Final Team-by-Team Results
Final Tournament Stats
Day 2 Recap
Day 1 Recap
Iowa is back.
That simple, declarative three-word sentence sums up the 2008 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
Whether this is the first year of a new dynasty that will someday be called The Brands Era that will be mentioned in the same breath as The Gable Dynasty has yet to be seen. But, for all the doubters and naysayers, there's no doubt: the Hawkeyes made the 2008 NCAAs their own.
By the end of the three-day tournament, Iowa had racked up 117.5 points … a commanding lead over second-place Ohio State with 79 points. (By contrast, at the 2007 NCAAs, Minnesota and Iowa State were neck-and-neck well into the finals … with the Gophers ultimately edging ahead.)
In third place was Penn State with 75 points … followed by Nebraska with 75 points … and, tied for fifth place, Iowa State and Oklahoma State with 72 points.
At the beginning of Saturday evening finals, Iowa and Ohio State each had three wrestlers vying for individual titles. Penn State and Michigan each had two finalists, while Iowa State, Central Michigan, Oklahoma State, Cornell, Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Pittsburgh, and Cal Poly each had one wrestler in the finals.
The Finals
125: This rematch of the Big Ten finals had the same outcome: Angel Escobedo of Indiana, the top-seeded sophomore and 2008 Big Ten champ, took on second-seeded Jayson Ness, sophomore from Minnesota. The Hoosier scored first, with a takedown with about 40 seconds left in the first period; Ness got an escape towards the end of the period to make the score 2-1. In the second, the Gopher knotted the score with an escape. Some wild scrambling towards the end of the period with no change in score. In the third, Escobedo took back the lead with an escape, and scored two takedowns and a near fall with less than a minute left to seal the victory. With riding time, the final score was 10-3 Escobedo. In the past four years, Indiana has won three of the titles at this weight … with Joe Dubuque winning in 2005 and 2006.
133: Third-seeded Coleman Scott, the senior from Oklahoma State, brought a 32-4 record to his finals match with Joe Slaton of Iowa, the sophomore seeded fourth with a 36-4 record. The Cowboy locked up with his opponent, bringing him to the mat… and putting the Hawkeye's shoulders to the mat at 49 seconds to close his college career with his first national title. It is believed that this is the fastest finals fall in thirty years; in the 118-pound weight class at the 1978 NCAAs, Ohio University's Andy Daniels pinned Cal State Bakersfield's John Azevedo in thirty seconds.
141: Chad Mendes, the top seeded senior from Cal Poly, survived an entire season with a perfect record… until he met sixth-seeded sophomore J Jaggers from Ohio State in the finals. There was no scoring in the first period. Jaggers scored the escape early in the second �- the extent of scoring in that period (despite an on-the-mat scramble at the end). Mendes reciprocated with an escape of his own in the third, but the Buckeye scored two and two to build a 5-1 lead. The Mustang got an escape with sixteen seconds left… but Jaggers held on to get the 5-2 win.
149: In a battle of Big Ten sophomores that ended up being a takedown clinic, top-seeded Brent Metcalf of Iowa, went up against Bubba Jenkins, Penn State's sixth seed. Jenkins scored first with a takedown, Metcalf got the escape … with the Nittany Lion getting a second TD with 38 seconds left. Metcalf got another escape to make the score 4-2 at the end of the first period. In the second, the Hawkeye escaped, then got a takedown to take the lead 5-4. Jenkins escaped to tie it up. At the very end of the period, the Hawkeye got five nearfall points to take a 10-5 lead. In the third, Jenkins got an escape … followed quickly by yet another Metcalf takedown. The Nittany Lion escaped again to make it 12-7. The Iowan ended the match with still another takedown. A last-second escape by Jenkins wasn't enough; Brent Metcalf won the 149-pound title by the score of 14-8.
157: Mike Poeta, the second-seeded junior from the University of Illinois, with a 26-2 record, wrestled eighth seed junior Jordan Leen of Cornell University, with a 26-2 record. Leen got the first takedown, with Poeta closing the first period with an escape to make it 2-1. Well into the second period, the Big Red wrestler got an escape to go ahead 3-1. In a mad scramble at the edge of the mat, Leen got another escape. In the third, Poeta escaped to make it 4-2 Leen… then tied it with a takedown of his own, then let Leen loose … making the final score 5-4. Leen came up from the eighth seed to win the title for Cornell.
165: The first finals matchup between the number one and two seeds: Michigan senior Eric Tannenbaum, the top seed with a 30-2 record, took on Big Ten rival Mark Perry, the senior from the University of Iowa, and defending 2007 champ, with a 24-3 record. Perry scored first, with a takedown early in the first. Not much action in the rest of the period as a chant of "Stalling, stalling" came up from sections of the crowd as the Hawkeye amassed riding time. The ref put out a double-stalling call towards the end of the opening period. Tannenbaum cut Perry loose at the opening of the second to make it 3-0 … and that was the end of the scoring in that period. Tannenbaum scored a takedown with about a minute to go, then cut the Hawkeye loose to make it 4-2. With over two minutes of riding time, the defending champ Perry won his second title 5-2.
174: Another battle between the two top wrestlers in the weight class: Top seed Keith Gavin of University of Pittsburgh, with a perfect 26-0 record going into the finals, vs. Michigan's Steve Luke, with a 29-2 record. No scoring in the first. In the second, Gavin got a quick escape, followed by the takedown to make it 3-0. Luke got the escape with 1:20 left in the second … and that was it for scoring in that period. In the third, the Wolverine got an escape … but it wasn't enough, as Gavin ended his senior season with a 4-2 win, his perfect record intact, and, most importantly, a national title.
184: Still another No. 1 vs. No. 2: 2008 Big 12 champ Jake Varner of Iowa State, the top seed, went up against Ohio State's Mike Pucillo, the Big Ten titlewinner. Both men had 29-0 records going into the title bout. No scoring in the first. Pucillo scored the escape in the first fifteen seconds of the second … and that was it for scoring action. In the third, the Cyclone evened things up with an escape of his own, the only scoring in that period -- forcing the action into overtime. Varner got an escape in the tiebreaker; Pucillo came out from under to tie it up again, 2-2. No score in the sudden victory after ten minutes of wrestling. In the second tiebreaker, the Buckeye escaped. Varner escaped to tie it again, but with six seconds riding time, Pucillo brought home a national title for the Buckeyes for the final score 3-3 TB 2. It was the second straight year that Varner was a finalist but not a champion.
197: Second-seeded Phil Davis, the Penn State senior, with a 25-1 record, going up against Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan; the Chippewa senior was seeded fourth. Davis got a takedown about halfway through the first, with Michalak getting an escape with about 45 seconds left, making the score 2-1 Davis. In the second, Michalak escaped to knot up the score… while the Nittany Lion countered with a takedown to make it 4-2 at the end of the period. Davis escaped, then stalling was called on Michalak to make it 6-2. With riding time, Phil Davis celebrates a 7-2 victory.
Hwt: In a battle of Ohio high school wrestling stars �- and rematch of the 2008 Big Ten heavyweight title bout -- top seeded Dustin Fox, the Northwestern senior with a 28-1 record, faced off against fellow Big Ten big man JD Bergman, the second-seeded senior from Ohio State, with a 28-2 record (the two losses to Fox). No score at the end of the first. In the second, the Buckeye escaped… making the score 1-0 at the end of the period. In the third, Fox escaped to knot the score… and take the match into overtime. Bergman got an escape fifteen seconds into the tiebreaker. Fox got an escape of his own to retie the score 2-2. In the second sudden victory, Dustin Fox got a 4-2 win … and the heavyweight title.
One interesting side storyline for the finals: there were two wrestlers who overachieved to win titles. Ohio State's J Jaggers started the trend, by coming out of the sixth seed to become champ at 141 … then Jordan Leen of Cornell, grabbing the 157 title as an eighth seed.
Now, let's look at the All-Americans who placed third through eighth at the 2008 NCAAs:
125: In the matches to determine who'd wrestle for third place, Mark McKnight of Penn State got a 7-5 win over Iowa's Charlie Falck… while 2007 NCAA champ Paul Donohoe of Nebraska defeated Tyler Gardner 5-3. In the battle for third place, Donohoe got the 6-3 win over McKnight.
In the match to determine fifth place, Nebraska's Tanner Gardner got a decisive 8-2 win over Iowa's Charlie Falck. In the seventh-place match, Northwestern's Brandon Precin defeated Old Dominion's James Nicholson 5-2.
133: Top-seeded Franklin Gomez of Michigan State got a 6-4 win over Cornell's Mike Grey; second-seeded Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois shut out Iowa's Mack Reiter 4-0. In the third-place match, Gomez defeated Kennedy 7-2.
In the fifth-place bout, Minnesota's Mack Reiter got the 10-7 win over Grey. In the seventh-place match which had numerous blood timeouts, Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State beat Navy's Joe Baker 7-6.
141: To see who'd wrestle for third place, second-seeded Charles Griffin of Hofstra edged Iowa State's Nick Gallick 3-2… while Oklahoma State's Nathan Morgan got the 8-3 win over Matt Kyler of Army. In the third-place bout, it was a battle of seniors… with Griffin defeating Morgan 5-2.
Gallick took fifth place by defeating Kyler 3-2. In the match to determine seventh place, Manny Rivera pinned Chattanooga's Cody Cleveland at 3:46.
149: In the set-up for the third-place match, Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs got the 5-3 victory over Harvard's JP O'Connor… and Josh Churella of Michigan beat North Carolina State's Darrion Caldwell 6-1. In the actual match to determine third-place honors, Burroughs beat Churella 4-2.
Fifth place went to Caldwell, by medical forfeit. In the seventh-place bout that went into overtime, Minnesota's Dustin Schlatter got the 3-2 TB victory over Ohio State's Lance Palmer.
157: Dan Vallimont of Penn State edged out 2007 champ Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro 2-1… while Indiana's Brandon Becker held Stanford's Josh Zupancic scoreless, 3-0. In the actual third-place bout, Vallimont got the decision, 5-4.
In the fifth-place match, Gillespie got a 15-0 tech fall over Zupancic. Seventh place went to Iowa State's Cyler Sanderson, topping Bloomsburg's Matt Moley 7-5.
165: Cornell's Mack Lewnes pinned Mike Cannon of American at 4:10 … with Missouri's Nick Marable getting a 7-4 decision over Moza Fay of Northern Iowa. In the bout to determine third-place honors, Marable got the 3-2 decision over Lewnes.
In the battle for fifth, Fay defeated Cannon 13-6. In the seventh-place match, Iowa State's Jon Reader got the 10-7 decision over Nebraska's Stephen Dwyer.
174: Jay Borschel of Iowa got the fall over Cornell's Steve Anceravage at 6:30 … while Brandon Browne of Nebraska got the 4-1 decision over Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan. Third place went to Borschel, with a 6-4 win over Browne.
Brandon Sinnott got the 3-2 win over Anceravage to place fifth … while Navy's Matt Stopinski pinned Hofstra's Alton Lucas at 4:07 to claim seventh place.
184: Speaking of Sinnotts… Brandon's brother Christian defeated Iowa's Phil Keddy 7-4 … and Michigan's Tyrel Todd edged Missouri's Raymond Jordan 3-2. In the third-place match-up between Chippewa and Wolverine, Todd won 3-2.
In the fifth-place bout, Jordan defeated Keddy 6-4. To determine seventh place, Jack Jensen of Oklahoma State got the 3-2 win over Boise State's Kirk Smith.
197: Defending champ Josh Glenn of American fell to Maryland's Hudson Taylor, 9-6 … and Nebraska's Craig Brester bested Wisconsin's Dallas Herbst 9-2. In the third-place match, Taylor got the win 7-5 SV.
Fifth place went to Glenn with the 11-6 win over Herbst … while seventh place was awarded to Max Askren of Missouri with a 11-9 SV win over Iowa State's David Bertolino.
Hwt: Oklahoma State's Jared Rosholt got a 6-1 decision over Iowa State's David Zabriske 6-1 … while Navy's Ed Prendergast got the 3-2 win over Iowa's Matt Fields. In the match to determine third, Prendergast defeated Rosholt 4-1.
In the fifth-place battle between Iowa and Iowa State, Matt Fields got the victory in extra innings, (score) … while, in the seventh-place match, Bubba Gritter of Central Michigan got the victory thanks to an injury forfeit.
Other Awards
Outstanding Wrestler: Brent Metcalf, Iowa
Coach of the Year: Tom Brands, Iowa
Most Pins in Shortest Time: Lou Ruggirello, Hofstra @ 133 -- three falls in 4:54
Fun Fact: All Americans by State
What state can claim to have produced the most wrestlers who earned All-American honors at the 2008 NCAAs? Ohio is the heart of it all, with nine All-Americans… followed by Michigan and Pennsylvania, with eight each. Iowa and New Jersey can each claim seven AAs … while Illinois is the home state for six, with five from California.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now