PHILADELPHIA -- It appears that a team east of the Mississippi River will win the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships title for the first time since the era of miniskirts and the Beatles ... but it may not be the team most in the college wrestling community would have predicted prior to the teams arriving in Philadelphia this week.
Quentin Wright pinned Iowa's Grant Gambrall at 184 (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Right now, Penn State would seem to be in the driver's seat, with three finalists: Frank Molinaro at 149 pounds, David Taylor at 157, and Quentin Wright at 184. By contrast, Cornell has only one wrestler in the finals: Kyle Dake at 149.
Complicating things for Cornell in the team title race: defending NCAA champ University of Iowa is hot on their heels in third place, just one point behind the Big Red. As with Cornell, Iowa has just one finalist in Matt McDonough, defending champ at 125.
If either Penn State or Cornell wins the team title at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, it will be historic. It would be the first title to go to a program east of the Mississippi since Michigan State won it in 1967. For Penn State, it will be only their second NCAA championship; the Nittany Lions won the national title at home in 1953. For Cornell, it would be the first-ever.
Semifinal Recap:
125:
No. 1 Anthony Robles (Arizona State) dec. unseeded Ben Kjar (Utah Valley), 4-2
No. 2 Matt McDonough (Iowa) dec. No. 3 Brandon Precin (Northwestern), 3-1
A classic match-up between the two top seeds who have never wrestled each other in college. Robles is a senior, with a 35-0 record, and the 2011 Pac-10 champ. McDonough, a sophomore, brings a 27-1 record, the Big Ten title ... and is the defending national champ at this weight.
When asked about the finals opponent, Robles said, "I don't know what he's going to bring to the table yet. I watched him. He's an intense wrestler. He's going to come at me, but I'm ready for it. I'm excited and I've been preparing all year, and I have one more match to win. He's a great competitor. Returning national champ, I have a lot respect for him, but he's standing in my way of reaching my trophy."
In anticipating his title match, McDonough disclosed his game plan for his opponent that was very much the Hawkeye way: "Go nose to nose, head to head, and scrap. Obviously it's no secret that the way he wrestles, you got to adjust what you're doing a little bit. But that doesn't mean you're adjusting your aggressiveness, you're adjusting your pressure or anything else. It just means you're more aware in the positions you're in, and you got to know where you're at, at all times. Dangerous wrestler, you can't let him be dangerous. You got to close him off and you got to wrestle your match."
133:
No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) dec. Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 5-2
No. 2 Andrew Hochstrasser (Boise State) dec. No 3 Andrew Long (Penn State), 6-4
Another top-two-seeds finals. Oliver, a sophomore, has a 28-0 record, and is the Big 12 champ ... while Hochstrasser, a senior, is 27-1 for the season, and the 2011 Pac-10 champ.
In talking about this finals rival, Oliver said, "I faced him two times before this year. He's a real great competitor. I just try to go out there and stick to my style which is attacking and looking for my attacks and my shots and stuff and scoring points. So it should be a real fun match. And I'm looking forward to it. Like I said, he's a great competitor. He keeps a high pace, so should be a lot of scoring, hopefully just my part, but I'm looking forward to getting in there and fighting."
When asked his perspective on his Cowboy opponent, Hochstrasser replied, "He's a great competitor, and he's real slick. So I'm going to try and shut him down and work my own stuff, make something happen. Feel like if I can make stuff happen, I put him in a different situation than he's been in."
141:
No. 1 Kellen Russell (Michigan) dec. No. 5 Montell Marion (Iowa), 3-3, TB (riding time)
No. 3 Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly) dec. No. 2 Mike Thorn (Minnesota), 9-3
Russell is a junior with a perfect 27-0 season and the Big Ten crown ... while Novachkov, a junior, takes a 31-1 season record and the Pac-10 title into the finals.
Here are two opponents with some history between them that goes beyond the match they wrestled this season (with the Wolverine coming out on top). As Russell said in the press conference after winning his semifinals match, "We both know each other. We've been wrestling together since we were seniors in high school. So we both have drilled with each other and wrestled each other. We wrestled earlier this year. So I think it's going to be another close match like this, and hopefully there will be a bunch of scrambles."
Novachkov referred to that previous match (at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational): "The match that he beat me, I felt that I wasn't as offensive as I should have been. And tomorrow, I'm just going to go out there and attack the whole match and try to put some points on the board."
Russell seems to have a propensity to win his matches in the last seconds ... sometimes taking them past regulation. It would be no surprise if that were to happen Saturday night.
149:
No. 2 Frank Molinaro (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Jason Chamberlain (Boise State), 4-1
No. 4 Kyle Dake (Cornell) dec. No. 8 Ganbayar Sanjaa (American), 4-0
While this championship match is missing top-seeded Darrion Caldwell of North Carolina State (the 2009 NCAA champ was forced to forfeit after being injured in his second-round match Thursday afternoon), a Molinaro-Dake title bout still promises to be one of the most-anticipated of the ten matches to be contested Saturday night for a number of reasons. The least of which: The team title could be riding in the balance.
Kyle Dake capped off an incredible freshman year at Cornell with the 141-pound title at the 2010 NCAAs, and tons of accolades. His sophomore year has been a bit more challenging, with a 30-2 record, placing second at the EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association) championships a couple weeks ago.
Frank Molinaro, nicknamed "Frank the Tank" for his powerful physique and intense wrestling style that has rolled over a number of unsuspecting opponents, is a junior with a 32-2 season record and the 2011 Big Ten title.
When asked what he took away from his last on-the-mat meeting with Molinaro, Dake replied, "Just wrestle hard, don't let him bang you or push you around and just wrestle your match. It was my first time back in over a month and I wasn't in tiptop shape, so tomorrow night's going to be a fun one. It's going to be a lot different."
The Nittany Lion weighed in with what he had learned from wrestling Dake: "Last time I wrestled him, I had some opportunities to score in shots that I may not have shot as hard because I thought I would have more opportunities towards the end of the match. And you can't wrestle like that. And I learned that the first time I lost to him.
"He stuck our defense. He's got good technique. And you have to secure the two, because he scrambles out of every position. So take that into mind going into the match. I will try to use my conditioning as a factor, I'll push the pace, and I want him to wrestle my match. And I gotta finish my shots."
157:
No. 3 David Taylor (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Steve Fittery (American), 7-1
No. 4 Bubba Jenkins (Arizona State) dec. No. 8 Jason Welch (Northwestern), 8-5
The current Nittany Lion faces the former Lion. This is the kind of match with enough backstage drama to make any college wrestling fan salivate. Bubba Jenkins, a senior with a 20-3 record this season, once wrestled for Penn State but left Happy Valley not-so-happy with head coach Cael Sanderson, finding a happier home at Arizona State. David Taylor is one of Sanderson's star recruits, a freshman phenom with a perfect 38-0 record, who has helped to propel the Lions to where they are now, ahead of what most folks outside Pennsylvania would've expected.
Adding to the intrigue: Jenkins and Taylor have worked out together and know each other's strengths and weaknesses. That alone should make this a match to remember.
When asked about facing Jenkins in the finals, Taylor said, "He's a high quality wrestler, been to the finals before. Not a slouch by any means. He's pretty tough."
The same question was posed to Jenkins: "I match up well with him. People have counted me out and pushing me out the window of being in the final because I had my surgery, and I kind of moved to Arizona and looks like I went on a little vacation out there with the sun and the palm trees ..."
"We're not going to see anything different from each other except he's one year, maybe two years better than he was, and I'm better than I was."
165:
No. 1 Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) maj. dec. No. 5 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State), 14-6
No. 3 Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma) dec. No. 2 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin), 2-2, TB (riding time)
This will be a battle of Big 12 stars at 165 pounds.
Jordan Burroughs, a senior, has an impressive mat resume, including a 2009 NCAA title in this weight class, a 2011 Big 12 title, and a flawless season record of 35-0. He missed out on much of last season -- including last year's nationals -- because of a knee injury in December 2009 and subsequent surgery. If he wins the title Saturday, he will become the first Nebraska Cornhusker wrestler to have won two NCAA titles.
Tyler Caldwell, a sophomore, brings a 32-5 record to the title bout. With a win, he could help Oklahoma head coach Jack Spates close out his college coaching career on a high note.
When asked about facing a familiar foe in Caldwell -- but not his expected finals rival, Howe -- Burroughs replied, "I wrestle anyone. Anyone who puts their foot out there on the line this weekend, I'm ready to dominate ... Me and Caldwell wrestled twice this year, we had tough battles and I know he's going to be out there. I'll wrestle him hard. It's tough to beat a guy three times in the same season, so he's going to be gunning for me. He's got some technique and things tacked down so it's going to be a great match. I just want to give the fans something that they paid a lot of money for."
Caldwell shared his strategy for his match with the Cornhusker: "Stick to my style, stick to my wrestling and just wrestle a complete match, my style, focus on my performance and come out on top."
174:
No. 1 Jon Reader (Iowa State) dec. No. 5 Chris Henrich (Virginia), 4-3
No. 7 Nick Amuchastegui (Stanford) dec. No. 3 Mack Lewnes (Cornell), 5-2
Jon Reader, a senior, has a 38-0 record -- and the Big 12 title -- going into the finals ... while Nick Amuchastegui, a junior, has compiled a 31-3 record this year, and was runner-up at the Pac-10 championships.
In the post-semifinals press conference, Reader was asked about his finals rival. "I've seen him compete a couple times this year. We were actually in the same bracket in Midlands," said the Cyclone. "He's a great athlete, and he didn't make it this far in the bracket for nothing, and it's going to be a battle just like every final tomorrow for each guy. You gotta go out and compete."
In talking about upsetting third-seeded Mack Lewnes in the semifinals, the seventh-seed Amuchastegui shared an attitude that may serve him well in the finals: "One of the things I try to do is not pay attention to who's ranked what this year and who's done what. I just go out there and wrestle the best that I can, wrestle my positions, know what I think he's going to do and make some adjustments according to that. But I think it was walking out there without really considering the things that it looks like from the outside, being 7th seed, him seeded higher and all that type of thing."
184:
No. 2 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) dec. No. 3 Steve Bosak (Cornell), 4-3, SV
No. 9 Quentin Wright (Penn State) pinned No. 12 Grant Gambrall (Iowa), 2:52
Robert Hamlin is a sophomore nicknamed the "VerMonster" because he hails from Jonesville, Vermont, and, is, in fact, the first NCAA All-American from the state. He has compiled a 32-2 record, winning the 2011 EIWA title. Quentin Wright is 20-6, and the Big Ten champ.
"We wrestled at the beginning of the year," said Hamlin of Wright in his press conference after the semifinals. "He had a slow start this year. I know he's really tough. He's got a great hitch, he's a good thrower. So I'm just going to go out and wrestle my match, just do my best, hopefully get the win, hopefully have some fun."
The Nittany Lion addressed the same topic: "(Hamlin) was my first loss of the season and first match of the season. So it will be interesting to have him as my last match of the season. And so I'm excited to wrestle with him because just whenever you lose to somebody you want a second chance. They don't come around too often. I've had a lot of those this season, especially this tournament."
197:
No. 2 Clayton Foster (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 3 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin), 4-3
No. 4 Dustin Kilgore (Kent State) dec. No. 1 Cam Simaz (Cornell), 10-9
Kilgore, a junior, with a 37-2 record and the 2011 MAC (Mid-American Conference) champ, could make some history Saturday night. If he wins the 197 pound crown, he will be the first NCAA champ in the long history of the Kent State mat program. By contrast, if Foster, a senior who's a perfect 26-0, claims the title, he'll be one of more than 100 champs in the long and storied history of Oklahoma State wrestling.
Kilgore talked about the historical implications of possibly being the first champ for the Golden Flashes: "I know it would mean everything to Kent State, to my coaches, family friends, fans. Every coach I've ever had, they're backing me up 100 percent, and that's what I need. That's driving me more than anything, knowing that I have great fans out there."
In his post-semifinals press conference, Foster mentioned his own personal history, and how far he's come as a Cowboy: "It was pretty much miserable in the beginning, didn't make it to nationals my true freshman year and not pushing myself more. Then my junior year I turned it around and got 6th place. Just put me over the hump for this year. Helped me out a lot confidence-wise."
285:
No. 1 Zach Rey (Lehigh) dec. No. 5 Dom Bradley (Missouri), 2-1
No. 3 Ryan Flores (American) dec. No. 2 Jarod Trice (Central Michigan), 4-0
This will be the Clash of the Titans of the East, as both big men represent schools way east of the Mississippi River. Zach Rey, a junior, lost only one match all season ... and that was to Ryan Flores, a sophomore, in the 2011 EIWA finals.
Rey has a 33-1 record, while Flores is 26-5.
If Rey wins the heavyweight title, he'll be the second Lehigh big guy to do so; the first was Howell Scobey, 75 years ago at the 1936 NCAAs. If Flores beats the Mountain Hawk, he'll be the first heavyweight champ from American University.
Both men talked about their Saturday night opponent in their Friday night press conference.
"We're 2 and 2," said Flores. "What can I say about Zach Rey? He's a great competitor. He knows how to win. While our styles are very different, I think, as I said before, I'm the kind of person who adapts really well. I lost to him twice this year earlier. I won this last one. And I think it's going to go in my favor."
Rey weighed in: "I'm excited to wrestle him again. Left a sour taste in my mouth last time I wrestled him, and I'm happy to get another shot at him. I'm real comfortable wrestling him last time in the finals."
Standings (Top 10):
1. Penn State 92.5
2. Cornell 75
3. Iowa 74
4. Oklahoma State 65
5. American 56
6. Lehigh 53.5
7. Arizona State 52.5
8. Boise State 50
9. Minnesota 49.5
10. Wisconsin 44.5
The finals take place Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, and will be broadcast live on ESPN.
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