Unlike last year, where there were relatively few surprises on the first day, 2009's opening day seemed to be chock-full of upsets.
Two of the top-seeded wrestlers had their title dreams crushed on Day 1. In the opening round, 165-pounder Mack Lewnes of Cornell -- who had been undefeated -- was upset by Hofstra's Ryan Patrovich, 5-3, in the opening round. In the evening session, Michigan's 141-pounder Kellen Russell was pinned by Illinois' Ryan Prater at 4:00.
The parade of upsets started in the pigtail round: Third-seeded 133-pounder Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois was upset by unseeded David Marble of Bucknell who got a takedown in sudden victory to win 7-5. At 141, Lehigh's unseeded Seth Ciasulli pinned No. 12 Cody Cleveland of Tennessee-Chattanooga at 3:59.
In the opening round, in the 133-pound weight class, Iowa's fourth-seeded Daniel Dennis survived something of a scare. In the third period, the Hawkeye broke a 4-4 tie when Oklahoma State's Chris Notte was assessed for fleeing the mat in the third period, making the final score 5-4.
Speaking of Big Ten 133s … Ohio State's second-seeded Reece Humphrey ended his first match by pinning Pitt's Jimmy Conroy in just 12 seconds -- the third-fastest fall in the nearly 80-year history of the NCAAs, for matches wrestled under folkstyle rules. (The shortest-ever match, 6 seconds, took place at the 1936 NCAAs, an Olympic qualifying event wrestled under freestyle rules.)
At 141, there were a couple upsets. Harvard's Corey Jantzen, the ninth seed, was pinned in his opening match by North Carolina State's unseeded Joe Caramanica at 1:51.
In his first round match, Iowa's Alex Tsirtsis, the fourth seed, was upset by Maryland's unseeded Alex Krom, 5-4.
The carnage continued into the middle weights. 2008 NCAA 149-pound finalist Bubba Jenkins of Penn State -- the second seed -- had his dream of another title shot dashed by Lock Haven's Matt Fittery, 12-6. At 157, No. 10 Scott Winston of Rutgers was defeated by Minnesota's unseeded Tyler Safratowich, 5-2. (Later in the evening, Safratowich scored a second upset, this time over No. 7 Matt Moley of Bloomsburg, 7-4.)
Lewnes' loss wasn't the only excitement at 165. Third-seeded Ryan Morningstar of Iowa was taken into overtime by unseeded Donnie Jones of West Virginia, but the Hawkeye got a 7-5 sudden victory win. Speaking of sudden victory, ninth-seeded Brandon Mason of Oklahoma State fell to Dan Vallimont of Penn State, 8-6 SV.
In the 174-pound weight class, No. 12 Alton Lucas of Hofstra lost to Iowa State's Ryan Burk, 7-6. At 184, fifth-seeded freshman Dustin Kilgore of Kent State was upset by Purdue's A.J. Kissel, 8-6. At 197, Virginia's twelfth-seeded Brent Jones fell to unseeded Eric Chine of Kent State, 7-6. At heavyweight, top-seeded David Zabriskie of Iowa State was taken into overtime by Christopher Brichler of East Stroudsburg … but the Cyclone got the 6-4 sudden victory win.
In the evening session, there were some additional upsets beyond Michigan's Kellen Russell. At 125, No. 11 Zachary Sanders of Minnesota got the 5-4 victory over Old Dominion's James Nicholson, the sixth seed … while No. 12 Anthony Robles of Arizona State got an 8-3 win over fifth-seeded Charlie Falk of Iowa.
At 133, Penn State's Jake Strayer and Iowa State's Nick Fanthorpe were engaged in an epic-length battle. At the end of thirteen minutes, the Nittany Lion senior got the 7-3 win in the third sudden victory period.
The 141-pound class had more than its share of thrills -- and a couple spills. J Jaggers -- the third seed at 141 -- was taken into overtime by Pittsburgh's Tyler Nauman, but the Buckeye prevailed, 6-4, in sudden victory. Also at 141, the second seed, Zach Tanelli of Wisconsin, fell to Virginia's Nick Nelson, 8-4. Finally, No. 12 Drew Lashaway of Kent State got a 7-5, tiebreaker victory over fifth-seeded Marcus Hoehn of Missouri. In this weight class, Jaggers was the only wrestler of the top five seeds still in the title hunt at 141.
Penn State's true freshman Quenton Wright continued to impress. The tenth-seeded 174 Nittany Lion scored an upset over No. 6 Stve Anceravage of Cornell, 8-6.
At 184, eleventh seed Lou Caputo of Harvard got the 6-2 upset over sixth-seeded Josh Patterson of Binghamton.
Towards the end of Session II, Iowa State's David Zabriskie nearly joined Russell and Lewnes as top seeds who got knocked out of title contention on Day 1. Behind West Virginia's Dustin Rogers 6-1 in the first period, the Cyclone heavyweight came back to win the match 9-8. It was Zabriskie's second close call of the day.
Prayers go out to Northern Iowa's 141-pounder, Trenton Washington. He was taken off the mat on a stretcher after accidentally butting heads with Arizona State's Chris Drouin in a match that had been tied 4-4 in the second tiebreaker.
Wrestling starts at 10 a.m. CDT on Friday.
Team Standings (as of 9:00 p.m.)
1. Iowa State 32
2. Iowa 30
3. Ohio State 27
4. Nebraska 23
5. Boise State 20.5
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