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    Fox set to wrestle for NCAA title

    ST. LOUIS -- For the third-straight year, Northwestern will wrestle a Saturday night finals match at the NCAA Championships. Dustin Fox's late takedown of Oklahoma State's Jared Rosholt propelled him to his first national final. At 125 lbs., Brandon Precin secured his first-career All-American finish and will wrestle for seventh place Saturday morning.

    Mike Tamillow won a match in the consolation bracket, but fell one win shy of his second-career All-American finish. Saturday morning's session begins at 10 a.m. Precin will wrestle for seventh place. The finals begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised live by ESPN.

    In the team race, Northwestern sits in 13th, 1 point behind 12th place Illinois.

    Fox scored a takedown in the final 30 seconds of his match against fifth-seeded Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State to take a 3-2 decision in the semifinals.

    The top-seeded Fox scored the first points of the match with a quick escape in the second. After riding Rosholt for close to a minute, the Cowboy escaped to even the match at 1-1. Fox scored his first takedown of the match at the right time, as time was winding down, to pull ahead 3-1. He surrendered an escape to make the final score 3-2.

    Fox will see a familiar face on the championship mat Saturday night. Second-seeded JD Bergman of Ohio State advanced through his half of the bracket and the duo will do battle for the third time this season. Fox is 2-0 against the Buckeye this year.

    In just his sophomore season, Precin is now a Division I All-American. The Wildcat put up a strong showing against Bloomsburg's seventh-seeded Michael Sees with a 10-2 major decision.

    In a match that was tenser than the score would indicate, Precin started things off with the first points of the match with a takedown. He turned Sees for the first of two times for two more points. Precin accumulated riding time, but eventually surrendered an escape to lead 4-1 heading into the second.

    Precin started on top in the second and was able to turn Sees again for a three-point near fall. He gave another escape and took a 7-2 lead into the final period.

    The sophomore was able to put his stamp on the match with a late takedown. As time expired, Precin ran to the side of the mat and lifted head coach Tim Cysewski, his lower-weight training partner for the weekend, into the air in celebration.

    Precin becomes the second 125-pound Wildcat All-American in the last three years. In 2006, John Velez defeated Sees in the All-American match. He also gives NU multiple All-Americans for the third-straight year.

    In his next consolation match, Precin fell to third-seeded Tanner Gardner of Stanford by 5-0 decision. Gardner struck first with a takedown and he later added a reversal and riding time to take the match. The sophomore will face Old Dominion's 10th-seeded James Nicholson for seventh place Saturday morning.

    Tamillow fell one match short of seizing his second-career All-America finish and bowed out of the tournament Friday night. The third-seeded Wildcat fell to Missouri's fifth-seeded Max Askren by 7-3 decision.

    Tamillow struck first with a takedown in the first period. He was able to ride out Askren and take a 2-0 lead into the second period. Askren started down and escaped to make the score 2-1. He pulled ahead with a takedown and rode out the period to eat into the riding time advantage.

    Although Tamillow escaped to start the third to make the score 3-3, Askren hit a four-point move with a takedown and back points to put the match out of reach. Tamillow could not escape and his NU career came to an end.

    Tamillow won over 100 matches as a Wildcat, was a three-time NCAA qualifier and a 2007 All-American. He won the Big Ten title at 197 lbs. in 2007 and finished seventh in the nation last season.

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