Penn State opens NCAA with a roar

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Updated: March 17, 2011

Penn State led the field after the first round as the Nittany Lions won seven of eight matches to take a 20-18 lead over three-time defending national champion Iowa. Cornell was third with 16.5 points.

After seeing 125-pound Brad Pataky lose 13-7 to 12th-seed Jarrod Garnett of Virginia Tech, the Nittany Lions won seven straight matches, including a 2:20 fall by true freshman Andrew Alton (against Binghamton’s Anwar Goeres) at 141, a 9-0 major decision by 149-pound Frank Molinaro over Rider’s Zac Cibula, a 13-2 major decision by freshman David Taylor over Oklahoma State’s Robert Erisman at 157, and a 24-second fall by 174-pound freshman Ed Ruth over Liberty’s Royal Brettrager.

Meanwhile the Hawkeyes won eight of nine matches as Aaron Janssen, seeded 11th at 165, was the only man in a black and gold singlet to fall. Among the biggest victors for Iowa was 125-pound defending national champion Matt McDonough (who pinned UNC-Greensboro’s Manuel Ramirez in 2:31) and both 133-pound Tony Ramos and 184-pound Grant Gambrall (who each won a pair of pigtail matches as well).

Among the Cornell wrestlers, seven of the entered wrestles enjoyed success, including two Big Red athletes Frank Perrelli (125) and Justin Kerber (165), who advanced to the second round with one point victories. Perrelli beat North Dakota State’s Trent Sprenkle, 4-3, and Kerber edged Clarion’s Bekzod Abdurakhmonov, who gave up an escape to Kerber and was penalized for fleeing the match in the final 15 seconds. Turning in the most impressive win for Cornell was 184-pound Steve Bosak, who tallied a 16-0 technical fall over Northern Illinois’ Brad Dieckhaus.

 

Cowboys and Broncos had bumpy rides

Oklahoma State and Boise State were the only two teams to send 10 wrestlers to the NCAAs … and neither school advanced more than half of their wrestlers to the second round.

The Cowboys, shooting for a 35th all-time team title, split their matches. The most significant loss came at 165 pounds where 6th-seed Dallas Bailey lost 4-2 in sudden victory to Hofstra’s Paul Gillespie. But Oklahoma State did pick up impressive win by their two highest rated wrestlers: Jordan Oliver, the top seed at 133, pinned Tyler Small of Kent State in 2:56; Clayton Foster, tabbed No. 2 at 197, majored Arizona State’s Luke Macchiaroli 11-1.

Before the day started, Boise State had some bad luck when Kirk Smith, the defending national runnerup at 184 pounds, was forced to withdraw from the tournament because of injuries. And only four Broncos captured first-round matches: Andrew Hochstrasser, seeded No. 2 at 133, pinned Missouri’s Nathan McCormick in 2:26 (when  he stacked the Tiger without scoring a takedown); Jason Chamberlain, the No. 6 seed at 149, majored Pitt’s Dane Johnson, 13-4; Adam Hall, top-ranked at 157, edged Cornell’s D.J. Meagher, 4-1; and Jacob Swartz defeated F&M’s Matt Fullowan, 8-2

 

Seeded wrestlers upset

A total of 13 seeded wrestlers lost first-round matches at the 2011 NCAA Championships.

125 pounds

  • #9 Jon Morrison lost to Mark Rappo (Penn), 8-4

133 pounds

  • #10 Rollie Peterkin (Penn) lost to Flint Ray (Utah Valley), 7-5

149 pounds

  • #9 Don Vinson (Binghamton) lost to Cole Schmitt (Wisconsin), 6-1
  • #12 Desi Green (Buffalo) lost to Eric Terrazas (Illinois), 3-1 sv
  • #11 Andrew Nadhir (Northwestern) lost by fall to Joseph Napoli (Lehigh), 6:00

165 pounds

  • #6 Dallas Bailey (Oklahoma State) lost to Paul Gillespie (Hofstra), 4-2 sv
  • #10 Zach Toal (Missouri) lost to Jim Resnick (Rider), 6-0
  • #11 Aaron Janssen (Iowa) lost to Peter Yates (Virginia Tech), 4-2
  • #12 Cody Yohn (Minnesota) lost by fall to Eren Civian (Columbia), 2:28

174 pounds

  • #11 Austin Meys (Lehigh) lost to Curran Jacobs (Michigan State), 13-5

184 pounds

  • #11 Kirk Smith (Boise State) withdrew from tournament because of injury

Hwt

  • #4 Dominick Russo (Rutgers) lost to Levi Cooper (Arizona State), 5-2
  • #6 Ryan Tomei (Pitt) lost to Brendan Barlow (Kent State), 2-1 tb

Session I Team Standings

Session I Brackets

NCAA.com Recap by Roger Moore

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