NCAA wrestling

[Al DeFlorio]

Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Where did you see the match? I couldn't find a working video link!

ESPNU

Ah. Can't watch that from my office... wait! channelsurfing.com... what time does the next session start?

7EDT

[ithacat]

Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Have you considered staying away from hockey? I assume you're not in St. Pete. ::drive::

Nah, made all the home games...Although, when the PP is struggling I go for a walk and that seems to help. Undefeated when watching on TV this season -- though I sometimes have to stand with one foot in the air (I've noticed it helps them skate).

[ithacat]

Good to see the men wrestling well today. I watched Lewnes struggle against the guy from Oregon State and sensed I might be a bad penny for them this weekend...so I'm sticking with basketball and hockey the rest of the day.

Where did you see the match? I couldn't find a working video link!

ESPNU

Yep, sorry.

[jkahn]

Championship Bracket Semifinals (Clinched All-American already!):

141: #1 Dake      v. #4 Humphrey (Ohio St.) Dake is 1-1 v. Humphrey. 
174: #1 Lewnes    v. #4 Dwyer (Nebraska)    Lewnes is 2-0 v. Dwyer; won by TF 15-0 earlier this year.
197: #4 Simaz     v. #1 Varner (Iowa)       Simaz is 0-2 against Varner; blowouts both times.

Dake and Lewnes both advanced to the finals with 3-2 victories in the semis.  Each will face a wrestler from Iowa.  Dake's score says 3-2, TB1 on themat.com - don't know what that means - overtime maybe?  Lewnes got a takedown with about 30 seconds left to take a 3-1 lead and won 3-2 after his opponent escaped.  Simaz was beaten 6-0 in his semi, but it was closer, only 2-0 late in the match.

[Al DeFlorio]

Championship Bracket Semifinals (Clinched All-American already!):

141: #1 Dake      v. #4 Humphrey (Ohio St.) Dake is 1-1 v. Humphrey. 
174: #1 Lewnes    v. #4 Dwyer (Nebraska)    Lewnes is 2-0 v. Dwyer; won by TF 15-0 earlier this year.
197: #4 Simaz     v. #1 Varner (Iowa)       Simaz is 0-2 against Varner; blowouts both times.

Dake and Lewnes both advanced to the finals with 3-2 victories in the semis.  Each will face a wrestler from Iowa.  Dake's score says 3-2, TB1 on themat.com - don't know what that means - overtime maybe?  Lewnes got a takedown with about 30 seconds left to take a 3-1 lead and won 3-2 after his opponent escaped.  Simaz was beaten 6-0 in his semi, but it was closer, only 2-0 late in the match.

Dake escaped when he started in the down position in OT.  The other guy didn't.

[ugarte]

Championship Bracket Semifinals (Clinched All-American already!):

141: #1 Dake      v. #4 Humphrey (Ohio St.) Dake is 1-1 v. Humphrey. 
174: #1 Lewnes    v. #4 Dwyer (Nebraska)    Lewnes is 2-0 v. Dwyer; won by TF 15-0 earlier this year.
197: #4 Simaz     v. #1 Varner (Iowa)       Simaz is 0-2 against Varner; blowouts both times.

Consolation Bracket Round of 12 (winners get All-American honors):

125: #2 Nickerson v. UN Pataky (Penn St.)   Nickerson has never faced Pataky.
133: #7 Grey      v. #8 Graff (Wisconsin)   Grey is 1-0 v. Graff, winning 6-0 earlier this year.
165: UR Kerber    v. #7 Morningstar (Iowa)  Kerber has never faced Morningstar.
184: UR Bosak     v. #2 Dergo (Illinois)    Bosak is 0-1 against Dergo, losing by fall earlier this year.

Things went about as expected in this round.

125: Nickerson beat Pataky 9-5 to make All-American and then beat ASU's Anthony Robles 2-1 to move into the consolation semifinals. He can finish no worse than 6th. His next match will be against UR Cashe Quiroga (Purdue), and (depending on his result) will face the winner/loser of #1 Angel Escobedo (Indiana) v. #6 Zach Sanders (Minnesota) for 3d/5th.

133: Grey really got destroyed by Graff by a MD, 14-5. A guy on a wrestling forum called it a "takedown clinic". Ouch. Unfortunately this marks the second year in a row that Grey was eliminated in the round of 12 just short of AA.

141: Dake beat Humphrey 3-2 (TB). Dake rode Humphrey for all of the 1st OT period and was able to escape in the second without being taken down. Dake will wrestle #6 Montell Marion of Iowa for the championship tomorrow.

165: Kerber lost to Morningstar 3-2 (TB). Kerber got the escape in the first OT period but gave up a reversal in the second and was unable to escape before time expired. Kerber has one more year to grab a spot on the podium and I'd be surprised if he doesn't do it.

174: Lewnes defeated Dwyer 3-2 and will face #2 Jay Borschel in the finals. Both Lewnes and Borschel enter the match undefeated.

184: Bosak lost to Dergo 9-5. Bosak's points were all escapes; Dergo's were TDs and riding time. Fortunately Dergo is a senior while Bosak is a freshman. He's got three more years to claim a spot on the podium.

197: Simaz lost to Varner 6-0. That is a huge improvement over his past matches against Varner - and everyone loses to Varner. He's another guy that I'm glad is a senior. Simaz will face UR Alan Gelogaev (Oklahoma State) in the consolation semifinals and can finish no worse than 6th. Depending on his result, he will face the winner/loser of #7 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) v. #3 Hudson Taylor (Maryland) for 3d/5th.

That's 4 All-Americans and 2 potential champions. Cornell is currently in second place overall (I think it is impossible to catch Iowa but I also don't think we've clinched second). And it says something about the state of the program that this is a bit of a letdown! Congratulations to Coach Koll and this excellent, excellent team.

Good luck tomorrow to Kyle, Mack, Troy and Cam.

[ithacat]

That's 4 All-Americans and 2 potential champions. Cornell is currently in second place overall (I think it is impossible to catch Iowa but I also don't think we've clinched second). And it says something about the state of the program that this is a bit of a letdown! Congratulations to Coach Koll and this excellent, excellent team.

Good luck tomorrow to Kyle, Mack, Troy and Cam.

That's the thing about my "too much hype" comment...these guys actually have me believing they can win the national championship and feeling let down when they don't.

Koll's made this program a blast to follow. However, I'm still not watching tomorrow.

[ugarte]

I'm not sure if the other placement matches are on TV today (Al?) but the finals are on ESPN at 7:30.

ithacat, this team could have won the national championship - it required us to do as well as we possibly could, though, and Iowa had to slip up. But we had some disappointing results (what team doesn't?) and AFAIK Iowa did not slip up at all (oh, right). Iowa has 4 finalists and 4 more guys on the podium.

[Al DeFlorio]

I'm not sure if the other placement matches are on TV today (Al?) but the finals are on ESPN at 7:30.

ithacat, this team could have won the national championship - it required us to do as well as we possibly could, though, and Iowa had to slip up. But we had some disappointing results (what team doesn't?) and AFAIK Iowa did not slip up at all (oh, right). Iowa has 4 finalists and 4 more guys on the podium.

ESPNU Saturday morning at 11am EDT

[ugarte]

I'm not sure if the other placement matches are on TV today (Al?) but the finals are on ESPN at 7:30.

ithacat, this team could have won the national championship - it required us to do as well as we possibly could, though, and Iowa had to slip up. But we had some disappointing results (what team doesn't?) and AFAIK Iowa did not slip up at all (oh, right). Iowa has 4 finalists and 4 more guys on the podium.

ESPNU Saturday morning at 11am EDT

Damn. A network I don't get.

Anyway, Nickerson won his consy semifinals by fall. He will face Angel Escobedo (#1 ranked, 2008 champ) for third place. Last year Nickerson beat Escobedo in the semifinals on his way to the National Championship. Earlier this year, Nickerson forfeited a match when he popped his shoulder and the team chose not to risk major injury in a match that didn't count for anything but pride.

[jkahn]

Simaz wins his match 9-1 and will wrestle for 3rd place against the 3rd seeded wrestler, Hudson Taylor from Maryland, who won his match 10-0.

[jkahn]

Nickerson lost a tough match, 2-0 to #1 seed Esconbedo and finishes 4th.  Troy was obviously hampered by the shoulder injury, and the match was stopped briefly in the 1st period when something popped in his shoulder.  Congrats to Troy on a great career.

[ugarte]

Escobedo beats Nickerson 2-0. Escobedo got an early takedown that Nickerson couldn't escape from, then chose neutral in the second period. Nickerson chose top for the third period but wasn't able to turn Escobedo.

Nickerson finishes his career with a championship (2009), a second place (2006), a third place (2008) and a fourth place (2010). A great career that would have ranked among the very greatest if it weren't for injuries. Sorry to lose you, Troy, and congratulations on an amazing run.

[jkahn]

Cam Simaz takes 3rd place with an overtime takedown.

[ugarte]

Cam Simaz takes 3rd place with an overtime takedown.

Giving him two All-American finishes in two years, after finishing 7th last year as an unseeded wrestler.