[Wrestling] NCAA Championships

[ugarte]

In the pigtail round (kind of a pre-1st round), Kerber loses 9-2 to DiDona, a matchup people who know a lot more than me predicted would be tough.

As posted in the EIWA thread by KenP, here are the brackets (pdf): http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ncaa/sports/m-wrestl/auto_pdf/Wres-D1-2009Bracket.pdf

The first round is now underway. We have wrestlers at 125 (#2 Nickerson), 133 (#11 Grey), 149 (U Meagher), 157 (#3 Leen), 165 (#1 Lewnes), 174 (#6 Anceravage), 197 (U Simaz) and Hwt. (U Hammond).

125: Nickerson WBF in 5:51. He was up 11-3 at the time. A bit of a surprise that he gave up a TD here at all, though he followed with a reversal.

133: Grey with a 10-8 comeback win after giving up a nearfall in the first period.

149: Meagher loses 9-5 to the #5 seed.

157: Leen wins 11-6.

165: Lewnes loses 5-3. Oh man. What a disaster. His knee was apparently heavily wrapped at the beginning of the match. That doesn't bode well for him in the consolation bracket.

174: Anceravage wins 8-6 against a wrestler Intermat put in the top 10, but who was unseeded at the NCAAs. Tough draw for both guys.

197: Simaz wins 5-3 over the #11 wrestler. Good start.

Hwt: Hammond loses a MD 12-2. I feel bad for Hammond; he had so much promise and was injured so often over the last two years.

[ugarte]

This was definitely a disappointing first round for the Big Red. Any hope of challenging Iowa for the team title probably evaporated when Kerber lost his pigtail match but any residual hope blew up like a supernova when Lewnes lost in the first round.

Still, we have five wrestlers in the championship bracket and Lewnes is a very viable All-American out of the consolation bracket. Kerber is less likely, though not out of the question.

Second session starts at 6:30pm but I won't be able to provide updates in anything like real time.

[KenP]

Thanks for the updates!!!  I won't be by my computer, but if anyone wishes to post updates, you can follow the matches at http://www.nwcaonline.com/nwcaonline/NCAAColEventsMatches.aspx

Go Red!

[ugarte]

[quote KenP]Thanks for the updates!!!  I won't be by my computer, but if anyone wishes to post updates, you can follow the matches at http://www.nwcaonline.com/nwcaonline/NCAAColEventsMatches.aspx

Go Red![/quote]
You can also check in on the Cornell Wrestling tournament blog or the Wrestling Report forum for Cornell-centric updates.

[ugarte]

Pigtail Consolation Round:

184: Kerber loses 5-2 and is eliminated.
Hwt: Hammond defeats McLean of Penn 5-2. That is his second win of the year against McLean after losing to him in the Penn dual meet.

Second round:
125: Nickerson rolls to an 11-0 MD.
133: Grey is rolled in a 9-0 MD to the #6 wrestler.
157: Leen wins 6-2.
174: Anceravage loses 8-6 to the #11 wrestler. Ouch.
197: Simaz loses 5-1 to the #6 wrestler.

Still to come tonight, Lewnes and Hammond in the first consy round. Meagher is still alive in the consy as well but will advance on a medical default.

A tough day for the Big Red. Only 2 wrestlers left in the main draw. Fortunately we've still got 6 alive in the wrestlebacks and only two wrestlers will make All-American without falling down to the consolation bracket. (Right? Or is a semifinal appearance an automatic All-American?)

[ugarte]

Lewnes clearly came into this tournament hurt and he goes out with two straight losses, falling 3-1 on a late takedown. I feel bad for the kid; this must be devastating.

Hammond is out as well, going down 4-1. Congratulations on a great career, Zach. To even qualify for the NCAAs after the injuries he's had is something to be proud of.

[ugarte]

I posted my morning-after, rainbows and sunshine rethinking of yesterday's results on the Wrestling Forum so I figured I'd reprint them here:

Nickerson and Leen have moved on comfortably. Grey lost to a higher ranked wrestler. Meagher lost to a higher ranked wrestler. Lewnes is obviously injured. Anceravage lost a close match to a wrestler of similar ability. Kerber is fighting above his natural weight. Simaz lost to a higher ranked wrestler. Hammond, post-injury, simply isn't the wrestler he once was.

In all of this, the only thing that could really be considered a genuine surprise is that Lewnes is out. And if we were given the whole truth about his knee, I'll bet we wouldn't consider it a huge surprise anymore - we'd probably be praising the kid for having the balls to get on the mat and wrestle through the pain.

With Lewnes out and virtually no scoring from Meagher/Kerber/Hammond, we are going to struggle to move up the team leaderboard. And you know what? So what.

We still have four, and maybe 5, viable All-American candidates. We placed NINE wrestlers in the tournament. And we have all day to root for Leen to repeat and Nickerson to finally break through.

Yesterday was a rough day because our expectations were so high but with a night to sleep on it I don't think, objectively, it was all that bad.

Except for Mack. Damn, I feel bad for that kid.

[billhoward]

For the Ivy League, is there a Wall Street Journal version of the SI cover jinx?

[ugarte]

Quarterfinals:
125: #2 Nickerson WBF over #7 Fio (Oklahoma) in 14 seconds! Great start for Day 2 for the Big Red. On to the semis. 3x All-American!

157: #3 Leen wins 4-2 over #6 Chandler. On to the semis. 2x All-American!

Consolation Rd. 3:

133: #11 Grey MD 19-7 over Schavrien (Mizzou). Great work.

149: Meagher loses 7-3 Fittery (Lock Haven). Meagher is out.

174: #6 Anceravage wins 10-2 MD over Hinton (Mich. St.)

197: Simaz wins 8-3 over Fagiano (Hofstra)

[TimV]

Watching Jordan Leen's match now on ESPNU.  SOmeone who understands wrestling please help me:  Other than being annoying, is there any tactical advantage to the wrestlers putting their hand briefly but repeatedly on top of the head of the opponent from the starting standing position?

[ugarte]

Whoops. Check a couple of posts up for the updated QF/Consy 3 results.

[ugarte]

[quote TimV]Watching Jordan Leen's match now on ESPNU.  SOmeone who understands wrestling please help me:  Other than being annoying, is there any tactical advantage to the wrestlers putting their hand briefly but repeatedly on top of the head of the opponent from the starting standing position?[/quote]
I've always seen it as the equivalent of a jab used to establish and maintain a certain distance.

[Jacob '06]

[quote TimV]Watching Jordan Leen's match now on ESPNU.  SOmeone who understands wrestling please help me:  Other than being annoying, is there any tactical advantage to the wrestlers putting their hand briefly but repeatedly on top of the head of the opponent from the starting standing position?[/quote]

Its partially just being annoying, but if you get the guy to actually pop his head back up too much, it gives you the opportunity to get a level change to get below the guy and get in on a shot. At the college level, you probably aren't going to bait a guy in to standing up too much in that situation though.

[ugarte]

Upcoming:

Semifinals:

125: Nickerson vs. the defending national champ, #3 Escobedo (Indiana)
157: Leen vs. last year's final, undefeated #2 Poeta (Illinois)

Consolation Round 4:

133: Grey vs. Marble (Bucknell) for the right to face #4 Dennis (Iowa)
174: Anceravage vs. Lee (Boise St.) for the right to face #4 Borschel (Iowa)
197: Simaz vs. Feist (Stanford) for the right to face Oplinger (Drexel)

The main draws at 125 and 157 are ridiculous now. Not only does Nickerson face the defending champ, if he wins he will likely face the 2007 champ who took a year off to transfer to Edinboro after Nebraska kicked him off the team for selling naked pics to a gay porn site. (Seriously.)

At 157, the 1 (Burroughs, Nebraska) and 2 seeds are both undefeated. The 3 seed is Leen, the 2008 champion. The 4 seed is Gillespie, the 2007 champ.

In the consys, f you go by chalk, Simaz looks to have the easiest path to AA - but there are no easy paths at this stage. All three guys have to beat a wrestler who is rated above them on the way to the top 8. When Cornell faced Iowa at the National Duals, Grey beat Dennis; Borschel beat Anceravage.

[ugarte]

Consy Round 4:

133: Grey blows by Marble with a 13-5 MD. Excellent. On to a rematch with Dennis.

174: Anceravage wins 11-5. Excellent. On to a rematch with Borschel.

197: Simaz wins 12-4 MD. Excellent. On to face Oplinger.

With 5 of 6 wrestlers still alive (and abundant bonus points) I figure Cornell has been climbing the team standings pretty steadily. They started the day in 9th.