Appalachian State duo 3-1 on NCAA Championships’ first day
DES MOINES, Iowa – Appalachian State redshirt sophomore Dominic Parisi and redshirt freshman Zack Strickland combined for a 3-1 record on the opening day of the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday at Wells Fargo Arena.
Parisi headlined the pair with back-to-back victories over seeded opponents, while Strickland captured an opening-round victory but fell in the second round to the second-seeded David Taylor of Penn State.
Parisi began his tournament run at 125 pounds with the task of defeating No. 5 seed David Garnett of Virginia Tech, who entered the championships with 27 wins on the season.
The redshirt sophomore started quickly with two takedowns to open the first period. After adding an escape, Garnett rallied with a takedown that Parisi was able to escape. Garnett added another takedown as the score moved to 6-4 to begin the final period.
Garnett added a quick takedown to draw the score even, but Parisi was able to escape with a minute left. The Mountaineer was able to hang on to his 7-6 lead to stun the fifth-seeded Garnett and advance to the round of 16.
Parisi’s road did not get easier, as he faced No. 12 seed Tyler Cox of Wyoming, who defeated Southern Conference champion Nick Soto of Chattanooga in the opening round.
The Concord, N.C., native began the bout well, tallying a quick takedown, and held a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. Cox got himself back into the match with two near-fall points, but Parisi evened the bout with an escape at 3-3 with Cox holding the over a minute of riding time.
In the final period, Parisi grabbed a quick takedown, but Cox escaped as Parisi carried a 5-4 lead with under a minute left. Cox then brought down Parisi with just two seconds left in the bout, but the takedown was waved off by the referee. After a Wyoming challenge, Parisi was awarded the 5-4 decision and a trip to the round of 8.
Parisi’s next bout will be against No. 4 seed Nicholas Megaludis of Penn State on Friday. Megaludis currently sits at 28-3 on the season.
Strickland (165) got back on the winning track after suffering a heart-breaking loss at the SoCon Championships to fellow NCAA Championship participant Josh Condon of Chattanooga. In his first match of the day, Strickland paired up with Nicholas Visicaro of Rutgers, who came into the championships with a 15-10 record.
Strickland started quickly, grabbing an early takedown and taking a 2-1 lead into the second period. Strickland started to pull away in the second period, earning an escape and a takedown to take a 5-1 lead into the final period. The Muncy, Pa., native clinched his victory in the final period, scoring a 6-1 win over Visicaro.
In his next bout, Strickland was unable to keep up with Big Ten champion Taylor, falling in the opening period. In the wrestleback bracket, Strickland will await Mark Martin of Ohio State, who defeated Navy's Peyton Walsh, 6-1, in the opening round of the consolation bracket. His match is slated for 11:45 a.m. Friday.
Fans can follow the second day of the NCAA Wrestling Championships on ESPN3 and ESPNU.
Citadel contingent wraps up first day at NCAA Championships
DES MOINES, Iowa – The Citadel’s Ugi Khishignyam won both his matches to advance in the championship bracket, while Odie Delaney split his two bouts to advance in the consolation bracket after day one of the 2013 NCAA Wrestling Championship at Wells Fargo Arena on Thursday.
After losses in the championship and consolation brackets, 157-pound Matt Frisch was eliminated from the competition.
Session III is slated to begin at 11 a.m. Friday and can be seen on ESPN3 or followed live through TrackWrestling.com.
After a 6-3 win over Lehigh's Anthony Salupo in the first round, Khishignyam secured his spot in the second round for a rematch against Virginia Tech's Zach Neibert. The two met earlier this season at the Hokie Open, where Khishignyam earned a last-second takedown and fall to top the Hokie grappler.
The Mongolia native came out of the rematch with the same result as he edged out Neibert with a 3-1 decision to move on to the semifinal round Friday, where he will face Oregon State's Mike Mangrum.
Khishignyam topped Mangrum in an exciting 4-3 championship bout at the Reno Tournament of Champions earlier this season.
The redshirt freshman is now just one win shy of guaranteeing All-America status. If he accomplishes the feat, he will become just the second wrestler in Citadel history to achieve the honor.
Dan Thompson earned the status back in 2006 when he took seventh place at nationals.
In the heavyweight division, Delaney collected a 7-5 sudden victory first-round win in thrilling fashion. The redshirt senior was up 4-0 with seconds left before an Evan Knutson takedown and three-point near fall left the match knotted at 5 apiece after Delaney's riding time point was added.
An overtime takedown gave Delaney the 7-5 win and advanced him into the second round, where he was slated to take on defending national champion Anthony Nelson of Minnesota. The two met earlier this season at the Southern Scuffle, where Nelson collected the 4-2 win.
After a hard-fought first period, the Gopher grappler took over as a couple of takedowns left him in position to pin Delaney shortly after the 5-minute mark and earn the victory.
In his first-round bout, Frisch battled second-seeded Derek St. John of Iowa tough as the redshirt freshman earned the first two points on a takedown to gain the early lead. St. John took over in the third period, adding a couple of takedowns and a riding time point to top the Bulldog grappler, 9-3.
The loss pitted Frisch against Oklahoma's Matt Lester in the consolation bracket, where he dropped an 8-2 decision.
After a scoreless first period, the Sooner grappler capitalized on two takedowns, a near fall and an escape to close out Frisch's redshirt freshman season.
The Oxford, Mich., native finished his first collegiate season with a 30-14 mark.
Gardner-Webb’s Gamble goes 1-1 on opening day
DES MOINES, Iowa – Gardner-Webb freshman Hunter Gamble won his first match but lost his second in the 174-pound bracket at the 2013 NCAA Division I National Championships on Thursday.
Gamble upset No. 9 seed Nathaniel Brown of Lehigh 5-3 in the first round before falling to No. 8 seed Nick Heflin of Ohio State 8-2 in the second round.
The freshman overcame an early 0-2 first-period deficit to Brown by outscoring the Lehigh grappler 5-1 to close out the match.
After Brown took a 2-0 lead to start the first period on a two-point takedown, Gamble evened the score later in the opening period with a two-point reversal to send the bout into the second period tied at 2-2.
Each wrestler would score an escape point to start both the second and the third periods to put the score at 3-3 with less than two minutes to go in the contest.
That’s when Gamble registered a two-point takedown to secure the 5-3 decision over Brown, who was 20-6 overall on the year heading into the tournament.
In the second round, Gamble fell behind 5-0 early to Heflin on a first-period two-point takedown and a three-point near fall.
After Gamble earned a one-point escape to get on the scoreboard, Heflin posted a second two-point takedown to pull out to a 7-1 lead.
The GWU freshman added a one-point escape in the third period but failed to score another point as Heflin earned a point on riding time to hold on for the 8-2 win.
Gamble (24-14), who was knocked into the consolation bracket at 174 pounds with the loss, will return to action Friday morning, when he will face the winner of Thursday night’s match between Lee Heibig of Wyoming (22-11) and No. 10 Daniel Yates of Michigan (21-10).
With his first round win earlier today in the afternoon session, Gamble joined both Eddie McCray (2007) and Josh Pniewski (2006) as the only three Runnin’ Bulldog grapplers to post a win in the Championship bracket of the NCAA Division I National Championships.
The Friday morning session will be available live on ESPN3.
Three Chattanooga wrestlers still alive at NCAA Championships
DES MOINES, Iowa – The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team wrapped up the first day at the NCAA Championships with three still alive in the backdraw. The Mocs scored three wins on the day, led by senior Josh Condon’s first-round victory.
Condon, a native of Powder Springs, Ga., opened with a 7-4 victory over Johnny Greisheimer in the first round. Each competitor traded takedowns and escapes in the first period before Condon went up 4-3 after an escape in the second. Greisheimer tied the score with an escape early in the third, but Condon’s takedown with 27 seconds left, plus riding time, gave him his first win at the NCAA Championships.
Condon went on to drop a hard-fought 4-2 decision to fourth-seeded Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma State in the second round. After a takedown, Condon led 2-1 going into the second period. He gave up an escape and a takedown in the second that would prove to be the final margin. He faces Nebraska’s Austin Wilson in the next round.
Junior Alex Hudson battled Columbia’s fifth-seeded Steve Santos in a tough 149-pound match in the first round. Santos led 3-2 after the first period and escaped to go up 4-2 in the second. Hudson took a 5-4 lead after a takedown and a penalty point, but Santos escaped late to knot the total at 5-5. Hudson had over a minute of riding time in the third period but gave up a pin to Santos with less than a minute left in the match.
Senior Dean Pavlou also competed hard in a 5-2 loss to Rutger’s Trevor Melde at 141, while sophomore Nick Soto gave up a major decision to Wyoming’s Tyler Cox (14-2) at 125. Senior Niko Brown closed out UTC’s first-round action with his 3-1 loss to Arizona State’s No. 9-seed Jake Meredith.
Soto lost his second match in the wrestlebacks, giving up a second-period pin to Virginia Tech’s fifth-seeded Jarrod Garnett. Pavlou lost a 6-1 decision to Missouri’s Nicholas Hucke, but Hudson got the Mocs back on track with a 10-5 win over Iowa State’s Max Mayfield at 149.
Brown advanced to the second round of the backdraw with his 9-5 win over Cornell’s Jace Bennett. Brown broke open the match with a reversal and back points in the second period. He will face seventh-seeded Nathan Schiedel of Binghampton in the next round.
The Mocs are back in action with consolation second-round action Friday.
Davidson’s Elias out at NCAA Championships
DES MOINES, Iowa – Davidson sophomore Anthony Elias was defeated in overtime in the 133-pound wrestleback round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday night in Wells Fargo Arena.
Matt Bystol (9-11) of Columbia defeated Elias (11-10), 3-1, by scoring the first takedown of the match midway through the first sudden-victory period. Bystol, who started on the bottom in the second period, scored the match’s first point with an escape and then Elias did the same early in the third period to force overtime.
Elias was pinned for the first time this season in the first round, as No. 9 seed Levi Wolfensperger of Northern Iowa won by fall 1:39 in.
The Pittsburgh, Pa., native was Davidson’s first NCAA Wrestling Championships participant since 2010. He qualified by winning the Southern Conference Championship at 133 pounds.
Campbell wraps up stay at NCAA Championships
DES MOINES, Iowa – The road to an NCAA title was cut short Thursday for redshirt sophomore James Cook and freshman Eric Montoya, as each wrestler fell in the first day of Championships action.
At 125 pounds, Montoya fell to No. 6 seed Nahshon Garrett of Cornell 10-1 in the first session of the tournament. In the wrestleback bracket, Montoya was blanked by Ohio State's Nikko Triggas, 10-0. Campbell's first true freshman to make the NCAA Championships field, he finished 33-17 on the season.
Cook also fell in two matches. In session one, he fell 11-0 to Boise State's Jacob Swartz and was sent to the wrestleback bracket. In the second session, Virginia's Stephen Doty defeated Cook 5-2. Cook's final season record stands at 8-8.