Walsh made quick work of the field by pinning his first two opponents in under two minutes. In his quarterfinal match-up, Walsh won a rather uneventful bout in a 3-0 decision over eighth seeded Jonathan Schleifer (Princeton). For day two, Walsh kept up his pinning ways with a 47 second pin of the 12th nationally-ranked wrestler in the 165-pound class, Jackson Morse (Illinois).
In the championship bout, Walsh fell behind early 4-1 after two takedowns by Harger (Northwestern). An escape to end the first period and another to start the second but Walsh down 4-3. He didn't wast much time from there, pinning the eighth nationally-ranked 165-pound wrestler in 4:06. Along with the championship, Walsh took home Most Falls Award, High Points Award and the Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler Award.
With the four pins for the tournament, Walsh now has 18 on the season. This puts him in a tie for third with now volunteer assistant Kurt Kinser (2008) on the Indiana single season list (Walsh holds the record with 26 set last season). The redshirt senior now has 116 career wins, which puts him in eighth on the all-time Indiana list.
Redshirt sophomore Nate Jackson also advanced to the quarterfinals. He added yet another major decision to his total for the season with a 17-7 victory against Ben Hass. Up to that point, Jackson had outscored his opponents 45-18 in his past three bouts dating back to the December 13 match against Manchester's Dylan Lauffer. After defeating 12th seeded Ryan Wolfe (Rider) in an 11-7 decision, the 174-pounder lost a tough match against the number four seed Brock Gutches, 4-2. Jackson defeated David Kocer of South Dakota State with a 6-5 decision to advance to the podium rounds. In his final two matches, Jackson lost both on 3-2 decsions to earn eighth place.
Heavyweight Garret Goldman wrestled well and finished with a record of 3-2 for his two days. He took down 12-seed Chris Lopez (Illinois) with a 5-2 decision in the first round. Against nationally ranked (13th) Evan Knutson, Goldman lost a hard-fought match 2-0. But in the wrestle backs, Goldman won two straight beating two Big Ten opponents -- Tyler Kral (Purdue) and Brooks Black (Illinois). In his final bout, Goldman lost another close one, 3-0 to the 11 seed Dawson Peck (Unat. Maryland).
Luke Sheridan went 2-2 for the tournament with victories against Vincent Pickett (Edinboro) and Jack Carda (Air Force). In both of Sheridan's losses, it came down to the wire. In his third round bout, Sheridan and the eight seed, Jared Haught, were tied at 2-2 at the end of regulation. There was no score in the sudden victory period, but early in the first 30-second period, Haught got a takedown. Sheridan couldn't escape in the second 30-second period and thus did not advance. In his first consolation match, the senior took on four seed Patrick Downey of Iowa Central; Sheridan lost on a 3-2 decision.
Unattached freshman Jake Danishek had a good showing, going 3-2. In the three matches he won, Danishek outscored his opponents 46-12, earning a technical fall and a major decision. Alex Gregoryfinished the day with two victories, defeating Grant Nehring (North Dakota State) and Brooks Marino (Penn). Gregory came close to advancing in consolation after losing 2-1 in a tiebreak.
The Hoosier wrestlers take on Penn State in a Big Ten battle. Indiana wrestles the Nittany Lions in State College, Pennsylvania on January 9 (7 pm).
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