On Day 1, all the No. 1 seeds -- Missouri (Division I), Central Oklahoma (Division II), Augsburg (Division III), Lindenwood (NAIA), and Labette (NJCAA) -- won both their duals to advance to Sunday morning's semifinals, which begin at 11 a.m. (CST).
Missouri got a bit of a scare in its opening round dual against Penn. The Tigers trailed the Quakers 12-7 after 157, but came back to win four of the last five matches to take the dual 27-15. The Tigers then came back in the quarterfinals with a dominating 33-8 victory over eighth-seeded Northwestern. The Tigers will now wrestle four-time defending national champion Oklahoma State at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Missouri coach Brian Smith was much more pleased with his team's effort against Northwestern than against Penn.
"I was just glad to see us wrestle harder against Northwestern," said Smith, who has been the head man at Missouri since 1998. "The first match we were sluggish in a couple weights. We're getting better, which is good. You want to progressively improve throughout as you go through this tournament because it's going to get tougher."
The Tigers will now face four-time defending national champion Oklahoma State at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Oklahoma State advanced to the semifinals with victories over Northern Iowa (29-5) and Iowa (22-13).
Against the Hawkeyes in the quarterfinals, the Cowboys jumped out to a commanding 15-0 lead after 149 on the strength of freshman Dakotah Simpson's first-period pin over Iowa's Alex Grunder at 149. Iowa's Ryan Morningstar put the Hawkeyes on the board with a 2-1 (tiebreaker) decision over Newly McSpadden at 157. But Oklahoma State captain and two-time NCAA champion Johny Hendricks all but sealed the deal for the Cowboys with a dominating 9-1 major decision over longtime rival Mark Perry at 165. The Hawkeyes took three of the last four matches, but it was too little too late as Oklahoma State took the dual by a score of 21-13.
Hendricks, who hasn't suffered a defeat since December of 2005, relishes the opportunity to wrestle the top-ranked Tigers.
"I can't wait," said Hendricks. "Coming out of the Big 12, they're ranked No. 1. Hopefully we can step up big, wrestle like we did this time, and have some of our upper (weight) guys pull out a couple wins … and we'll walk away with the victory."
On Saturday, Hendricks defeated No. 7 Nick Baima of Northern Iowa and No. 3 Perry. Now he'll face No. 8 Matt Pell when the Cowboys wrestle the Tigers. Pell, a 2005 All-American, took Hendricks into overtime before losing 2-1 (tiebreaker) in the finals of the Big 12 Championships in March. So does Hendricks feel like he has something to prove against Pell?
"No, I don't have anything to prove to anybody," said Hendricks. "I'm not worried about anybody. I don't care. The fans are the people sitting there saying, 'Oh, he's worried.' I don't care. People lose. It's a common thing. Everybody loses. If it happens to me, I build off it. If I don't lose, that's even better."
The other semifinal match-up in Division I will pit second-seeded Minnesota up against sixth-seeded Iowa State. Minnesota, who won this event last season, reached the semifinals with a pair of convincing victories over Cornell (32-11) and Central Michigan (31-7). Iowa State defeated Michigan in the opening round (25-15), and then scored an upset victory over Hofstra (24-9) to reach the semifinals. Tomorrow's dual will mark the second meeting between the two programs this season. Minnesota defeated Iowa State, 19-13, on Dec. 8 in Ames.
Central Oklahoma, who is making its 14th straight trip to the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, reached the Division II semifinals with victories over Augustana (21-13) and West Liberty (32-6). The Bronchos will now face three-time defending Division II champion Nebraska-Omaha in the semifinals.
Augsburg, who is looking to win its third NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals title, dominated its competition on Saturday, winning by scores of 50-0 and 35-3 over a pair of Iowa schools, Simpson and Cornell, respectively. The Auggies will now face fifth-seeded Johnson & Whales in the semifinals at 11 a.m.
Lindenwood advanced to the NAIA semifinals with victories over Morningside (29-13) and Campbellsville (31-11). The Lions will now face fourth-seeded Dickinson State in the semifinals.
Labette defeated Ellsworth (29-12) to advance to its NJCAA semifinal match against W.R. Harper.
The Day 1 attendance at the UNI-Dome was 7,565.
One-on-One with Marcus LeVesseur
Augsburg's Marcus LeVesseur has literally become the Cael Sanderson of Division III wrestling. The senior 165-pounder has compiled an undefeated record with three NCAA titles for the Auggies. RevWrestling.com caught up with LeVesseur after Augsburg's victory over Cornell (Iowa).
You were held out of competition today. Why?
LeVesseur: It was just precautionary. The coaches are just trying to pick the right time for me to wrestle. But I plan to wrestle tomorrow.
When you see other Division I programs competing here, do you ever think about how it would be competing at that level?
LeVesseur: No, I don't think about wrestling Division I. I just watch them and learn. I'll watch NAIA wrestlers and learn something. I'm just always looking at wrestling styles that compliment mine … and moves that compliment my style. I'm a fan of sports. There are 18 mats to watch. Besides focusing on my team, I look at other wrestlers and teams. And if I see something I like, I might try it tomorrow.
Marcus, whether it's fair or not, wrestling fans across the country are going to continue to scrutinize you for what you've accomplished in Division III … because you're not doing it in Division I. Does that bother you?
LeVesseur: It doesn't bother me one bit. I'm happy right now. I'm wrestling. I'm about to graduate this spring. That's the No. 1 focus in my life, to get my double major degrees, and then move on with my life.
Many have wondered why you never wrestled at the Midlands. Was that something you ever considered?
LeVesseur: No, it was never put on a table for me to look at as an option. Not once. I would have liked to have wrestled at the Midlands. I can tell you that. It was just never an opportunity for me. I think our team had a tournament scheduled that same weekend.
In your opinion, how would you fare if you wrestled in the NCAA Division I Championships?
LeVesseur: I don't know. I wrestle every match to win. That's my focus. If you take that and speculate how I think I would finish, I think that kind of says it all. Like I said, I wrestle every match to win, period. That's how I approach wrestling.
I understand that you're competing in mixed martial arts (MMA). How are you doing? And is that something you enjoy?
LeVesseur: I'm 5-0 right now. I enjoy it a lot. It's very intense. You have to have your eyes open and instinctively reacting always. I get an adrenalin rush, I guess.
Is it is your goal to someday fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC)?
LeVesseur: Yeah, I have a lot of goals. There's international wrestling with World titles, Olympic titles, and all those highly-skilled tournaments. And then there's UFC and then PRIDE. There are a lot of different directions I can go. I have a full plate now. You only live once. I like to put myself in a lot of situations where I can excel.
You mentioned international wrestling. Are you planning on competing at the U.S. Nationals in Las Vegas in April?
LeVesseur: I plan to. I need to really map out my schedule and manage the fighting and the wrestling. I know that I'm going to get back into the fighting really hard this next six or seven months to see if I can even get a pro debut.
Growing up, you were successful in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. With Minnesota being a Greco-Roman hotbed, would you consider wrestling Greco-Roman?
LeVesseur: Some of my friends say that I should. When I was a sophomore in high school, I made a commitment to myself that I'm a freestyler. So I'll probably go freestyle.
With the collegiate wrestling season in full swing, are you taking a break from MMA?
LeVesseur: Yeah, right now there's no MMA. It's tough to do both. I sat down with Coach Swenson and we talked about my future plans. I told him that I would be one-hundred percent committed to this program through thick and thin, so MMA is out on the porch right now. After the season, I can bring it back in the house.
What is it like compete on the same team with longtime friend Jafari Vanier?
LeVesseur: That's probably the most exciting thing right now. Well, maybe not the most exciting … but when you have a best friend since you were 5 years old, wrestle on the same team every year way up until your senior year, then you're apart, and then reunited, it's a good feeling. We have our little special handshake before each one of us wrestles. It's just a good feeling to have your best friend and lifelong companion with you while you're out there wrestling. I'm sure he probably feels the same way.
Brackets/Results:
Division I Brackets
Division II Brackets
Division III Brackets
NAIA Brackets
NJCAA Brackets
NCWA Brackets
Women's Brackets
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