Herbert entered the tournament as the top seed at 174 lbs. and wasted little time proving he deserved the ranking, recording two falls and a technical fall in his first three matches. Herbert started his day by pinning Princeton's Mathew DeNichilo at 3:42. He followed that performance by recording a technical fall over Stanford's Luke Feist, taking the match 23-4. After pinning Upper Iowa University's C.J. MacNaught in 3:15 to advance to the semifinals, Herbert notched a 15-10 decision over Ken Cook of UC Davis to move into the final round. Herbert dominated in the title bout, pinning Oklahoma State's 16th-ranked Brandon Mason at 2:05 to take home is second individual tournament title of the year.
Not to be outdone by his classmate, Tamillow displayed an equally impressive performance at 184 lbs. After earning the second seed, Tamillow began his day with an 8-0 major decision over Embry-Riddle's Joffre Lander in the first round. In the second round Tamillow pinned Lassen's Mike Calderon at 1:18, then recorded a 6-2 decision over Boise State's K.C. Walsh to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinal round, Tamillow slapped a 12-3 major-decision victory on Fresno State's Greg Gifford. In the final round, No. 15 Tamillow faced Oregon's ninth-ranked Shane Webster. Tamillow came through with a big one, edging Webster 2-0 in a tight title bout.
With their performances in Reno, Herbert and Tamillow improved their respective records to 11-0 this season.
Senior John Velez (Kings Mills, Ohio/Kings) went 3-1, while senior Matt Delguyd (Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) went 5-2 as the two finished fourth in their respective weight classes for the 'Cats.
At 125 lbs., the second-seeded Velez moved to the second round after a first-round bye. In his first match of the day, Velez recorded a 14-2 major-decision victory over Upper Iowa University's Tyler Mumbulo. Velez fell to Arizona State's ninth-ranked Jeremy Mendoza in the quarterfinals, but notched a major-decision win of his own over Stanford's Tanner Gardner in the consolation semifinal. Velez then dropped a 3-1 decision in overtime to Central Michigan's Luke Smith to take fourth place.
The fourth-seeded Delguyd started the tournament by recording consecutive major-decision wins. Delguyd topped Southern Oregon University's Abe Ewing 15-2 before recording a 13-4 win over Northern State University's Todd Naasz. After being edged 4-2 by Boise State's Casey Phelps in the third round, Delguyd rallied with three-consecutive wins in the consolation bracket.
Delguyd first beat Wyoming's Malcom Havens 17-5, then slipped past Cal State Fullerton's Chris Chambers, 5-4.
In the consolation final, Delguyd met the man who bumped him into the consolation bracket, Boise State's Casey Phelps. Phelps once again got the best of Delguyd in the rematch, taking the match 7-2.
At 165 lbs., Will Durkee went 5-2 on the day en route to a fifth-place finish. After a first-round bye, Durkee pinned Embry-Riddle's Morgan Scott at 1:52. He then tallied his second fall in as many matches by pinning Northern State University's Matt Englund at 2:39. Oregon's seventh-ranked Joey Bracemonte edged Durkee 9-6 in the fourth round, but Durkee responded by rattling off a 6-1 decision over Central Michigan's Justin Petrone and a 9-0 major decision over Tennessee's Daniel Peterson. After falling to UC Davis' Frank Richmond, Durkee finished the day with a 4-1 decision over Southern Oregon University's Jimmy Grochowsky, to claim fifth place.
Sophomore Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed at 285 lbs. In his first-round match, Fox made easy work of Stanford's Jared Boyer, notching an 18-6 major-decision victory. Fox then won two more--with an 8-2 decision over Tennessee's Zach Tramel and a default from Wyoming's Dusty Hoffschneider--to find himself in the semifinals against Arizona State's fourth-ranked Cain Velasquez. There, Fox fell to Velasquez, 11-1, to move into the consolation bracket.
In his first consolation match, Fox fell to Aaron Anspach of Penn, 10-4. Fox rallied against Central Michigan's Bubba Gritter, however, and won fifth place with a 7-3 win.
At 141 lbs., sophomore Ryan Lang entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed. Lang started off hot, ripping off four-consecutive victories in his first four matches, winning two by fall and two by major decision.
Lang made quick work of Cal State Fullerton's Teddy Astorga in the first round, pinning Astorga in 1:15. In his next match, Lang recorded a 17-5 major-decision victory over Cal State Bakersfield's Jeremy Doyle. Lang then topped Central Michigan's Brandon Carter, 12-3, and pinned Oregon's Skyler Woods in 1:54 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Lang fell to Penn's DeWitt Driscoll 7-2 in the quarterfinals, then faced Carter again in his first consolation match. Lang wasn't as fortunate against Carter the second time around, and fell to move on to the fifth-place match. Lang then forfeited the last match, earning him sixth place on the day.
In the team race, defending national champion Oklahoma State led all day and finished with nine wrestlers in the finals. The Cowboys took first with a 194.5 team points.
While the Wildcats were in second for most of the tournament, Central Michigan snuck in a few late points to finish second with 123 points, while the Wildcats finished in third place with 118.5 points.
Penn State finished fourth with 97 team points, while Oregon rounded out the top five with 83.5 points.
Northwestern returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 29 for the 43rd annual Midlands Wrestling Championships.
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