Arguably the biggest upset in Thursday's competition: Defending 125-pound champ Troy Nickerson of Cornell University lost his second-round match to Boston University's unseeded Fred Santaite, 2-1. The champ had been leading 1-0 when Santaite scored a takedown just before the end of regulation.
The 2008 NCAA champ who lost his first match of this year's tournament was Ohio State's Mike Pucillo. The Buckeye -- who was also a 184-pound runner-up at the 2009 NCAAs -- lost to 2009 NCAA runner-up at 174, Mike Miller of Central Michigan, 4-2, in their pigtail match at 184. It was the first time in the 80-year history of the NCAAs that two returning finalists met in a first-round bout.
The Pucillo-Miller bout wasn't the only upset in the pigtails. In the 133-pound pigtail, 11th-seeded Scotti Sentes of Central Michigan was pinned by Lehigh's unseeded Matt Fisk at 3:29.
Among the bigger upsets in Session I: four of the top ten seeds at 125 pounds lost in the opening round, including No. 6 Zach Sanders of Minnesota, who lost a 17-7 major decision to Virginia Tech's unseeded Jarrod Garrett ... at 141, fifth-seeded Oklahoma Sooner Zach Bailey was shut out 4-0 by unseeded Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh and, at 165 pounds, No. 3 Nick Marable of Missouri, and Iowa State's fourth-seeded Jon Reader -- both from the Big 12 -- both lost their first-round matches.
Dustin Schlatter's dream of a 2010 NCAA title vanished in the first round when he was unable to continue wrestling because of an injury that had kept him out of the Big Tens. The sixth-seeded Minnesota 157-pounder lost on an injury default to North Carolina's Thomas Scotten.
The upsets went all the way to the big men. Throughout most of the season, Jarod Trice of Central Michigan had been ranked among the top three heavyweights by InterMat. However, the seventh-seeded Chippewa was pinned in his first-round match by West Virginia's Brandon Williamson.
In just the pigtails and first-round matches alone, there were 24 upsets. If you think that sounds like a lot, you'd be right. That total equals the number of upsets in Session I of the 2008 and 2009 NCAAs combined.
The upsets kept coming in Session II Thursday evening, starting with Santaite knocking off the champ Nickerson at 125. Also at 125, unseeded Penn State wrestler Brad Pataky edged No. 8 Matt Steintrager of Central Michigan, 3-2. At 141 pounds, No. 3 seed Mike Thorn of Minnesota lost a 7-3 decision to unseeded Germane Lindsey of Ohio University. In 157-pound competition, Edinboro's unseeded Torsten Gillespie -- younger brother of 2007 NCAA champ Gregor Gillespie -- defeated fourth-seeded Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin, 6-4. Incredibly, the Badger had a 4-0 lead going into the third period, but Gillespie scored two takedowns and got two nearfall points for the come-from-behind win.
In the second session at heavyweight, three top-ten seeds were sent to the consolation bracket. No. 6 Nathan Everhart of Indiana lost to Minnesota's Ben Berhow, 3-1 SV. Earlier Thursday, the Gopher big man had scored a 6-4 SV win over eleventh-seeded Mitch Monteiro of Cal State Bakersfield. West Virginia's Brandon Williamson of West Virginia defeated Rutgers' tenth-ranked Dominic Russo. And, defending heavyweight champ Mark Ellis of Missouri -- who is unseeded because he placed last at the Big 12 conference championships -- edged Pittsburgh's Ryan Tomei (seeded eighth), 2-1.
All ten top seeds made it to the quarterfinals round, and nine of the second seeds are still in title contention. Of the 80 wrestlers still in the championship bracket, 13 are unseeded ... including three at 165 pounds.
Despite the individual match upsets, the team title race seems to be following expectations. Defending team champs, the Iowa Hawkeyes, are currently in first place after the first day of competition, with 34.5 points, and, perhaps most significantly, eight of its ten wrestlers are still in contention for a title. Iowa wrestlers won 19 of 21 matches on the first day. In second place in the team standings: Oklahoma State, with 26 points, and five Cowboys remaining in the championship bracket. Also with five wrestlers still in title contention is Iowa State, with 24 points for third place.
Team Standings (Top 10):
1. Iowa, 34.5 points
2. Oklahoma State, 26
3. Iowa State, 24
4. Wisconsin, 23
4. Oklahoma, 23
4. Ohio State, 23
7. Cornell, 22
8. Minnesota, 20
9. Missouri, 18.5
10. Central Michigan, 17
10. Lehigh, 17
10. Penn State, 17
10. Virginia, 17
The quarterfinals begin at 9:30 a.m. CT.
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