For most of the top-seeded wrestlers at the 2007 NCAA Division I Championships at the Palace of Auburn Hills outside Detroit, the first day of competition was akin to motoring along a smooth stretch of open highway with the cruise control on. However, a number of seeds found a rocky road of bumps and unexpected turns … with at least one ending up completely in the ditch, unable to complete his expected journey to the championship.
That wrestler who ran off the road was Max Askren, freshman phenom of the University of Missouri Tigers, seeded first at 197 pounds, who lost his first match of the day, knocking him into the wrestleback bracket. The journey got even rougher in Session 2, where Max lost to unseeded Eric Lapotsky of Bucknell, 5-2, ending the possibility of All-American status.
Session 1: Rocky roads for some seeded stars
A No. 1 seed crashes big time. Top seeded Missouri 197-pounder Max Askren was the largest casualty of the first session, losing to unseeded Brandon Halsey of Cal State Bakersfield, 5-4. Max is the younger brother of defending 174-pound champ senior Ben Askren, also seeded first. Losing the freshman sensation so early will undoubtedly hurt the Tigers in the team standings.
Two No. 3 seeds knocked out. In the 133-pound weight class, unseeded Nick Gallick scored two falls in the first session, the first being Gardner-Webb's Rob Tate at 4:22. But more significant was the Cyclone's upset pin of third-seeded Adam Frey of Cornell at 2:41. Frey had scored first, and, in fact had turned Gallick to get the near fall. However, the Iowa Stater reversed the Cornell freshman to his back, securing the pin.
At 174, No. 3 Steve Luke of host school Michigan lost to unseeded Brandon Mason of Oklahoma State, 2-1.
Other seeds get run over by unseeded wrestlers. Among the less stunning upsets of the first session: At 125, Drexel's Steve Mytych shut out No. 12 Matthew Eveleth of University of Pennsylvania, 5-0, and Bloomsburg's Michael Sees decisive 9-4 victory over tenth-seeded Iowa State freshman Nick Fanthorpe.
In addition to the Gallick-pins-Frey stunner, in the 133-pound weight class, Wisconsin's Zach Tanelli topped No. 11 Drew Headlee of Pittsburgh, 7-4, TB1, and Joe Baker of Navy beat No. 10 Evan Sola of North Carolina, 5-1.
At 141, No. 9 Ken Hashimoto of Northern Colorado was pinned in 28 seconds by North Carolina State's Darrion Caldwell, while tenth-ranked Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin lost a 12-10 decision to Tennessee-Chattanooga's Michael Keefe. In the 149-pound weight class, No. 9 Morgan Atkinson of Cal State Fullerton lost to Wisconsin's Tyler Tanner, 8-4.
The 157-pound class saw one mild upset: No. 8 Seth Martin of Lock Haven lost on an 8-4 decision to Stanford's Josh Zupancic. At 165, there were three upsets. Eighth-seeded Anceverage of Cornell lost to Minnesota's Tyler Safratowich, 8-4. Arizona State's No. 11 Pat Pitsch came out on the losing end of a 6-4 decision to Central Michigan's Mike Miller. Maryland's Jason Kiessling edged Northern Illinois' twelfth-seeded Johnny Galloway, 4-3.
In addition to the previously mentioned Mason-Luke surprise, the 174 weight class saw some lesser upsets, including Northwestern's unseeded Nick Hayes edging Navy's No. 8 Matthew Stolpinski, 6-5, TB1. At 184, in an intrastate matchup, Northern Illinois' Ryan Burk edged No. 11 John Dergo of Illinois, 4-3.
There were a couple mild surprises among the big men. Sacred Heart heavyweight Payam Zarrinpour got a decisive 12-3 win over tenth-seeded Cody Parker of Cal Poly, while No. 11 Spencer Nadolsky of North Carolina lost to West Virginia's Dustin Rogers, 3-1, SV 1.
Session 2: For most seeds, cruising towards the title
With the exception of Max Askren, most of the seeded wrestlers rode through their Thursday afternoon/evening matches without incident. Among the highlights in each weight class:
125: The top ten seeds continue their journey towards a title, with Cornell's second-seeded Troy Nickerson and Minnesota's No. 4 Jayson Ness getting pins, with Iowa's Charlie Falck (seeded fifth) getting a 15-0 tech fall in 7:00, and No. 1 Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma and unseeded Mark McKnight of Penn State getting major decisions.
133: All ten of the top seeds were still in the title hunt as of the end of Thursday.
141: Second-seeded Derek Moore of UC-Davis and unseeded Darrion Caldwell of North Carolina State both won their Thursday evening bouts by pin; Minnesota's No. 4 Manny Rivera, No. 6 Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa, and Michigan State's No. 8 Andy Simmons -- all Big Ten men -- earned major decisions.
149: Missouri's unseeded Josh Wagner got the only pin in this class Thursday night; hometown favorite Josh Churella of Michigan (seeded third), No. 7 Scott Erwin of Appalachia State, Ohio State's tenth-seeded Lance Palmer, and No. 12 Dan Vallimont of Penn State got major decisions.
157: Three fall guys -- top-seeded Trent Paulson of Iowa State, No. 7 Craig Henning of Wisconsin, and unseeded Nathan Galloway, formerly of Penn State but now at Rider -- all put their opponents' shoulders to the mat. Major decisions were won by Minnesota's No. 4 C.P. Schlatter, No. 6 Brandon Becker of Indiana, No. 10 Moza Fay of Northern Iowa, and Penn State's unseeded Bubba Jenkins.
165: Three Big 12 wrestlers -- Oklahoma State top-seeded Johny Hendricks, fourth-ranked Trent Paulson of Iowa State, and Missouri's No. 9 Matt Pell -- all won their Thursday night matches by fall … while two unseeded wrestlers got major decisions: Purdue's Justin Fraga, and Andrew Rendos of Bucknell.
174: Unlike his younger brother, defending champ Ben Askren was seemingly on autopilot, getting a win by pin, as did two wrestlers from the Keystone state: second-seed Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh and No. 10 Matt Herrington of Penn.
184: In this weight class, there were two pins (Navy's unseeded Antonio Miranda, and Ohio State's No. 3 Mike Pucillo)… and a string of major decisions, including No. 1 Jake Herbert of Northwestern, No. 2 Roger Kish of Minnesota, No. 4 Tyrel Todd of Michigan, No. 8 Joe Rovelli of Hofstra, and Lehigh's unseeded David Craig. Harvard's No. 10 Louis Caputo got a 17-2 tech fall at 5:53.
197: Among those who won by pin: Hofstra's No. 11 Chris Weidman, No. 12 Dallas Herbst of Wisconsin, and unseeded Hudson Taylor of Maryland. Earning a win by major decision: No. 7 Craig Brester of Nebraska Lincoln, and Kurt Backes, seeded ninth for Iowa State.
Heavyweight: Navy's sixth-seeded Ed Pendergrast sunk his opponent with a fall; No. 2 Aaron Anspach of Penn State, Central Michigan's No. 3 Bubba Gritter, and unseeded Payam Zarrinpour of Sacred Heart all scored major decisions.
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