There's nothing like a thrilling conclusion to a novel or a movie to deliver a feeling that you've gotten your money's worth.
The 2007 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships delivered more thrills and spills than a car chase in an action movie, with a number of upsets along the road to the title matches. Add in an exciting race to the team title, and truly exciting title bouts Saturday night with more twists and turns than a mountain road, and this collegiate championship will be long remembered as one of the best.
After a back-and-forth battle between the University of Minnesota and Iowa State for the team title, the Golden Gophers crossed the finish line with 98 team points. The Cyclones were hot on their tail with 88.5. Missouri had a tremendous showing, placing third with 80 points. Northwestern, once viewed among the bottom performers in the Big Ten, tallied 71.5 points… while Oklahoma State, which had taken the team title four straight years, came in fifth with 69 points.
Rounding out the top ten at the end of Saturday night: Michigan placed sixth with 62 points… Hofstra had 60.5… and Iowa, with 57 points, came in eighth � reportedly the Hawkeyes' worst standing since the early 1970s. Edinboro placed ninth with 56 points, with tenth place going to Ohio State with 54.5 points.
It was Minnesota's third team title in the new millennium, having also won the honors in 2001 and 2002.
In mapping out the route to the finals, let's look at what happened earlier in the day…
Session 5: Championship Consolations
Here are the wrestlers who earned All-American honors Saturday in the championship consolation rounds.
125:
� Third Place: Top-seeded Troy Nickerson of Cornell shut out Angel Escobel, the seventh seed for the Indiana Hoosiers, 3-0. Nickerson is now a two-time All-American.
� Fifth Place: Minnesota's fourth-seeded Jayson Ness pinned Lock Haven's Obe Blanc (seeded ninth) at 1:00. Ness' pin gave Minnesota much-needed bonus points in the team title race.
� Seventh Place: Third-seeded Tanner Gardner of Stanford pinned Iowa's Charlie Falck, the fifth seed, at 2:41. Gardner is a repeat All-American, having placed eighth last year.
133:
� Third Place: Top-seeded Nick Simmons of Michigan State got an 8-0 major decision over Tennessee-Chattanooga's no. 5 Matt Keller. Simmons completes his career as a Spartan as a four-time All-American.
� Fifth Place: Cal Poly's no. 6 Darrell Vasquez defeated Tyler McCormick of Missouri (seeded eighth) by the score of 7-4. Vasquez becomes a two-time All-American, having finished fourth at the 2004 NCAAs.
� Seventh Place: In a battle of unseeded wrestlers, Penn State's Jake Strayer pinned Andrae Hernandez of Indiana at 2:38.
141:
� Third Place: In something of an upset, no. 11 Charles Griffin of Hofstra defeated Oklahoma State's third-seeded Nathan Morgan, 6-2.
� Fifth Place: One of the Cinderella stories through much of the 2007 NCAAs, Rider University's unseeded Don Fisch pinned Brandon Rader of West Virginia (seeded seventh) at 4:42. Fisch had knocked off four ranked opponents in his three days at Auburn Hills.
� Seventh Place: Two unseeded wrestlers who went at it for the second time at this tournament: J. Jaggers of Ohio State beat Harvard's Max Meltzer 7-1. In their first-round match-up, the Buckeye beat the Crimson wrestler 11-5.
149:
� Third Place: Two former Ohio high school superstars vied for third place. Top-seeded Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota defeated Ohio State's no. 10 Lance Palmer 1-0.
� Fifth Place: Harvard's sixth-seeded J.P. O'Connor beat unseeded Tyler Turner of Wisconsin, 6-4.
� Seventh Place: Unseeded Matt Coughlin of Indiana got an 11-6 victory over Cornell's no. 4 Jordan Leen.
157:
� Third Place: Fifth-seeded Mike Poeta of Illinois defeated Hofstra's no. 3 James Strouse, 2-1, TB1.
� Fifth Place: Matt Kocher, the eleventh seed for Pittsburgh, exceeded expectations by edging out Minnesota's no. 4 C.P. Schlatter 2-1.
� Seventh Place: Yet another match-up featuring unseeded wrestlers, with Stanford's Josh Zupancic coming out on top of Ryan Hluschak of Drexel, 11-10, TB1.
165:
� Third Place: Missouri's Matt Pell, seeded ninth, pinned no. 3 Eric Tannenbaum of Michigan at 3:15. Pell was a pinning machine, securing four pins in the tournament, three of them in the wrestlebacks.
� Fifth Place: Fourth-seeded Travis Paulson of Iowa State got a 5-4 victory over Hofstra's Mike Patrovich, who had been seeded sixth. Paulson had been behind 5-3 when he scored a takedown with less than 20 seconds remaining.
� Seventh Place: In the second pin in this weight class, no. 7 Deonte Penn of Edinboro put unseeded Central Michigan wrestler Mike Miller's shoulders to the mat at 4:55.
174:
� Third Place: Iowa's Eric Luedke, seeded fifth, defeated Navy's no. 8 Matt Stolpinsky, 3-2.
� Fifth Place: Unseeded Brandon Mason ended an incredible tournament with a 1-0 upset win over Michigan's third-seeded Steve Luke.
� Seventh Place: Battling back from a first-round loss, no. 7 Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan got a 7-3 victory over Columbia's no. 9 Matt Palmer.
184:
� Third Place: Minnesota's second-seeded Roger Kish defeated no. 7 Alex Clemsen of Edinboro 3-2. Kish, a native of Michigan, is now a two-time All-American.
� Fifth Place: Avenging a regular-season loss �- and thrilling the host-school fans � Michigan's no. 4 Tyrel Todd pinned third-ranked freshman Mike Pucillo of Ohio State at 4:34.
� Seventh Place: In a battle of the Ivies, tenth-seeded Louis Caputo of Harvard shut out Cornell's unseeded Josh Arnone, 2-0.
197:
� Third Place: In an upset, no. 11 Chris Weidman of Hofstra defeated Ohio State's J.D. Bergman, 9-4. Weidman becomes a two-time All-American; Bergman was attempting to become the first wrestler in NCAA history to wrestle back to third place after a first-round loss in two different tournaments.
� Fifth Place: Fourth seed Phil Davis of Penn State scored a 9-4 victory over Cornell's Jerry Rinaldi, seeded fifth. Davis, runner-up last year, ended his career as a three-time All-American. He had defeated Rinaldi twice in the tournament.
� Seventh Place: Northwestern's Mike Tamillow, seeded third, defeated Big Ten rival Nick Roy, Michigan's unseeded wrestler, 7-3.
Hwt:
� Third Place: Northwestern's Dustin Fox, seeded fourth, got a 3-1 win over no. 5 Ty Watterson of Oregon State.
� Fifth Place: Bubba Gritter, the third-seeded big man for Central Michigan, defeated no. 12 Wade Sauer of Cal State Fullerton, 9-6.
� Seventh Place: Iranian-born Payam Zarrinpour, the unseeded wrestler from Sacred Heart, beat Bloomsburg's no. 9 Michael Spaid, 11-8. Zarrinpour became Sacred Heart's first Division I All-American athlete in any sport.
The team race BEFORE the finals…
As of Saturday afternoon � before the finals -- it looked as if Minnesota and Iowa State were locked in a drag race for the team title. By the end of the championship consolation matches that determine third through eighth places, the Golden Gophers had pulled ahead of the Cyclones in the team standings, with 92 points to Iowa State's 84.5. Missouri was in third place in the team race with 76 points, with Oklahoma State in fourth with 69. Northwestern had 67.5 points for fifth place, while host school Michigan had 62. Rounding out the top ten as of Saturday afternoon: Hofstra with 60.5, Ohio State with 57.5, Penn State with 54, and Iowa in tenth place with 53.
Among the top ten teams, here are how many finalists each school has:
� 1. Minnesota: 1 finalist (Cole Konrad)
� 2. Iowa State: 3 finalists (Trent Paulson, Jake Varner, Kurt Backes)
� 3. Missouri: 1 finalist (Ben Askren)
� 4. Oklahoma State: 2 finalists (Coleman Scott, Johny Hendricks)
� 5. Northwestern: 2 finalists (Ryan Lang, Jake Herbert)
� 6. Michigan: 1 finalist (Josh Churella)
� 9. Penn State: 1 finalist (Aaron Anspach)
� 10. Iowa: 1 finalist (Mark Perry)
Session 6: The Finals
125: Two Big 12 rivals who had wrestled at the conference championships two weeks earlier met up again -- Oklahoma senior Sam Hazewinkel vs. junior Paul Donahoe from Nebraska. There was no scoring in the first period. In the second, Hazewinkel escaped to make the score 1-0. In the third, Donahoe, who is originally from Davison, Michigan, scored the escape to tie it up 1-1 in regulation. In overtime, the Cornhusker then got the takedown to secure the 3-1 sudden victory… reversing the outcome from the Big 12 championships.
In a post-match press conference, when asked how it feels to defeat someone he's never beaten before, the newly crowned champ Paul Donahoe said, "Hazewinkel beat me 10-3 or 11-3, but I knew that wasn't a good match I wrestled. I'm so happy now."
133: Defending champ Matt Valenti of Penn brought a 32-4 record to his finals match against Oklahoma State's Coleman Scott. The Cowboy scored first with a takedown, followed by one from Valenti to knot the score at 2-2 at the end of the first period. In the second, Valenti accumulates 1:40 in riding time. In the third, Valenti chooses down, Scott cuts him loose. With riding time, the final score is 4-2… with the Quaker claiming his second consecutive national championship.
Asked to compare this title win to his in 2006, Valenti replied, "It's just as sweet this year. A national title is a national title. The second is nice, just as nice as the first and it's just a great feeling."
141: In a battle of the undefeateds, top-seeded Ryan Lang of Northwestern brought a 28-0 against UC Davis second-seed Derek Moore (22-0) in the finals. Lang got a takedown right away, with Moore getting the reversal to tie it up 2-2 in the first period. Moore scored a reversal early in second period to make it 4-2; Moore got Lang on his back but the Wildcat got out of the predicament… but not before the California wrestler scored three back points. Moments later, the Aggie put Lang into a cradle to get another three points, making the score 10-2 at the end of the second. In the third, Lang chose neutral; Moore got two takedowns plus snapped down the Northwestern wrestler for two more points. Yet another takedown made it 14-2… with a third set of three additional back points to make the final score a 17-2 technical fall at 5:31. A totally dominating performance by Derek Moore.
In talking about winning the title on a technical fall, Moore said, "It was maybe (in) my wildest dreams. It's just crazy to be able to get on top of that guy and be able to turn him and turn him. At every point I was just building and building. It's just insane being here."
149: This match-up featured home crowd favorite Josh Churella of nearby Northfield, Michigan who competed at the University of Michigan like his older brother Ryan and his dad Mark (a three-time NCAA champ in the late 1970s). The junior Wolverine brought in a 30-4 record, while his opponent, freshman Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro, had a 32-2 record.
In the first period, there was plenty of action, with hand fighting and takedown attempts, but no score. In the second period, Churella took bottom, got a reversal to make it 1-0 with the home crowd cheering "Let's go Blue." Gillespie tried a handful of shots, but no other scoring in the period. In the third, Gillespie took down, tried to roll out…and eventually escaped to tie up score 1-1. No other scoring in regulation, sending the bout into overtime. Lots of activity, but the move that mattered: the Fighting Scot got the takedown with approximately 15 seconds left to win 3-1 in sudden victory.
"I had quite a bit of confidence coming in," said Gillespie, a native of upstate New York. "Coach always tells me �believe in yourself.' I try to do that as much as possible and I know he believes in me as well. That really helped out."
157: Trent Paulson was one of three Iowa State wrestlers to find himself in the finals. The Cyclone senior brought a 29-4 record to the 2007 NCAAs. His opponent, Craig Henning of the University of Wisconsin, is a junior with a 30-3 record.
Not a whole lot of action in this battle of the Midwest, until Henning scored a takedown. Trent scored an escape, making it 2-1 at the end of the first. Henning choose bottom, eventually escaped. Paulson got an injury timeout. When action resumed, the Cyclone kept trying leg shots but the Badger countered. Second period ended with score 3-1. Paulson got a quick escape to make it 3-2. With 1:42, Paulson scored a takedown to take the 5-2 lead. With less than 15 seconds left, Paulson got another takedown, then released Henning to make the score 6-5 Iowa State.
"He's really funky," said Trent Paulson of his finals rival. "I knew he was a really good scrambler so I didn't want to take the chance on getting the scramble and giving up the reversal. I wanted to wrestle on my feet and score points there, especially after being taken down right away. I didn't want it to come down to riding time."
165: This may have been the most anticipated bout of the evening, if not the tournament: Johny Hendricks vs. Mark Perry. Hendricks, the two-time champ from Oklahoma State had a perfect 37-0 record, with a 56-match win streak… and a knack for stirring up bitter feelings in many wrestling fans. Perry, a junior with blood ties to Oklahoma State coach John Smith, had a 26-4 overall record… but more importantly, had wrestled the controversial Cowboy a handful of times in his college career, always coming out on the losing end. Until the 2007 NCAA finals
There was no scoring in first period… nor any in the second, but Hendricks built up two minutes of riding time. In the third period, Hendricks took the bottom position, got a reversal to make it 2-0. Perry rolled out to tie it 2-2. Then, while the Iowan was riding, he turned Hendricks for 2 nearfall points to erase the Cowboy's riding time. Hendricks got an escape near the end of the match, but it wasn't enough. Perry got the 4-3 upset � his first victory over his long-time nemesis.
In an interview after winning the 165-pound title, Mark Perry said, "I saw my dad's first national championship at Nebraska and that's been my life goal. It's the most important thing in my life. It's a relief to finally win it after coming so close the two past years. It's huge for me."
174: Ben Askren wanted to end his college career a winner. The defending champ from Missouri carried in an incredible 85-match win streak… and a reputation for being unbeatable. His rival for the title: second-seeded Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh.
All season, Askren had complained of opponents who backed away from a fight. The Tiger got what he asked for; Gavin started immediately with a near double-leg but the two went off the mat. A few seconds later, the Pitt Panther got the takedown; Askren immediately escaped, making the score 2-1 at end of first. Gavin chose top, let Askren free to tie it up 2-2. Shockingly, Askren failed to score any offensive points in two periods, and, in fact, was called for stalling. In the third period, the champ made up for that scoring drought with a takedown and three back points to make the score 7-2. With riding time, Ben Askren won 8-2 … but the match was closer than indicated by the score
When asked about being behind and indicating to Missouri head coach Brian Smith that he was OK, Askren replied, "I know I have a big gas tank and if I don't score big early I can always fall back on my conditioning. I heard him starting to breathe really hard and I knew I was going to get him sooner of rlater."
184: Many fans were salivating at the idea of a title bout between the two top seeds, Jake Herbert and Roger Kish. But Jake Varner of Iowa State had other plans, and knocked the Minnesotan out of title contention in the semifinals.
The Cyclone freshman -- a two-time California high school state champ � carried in a 29-6 record to the finals… along with considerable pressure to secure a win, and boost his team into first place. Herbert, a junior at Northwestern, put a 30-0 record on the line.
Varner was the aggressor right off the bat, going for the takedown. However, Herbert scored the first takedown to make the score 2-0 at the end of the first period. In the second, with the Iowa Stater taking top, Herbert escaped and immediately followed that with another takedown to rack up a 5-0 lead. Herbert was assessed one point for fleeing the mat, making the score 5-1 at the conclusion of the second. No actual scoring in the third, so, with over three minutes of riding time, the Wildcat got the 6-1 victory … helping Northwestern secure fourth place in the team race.
Asked if this title vindicated his loss to Ben Askren in the 2006 finals, Herbert said, "Yes and no. It's never really going to erase that loss. I can't ever be a three-time national champ. All I can look forward to is keeping my streak alive and winning it again next year for the Wildcats."
197: Second-seeded Josh Glenn of American University faced off against Iowa State senior Kurt Backes in the finals.
Glenn scored a takedown, making it 2-0. Backes escaped to close the first period with a 2-1 score. In the second, the American wrestler escaped, but the Cyclone got a takedown to tie the score at 3-3. Backes escapes to go ahead, but Glenn's riding time makes it 4-4. Glenn got another takedown for a 6-4 score. Referee Fred Ambrose � in his last match of his long career � conferred with other officials, and gave Backes an escape point. Upon review, however, Backes' escape and Glenn's last takedown were erased from the scoreboard, knotting the score back to 4-4 at the end of regulation. Just 12 seconds into overtime, Glenn brings Backes to the mat, making the final score 6-4… and avenging a loss to the Cyclone at the 2006 Midlands.
Considering that loss, Josh Glenn.said immediately after winning the title, "I didn't approach it any differently than any other match. I stayed with the fundamentals that worked for me. I stayed solid and just kept attacking."
Hwt: In a rematch of the 2007 Big Ten heavyweight title bout of just two weeks ago, defending champ Cole Konrad took on Penn State's Aaron Anspach. "King" Cole not only put his title on the line, but also a perfect 33-0 record and a 75-match winning streak in the last match of his college career, while the challenger Anspach, a junior, had a 21-3 record.
The two titans of the Big Ten had faced each other twice in the 2006-2007 season, once in a dual meet which ended in a 5-1 decision for the massive Minnesotan, and at the conference championships, where the Nittany Lion was flattened at 2:20.
Early in the bout, Konrad got an inside trip, putting Anspach on his back in a pinning predicament. The champ pressed his 285-pound body on top of the considerably lighter Penn Stater, and got the fall at 1:56 to claim his second title… joining Tim Hartung and Damion Hahn as the only Minnesota wrestlers to win two NCAA championships.
"I was warming up, thinking that I was going to have to get the pin (to ensure Minnesota winning the team title) so that's the way I wrestled out there," said Konrad. "I was looking for a fall."
Still perfect …
Six of the twenty finalists entered the Palace of Auburn Hills on Saturday night with undefeated records. Of these, four left the arena still perfect: Derek Moore, Ben Askren, Jake Herbert, and Cole Konrad.
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