Drouin got revenge against Mark Ballweg of Iowa for his dual loss (Dec. 3) with a 5-3 victory in overtime in their 141-pound bout. Drouin found himself down 3-1 late in the third period, but scored a late takedown and then the decisive takedown in overtime to defeat the Hawkeye grappler. Drouin will wrestle top-seeded Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois in his semi-final match.
Carr Jr. found himself in a difficult match with Minnesota freshman Dylan Ness in the 149-pound weight class. Ness, who is the younger brother of 2010 Hodge Trophy recipient and national champion Jayson Ness, just managed to out-scramble Carr en route to a 4-2 decision in favor of Ness.
Spangler hit yet another last-second takedown to defeat Ethan Headlee of Pittsburgh at 165 pounds and move into the semi-finals Thursday. Spangler won 3-2 and will face 2009 national champion Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska in the semis.
“I really wanted to dominate a little more than I did,” Spangler said. “But I managed to get wins in two difficult situations, which means a lot because coach Jackson preaches to us to do whatever it takes to get the victory, and I feel like that is what I did.”
Reader earned his 14th bonus point victory in 16 matches. The Cyclone senior racked up over five minutes of riding time in an 11-2 major decision over Iowa’s Ethen Lofthouse at 174 pounds. Reader will wrestle fourth-seeded Mike Letts of Maryland in the semi-finals.
Cole Shafer notched an impressive victory on the bottom side of the bracket by pinning Michigan State’s eighth-seeded Ian Hinton with only one minute remaining in the match at 184 pounds. Shafer jumped out to an early lead over Ryan Loder of UNI, but could not hold on as Loder staged a furious comeback to win 8-6 in overtime.
Kyle Simonson racked up the riding time in a 4-0 victory over Marty Smith of Illinois. Simonson was in a close match with Mike McClure of Michigan State before McClure caught him in a cradle and ended the match with only 40 seconds left.
Matt Gibson earned a tough 7-4 victory against David Wade of Eastern Michigan. Gibson was down early to Wisconsin’s Eric Bugenhagen before locking up a cradle and earning the pin at the 2:17 mark.
Michael Moreno rode tough en route to a pin over Robert Nash of Michigan State. Moreno then scored a takedown in the sudden victory period to beat Trevor Hall of Cal St. Bakersfield by a score of 6-4. The true freshman is only one victory away from becoming a Midlands placewinner.
Chris Drouin, Chris Spangler and Jon Reader will wrestle in the semi-finals tomorrow, while Nate Carr Jr., Michael Moreno and Matt Gibson look to wrestle all the way to third place on the bottom of the bracket.
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