Defending Champions Roll
Oklahoma State (Division I), Nebraska-Omaha (Division II), and Augsburg (Division III) each back to defend their NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals titles, breezed through their day one duals to advance to tomorrow's semifinals.
Oklahoma State, the three-time defending NCAA champions, dominated Kent State in the opening round, 37-6, and then, perhaps more impressively, won their quarterfinal match, 38-3, over Arizona State. The Cowboys finished the day having won 17 of their 20 individual matches.
Top-seeded Nebraska-Omaha blasted Fort Hayes State, 24-9, in the opening round. In the quarterfinals, national champions J.D. Naig (165) and Les Sigman (Hwt) recorded pins, which helped propel the Mavericks to a 28-11 victory over eighth-seeded Augustana (South Dakota).
Nebraska-Omaha head coach Mike Denney was pleased with his team's overall performance, but also had high praise for his opponents.
"These are our first duals of the season," said Denney. "We've wrestled all tournaments up until this point, so we're still kind of adjusting to the dual meet kind of thing. But I'll tell you what, that's one of the best Fort Hayes teams I've seen them have in the 27 years I've been coaching. They have a nice squad. They really do. They performed well against us. And then with Augustana, I don't know how they got seeded eighth. They were second in the nation last year. They returned a bunch of their guys, so we had two tough teams right off the bat."
The Mavericks will now face fifth-seeded Central Oklahoma in semifinals. Central Oklahoma defeated fourth-seeded Nebraska-Kearney, 22-11, in the quarterfinals.
"I was a little bit surprised (that Central Oklahoma won)," said Denney. "I didn't get a chance to see the match. So I don't know if Nebraska-Kearney was missing somebody or what happened. But it should be a good match-up tomorrow."
Augsburg, who entered the event seeded third (behind No. 1 Wartburg and No. 2 UW-La Crosse) crushed their first two opponents. In the first round, the Auggies defeated Augustana (Illinois), 38-3, and then defeated sixth-seeded Cornell (Iowa), 36-3. Augsburg will now take on UW-La Crosse in the semifinals in a battle of Division III heavyweights.
Surprise!
Nebraska has been the biggest surprise of this year's event. The Huskers, who came in unseeded (and currently ranked 17th in the country by RevWrestling.com), first upset fourth-seeded Iowa, 24-13, in the opening round on the strength of two pins to open the dual and also scored two upsets up top. Paul Donahoe (125) and Patrick Aleksanyan (133) recorded pins, while Jacob Klein (174) and Vince Jones (184) beat a pair of Hawkeyes ranked in the top four in the nation. Klein, a 2004 All-American, defeated No. 3 Mark Perry, 4-3. Jones, a true freshman in his first match out of redshirt, stunned Bradley, 4-3.
The Cornhuskers proved their win over Iowa was no fluke by knocking off fourth-seeded Michigan (for the second time this season), 24-16, to advance to the semifinals. So what's their reward for reaching the semifinals? A meeting with top-ranked Oklahoma State on Sunday at 11 a.m. CST.
He's Human
Troy Nickerson of Cornell has been one of the most talked about freshman in recent years… and for good reason. He entered the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals with an 18-0 record and ranked fifth in the country by RevWrestling.com. But on Saturday afternoon, Nickerson suffered the first setback of his collegiate career, a 3-0 loss to two-time All-American Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma. The two wrestlers battled to a scoreless first period. Hazewinkel began the period in the down position and after Nickerson threw in the legs, the Sooner was able to secure a reversal to go up 2-0. Nickerson chose to start the third period in the neutral position, but was unable to put any points on the scoreboard. Hazewinkel added an additional point for riding time.
Sam HazewinkelHazewinkel said that he spent a little bit of time preparing for Nickerson, but didn't want to dwell on the match-up.
"I heard something last year that I've been trying to do," said Hazewinkel. "It said, when all you do is watch other people, or all you do is watch your mistakes, than that's what you work on, instead of looking at what you do right. So I was just trying to think about what I do right, rather than what he does."
Best Freshman?
While a case could certainly be made for Nickerson as the nation's top freshman, an equally strong case could be made for Minnesota's Dustin Schlatter, who shutout two-time All-American and third-ranked Jon Masa of Hofstra, 5-0, in the opening round. In his second match today, Schlatter won by major decision over Iowa State's Jason Knipp, 19-7. The former four-time Ohio state champion now boasts a 24-1 record -- with his only loss coming to Mark DiSalvo of Central Michigan at the Northeast Duals. Interestingly, Schlatter will get another crack at DiSalvo, also an Ohio native, when Minnesota wrestles against Central Michigan in the semifinals at 11 a.m. CST.
Domination Continues
With his four wins (two technical falls and two pins) on Saturday, top-ranked Ben Askren of Missouri (174) ran his season record to 30-0 with 22 pins and six technical falls. Missouri finished the day with a 2-2 record.
What a Difference Four Years Can Make
Nate Baker was the starting 165-pounder as a freshman for National Duals champion Minnesota in 2002. Now, after being out of the sport for four years, he is back wrestling in this event, but this time for Minnesota-Moorhead (Division II). Baker won both of his matches today, but his team finished a disappointing 0-2.
Note: Division I, Division II, Division III ,and NAIA semifinal matches will take place at 11:00 a.m. CST. The finals will take place at 3:00 p.m. NJCAA semifinals took place on Saturday night, with the finals set to take place on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. CST.
Semifinal Pairings:
Division I:
No. 1 Oklahoma State vs. Nebraska
No. 2 Minnesota vs. No. 6 Central Michigan
Division II:
No. 1 Nebraska-Omaha vs. No. 5 Central Oklahoma
No. 2 Minnesota State-Mankato vs. No. 6 Ashland
Division III:
No. 1 Wartburg vs. No. 4 Luther
No. 2 Wisconsin-La Crosse vs. No. 3 Augsburg
NAIA:
No. 1 Lindenwood vs. No. 5 Cumberlands
No. 3 Dana vs. No. 7 Missouri Valley
Updated Results:
Division I Brackets
Division II Brackets
Division III Brackets
NAIA Brackets
NJCAA Brackets
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