Wrestling - NCAA Championships

[ugarte]

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!

[Al DeFlorio]

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

[ugarte]

First matches are Thursday at noon. So excited.

[Al DeFlorio]

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.

[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

[KenP]

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

[Chris '03]

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: https://twitter.com/BigRedWrestling

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

[dag14]

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

[dag14]

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

[Al DeFlorio]

Realbuto, Palacio, and Dean with major decisions.

[ugarte]

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.

[ugarte]

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)

[ugarte]

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.

[Al DeFlorio]

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

[ugarte]

Cornell has 3 in the QF tomorrow.

3 in the consolation rounds coming up.