InterMat: Inside info from the N.W.C.A
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Division I Championships
Scottrade Center
March 20-22, 2008
Returning Champion: Paul Donahoe, Nebraska
Printable Bracket | Interactive Bracket
The Big Ten Tournament decided the tournament's top seed as Indiana's Angel Escobedo topped Minnesota's Jayson Ness in the finals. That victory gave both one loss on the season, and Escobedo's head-to-head was the difference maker. Returning champion Paul Donahoe of Nebraska will be seeded third and will roughly have navigate the same draw as he did last year as he won the championship from the sixth-seeded position.
Matchups between the #8-9 seeds at the NCAA championships are typically close, as they should be. But in 2007, #8 met #9 eight times in the Round of 16 on the championship side. The result: #9 seeds beat #8 seeds in all eight matches to reach the quarterfinals. So what's going to pan out when #8 Brandon Precin of Northwestern meets #9 Rollie Peterkin of Penn?
Both will wrestle for the right, barring upset in the opening round, to face Escobedo in the quarters. Both wrestlers have a common denominator -- Penn assistant Rob Eiter coached at Northwestern prior to coming to Philadelphia. These two are exciting to watch.
Two-time All-American Tanner Gardner of Stanford is seeded highly again, but he didn't wrestle to his seed last season as he came in seeded third and ultimately finished seventh. Gardner will draw the fourth seed and should those seeds pan out, a re-match of last year's seventh-place match could materialize in the quarters as Charlie Falck of Iowa will be seeded fifth. Gardner pinned Falck for seventh at last year's championships.
But before Falck gets to the quarterfinals, he'll have a familiar opponent looming in the Round of 12 -- Oklahoma State's 12th-seeded Tyler Shinn.
Gabe Flores of Illinois will wrestle with a #6 seed after finishing third in the Big Ten and knocking off Falck in the process. If seeds hold, Flores will see #11 Dave Tomasette of Hofstra in the Round of 16 with the winner moving to the quarters to likely face Donahoe. Tomasette, now a four-time NCAA qualifier and four-time conference finalist out of the CAA, was seconds away from placing last season.
Seventh-seeded Mike Sees of Bloomsburg will look to finally reach the podium, but this will be the first time the Bloomsburg senior is seeded. Last year, Sees knocked off 10th-seeded Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State in the opening round, while the year before, he beat returning NCAA runner-up Kyle Ott of Illinois on the way to the quarterfinals in 2006. Sees will be the guy folks are looking to knock off this year as he's no longer an unknown entity in the seeding process.
A potential Round of 16 match should away with 10th-seeded James Nicholson of Old Dominion. Nicholson won the CAA and defeated Tomasette three times during the season. He's the only freshman seeded in the Top 12 and is ODU's first seed at the NCAA championships since Jeff Rusak in 2002.
The projected Sees-Nicholson winner will face second-seeded Ness in the quarters -- and Ness has pinned them both this season.
The Bad Draw
InterMat's close-up on wrestlers the top seeds don't want to see right off the bat.
Steve Mytych, Drexel -- A two-time NCAA qualifier, Mytych battles every match and is tough to score on and has the right mix of funk and countering ability. He's tough to ride and can pile up some points. A wild-card selection after finishing third in the CAA, Mytych looks to follow previous Drexel wildcards Rob Rebmann and current teammate Ryan Hluschak to earn All-American honors from the wildcard position. Mytych has the experience and was second in the nation in major decisions this season.
Anthony Robles, Arizona State -- A former NHSCA Senior National Champion, Robles' style is increasingly hard to wrestle and difficult to create angles because he lowers his level because he was born without one leg. Robles' physical size is bigger than the average 125-pounder and he makes up his above-average takedowns with a very solid tilt series on top. He can turn pretty much anyone if he gets the chance.
Nic Bedelyon, Kent State -- A true freshman from Indian Valley H.S., in Pennsylvania, Bedelyon started off the season strong and came through to win the MAC Championship. He has a great ability to finish as he's pinned two seeds this season -- Sees and Flores. He's 4-6 over NCAA qualifiers this season.
Joey Fio, Oklahoma -- The true freshman emerged at mid-season to wrestle the starting spot away in Norman and has made an immediate impact. Anytime a Big 12 wrestler comes into the NCAAs unseeded, that means potential doom for any seed. Fio has a win this season over returning champ Donahoe.
Tyler Clark, Iowa State -- Echo the sentiments above about being unseeded and from the Big 12. Clark was pulled from redshirt at mid-season and is 6-8 against NCAA qualifiers, with two of those losses coming to Donahoe.
Mark McKnight, Penn State -- With five wrestlers from the Big Ten seeded at 125 pounds, it's a pretty safe bet McKnight won't be seeing any of those familiar foes in the opening round. It does mean trouble for those not in the Big Ten. McKnight's mediocre record shouldn't be dismissed ... all nine of his losses this season are to NCAA qualifiers and eight from the Big Ten.
Top 12 Seeds
1. Angel Escobedo (Indiana, So.)
2. Jayson Ness (Minnesota, So.)
3. Paul Donahoe (Nebraska, Jr.)
4. Tanner Gardner (Stanford, Sr.)
5. Charlie Falck (Iowa, Jr.)
6. Gabe Flores (Illinois, Sr.)
7. Mike Sees (Bloomsburg, Sr.)
8. Brandon Precin (Northwestern, So.)
9. Rollie Peterkin (Penn, So.)
10. James Nicholson (Old Dominion, Fr.)
11. Dave Tomasette (Hofstra, Sr.)
12. Tyler Shinn (Oklahoma State, So.)
2007 Placement Results
(Courtesy wrestlingstats.com)
Finals: Paul Donahoe (Nebraska) dec. Sam Hazewinkel (Oklahoma) 3-1, SV
3rd: Troy Nickerson (Cornell) dec. Angel Escobedo (Indiana) 4-0.
5th: Jayson Ness (Minnesota) FALL Obe Blanc (Lock Haven) 1:00.
7th: Tanner Gardner (Stanford) FALL Charlie Falck (Iowa) 2:41.
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