Wrestling - NCAA Championships

NCAA Championships are a week from today, but the seeds and brackets were released yesterday. Some disappointing placements for Red wrestlers but nothing outrageous.

125: Nahshon Garrett - 2 seed. I thought he might get the 1 seed, as he's been the top ranked wrestler for much of the year, but the 1 seed is the defending national champion, who beat NG in the semis last year, and for Garrett's only loss this season.

133: Mike Grey - 15 seed. About right, though I think he is better than his seed, he has had a freshman year marked with both inconsistency and flashes of brilliance. After falling into the consolation bracket at EIWAs he fought back with two pins (including a dramatic overtime fall) to finish in third. He'll almost have to fight his way onto the podium at NCAAs through the bottom of the bracket, since he faces #2 in the second round.

141: Mike Nevinger - Unseeded. A two-time All-American, he is a top 10 wrestler who has had injury problems all year, and he hurt his knee again at EIWA's. That he is even here is insane. After hurting himself in the semifinal, and losing 3-0, he faced the top seed in the consolation bracket before giving up halfway through the bout. In the fifth place match, with a trip to the NCAA's on the line, he jumped on his opponent off the opening whistle and muscled him to his back for a pin and the victory. I have no idea if he'll be recovered enough by next week to be competitive but I'm glad that he didn't miss out on a trip to the tournament as a senior after such a great career.

149: Chris Villalonga - 3 seed. Expected to be nationally competitive right out of high school, CV finally put it together this year and got himself in position to take a run at not just AA but a high podium placement. He apparently plans to take off the fall semester next year and use his final semester of eligibility in 2015.

157: Brian Realbuto - 7 seed. Another of Cornell's amazing freshman class, he had a disappointing EIWA tournament, finishing in 4th, and was lucky to have not hurt his seed too badly in the process.

165: Dylan Palacio - 14 seed. The third Cornell freshman in the tournament, Palacio is a real wildcard. Aggressive, risk-taking, has some very high-scoring bouts.

184: Gabe Dean - 3 seed. The final, and best, of the Cornell freshman class. Dean comes in as the 3 seed because the top seed is undefeated and he split bouts with 2 seed and two-time defending champion Ed Ruth. I think most observers think the national champ will come out of their semifinal. (But most observers also expect it to be Ruth, so... forget most observers. Go Gabe.)

197: Jace Bennett - 10 seed. A higher seed than I expected, probably the first time he was acknowledged as a top-10 wrestler all year. He has a tough second round match against a guy who beat him earlier this year at National Duals.

You can read more about the paths the wrestlers will have to take here and you can see the full brackets here. I'll post the livestats and livestreams next week.

Let's Go RED!

Grey has been wrestling hurt along with Nevinger. Shame neither is full-strength for the NCAAs.

First matches are Thursday at noon. So excited.

ugarte
First matches are Thursday at noon. So excited.

ESPN3 to show every match on all eight mats. ESPNU or ESPN will televise each afternoon and evening session.

Al DeFlorio

ugarte
First matches are Thursday at noon. So excited.

ESPN3 to show every match on all eight mats. ESPNU or ESPN will televise each afternoon and evening session.

whoa

So for updates we can watch ESPN3 and look for posts on eLynah. Any other sources e.g., twitter feeds?

KenP
So for updates we can watch ESPN3 and look for posts on eLynah. Any other sources e.g., twitter feeds?

Team twitter feed is up to the minute: [twitter.com]

So far:
Nevinger in OT
Grey Lost
Garrett with a major decision

Villalonga wins and Palacio wins -- maybe with a major decision? I lost track jumping from match to match.

Gabe Dean is up shortly but the mat location hasn't been posted for those who might want to tune in to ESPN3

Realbuto, Palacio, and Dean with major decisions.

Bennett coming up on Mat 4. You can see where the guys are going to be by following on trackwrestling.com

Terrible loss for Bennett. Loses 2-1.

Next round starts at 7pm EDT

2d Round

125 #2 Garrett vs #15 Zanetta (Pitt)
149 #3 Villalonga vs #14 Sakaguci (Oregon State)
157 #7 Realbuto vs #10 Butler (Virginia)
165 #14 Palacio vs #3 Sulzer (Virginia)
184 #3 Dean vs #14 Rizqallah (Michigan State)

Consolation 1st Round

133 #15 Grey vs UN Rasche (Navy)
141 UN Nevinger vs UN Neff (Lock Haven)
197 #10 Bennett vs UN Palik (Drexel)

Garrett with an easy 6-0 win.

Villalonga loses by fall in ~4:30. He was in the top position, trying to turn Sakaguchi, allowed Sakaguchi to arch his back and lean into CV, pushing him to the mat, to get a defensive fall. Terrible for CV, terrible for the team result.

Realbuto with a dramatic 3-1 win, grabbing a takedown with 1 second left in SV.

Palacio loses 12-6.

Dean with an easy 11-4 win.

Realbuto advances with a td in last second of sv. Palacio loses to 3 seed.

Cornell has 3 in the QF tomorrow.

3 in the consolation rounds coming up.

Grey with an impressive 10-2 MD. Once he saw that Rasche was gassed, he started playing catch and release and piled up the points.

Nevinger with a tough finish to a great career. He injured his knee at EIWAs and was never the same. Loses 9-1, and never really had a chance.

Bennett comes out blazing and then holds on for a 12-10 win.

7 of 8 still alive for day 2.

ugarte

Nevinger with a tough finish to a great career. He injured his knee at EIWAs and was never the same. Loses 9-1, and never really had a chance.

I didn't see tonight, but the back injury that caused Mike to miss the early tournaments really meant Mike never looked right to me. He just never seemed to have the freakish core strength that he had the prior two seasons that allowed him to dominate anyone while on top. The young man is a warrior. I wish his senior season had ended on a better note, but I salute him for everything he did as a Cornell wrestler.

Day 2 slate starts at 11

Championship
125: Garrett v #10 Terao (American) EIWA final rematch - Megaludis probably next if Garrett holds his seed
157: Realbuto v #2 St. John (Iowa) - this bracket is almost chalk (9 over 8)
184: Dean v #6 Swartz (BSU) - Sheptock is getting a carpet rolled out to the final on his side of the bracket, but Ruth-Dean looms large here

Consolation
133: Grey v UN Manley (Mizzou) with #9 DiJulius (tOSU) on the horizon
149: Villalonga v UN Claxton (Ohio) with #6 Sueflohn (NEB) on the horizon
165: Palacio v UN Staudenmeyer (UNC) with either #5 Moore (Iowa) or #6 Mock (UTC) on the horizon
197: Bennett v #8 Wellington with two unranked wrestlers on the horizon if he pulls the upset

Championship

Garrett with a 11-0 MD and is Cornell's first AA of 2014. Will face #3 Nico Megaludis (Penn St.) in the semis.

Realbuto with an 11-4 win over the defending national champ! Will face #3 Alex Dierenger (Oklahoma St.) in the semis. TWO AA for Cornell.

Dean with an easy 11-4 win. He'll face #2 Ruth (Penn St.) in the semis. THREE AA for Cornell!

Consolation

Grey wins 3-0 and moves forward to face #9 DiJulius, with the winner to face #6 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) for AA.

Villalonga wins 4-2 SV2 and will face #6 Sueflohn, with the winner to face #9 Grajales (Michigan) for AA.

Palacio wins 5-2 despite his nagging rib injury. Moves forward to face #5 Moore with the winner to face #8 Moreno (ISU) for AA.

Bennett with an amazing TD with 9 seconds left pulls out a 5-4 win. Up next is UN Gonzales (Illinois) with the winner to face #11 Burak (Iowa) for AA.

Wow. What a great session so far. All of the consolation winners have one more match coming up.

Realbuto upsets #2 St John!

Mark Grey with a TD with 8 seconds left picks up the 3-1 win! Match against an EIWA rival tonight for AA honors.

Villalonga trails the whole match but senses that Sueflohn is gassed, destroys him for the last minute and rallies for a 7-6 win. WOW

Palacio just destroys the #5 wrestler in the country. 8-1 and it wasn't even that close.

Bennett lets a strong guy with no ability on his feet muscle him around on the mat and gets pinned. Disappointing end to a great session.

Palacio wins his match going away against the much higher seed [#5 I believe].

Tonight's matches (8pm start):


Semifinals

125 #2 Garrett vs #3 Megaludis (Penn State)
157 #7 Realbuto vs #3 Dierenger (Oklahoma State)
184 #3 Dean vs #2 Ruth (Penn State)

Round of 12

133 #15 Grey vs #6 Beckman (Lehigh)
149 #3 Villalonga vs #9 Grajales (Michigan)
165 #14 Palacio vs #8 Moreno (Iowa State)

Rough evening session.

Garrett wins 6-4 and moves on to the final! After that, though...

Realbuto loses to Dierenger 7-4 and will face #1 Green (Nebraska). Winner faces the winner of the match between #2 and #4 for 3d place; losers meet for 5th.

Dean loses to Ruth 5-3 and will face #11 Thomas (Penn). Winner faces the winner between #7 and #13 for 3d place.

Grey loses to Beckman 6-1.

Villalonga loses to Grajales 4-1.

Palacio loses to Moreno 9-6.

Amazingly, every wrestler that scored points for Cornell in the tournament will be back next year and all of them are likely to be - at least - in the running for AA if not the national title.

The wrestlers that Cornell's guys lost to? Two are wrestling for the national title (157, 184).
133 Grey lost twice - one made it to the Round of 12, the other is still alive for third.
149 Villalonga lost twice - one made it to the Round of 12, the other is still alive for third.
165 Palacio lost twice - both are still alive for third.
197 Bennett lost twice - one made it to the Round of 12, the other is still alive for third.

Only Nevinger's opponents didn't achieve much but at full strength he beats both of those guys. This was a great team and they had (and three of them are still having) a very good tournament. I can't wait for tomorrow and I can't wait for next year.

Realbuto's match was both a heartbreaker and an inspiration. He injured his knee early in the first period -- he could barely put weight on his leg. His knee was taped up and he kept wrestling. And he didn't just lie on the mat to watch the clock count down in an effort to avoid the injury default -- he kept battling even though he was clearly in pain. In the third period the ESPN announcer said he could hear Kyle Dake yelling at Realbuto, "One minute. One minute. You can do anything for one minute." And he did -- that match wasn't truly out of reach until the takedown as time expired.

Realbuto apparently has a torn ACL; he defaulted out of his matches today and finishes in 6th. A damn good showing, especially since without the injury he was taking it to Dieringer. I really hope he can recover because he's got a great career ahead of him.

Dean pins Thomas (Penn) to get to the third place match and then beats Dechow (Old Dominion) 5-4. Great freshman year. Both guys ahead of him in the weight class are seniors.

Tonight is the big one: Nahshon Garrett vs Jesse Delgado for the title at 125.

Cornell is in 6th place in the team competition with Ohio State (two finalists) and Virginia Tech (one) close behind and Edinboro 9 points ahead and virtually out of reach in 5th (I think).

So close. Sooooo close. Garrett had three great shots at takedowns but Delgado's amazing scrambling ability turned all three into stalemates. Delgado got one takedown and it was enough. Garrett loses 3-2 in the national final.