justin DeAngelis (OU) vs. No. 16 Zach Brunson (Illinois); in consolations

174: No. 2 Andrew Howe (OU) vs. No. 7 Tyler Wilps (Pittsburgh); in consolations

197: No. 7 Travis Rutt (OU) vs. No. 9 Christian Boley (Maryland)

HWT: Ross Larson (OU) vs. No. 14 Jonathan Gingrich (Penn State); in consolations

 

Kindig, Marsden Tally Huge Upsets in Session Two

Cowboys Josh Kindig and Austin Marsden helped keep the Cowboys tied for second place with Kindig upsetting No. 6 seed Jake Sueflohn of Nebraska and Marsden knocking off 2013 NCAA finalist Mike McMullan.

"Overall we had a round that we had to get tough in after losing a couple early," coach John Smith said. "We reeled off five straight in the championship. That's something you like to see. We'll just have to come back tomorrow. We'll have eight guys. It's a tough tournament, but overall not a bad day for us."

After the Pokes went 0-4 to start session two, Kindig went head-to-head with Sueflohn at 149 pounds. Kindig picked up two takedowns in the first period and held onto the lead, earning an escape in the second period and another takedown in the third to take the 7-5 victory.

"I just went out like every other match and wanted to put points on the board. It came down to a close one," Kindig said. "The kid's a goer. I'm a goer too, though. I came in seeded lower than him, but I don't call it an upset. That's the wrong word. More like, 'surprise' is probably better. I'm on the same level. Seeds don't matter. Coach has been telling us that from the beginning of the tournament. I just went out there and did what I usually do."

Shortly after Kindig's match, Alex Dieringer pinned Mizzou's Joey LaVallee in 1:38, giving him his second bonus-point victory of the day.

Tyler Caldwell and Chris Perry followed with almost simultaneous wins. Perry picked up more bonus points for the Pokes with an 11-3 major decision over Tony Dallago of Illinois, while Caldwell earned a 9-2 decision over 15th-seed Danny Zilverberg of Minnesota.

To wrap up the second round in the championship bracket, the Cowboys made a point with heavyweight and sophomore Marsden taking out No. 6 seed McMullan of Northwestern, 3-2.

Marsden scored a takedown with one second left in the second period to grab a 2-1 lead heading into the final two minutes. McMullan racked up more than a minute of riding time, but Marsden's escape with 46 seconds left that kept the match out of reach for the Wildcat.

"Coach (Smith) just told me to have a positive mindset, switch up my style and try to be more offensive; attacking more," Marsden said. "He just kept repeating that to me and that's why I did it. I got to control the pace, create the action, and once you do that you get on top."

Eight OSU wrestlers are still alive in the tourney, with the Cowboys sending five to the quarterfinals of the championship bracket, which takes place in Friday's morning session beginning at 10 a.m. in Chesapeake Energy Arena.

 

Team Standings

1. Penn State – 26.5 points

T2. Oklahoma State – 21.5 points

T2. Minnesota – 21.5 points

T4. Iowa – 20.5 points

T4. Oklahoma - 20.5 points

 

Oklahoma State Results

Pigtail Round

197: Mario Gonzalez (ILL) dec. Blake Rosholt (OSU), 10-3

 

Championship First Round

125: No. 14 Eddie Klimara (OSU) dec. Dominic Parisi (APPST), 6-4

133: No. 4 Jon Morrison (OSU) dec. James Gulibon (PSU), 4-0

141: No. 15 Anthony Collica (OSU) dec. Avery Gardner (UVU), 10-6

149: No. 11 Josh Kindig (OSU) dec. Ian Paddock (OHST), 9-4

157: No. 3 Alex Dieringer (OSU) TF Austin Sommer (DREX), 18-1, 5:00

165: No. 2 Tyler Caldwell (OSU) fall Curtis Cook (UVU), 3:36

174: No. 1 Chris Perry (OSU) MD Scott Liegel (WISC), 8-0

184: No. 7 Kevin Steinhaus (MINN) dec. Nolan Boyd (OSU), 5-0

285: No.11 Austin Marsden (OSU) MD Collin Jensen (NEB), 10-2

 

Championship Second Round

125: No. 3 Nico Megaludis (PSU) dec. No. 14 Eddie Klimara (OSU), 6-0

133: No. 13 Cody Brewer (OU) fall No. 4 Jon Morrison (OSU), 2:45

141: No. 2 Logan Stieber (OHST) TF Anthony Collica (OSU), 16-1

149: No. 11 Josh Kindig (OSU) dec. No. 6 Jake Sueflohn (NEB), 7-5

157: No. 3 Alex Dieringer (OSU) fall No. 14 Joey LaVallee (MIZZOU), 1:38

165: No. 2 Tyler Caldwell (OSU) dec. No. 15 Danny Zilverberg (MINN), 9-2

174: No. 1 Chris Perry (OSU) MD Tony Dallago (ILL), 11-3

285: No. 11Austin Marsden (OSU) dec. No. 6 Michael McMullan (NW), 3-2

 

Pigtail Consolation Round

197: Zach Nye (UVA) dec. Blake Rosholt (OSU), 7-3

 

Consolation First Round

184: Kurtis Julson (NDSU) dec. Nolan Boyd (OSU), 8-4

 

Championship quarterfinals schedule

149: No. 11 Josh Kindig (OSU) vs. No. 14 Scott Sakaguchi (ORST)

157: No. 3 Alex Dieringer (OSU) vs. No. 6 Nestor Taffur (BU)

165: No. 2 Tyler Caldwell (OSU) vs. No. 7 Pierce Harger (NW)

174: No. 1 Chris Perry (OSU) vs. No. 9 Elliot Riddick (LEH)

285: No. 11 Austin Marsden (OSU) vs. No. 3 Adam Chalfant (IND)

 

Consolation Second Round Schedule

125: No. 14 Eddie Klimara (OSU) vs. Evan Silver (STAN)

133: No. 4 Jon Morrison (OSU) vs. Shelton Mack (PITT)

141: No. 15 Anthony Collica (OSU) vs. Gabe Moreno (ISU)

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