InterMat Staff

ERIE -- Freshman Jordan Toledo (133) and redshirt senior Jeff Jacobs (174) posted 3-0 records and East Stroudsburg University overcame double-digit deficits in two of its three matches to sweep the Mercyhurst Quad on Saturday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. The Warriors opened the day with a 34-15 win over Mercyhurst North East, coming back from a 15-3 deficit with victories in the final six bouts. They followed with a 27-15 win over Mercyhurst , winning the final five bouts after trailing 15-9, and beat Seton Hill 25-16 after falling behind 13-3. ESU’s early deficits included a forfeit at 125, but Toledo’s victories by decision at 133 in all three matches helped to right the ship. Jacobs’ 3-0 record included two pins, scoring the go-ahead points vs. Mercyhurst North East and tying the team score vs. Seton Hill. The Warriors received strong efforts throughout the lineup, but particularly at the upper weights. Senior Jesse Dunn (165) was 2-0 and had a pair of big wins, with a major decision vs. Mercyhurst North East and a clutch first-period pin to tie the match vs. Mercyhurst. Redshirt freshman Brendan McKeown (184) and redshirt junior Ed Ebewo (197) were both 2-0 and also picked up forfeits against Seton Hill, and sophomore Will Weaver (285) was 2-0 before sitting out the final bout of the day. Redshirt junior Adam Hluschak (141), ranked No. 4 in Division II and the only Warrior to go 3-0 against Division I foes in last week’s Bloomsburg Duals, was 1-2 on the day but wrestled more top competition. He took a 4-3 loss to freshman Vincent Digravio of Mercyhurst North East, the outstanding wrestler at two tournaments so far this year, and a 10-2 loss to Dallas Evans of Seton Hill, ranked No. 3 behind Hluschak in Super Region One. The win over Mercyhurst North East was forged by Dunn’s 14-0 major decision at 165 and three straight pins by Jacobs, McKeown and Ebewo. Redshirt sophomore Brock Parker’s win by forfeit at 157 cut the deficit to 15-9, and the four consecutive bonus-point wins made the score 31-15 before Weaver closed the match with a 5-3 decision at 285 to set the final margin. ESU’s match-up with Mercyhurst pitted the No. 4 and No. 7-ranked teams in Super Region One and was a back-and-forth battle until the Warriors’ upper weights took over. Toledo had an 11-5 decision at 133 and Hluschak followed with a 26-second pin of Ian Grecco to give the Warriors a 9-6 lead. Mercyhurst reclaimed a three-point edge with a first-period pin by Shane Foster at 149 and led 15-9 after Jordan Shields edged Parker, 2-1, at 157. Dunn rallied ESU with a pin of Austin Roland at 1:31 to tie the match at 15-15, and Jacobs (8-4), McKeown (6-4) and Ebewo (11-4) all won by decision to put the Warriors back in front and secure the victory. Weaver wrapped up the win with a 3-2 decision (RT;TB3) against Nathan Sharp at 285. Parker, wrestling up at 165, and Jacobs carried the Warriors to their final win of the day over Seton Hill. The Griffins led 13-3 through the first four bouts, including Evans’ major over Hluschak, but Parker responded with a 12-2 major of Tyler Mohlenrich and Jacobs pinned Josh Voelker in 1:12. McKeown and Ebewo won by forfeit at 184 and 197, respectively, while the 157-pound bout was not contested. ESU will take a 4-5 dual record into the second semester, which opens with the Ashland (Ohio) Duals on Saturday, Jan. 8. The Warriors will also compete in the Wilkes Open on Dec. 28. ESU 34, Mercyhurst North East 15 125 – Matt Yanovich (MNE) won by forfeit – MNE 6-0 133 – Jordan Toledo (ESU) dec. Timothy Hubbard, 11-6 – MNE 6-3 141 – Vincent Digravio (MNE) dec. #4 Adam Hluschak, 4-3 – MNE 9-3 149 – Jacob Kondrlik (MNE) pinned Tyler Wilton, 1:20 – MNE 15-3 157 – Brock Parker (ESU) won by forfeit – MNE 15-9 165 – Jesse Dunn (ESU) maj. dec. James Bennett, 14-0 – MNE 15-13 174 – Jeff Jacobs (ESU) pinned Nicholas Digravio, 1:29 – ESU 19-15 184 – Brendan McKeown (ESU) pinned Marlon Baker, 2:52 – ESU 25-15 197 – Ed Ebewo (ESU) pinned Glen Borton, 4:40 – ESU 31-15 285 – Will Weaver (ESU) dec. Richard Welton, 5-3 – ESU 34-15 ESU 27, Mercyhurst 15 125 – Ryan Bohince (M) won by forfeit – M 6-0 133 – Jordan Toledo (ESU) dec. Michael Baxter, 11-5 – M 6-3 141 – #4 Adam Hluschak (ESU) pinned Ian Grecco, 0:26 – ESU 9-6 149 – Shane Foster (M) pinned Tyler Wilton, 1:06 – M 12-9 157 – Jordan Shields (M) dec. Brock Parker, 2-1 – M 15-9 165 – Jesse Dunn (ESU) pinned Austin Roland, 1:31 – Tied 15-15 174 – Jeff Jacobs (ESU) dec. Pat Leahy, 8-4 – ESU 18-15 184 – Brendan McKeown (ESU) dec. Eric Fulmer, 6-4 – ESU 21-15 197 – Ed Ebewo (ESU) dec. Michael Pollard, 11-4 – ESU 24-15 285 – Will Weaver (ESU) dec. Nathan Sharp, 3-2:RT,TB3 – ESU 27-15 ESU 25, Seton Hill 16 125 – Kenny Trumbetta (SH) won by forfeit – SH 6-0 133 – Jordan Toledo (ESU) dec. Josh Testa, 13-7 – SH 6-3 141 – Dallas Evans (SH) maj. dec. #4 Adam Hluschak, 10-2 – SH 10-3 149 – Nick Nichols (SH) dec. Tyler Wilton, 8-1 – SH 13-3 157 – not contested 165 – Brock Parker (ESU) maj. dec. Tyler Mohlenrich, 12-2 – SH 13-7 174 – Jeff Jacobs (ESU) pinned Josh Voelker, 1:12 – Tied 13-13 184 – Brendan McKeown (ESU) won by forfeit – ESU 19-13 197 – Ed Ebewo (ESU) won by forfeit – ESU 25-13 285 – Ron Oswald (SH) dec. Erik Schaffer, 1-0 – ESU 25-16

125 Defending NCAA champion Matt McDonough of Iowa is 20-1 this season and has been on a tear lately. He has pinned six of his last seven opponents. Northwestern's Brandon Precin, a two-time All-American and U.S. Open placewinner, is the only wrestler to defeat McDonough this season. That victory came in the finals of the Midlands. Precin scored a first period takedown in that match, which proved to the difference in a 3-1 victory. McDonough came back to avenge the loss by pinning Precin on Jan. 28. Precin led 3-0 in the third period of their rematch before McDonough threw a headlock and picked up a pin with under a minute remaining in the match. That is the only blemish on Precin's record this season. Two-time All-American Zach Sanders of Minnesota is 25-3 and ranked fifth. Sanders has not faced Precin this season, but is coming off a 10-3 loss to McDonough. Prior to that loss, Sanders had reeled off 12 straight victories. Penn State's Brad Pataky, a two-time NCAA qualifier, has battled injuries this season, but should figure into the mix. He lost a close match to Sanders, 10-8, in his first match back in over a month. Automatic NCAA Qualifiers: Five Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 1 McDonough (Iowa) No. 3 Precin (Northwestern) No. 5 Sanders (Minnesota) No. 10 Pataky (Penn State) Pre-Seeds: 1. McDonough (Iowa) 2. Precin (Northwestern) 3. Sanders (Minnesota) 4. Pataky (Penn State) 5. Boyle (Michigan) 6. Brooks (Indiana) 7. Eppert (Purdue) 8. Kelliher (Wisconsin) Andrew Hipps' Finals Prediction: McDonough (Iowa) over Precin (Northwestern) T.R. Foley's Finals Prediction: Precin (Northwestern) over McDonough (Iowa)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The 24th-ranked Virginia wrestling team rolled up the second-most points in program history in a dominating 53-0 victory over Campbell on Saturday afternoon at Carter Gym in Buies Creek, N.C. Virginia swept all 10 weight classes, with nine of the 10 wins resulting in bonus points. The Cavaliers' 53-point output marked the second-most points in a dual in school history, matching a 53-point performance against Norfolk State in 1999. It also was the most points Virginia has ever tallied in a road dual and the second-largest margin of victory in program history. Virginia (8-2) racked up bonus points in the final nine bouts, picking up five falls, two technical falls and a major decision. Campbell (0-3) forfeited at 149 pounds. Only one weight class was decided by decision, the opener of the dual at 125 pounds, where Matt Snyder (R-So., Flemington, N.J.) just missed a major decision with a 9-2 win over Tanner Bidelspach. Chris Henrich (Sr., Lansdale, Pa.), ranked second nationally at 174 pounds, pinned Peter Comis in just one minute, 44 seconds to push his record to 10-0 this year while recording the 111th win of his career. Now five shy of matching the school wins record, Henrich moved into a tie for third place on the UVa career wins ledger with Rocco Caponi, who ironically was on the opposite sideline Saturday as a Campbell assistant coach. Henrich's pin started a string of four straight falls to end the dual for Virginia. No. 19 Jon Fausey (R-Fr., Dalmatia, Pa.) pushed his record to 9-1 with a pin of John Merickel at 184, and No. 17 Mike Salopek (R-So., North Huntingdon, Pa.) needed just 51 seconds to pin Justin Sparrow at 197. Jack Danilkowicz (R-Sr., Green Oaks, Ill.) wrapped up the Cavaliers' day at heavyweight with a fall over Parker Burns in 2:31. Joe Spisak (Fr., Boiling Springs, Pa.) notched a fall over Gabe Gardner at 133 pounds. Freshmen Gus Sako (Cleveland, Ohio) and Conner Miller (Washington, Va.) recorded tech falls at 133 and 165 pounds, respectively, while Shawn Harris (R-Jr., Cleveland, Ohio) picked up a major decision over Jake Fose at 157. Virginia will break for the holidays next week before returning the following week to compete Dec. 29 and 30 in the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C. Results: 125 - No. 19 Matt Snyder (UVa) dec. Tanner Bidelspach (CU), 9-2; UVa 3-0 133 - Joe Spisak (UVa) pinned Gabe Gardner (CU), 1:12; UVa 9-0 141 - Gus Sako (UVa) tech fall Brad Merriman (CU), 4:05; UVa 14-0 149 - Derek Valenti (UVa) won by forfeit; UVa 20-0 157 - Shawn Harris (UVa) major dec. Jake Fose (CU), 10-2; UVa 24-0 165 - Conner Miller (UVa) tech fall Joel Caudill (CU), 5:06; UVa 29-0 174 - No. 2 Chris Henrich (UVa) pinned Peter Comis (CU), 1:44; UVa 35-0 184 - No. 19 Jon Fausey (UVa) pinned John Merickel (CU), 3:21; UVa 41-0 197 - No. 17 Mike Salopek (UVa) pinned Justin Sparrow (CU), :51; UVa 47-0 285 - Jack Danilkowicz (UVa) pinned Parker Burns (CU), 2:31; UVa 53-0

Charleston, S.C. -- The Citadel wrestling team won their Southern Conference opening dual on Saturday in convincing fashion over Davidson at McAlister Field House, 29-9. The Bulldogs (2-5, 1-0) move to 48-0 all-time against the Wildcats (0-1, 0-1). Davidson won the opening match, but The Citadel won the following six matchups to break open the dual. "I thought we wrestled well overall," said Bulldogs Head Coach Rob Hjerling. "It's nice to get a win to start out conference action. We are finishing this semester on a positive note. The guys will get some rest and get ready to get back after it here as the Southern Scuffle approaches." Starting at 141 pounds, Davidson's Vitaly Radsky used three takedowns to power past Jordan Dix. Earning four escape points, Dix could not get anything going as Radsky added a point for an escape and a riding time point to double-up Dix, 8-4, to give Davidson the early dual lead. Nick LaFevre snagged a takedown on Scott Ray late in the first period and rode him out. In the second period, LaFevre would once again register a late takedown to double his lead to 4-0 heading to the third period. Starting down in the final period, LaFevre escaped to go up 5-0 for the win at 149 pounds. At 157, Pierre Frazile put Davidson's Brent Mowry on the mat early with a takedown. After a Wildcat escape, Frazile would once again put Mowry down, going up 4-1. A third takedown in the first period, following a Mowry escape would increase the lead to 6-2. Frazile and Mowry would exchange escape points to begin the second and third periods. Frazile earned a final takedown late in the third period and Mowry escaped as time expired. A riding time point would give Frazile the 10-4 win and would give The Citadel their first team lead of the afternoon at 6-3. No. 14 Turtogtokh Luvsandorj's early takedown of the Wildcats' Tyler Mullen in the first stanza was the difference at 165 pounds. Mullen earned back-to-back escape points to tie the match heading to the final period and an escape by Luvsandorj to start the third proved to be the match winner at 3-2 for the Bulldogs. An early takedown by J.C. Oddo at 174 pounds, set the tone of the match with Davidson's Scott Patrick .Oddo nearly had Patrick pinned to the end first period, but time expired and Oddo was awarded two more points. Starting down in the second period, Oddo quickly escaped and then downed Patrick, who was not able to escape this time around as Oddo earned the pin at the 4:46 mark to put The Citadel in front, 15-3. "It's nice to get a team win here to start the conference season," said Oddo. "We have had a very challenging schedule early on that has prepared us to get to this point. Hopefully the win will propel us towards some of our goals as we head into the new year." Justin Sparrow came out of gate quickly for the Bulldogs at 184 as he took down Davidson's Ike Crews and then nearly pinned the Wildcat to move ahead, 5-0. Another nearfall would give Sparrow a 7-0 advantage to end the first period. A late takedown in the second period increased Sparrow's lead to 9-0. The third period saw Sparrow score another takedown, awarded a warning point and earned a point for riding time for a 13-0 major decision. A forfeit by Davidson at 197 would give Kelby Smith the win and increase the Bulldogs' team lead to 25-3. At heavyweight, Luke Johnson and Davidson's Charlie Wolff did not score in the opening period. Both grapplers would exchange escape points in the second and third periods and in overtime. A stalemate once again in the first tie-breaker, Wolff was finally able to wear down the freshman and earned a win with a takedown in the second tie-breaker, 5-3. Turning over the line-up, Richard Alarcon quickly downed Davidson's Matt Zarth in the first period at 125 pounds. An escape by Zarth quickly turned into another takedown for Alarcon. A reversal by Zarth would cut the lead, but not to be outdone, Alarcon reversed back on Zarth to go up 6-3. Another takedown and nearfall for Alarcon put the Bulldog in front, 11-3, at the end of one period. Starting down in the second, Alarcon escaped and took down Zarth once again to move in front, 14-3. A late escape by Davidson would the lead to 14-4 heading to the third period. Another escape by Zarth and a riding time point for Alarcon would make the final score 15-5. In the final and perhaps most anticipated match of the day, returning SoCon champion Alex Radsky of Davidson would square off with three-time SoCon placer Tyler Sim at 133 pounds. Radsky took down Sim late in the first period to move in front, 2-0. Starting down in the second period, Sim would escape, but another takedown by Radsky would move the Wildcat in front, 4-1. Another escape by Sim would quickly turn into the third takedown of the day by Radsky. Starting down in the third, Radsky escaped to move in front 7-2. A late takedown by Sim would cut into the defecit, but a reversal by Radsky, coupled with a riding time point would give Davidson the win, 10-4. Results: 141: Vitaly Radsky (DAV) dec. Jordan Dix (CIT), 8-4 149: Nick LaFevre (CIT) dec. Scott Ray (DAV), 5-0 157: Pierre Frazile (CIT) dec. Brent Mowry (DAV), 10-4 165: #14 Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (CIT) dec. Tyler Mullen (DAV), 3-2 174: J.C. Oddo (CIT) pinned Scott Patrick (DAV), 4:46 184: Justin Sparrow (CIT) maj. dec. Ike Crews (DAV), 13-0 197: Kelby Smith (CIT) wins by forfeit 285: Charlie Wolff (DAV) dec. Luke Johnson (CIT), 5-3 TB2 125: Richard Alarcon (CIT) maj. dec. Matt Zarth (DAV), 15-5 133: Alex Radsky (DAV) dec. Tyler Sim (CIT), 10-4 The Bulldogs return to action on Dec. 29 and 30 at the annual Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C. For more information on Bulldog Wrestling, visit CitadelSports.com.

The No. 10 American University wrestling team opened its home dual meet schedule Sunday with a 23-15 exhibition win over Old Dominion in Bender Arena. American won six of 10 bouts on the day with four Eagles earning bonus points, including No. 1 Steve Fittery, No. 4 Ryan Flores, No. 19 Daniel Mitchell and Patrick Graham. 157-pounder Fittery opened the dual with a 17-1 technical fall over Chad Lowman. The 2009 All-American took a 7-1 lead after the first period and pushed his advantage to 13-1 with three backpoints late in the second. Fittery added three more backpoints in the third and with riding time advantage earned the 17-1 victory. Graham made it two in a row and gave American a 9-0 lead with a 10-1 major decision against Dan Rivera. Graham scored a takedown five seconds into the match and after two backpoints in the second period held a 6-0 margin. The sophomore tacked on an escape and takedown in the third and with riding time won by the final 10-1 margin. Old Dominion got on the board with a pair of victories at 174 lbs. and 184 lbs. to cut American's lead to 9-6. Tristan Warner won by decision, 11-4, over Phillip Barreiro at 174 before Joe Budi knocked off Thomas Barreiro by decision at 184, 6-0. Mitchell put American back in the drivers seat and ended the Monarchs' run with a 10-2 major decision over Jacob Henderson. Mitchell built a 6-2 lead in the first period with three takedowns and pushed the score to the final margin with an escape, takedown and riding time in the third. American owned a 17-6 advantage after Flores defeated Grant Chapman by major decision at heavyweight, 11-0. Flores opened the bout with a takedown in the first period and extended his lead to 5-0 in the second with three backpoints. The junior then tacked on a reversal and three more backpoints in the third and with riding time advantage walked away with the 11-0 victory. Old Dominion once again made it a tight race picking up wins at 125 lbs. and 133 lbs. This time it was No. 4 James Nicholson earning a 19-5 major decision against Thomas Williams and No. 12 Kyle Hutter defeating Kevin Tao by technical fall, 18-3, which put the score at 17-15. American was able to rebound and closed the dual out with victories at 141 lbs. and 149 lbs. to seal the victory. 141-pounder Matt Mariacher won the day's most dramatic bout, taking a 6-5 decision over Brennan Brumley. Mariacher held a 2-1 advantage after the first period and after each grappler scored a reversal in the second Mariacher led by a 4-3 margin. After Brumley scored an escape to even the match in the third period, Mariacher was able to get in for a takedown and a 6-4 lead. Brumley cut his deficit to 6-5 with an escape late in the period but could not convert a takedown, giving the match to Mariacher. No. 10 Ganbayar Sanjaa won by the same 6-5 margin against Joey Metzler at 149 lbs. to close out the dual. Sanjaa and Metzler took a 3-3 tie into the second period where Sanjaa earned an escape point for a 4-3 lead. Metzler retied the match at four with an escape of his own in the third but Sanjaa quickly worked his way in on a takedown for a 6-4 advantage. Metler scored one more escape point but could not finish a shot down the stretch, allowing Sanjaa to take the 6-5 decision. American will return to action December 29-30 at the 48th annual Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill. Fittery was named Champion of Champions at last year's tournament, leading the Eagles to a program-record eighth-place finish. Results: 157 – No. 1 Steve Fittery (AU) tech. fall Chad Lowman (ODU), 17-1 165 – Patrick Graham (AU) major dec. Dan Rivera (ODU), 10-1 174 – Tristan Warner (ODU) dec. Phillip Barreiro (AU), 11-4 184 – Joe Budi (ODU) dec. Thomas Barreiro (AU), 6-0 197 – No. 19 Daniel Mitchell (AU) major dec. Jacob Henderson (ODU), 10-2 HWT – No. 4 Ryan Flores (AU) major dec. Grant Chapman (ODU), 11-0 125 – No. 4 James Nicholson (ODU) major dec. Thomas Williams (AU), 19-5 133 – No. 12 Kyle Hutter (ODU) tech. fall Kevin Tao (AU), 18-3 141 – Matt Mariacher (AU) dec. Brennan Brumley (ODU), 6-5 149 – No. 10 Ganbayar Sanjaa (AU) dec. Joey Metzler (ODU), 6-5

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Second-ranked Brandon Precin and fifth-ranked Jason Welch each pinned two opponents to lead a Northwestern team that improved to 10-0 on the year with shutout victories over Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Sunday. The 'Cats blanked the Huskies, 38-0, before blowing past host SIUE, 51-0. The 51 points amassed against the Cougars mark the first time since 1986 that Northwestern has topped the 50-point plateau in a dual match. "I think we're continuing to get better with each match and with each week of practice," said NU head coach Drew Pariano of his unbeaten Wildcats. "Our goal today was to win all 20 matches and we accomplished that. We weren't pleased about our loss at NIU last year and I thought we came out fired up for that match. Brandon Precin is our sparkplug and he really took care of business today." Against Northern Illinois, Precin recorded a first-period pin of Nick Smith for his 14th win of the season and followed that up with a pin in only 58 seconds against SIU-E's Kris Treat, his sixth fall of his senior campaign. After a win by 16th-ranked Levi Mele at 133 pounds, freshman Kaleb Friedley notched a quality win against the Huskies' 2010 NCAA qualifier Tristen DeShazer, a 6-1 decision that gave NU a 12-0 advantage. Seventh-ranked Andrew Nadhir remained perfect on the year at 149 with a major decision over Vince Castillo before fifth-ranked Welch stepped up at 157 against another national tournament qualifier, Bryan Deutsch. Welch needed only 37 seconds to record the fall -- his third of the season -- to break the spirit of the Huskies. Northwestern was efficient in winning four of the next five matches by decision while junior John Schoen won with bonus points at 197, majoring junior Mike Lukowski, 9-1, to move to 9-3 this season. Pariano and the Wildcats turned their attention to the host Cougars, with senior captain Robert Joyce following Precin's quick fall with a 2-0 decision win over John Petrov. The 'Cats won by fall in three of the next four bouts, with Friedley working for his team-leading eighth pin of the year against Lawrence Blackful at 141. Sophomore Kevin Bialka also got in on the action at 165, pinning Gabe Hocum in the first period to improve to 6-5 on the year. A dominating tech fall by Brian Roddy, Jr. preceded a 4-0 decision victory by 184-pounder Aaron Jones -- who is now 12-1 on the year -- and a final fall by Schoen over Robert Cooney. Having run through its first 10 dual matches with a perfect record while outscoring the opposition by a remarkable count of 348-52, Northwestern now has 10 days to prepare for the 48th annual Midlands Championships to be contested Dec. 29-30 at NU's Welsh-Ryan Arena. A pretournament list of contenders will be released by Northwestern this week. #9 Northwestern 38, Northern Illinois 0 125: #2 Brandon Precin (NU) FALL Nick Smith (NIU), 2:43 (NU 6, NIU 0) 133: #16 Levi Mele (NU) dec. Kevin Fanta (NIU), 9-5 (NU 9, NIU 0) 141: #20 Kaleb Friedley (NU) dec. Tristen DeShazer (NIU), 6-1 (NU 12, NIU 0) 149: #7 Andrew Nadhir (NU) maj. dec. Vince Castillo (NIU), 12-4 (NU 16, NIU 0) 157: #5 Jason Welch (NU) FALL Bryan Deutsch (NIU), 0:37 (NU 22, NIU 0) 165: Kevin Bialka (NU) dec. Matt Mougin (NIU), 4-2 (NU 25, NIU 0) 174: Brian Roddy (NU) dec. Zach Benzio (NIU), 6-0 (NU 28, NIU 0) 184: Aaron Jones (NU) dec. Brad Dieckhaus (NIU), 8-1 (NU 31, NIU 0) 197: John Schoen (NU) maj. dec Mike Lukowski (NIU), 9-1 (NU 35, NIU 0) 285: Ben Kuhar (NU) dec. Dakota Greenhaw (NIU), 7-2 (NU 38, NIU 0) #9 Northwestern 51, SIU Edwardsville 0 125: #2 Brandon Precin (NU) FALL Kris Treat (SIUE), 0:58 (NU 6, SIUE 0) 133: Robert Joyce (NU) dec. John Petrov (SIUE), 2-0 (NU 9, SIUE 0) 141: #20 Kaleb Friedley (NU) FALL Lawrence Blackful (SIUE), 5:22 (NU 15, SIUE 0) 149: #7 Andrew Nadhir (NU) maj. dec. Derrick Pousson (SIUE), 15-2 (NU 19, SIUE 0) 157: #5 Jason Welch (NU) FALL Steven Ross (SIUE), 3:50 (NU 25, SIUE 0) 165: Kevin Bialka (NU) FALL Gabe Hocum (SIUE), 2:09 (NU 31, SIUE 0) 174: Brian Roddy (NU) Tech Fall DeShoun White (SIUE), 18-1 (4:57) (NU 36, SIUE 0) 184: Aaron Jones (NU) dec. Jordan Bakley (SIUE), 4-0 (NU 39, SIUE 0) 197: John Schoen (NU) FALL Robert Cooney (SIUE), 1:58 (NU 45, SIUE 0) 285: Ben Kuhar (NU) win by forfeit (NU 51, SIUE 0) Northwestern Wrestling

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The No. 9 Fighting Illini won six of the 10 bouts and scored bonus points in four of them, including unlikely pins by No. 15 Tony Dallago at 184 pounds and Pat Walker at heavyweight, to top No. 15 Purdue, 26-15, at Huff Hall on Sunday. It was Illinois' twelfth win in its last 13 duals against the Boilermakers. Fans also donated nearly 100 pounds of food and over $300 to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank in support of the Illini's drive to help the foodbank gather food and funds during the holiday season. Illinois improves to 2-0 on the season, 1-0 in the Big Ten. "Those two pins were huge for us today," Illinois head coach Jim Heffernan. "Tony Dallago is really dangerous and Walker's win was gigantic. We've been trying to get Pat to focus on going full speed all the time, and you saw today what can happen when he goes full speed." With the dual starting at 149 pounds, No. 13 Eric Terrazas got off to a fast start against Sam Patacsil, shooting shortly after the opening whistle and landing a takedown 12 seconds into the match. Terrazas dominated the first period, adding two more takedowns for a 6-2 lead and 2:12 of riding time after the first stanza. Patacsil started down and escaped quickly, but Terrazas added a takedown late in the second period and rode out Patacsil for an 8-3 lead. The pair started neutral in the third and Terrazas was awarded a stalling point as Patacsil backed off when he shot. Terrazas finished the takedown and cut Patacsil loose, but the Boiler hit a cement mixer with 30 seconds left to avoid a major decision. Terrazas fought off Patacsil's efforts for the turn and won, 12-6, to put the Illini up 3-0. At 157, Purdue's No. 14 Colton Salazar hit a takedown on the edge early in the period but Kyle Dooley escaped. Salazar hooked him for a takedown and two near-fall points, but Dooley wrestled to his stomach to avoid the fall. Salazar cut him loose and the pair finished the period on their feet with Salazar leading 6-2. Dooley started down in the second period and Salazar cut him loose and hit a takedown with 48 seconds left, then cut him loose and scored another takedown for the 10-4 lead after two periods. Salazar started down in the third and escaped quickly, then Dooley got a leg and wrestled through for a takedown after a lengthy scramble. Dooley held on for as long as he could but Salazar rolled through for the reversal just before time expired. After the riding-time point was added, Salazar took the 14-6 major decision to put Purdue up 4-3. Conrad Polz hit a quick double-leg against Kyle Mosier at 165 for an early 2-0 lead. After Mosier escaped, Polz eventually got a leg and finished for a takedown with 30 seconds left. Polz rode him out, then Mosier started down in the second period and escaped in 35 seconds. Polz picked Mosier's ankle with 20 seconds left and scored the takedown before riding him out for the 6-2 lead after two periods. The pair started neutral in the third and there was no scoring in the period as Polz won, 7-2, to take a 6-4 lead in the team score. At 174, Purdue's No. 14 Luke Manuel had one of No. 8 Jordan Blanton's legs two different times early in the first period, but Blanton scrambled out both times. Blanton countered a Manuel shot but the Boiler fended off the attack for a stalemate. The pair wrestled a scoreless first period and Blanton started down in the second period. He escaped in eight seconds and turned his back to Manuel after an elbow pass, giving Manuel the opening for a re-shot and a takedown on the edge for a 2-1 lead after two periods. Manuel started down in the third and Blanton cut him loose, but the two finished on their feet as the Boiler took the 3-1 win to put his squad up 7-6. A couple of early scrambles ended with Purdue's No. 8 A.J. Kissel scoring a takedown with 40 seconds left in the period. He tried to run an arm bar on No. 15 Tony Dallago but Dallago flipped over him, locked in a headlock and pinned Kissel with one second left in the first period, giving the Illini a 12-7 lead. Purdue's No. 9 Logan Brown scored a pair of takedowns against Joe Barczak at 197 for a 4-1 lead after the first period. Barczak started down in the second period and Brown cut him loose, then Barczak was hit with a stalling point as Brown took him down to make the score 7-2 after two periods. Brown started down in the third and escaped, then got a leg, lifted it and scored a takedown. After adding the riding-time point, Brown took the 11-2 major decision to cut Illinois' lead to 12-11. After a scoreless first period at heavyweight, Pat Walker started down in the second and escaped for a 1-0 lead. Purdue's Roger Vukobratovich started down in the third and escaped quickly to tie the match 1-1. Off a tie-up, Walker secured a bodylock, slammed Vukobratovich and pinned him in 5:33 for an 18-11 Illini lead. At 125, Logan Arlis and Camden Eppert had some early scrambles and Arlis looked to block a shot but Eppert knocked his hand away and finished the takedown with 2:12 left in the period. Eppert cut him loose after 1:27 of riding him, then got a leg, lifted it and finally finished the takedown with two seconds left for the 4-1 lead after the first period. Arlis started down in the second and escaped with 40 seconds left but gave up a takedown with four seconds left to give Eppert the 6-2 lead after two periods. Eppert started down in the third, scored a reversal, cut Arlis loose and scored a takedown to go up 10-4 after cutting Arlis loose again. He scored another takedown and added the riding-time point for the 13-4 major decision, cutting Illinois' lead to 18-15. No. 5 B.J. Futrell scored early and often against Purdue's Jake Fleckenstein at 133, notching three first-period takedowns and a two-point near-fall as the horn sounded for an 8-2 lead after a period. He started down in the second and escaped quickly, then hit two takedowns for a 13-3 lead after two periods. Fleckenstein started down in the third and escaped quickly. After no further scoring in the period, Futrell added the riding-time point for the 14-4 major decision to lock up the team victory at 22-15. No. 3 Jimmy Kennedy hit a double-leg 35 seconds into his match against Akif Eren at 141 and Kennedy cut him loose after riding him for 1:14. Kennedy notched another takedown with 56 seconds left before cutting Eren loose and scoring again on the edge of the mat. He cut Eren loose off the restart and scored again for an 8-3 lead after a period. Kennedy started down and escaped off the whistle in the second period. Eren looked to score but Kennedy blocked it and threw Eren to the edge of the mat while keeping a toe inbounds for the takedown. He cut Eren loose and scored again, then cut him loose again before notching a takedown with 50 seconds left in the second period. He released Eren and took a 15-6 lead into the third period. Eren started down in the third and Kennedy released him after trying to turn the Boiler. After no further scoring in the period, Kennedy added the riding-time point for the 16-7 major decision to cap Illinois' 26-15 victory. The Illini return to action in 10 days at the 48th annual Midlands Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. The tournament runs Dec. 29-30. Results: 149: #13 Eric Terrazas (ILL) dec. Sam Patacsil (PUR), 12-6 (3-0) 157: #14 Colton Salazar (PUR) maj. dec. Kyle Dooley (ILL), 14-6 (3-4) 165: Conrad Polz (ILL) dec. Kyle Mosier (PUR), 7-2 (6-4) 174: #14 Luke Manuel (PUR) dec. #8 Jordan Blanton (ILL), 3-1 (6-7) 184: #15 Tony Dallago (ILL) pinned #8 A.J. Kissel (PUR), 2:59 (12-7) 197: #9 Logan Brown (PUR) maj. dec. Joe Barczak (ILL), 11-2 (12-11) HWT: Pat Walker (ILL) pinned Roger Vukobratovich (PUR), 5:33 (18-11) 125: Camden Eppert (PUR) maj. dec. Logan Arlis (ILL), 13-4 (18-15) 133: #5 B.J. Futrell (ILL) maj. dec. Jake Fleckenstein (PUR), 14-4 (22-15) 141: #3 Jimmy Kennedy (ILL) maj. dec. Akif Eren (PUR), 16-7 (26-15)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The No. 18 Missouri wrestling team (8-4) swept through Eastern Michigan and Indiana at the Indiana Duals on Sunday afternoon, earning team victories of 32-6 over EMU and 26-12 over Indiana. The theme of the day for Mizzou was the early-match bonus points, which helped guide the Tigers to two big victories. Missouri scored two wins by major, a win by technical fall and a forfeit victory in the first four matches against EMU, and two pins at 133 and 141 against Indiana. No. 18 Mizzou 32, Eastern Michigan 6 125 No. 6 Alan Waters (MU) major dec. Jared Germaine (EMU), 15-5 4 0 133 No. 27 Nathan McCormick (MU) wins by forfeit 10 0 141 No. 13 Todd Schavrien (MU) tech. fall Mike Leholm (EMU), 17-0 (2:50) 15 0 149 No. 23 Kyle Bradley (MU) major dec. Corey Phillips (EMU), 14-6 19 0 157 Aaron Sulzer (EMU) dec. Nick Gregoris (MU), 6-3 19 3 165 No. 9 Zach Toal (MU) dec. Nicholas Hendrick (EMU), 11-5 22 3 174 Patrick Wright (MU) dec. Chris Eggert (EMU), 4-0 25 3 184 No. 23 Mike Larson (MU) major dec. Khodar Hoballah (EMU), 13-5 29 3 197 Nick Whitenburg (EMU) dec. No. 6 Brent Haynes (MU), 9-4 29 6 HWT No. 5 Dom Bradley (MU) dec. David Wade (EMU), 5-2 32 6 No. 18 Mizzou 26, Indiana 12 125 No. 6 Alan Waters (MU) dec. Justin Brooks (UI), 12-6 3 0 133 No. 27 Nathan McCormick (MU) fall No. 25 Matt Ortega (UI), 6:25 9 0 Mizzou deducted one team point for bench misconduct 8 0 141 No. 13 Todd Schavrien (MU) fall Mitchell Richey (UI), 4:50 14 0 149 No. 6 Kurt Kinser (UI) dec. No. 23 Kyle Bradley (MU), 4-0 14 3 157 No. 10 Paul Young (UI) fall Nick Gregoris (MU), 5:59 14 9 165 No. 9 Zach Toal (MU) dec. Ryan LeBlanc (UI), 2-1 17 9 174 No. 14 Dorian Henderson (MU) dec. Nick Avery (UI), 5-3 20 9 184 No. 23 Mike Larson (MU) dec. Eric Cameron (UI), 2-1 23 9 197 No. 8 Matt Powless (UI) dec. No. 6 Brent Haynes (MU), 8-5 23 12 HWT No. 5 Dom Bradley (MU) dec. No. 23 Ricky Alcala (UI), 1-0 26 12 Missouri started their afternoon with Eastern Michigan, which began with Alan Waters, ranked as high as No. 6 in the country, up against Jared Germaine at 125 pounds. Waters was taken down right off the bat but quickly reversed Germaine and scored two straight three-point near falls before allowing an escape to take an 8-3 lead. Waters picked up another takedown before the end up the period, extending his lead to 10-3. In the second, Waters scored his second reversal of the match, while a takedown and riding time in the third gave him a 15-5 victory. Sophomore Nathan McCormick was awarded a win by forfeit at 133 pounds, extending the Mizzou lead to 10-0. Todd Schavrien helped make it 15-0 as he won by technical fall, making quick work of Mike Leholm. Schavrien picked up a quick takedown and rolled Leholm over for five straight three-point near falls in the first period, scoring the technical fall with 10 seconds left in the frame. At 149, Kyle Bradley picked up the major decision with a 14-6 win to push Mizzou’s lead to 19-0. Bradley scored a takedown in each of the first two periods for a 4-0 lead heading into the third. From there, he picked up a quick escape and scored four takedowns around three cuts to extend his lead, and added another point with 2:52 of riding time. After Eastern Michigan won at 157, Zach Toal put the Tigers back on the board with a decision at 165. After giving up the initial takedown early in the first, Toal picked up an escape and a takedown to take a 3-2 lead into the second. Toal escaped twice in the second and scored a takedown, while Nicholas Hendrick picked up a takedown of his own. A three-point near fall in the third for Toal, plus 2:18 in riding time, helped him to an 11-5 lead. Junior Patrick Wright picked up a 4-0 victory at 174 pounds to push the Tiger lead to 25-3. After a scoreless first period, Wright rode out Chris Eggert in the second. In the third, Wright picked up an escape and a takedown along with the riding time point. Mizzou got bonus points again at 184, as Mike Larson defeated Khodar Hoballah by a 13-5 score. A pair of takedowns in the first, along with three in the second, helped Larson go up 11-3 heading to the final period. Junior Dom Bradley closed out the match with a 5-2 victory at heavyweight. Bradley scored a takedown in the first and an escape in the second for a 3-0 lead. In the third, after giving up an escape, Bradley scored another takedown, securing his 12th win of the year. After their first win, the Tigers went right back at it with Indiana, a match that Missouri won by a 26-12 score. Missouri jumped out to a 14-0 lead after three matches. Waters started off against Justin Brooks and picked up an early takedown and a three-point near fall for a quick 5-0 lead. After a Brooks escape, Waters scored one more takedown before the end of the first period for a 7-1 lead. A reversal by Waters to start the second extended his lead to 9-1. He increased his lead to 11-4 with another takedown, but Brooks picked up a takedown late in the match to avoid the major decision, as Waters went on to win 12-6. At 133, McCormick was impressive on the attack and on top against No. 25 Matt Ortega, as he scored two takedowns in the first and picked up over three minutes of riding time by the middle of the second period. With a 4-3 lead heading to the third, McCormick scored an escape to push his lead to 5-3. After being hit for stalling, McCormick landed another takedown and put Ortega on his back for the fall at 6:25. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Missouri bench deducted a team point, giving the Tigers an 8-0 lead. Missouri got their second straight pin when Schavrien picked up a defensive pin at the 4:50 mark against Mitchell Richey. Schavrien had gone up 3-0 with a first period takedown and a second period escape before Richey attempted a cradle and got stuck flat on his back. Indiana fought back in it with a decision at 149 and a fall at 157, cutting the Missouri lead to 14-9, but the Tigers clinched the match with three straight wins at 165, 174 and 184. Toal knocked off Ryan LeBlanc by a 2-1 score at 165. LeBlanc picked up his point on an illegal hold call, while Toal fought to an escape in the third and riding time. At 174, No. 17 Dorian Henderson defeated Indiana’s Nick Avery, 5-3. Henderson came out and scored an immediate takedown and picked up over 2:00 of riding time in the first before giving up a late escape. The Columbus, Ga., native got up and out quickly in the second to push his lead to 3-1, but Avery scored a takedown to even the match with 38 seconds left in the second. A late escape in the second gave him a 4-3 lead, and he rode Avery out in the third for the 5-3 win. Up 20-9, Larson’s second win of the day at 184 secured the dual for the Tigers, as he defeated Eric Cameron by a 2-1 final. An escape 10 seconds into the second, plus the riding time point, pushed Larson to the victory. Dom Bradley closed the Indiana Duals with a 1-0 victory over No. 23 Ricky Alcala. Bradley rode Alcala out for the entire second period and fought off Alcala’s shots in the third for the win. After a week and a half off, Missouri will return to action when they head to the Midlands Tournament on Dec. 29-30. For more information, stay tuned to mutigers.com.

NEWARK, Del. -- In a Beast of the East weekend marked by its length and tight matches, the championship finals were no exception with nine matches having a scoreless first period, three matches going to overtime, and five other matches decided by two points or less. Championship finals in the first three weight classes had scoreless first periods. The opening match at 103 pounds was a rematch of the semifinal from last weekend's Walsh Ironman, with No. 1 Darian Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) battling it out against No. 9 Joey McKenna (Blair Academy, New Jersey). This match was tied at 1-1 headed into the overtime period. Cruz secured the win in sudden victory with a takedown off of his leg attack. "I had to try and open him up and keep the pressure on," said Cruz after his championship match. "It's good to have these high intensity matches. They emphasize the importance of keeping my mind clear ad reducing tension." Cruz was the lone champion and one of three place-winners for the Hawks, who finished in fourth place as a team with 135 points. "We've been tested to the umpteenth degree these last two weeks as a team and coaching staff," commented head coach Jeff Karam. "We've got a really young team, and were without a few pieces these last two weeks, so I'm optimistic about our prospects heading into the dual meet season and state tournament." Fellow Bethlehem Catholic wrestler No. 11 Zeke Moisey fell short in the 112-pound final against J.R. Wert (Christiansburg, Virginia). Wert used a second period rideout, a third period escape, and late takedown to secure the 3-0 victory. Being in his third high school program in the last two years, Wert has had the benefits of many helpful resources along the way. "I feel so comfortable on top because of working with Mitchell Port (state champ for Bellefonte, Pennsylvania last year and redshirting this year at Edinboro)," he said. "Plus working with Joey Dance the last couple of months has been very good and helpful, along with Daryl Weber (Christiansburg head coach)." Fellow Blue Demon No. 11 Joey Dance was in the 119-pound final against No. 4 Robert Deutsch (Eastern Regional, New Jersey). Like the first two matches, this one was scoreless after a period. Similar to the 103-pound final, the match went to overtime with a 1-1 score. After no scoring in the sudden victory period, it went to the tiebreak periods. Deutsch was able to ride out Dance in the first tiebreak, and then score an escape in the second to win 2-1. This was the third one point victory of the day for Deutsch, the 2009 New Jersey state champion and Junior National freestyle All-American this past summer. "(These narrow matches) come down to determination, hard work in the wrestling room, and coming out there prepared," Deutsch observed. "Bobby (Stinson, the new head coach) pushes me to my maximum and knows how to prepare me to perform." Starting a run of three consecutive Blair Academy, New Jersey finalists -- the Buccaneers had five in all on the way to dominating their way to the team title with 248 points -- was No. 3 Mark Grey at 125 pounds. Grey was the tournament's most dominant wrestler, and that showed with a 12-3 major decision victory over Kyle Casaletto (Southern Regional, New Jersey) in the championship final. Three takedowns in the third period really separated a match that was already out of reach after two periods for the Major Ray Mendoza Award winner for scoring the most team points. "I really wanted to dominate every phase of the match this weekend," said Grey after winning his third Beast of the East title despite having no titles at the Ironman. "And I thought I did (dominate throughout). Should Grey win a Beast of the East title next year, he would become the first wrestler to ever win four Beast of the East championships. Teammate Todd Preston, ranked thirteenth nationally, was not as fortunate as Grey in his finals match against No. 2 Zach Horan (Nazareth, Pennsylvania). The 2008 Cadet National freestyle champion, a Fargo runner-up the last two years, and three-time state runner-up used takedowns in the first and second periods to earn a 4-2 victory. "It feels great to win a title, especially always being near the top but seemingly not getting it done," Horan commented. "I hope to continue taking home first place medals all year long, in particular at the state tournament in March." In third of the consecutive finals for Blair Academy, No. 1 Austin Ormsbee came through with a 6-2 victory against No. 20 Jeff Canfora (Delbarton, New Jersey) in the final at 135 pounds. This capped off a dominant weekend, which included two pins, a major decision, a technical fall, and a 9-2 victory prior to the finals match. "I wanted to come in here and get my season back on track after losing (to Hunter Stieber, also ranked first nationally) in the Ironman final," said Ormsbee, a Junior National freestyle champion. "I'm happy with the results because I wrestled hard and got them." It was yet another school -- Delbarton -- with a pair of finalists in back-to-back weight classes, as Devon Gobbo advanced to the 140-pound final with victories over a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers on Sunday morning; 9-4 over No. 18 Mark Pinero (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) in the quarterfinals, and 5-4 against Walsh Ironman champion No. 12 Evan Henderson (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) in the semifinal. The championship final saw Gobbo facing No. 11 Jacob Crawford (Millbrook, Virginia), an opponent he had suffered a 7-2 loss against in the consolation semifinals at the Super 32 Challenge. However, the tone of this championship final would be different as Gobbo led 2-0 after two periods with a first period takedown and rideout to end that period and throughout the second period. There were three takedowns in the third period, two for Gobbo sandwiching one for Crawford to seal the 8-3 victory. Even being a two-time New Jersey state placer and Super 32 Challenge placer, this tournament validated a marked improvement for Gobbo. "I've been training the whole spring, summer, and fall for this," he said."I just had to wrestle the same way, and it would work out." It did with flying colors, that is for sure. He also credited his training environment, working at the Iron Horse club and with teammate Canfora. A pair of top ten wrestlers in the nation at 145 pounds, and uncommitted seniors ranked among the top 50 in the Class of 2010 met in the final – No. 2 Nick Hodgkins (Wyomissing, Pennsylvania) upended No. 10 Blake Roulo (Matoaca, Virginia) 4-2. It was yet another major event win for Hodgkins, who has titles at the NHSCA Junior Nationals and Super 32 to his credit in 2010. "Everything is mental for me," observed Hodgkins. "The training, approach, and preparation are all about mindset. I really want that to get that second state title (he was champ as a sophomore) this year." The next two weight classes were both won by wrestlers from Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania – Lorenzo Thomas at 152 pounds and No. 3 Jason Luster at 160. Boosted by their efforts, the Vikings finished third with 171 points. Head coach Sunny Abe commented, "We wrestled so much better than last week at the Ironman, the kids gave 100 percent effort throughout the weekend. Thomas in particular made the necessary adjustments mentally and in terms of strategy to come through this weekend." At 152 pounds, Thomas used a third period reversal to defeat Eric Morris (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) 2-1. He agreed with Abe's sentiments. "I trained harder and made changes from the last two big tournaments (Ironman and Super 32) where I fell short of expectations." Thomas added that he "worked on being more aggressive, making sure to wrestle my match, and staying within the moment." Despite not feeling that he was in the best shape, Luster survived a very tough championship final match against Cody Allala (Hopewell, Virginia) with a 4-3 victory in the ultimate tiebreaker. "I got through it with heart, desire, and resolve," said Luster. "It feels great to win (the Ironman and Beast) in back-to-back weeks. At 171 pounds, it was a fourth consecutive Keystone State wrestler taking home a Beast of the East championship, as No. 19 John Staudenmeyer (Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania) earned a 4-2 victory against Scott Gibbons (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana). This came despite failing to score a takedown in the match – as it was a two point near fall in the second period and reversal in the third period to give Staudenmeyer the requisite points. "It's an amazing feeling," said Staudenmeyer about being a Beast of the East champion. "The fact that it's my first major title makes it all the sweeter." The tournament's Cinderella story came in the form of 189-pound champion James Fox (St. Peter's Prep, New Jersey). Coming into the tournament as a two-time state qualifier and unseeded, he came into the tournament totally off the radar. However, that would no longer be the case after a 2-1 semifinal victory over No. 2 Kenny Courts (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania), a two-time Beast of the East champion, in the tiebreaker periods. "I didn't look at a bracket at all during the tournament," said Fox, "so I had no idea who my semifinal was against. I found out the significance after the match." In the championship final, Fox wrestled returning state placer Dawud Hicks (Plainfield, New Jersey). With a 6-2 lead during the third period, Hicks was injured and defaulted from the match. As a result, Fox became an unseeded Beast of the East champion, the second in tournament history and second in as many years. Based on this performance, the Harvard-bound Fox (who has a 4.0 GPA and is a National Honor Society member) was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. "It's truly a blessing. This is overwhelming, great, amazing, and surreal all put into one," said Fox about the whole weekend. Last year's unseeded champion at the Beast of the East was Matt Idelson (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania), ranked No. 17 in the nation this year and the top seeded wrestler at 215 pounds. His opponent in the finals was a freshman, Kyle Snyder (Good Counsel, Maryland) who had won championships in the first two tournaments of his career – the Ray Oliver Invitational and the War on the Shore. Snyder would make it three-for-three with a 3-0 victory in the final over Idelson due to a second period rideout, an escape midway through the third period, and then a late takedown to seal the deal. Coming into the weekend, Snyder "thought he could do well in the tournament, and hoped to win it." Now with a Beast of the East championship added to the resume, he hopes to now just "keep on winning." The final championship match of the evening was reflective of the final team standings -- Blair Academy winning it and Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania finishing in second place. The Blue Knights placed four wrestlers (tied with four other schools for second most behind the eight for Blair), a pair in second and a pair in third, to score 171 points. "Our guys put a lot into it, we showed improvement from last week," head coach Scott Green said. "I'm pleased with some of those who went two-and-out last week but were able to win matches this week, and with A.J. Vizcarrando going 8-1 at 215 pounds to take third place after not competing last week." In that 285-pound final, No. 5 Brooks Black (Blair Academy, New Jersey) was the third of three possible wrestlers to complete the Ironman-Beast double with a 1-0 victory over No. 19 Terrance Jean-Jacques (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania). Black earned an escape in the second period and sealed the victory with a third period rideout. "I knew I could hold him down, and I kept riding hard," Black said. "I started to wear him down even with the stoppages during the third." Even though the Beast of the East is a very high profile event, it is as Wyoming Seminary head coach Green stated, "one stage during a training cycle in preparation for the post-season tournaments (state championships or National Preps), and we have things to work on." Final Team Standings: 1) No. 3 Blair Academy, New Jersey 248 2) No. 8 Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania 171 3) No. 36 Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania 152-1/2 4) Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania 135 5) No. 20 Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania 117-1/2 6) No. 33 Christiansburg, Virginia 106 7) Delbarton, New Jersey 105 8) No. 38 LaSalle, Pensnylvania 98-1/2 9) No. 31 Cox, Virginia 97 10) Caesar Rodney, Delaware 94-1/2 T11) No. 27 Jackson Memorial, New Jersey 90 Colonial Forge, Virginia Results: Brackets Team Standings Complete Results Special Awards: Outstanding wrestler: James Fox (St. Peter's Prep, New Jersey) -- 189-pound champion Most Falls/Least time: Nick Sharga (Northampton, Pennsylvania) -- 215 pounds, seventh-place finisher -- Five pins in 9:42 Major Ray Mendoza Award: Mark Grey (Blair Academy, New Jersey) -- 125-pound champion, 34 team points Team Sportsmanship: Boyertown, Pennsylvania

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, under the guidance of head coach Cael Sanderson, battered visiting Ohio State 42-3 today in the Big Ten wrestling dual meet opener for both teams. No. 5 Penn State won all but one bout against No. 22 Ohio State in front of yet another huge Rec Hall crowd. Over 5,100 fans cheered Penn State on as the Nittany Lions moved to 7-0 on the year. With a starting line-up featuring five freshmen, the Nittany Lions were nonetheless dominant. Red-shirt freshman David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) remained undefeated with a 14-1 dismantling of Buckeye senior Colt Sponseller in the dual's marquee bout at 157. Taylor entered the bout ranked No. 3 while Sponseller was No. 13. Taylor's 14-1 major included 5:44 of riding time and the Lion freshman remains undefeated on the year with a 13-0 record. The dual began with Nittany Lion true freshman Frank Martellotti (Pittsburgh, Pa.), ranked No. 17 at 125, posting a convincing 9-1 major over Bo Touris to put Penn State up 4-0 early. Martellotti stayed perfect on the year with a 12-0 mark. Sophomore Bryan Pearsall (Lititz, Pa.) then sent the raucous Lion crowd to their feet with a stunning 9-4 upset win over No. 10 Ian Paddock of Ohio State at 133. True freshman Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.), ranked No. 10 at 141, kept the Penn State faithful happy with a lightning-fast pin in his Big Ten debut. Alton caught Buckeye Randy Languis right out of the gates and pinned him in just :31 seconds to give Penn State a 13-0 lead. Alton remains undefeated with a 13-0 record. Two-time All-American Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.) continued his early season roll. The No. 6-ranked 149-pounder pinned OSU's Sean Nemec at the 5:56 mark to put Penn State up 19-0 heading into Taylor's match. Molinaro is now 8-1 on the year. Taylor's 14-1 major over Sponseller gave Penn State a stunning 23-0 lead heading into intermission. Nick Fischer (Unionville, Pa.) continued to fill in for freshman Jake Kemerer (Pittsburgh, Pa.) at 165 and picked up a solid 5-1 win over Ohio State's Jared Kusar. The win was Fischer's second straight in dual meet action. Kemerer did weigh in at 165 but did not wrestle as he is still recovering from an illness. Still, the Lion freshman picked up a win at 174. Red-shirt freshman Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.), ranked No. 11 at 174 did not get a shot at No. 13 Nick Heflin at 174 as Heflin did not pass skin check. Kemerer stepped in at 174 to pick up the forfeit victory, allowing Ruth to move up to 184, where he dominated OSU's Peter Capone 18-6. The quick forfeit and major gave Penn State a 36-0 lead. Ohio State picked up its only win, getting a decision at 197 as C.J. Magrum beat Penn State's Justin Ortega (Oxford, Pa.) 8-2. But junior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio), ranked No. 6 at heavyweight, put an exclamation point on the dual with a pin of Buckeye Zach Stolarsky. The pin at the 2:06 mark was Penn State's third of the bout and gave the Nittany Lions the 42-3 victory. Penn State won the takedown battle by a gaudy 23-4 margin and racked up 15 bonus points thanks to three pins, a forfeit and three majors. The victory improved Penn State to 7-0 and gives the Nittany Lions their first 7-0 start since beginning the 1988-89 season 8-0. Penn State returns to action on Dec. 29-30 when it treks to Greensboro, N.C., for the Southern Scuffle. Penn State's next home dual is a nationally televised match-up with No. 21 Pittsburgh on Jan. 21. Action in the Big Ten Network live event begins at 6 p.m. in Rec Hall. Fans wishing to purchase single dual meet tickets for the 2010-11 Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling season can place their orders by calling 814-865-5555 or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office. The box office is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ticket pricing is $8 for adults and $5 for youth, and there will be a limit of eight tickets per order. Group sales are also available. The 2010-11 Penn State wrestling season is presented by the Family Clothesline. All Penn State events will once again air live on Forever Broadcasting's WRSC (1390 AM) and WSQV (92.1 FM). All radio broadcasts are streamed live at GoPSUsports.com as part of the All-Access package. The 2010-11 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline. #5 Penn State 42, #22 Ohio State 3 December 19, 2010 - University Park, Pa. 125: #17 Frank Martellotti PSU maj. dec. Bo Touris OSU, 9-1 4-0 133: Bryan Pearsall PSU dec. #10 Ian Paddock OSU, 9-4 7-0 141: #10 Andrew Alton PSU pinned Randy Languis OSU, WBF (0:31) 13-0 149: #6 Frank Molinaro PSU pinned Sean Nemec OSU, WBF (5:56) 19-0 157: #3 David Taylor PSU maj. dec. #13 Colt Sponseller OSU, 14-1 23-0 165: Nick Fischer PSU dec. Jared Kusar OSU, 5-1 26-0 174: Jake Kemerer PSU win by forfeit 32-0 184: #11 Ed Ruth PSU maj. dec. Peter Capone OSU, 18-6 36-0 197: C.J. Magrum OSU dec. Justin Ortega PSU, 8-2 36-3 285: #6 Cameron Wade PSU pinned Zach Stolarsky OSU, WBF (2:06) 42-3 Attendance: 5,102 Records: Penn State 7-0 (1-0 Big Ten), Ohio State 1-3 (0-1 Big Ten) Up Next for Penn State: at Southern Scuffle, Greensboro, N.C., Dec. 29-30. BOUT-BY-BOUT: 125: True freshman Frank Martellotti (Pittsburgh, Pa.), ranked No. 17 nationally at 125, made his Big Ten dual meet debut against Ohio State junior Bo Touris. Touris got in early on a single leg, but Martellotti steadily worked his way free to keep the bout scoreless at the 2:00 mark. Martellotti then worked his way in on a high single and steadily drove through Touris to notch the bout's first takedown at the :30 mark. Touris escaped quickly and Martellotti led 2-1 at the end of the first period. The Lion freshman chose down to start the second stanza and quickly escaped to a 3-1 lead. He then turned in on Touris and nearly picked up a second takedown. While Touris was able to fight off the first move, Martellotti adjusted on the Buckeyes waste and tripped him to the ground for a 5-1 lead at the 1:20 mark. Martellotti then put together a very strong ride. Gaining control of Touris' right arm, Martellotti pulled the Buckeye over for three near fall points and an 8-1 lead with :27 left. A ride out allowed Martellotti to lead 8-1 with 1:35 in riding time heading into the third period. Touris chose down to start the final stanza, but Martellotti controlled the action. Martellotti continued to dominate Touris and rode the Buckeye for the entire period. Over 3:00 in riding time gave the Lion a 9-1 major and put Penn State up 4-0. 133: Sophomore Bryan Pearsall (Lititz, Pa.) faced off against No. 10 Ian Paddock in the 133-pound bout. Paddock wasted no time in breaking out to a 2-0 lead, taking Pearsall down just seconds into the bout. Paddock put together very strong ride, maintaining control of Pearsall for over 2:00 while looking for back points. But Pearsall stunned the ranked Buckeye with a near reversal at the :30 mark. While not finishing off the two-point move, Pearsall's escape cut the lead to 2-1. Paddock then got in on a low single and began working for a second takedown with :25 on the clock. But Pearsall was able to force a tie-up that killed the clock. Leading 2-1, Paddock chose down to start the second period. Pearsall took advantage, nearly turning Paddock for back points. Pearsall turned Paddock for two quick back points, but the talented Buckeye reversed Pearsall to retake the lead 4-3 with 1:10 on the clock. Pearsall nearly notched a defensive pin as Paddock tried to turn him, but Paddock was able to roll out of trouble. Still, Pearsall's escape at the :33 marks tied the bout at 4-4. Tied 4-4 but essentially giving up a riding time point (Paddock had 2:09), Pearsall chose down to start the third period and quickly escaped for a 5-4 lead. He then caught Paddock in a high throw, took him down and added to nearfall points to thrill the crowd by taking a 9-4 lead with 1:20 on the clock. Pearsall then put together a strong ride, Pearsall forced Paddock into a long injury time out. The feisty Lion sophomore maintained control of the 10th-ranked Buckeye long enough to erase the riding time point first and then to kill the clock. The stunning 9-4 upset win by Pearsall gave Penn State a 7-0 lead. 141: True freshman Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.), ranked No. 10 at 141, made his conference dual debut against Buckeye freshman Randy Languis. Alton wasted no time in sending a packed Rec Hall into another frenzy in his Big Ten debut. The true freshman caught Languis in a quick shoulder lock, tripped him to the mat and summarily planted him for a pin in just :31. The lightning quick move gave Penn State a 13-0 lead after just three bouts. 149: Two-time All-American Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.), ranked No. 6 at 149, met Ohio State junior Sean Nemec. Molinaro wasted no time in taking an early lead, turning a low single into a takedown and a 2-0 lead at the 2:31 mark. Molinaro then put together a strong ride, building up 2:31 in riding time with a ride-out. Up by two, Molinaro chose down to start the second period and quickly escaped to a 3-0 lead. Another high Molinaro single put the Lion All-American up 4-0. Molinaro cut Nemec Loose after building up 3:19 in time, then quickly shot low for his third takedown and a 7-1 lead. Nemec escaped at the :30 mark to cut the Molinaro lead to 7-2 after two periods (with Molinaro clinching the riding time point). Nemec chose down to start the third period and quickly escaped. But a standard Molinaro high double gave the Lion another takedown and a 9-3 lead. This time, Molinaro was able to turn Nemec to his back. The Lion All-American then worked his way to a pin at the 5:56 mark to put Penn State up 19-0. 157: In one of the premier match-ups of the dual, Nittany Lion freshman David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) took on Ohio State senior Colt Sponseller at 157. Taylor entered the bout ranked No. 3 while Sponseller was ranked No. 13. Taylor got the bout's first takedown with a low double and trip at the 2:25 mark, taking a 2-0 lead early. Taylor then worked from the top, trying to turn Sponseller for back points. Taylor dominated the action from the top, building up nearly two minutes of riding time and nearly pinning the Buckeye senior at the :35 mark. Taylor did pick up two back points two up his lead to 4-0 while riding Sponseller out. Leading by four with 2:25 in riding time, Taylor chose down to start the second period but was quickly reversed. Leading 6-0, Taylor once again worked on top to turn Sponseller for back points. Taylor continued to ride Sponseller, not giving the Buckeye senior any room to breathe for the rest of the period. Another Taylor ride out gave the Lion freshman a 6-0 lead with a whopping 4-0 in riding time after two periods. Sponseller chose neutral to start the third, but Taylor was having none of it. A quick Taylor high double allowed the Lion to take Sponseller down again and pick up three near fall points to up his lead to 11-0 with 1:20 left in the bout. Sponseller escaped to score his first point, trailing 11-1. But Taylor took the Buckeye down quickly again to move out to a 13-1 lead with :25 left. Taylor rode Sponseller out and, with the riding time point, posted a convincing 14-1 major decision. The win gave Penn State a 23-0 lead heading into intermission. 165: Red-shirt freshman Jake Kemerer (Greensburg, Pa.) was still recovering from an illness that kept him out of the Lock Haven dual last Sunday and the Penn State coaching staff sent talented sophomore Nick Fischer (Unionville, Pa.) into action at 165. Fischer took on Ohio State's Jared Kusar. Fischer continued Penn State's dominance with an early takedown, using a low double to move out to a 2-0 lead with 2:10 on the clock. Fischer then rode Kusar for 1:35 before the Buckeye escaped. Leading by one, Fischer continued to set the pace, forcing Kusar to the edge of the mat for the rest of the period. Up by one, Fischer chose down to start the second period and deftly worked himself free for a reversal and a 4-1 lead. Fischer's second strong ride forced Kusar into a stall warning while the Nittany Lion built up 2:40 in riding time before Fischer was hit with a stall warning. Kusar could not break free of the strong Lion sophomore and Fischer maintained control for the rest of the period. Trailing 4-1 with Fischer owning 3:176 in riding time, Kusar chose neutral to start the third stanza. Fischer used another high single to work Kusar to the mat. The duo battled for over :40 before a stalemate was called with Fischer still up 4-1 at the 1:06 mark. Fischer picked up a riding time point and notched a convincing 5-1 win to put Penn State up 26-0. 174: One of the bout's most anticipated match-ups pitting Penn State freshman Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) against Ohio State freshman Nick Heflin at 174 did not happen. Ruth entered the dual ranked No. 11 while Heflin was ranked No. 13 but Heflin did not pass skin check and was not allowed to wrestle. With Ruth needing a match, Penn State sent 165-pounder Kemerer to receive the forfeit victory and put Penn State up 32-0. 184: With All-American Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) out with an injury, 11th-ranked 174-pounder Ed Ruth moved up a weight to take on Ohio State freshman Peter Capone. Ruth fought off an early Capone shot to take the Buckeye down and move out to a 2-0 lead. Ruth then put together a dominating ride, controlling the bigger Buckeye for 1:14 before Capone escaped to a 2-1 deficit. Ruth used another low double to open up a 4-1 lead with :28 on the clock. Up by three with 1:44 in riding time, Ruth chose down to start the second period and quickly reversed Capone to up his lead to 6-1. Capone was not able to break free of Ruth's control as the Lion freshman forced Capone into a first stall warning and ride the Buckeye out. Trailing 5-1 with 3:22 in riding time to Ruth's favor, Capone chose down to start the third period, escaped, and was quickly taken down again. Another Capone escape gave Ruth an 8-3 lead and the Lion added another takedown to up his lead to 10-3 with 1:18 on the clock. Ruth allowed Capone out and immediately began looking for another takedown for bonus points. Ruth picked up the takedown at the :45 mark, cut Capone loose, and led 12-5 with :40 left. Capone gave up a stall point, two more takedowns and a riding time point as Ruth posted a convincing 18-6 major moving up a weight. The major put Penn State up 36-0. 197: Sophomore Justin Ortega (Oxford, Pa.) faced off against Buckeye sophomore C.J. Magrum at 197. Magrum took a 2-0 lead at the :22 mark with a takedown in front of the Buckeye bench. A short ride out gave the Buckeye a 2-0 lead heading into the second period. Magrum chose down to start the second stanza and quickly escaped to a 3-0 lead. The Buckeye then caught Ortega at the :55 mark and notched a second takedown to up his lead to 5-0. Ortega escaped at the :30 mark for his first point, but Magrum was able to add a third takedown to carry a 7-1 lead into the third period. Trailing 7-1, Ortega chose down to start the third period but Magrum was able to keep control for nearly a minute. The Buckeye cut Ortega loose to a 7-2 lead and began looking for another takedown to secure a major. Ortega was able to fight off Magrum's late attempts but the Buckeye broke the shutout with an 8-2 win. 285: Junior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio), ranked No. 6 at heavyweight, closed out the dual by taking on Ohio State's Zach Stolarksy. Wade scored quickly, tripping Stolarsky to the mat for a 2-0 lead that he immediately added three back points to. Wade then reset with 2:00 on the clock and turned Stolarsky for a two point near fall. The Lion junior reset and added three more back points to lead 10-0 and then worked his way to a pin at the 2:06 mark to put an exclamation point on the dominating performance. The fall gave Penn State a 42-3 win.

The University of Wyoming wrestling program boosted its national reputation in a big way Sunday at a prestigious event in Reno, Nev. The 'Pokes took to the mats in the Reno Tournament of Champions in an event that features some of the top teams and wrestlers from across the nation. With five wrestlers placing in the top five of their weight classes, the Cowboys scored 106 points to win the team title, edging out perennial powerhouse Boise State by 1.5 points. As a team, Wyoming went 41-20 in its matches. It's the first time Wyoming has won the event in its history. "It's a very big step for the program, especially with being able to come into a tournament and beat a team like Boise State," Wyoming coach Mark Branch said. "They're a very strong team and I think they're probably ranked in the top five in most polls. To come in after we've been struggling...the big key was we came out and wrestled well early. We put ourselves in a position to stay in there. Our kids kept fighting and clawing to stay in there. It's a huge deal for this program." After some disappointing performances the last few weeks, Branch was impressed with the Cowboys' ability to bounce back. "We talk about how important it is to wrestle for your team," the coach said. "It took a huge effort. You've got to be prepared to scrap and fight and claw. Our goal wasn't to come in and win this tournament, it was to come in and wrestle hard. I don't think any of us expected to walk away with the team title. It's a first for this program, for sure." Junior Joe LeBlanc, ranked No. 1 by several publications, won the 184-pound title for Wyoming, beating Luke Rebertes of Navy in the championship match with an 11-4 decision. He went 5-0 in the event, with three pins and one major decision. Junior Shane Onufer also took first place in the 165-pound division. He took a 10-2 major decision in the title match versus No. 13 Ryan DesRoches of Cal Poly en route to a 6-0 tournament record. He recorded two major decisions and a pin. For his efforts, Onufer was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Senior Cole Dallaserra took second place in the 149-pound bracket with a 4-1 record with one technical fall and one pin. He lost an 8-2 decision to Boise State's Jason Chamberlain, who was ranked No. 2 in the nation, in the title match. "For him to go through and get second was big for our team," Branch said of Dallaserra's performance. Redshirt freshman Tyler Cox wrestled hard to claim a third-place finish in the 125-pound division. He went 4-1 in the event with two falls, but fell to Anthony Robles of Arizona State in a 7-0 decision. The loss dropped him to the wrestleback bracket, and he went on to defeat Prescott Garner of Chattanooga in a 12-9 decision in the third-place match. "Tyler Cox continues to win me over," Branch said. "My confidence is growing in him every day." The other Cowboy wrestler to perform well was 141-pound Chase Smith. The junior cruised to four wins before falling to Germain Lindsey of Ohio in a 6-3 decision. He then lost another match before taking a win over Cody Cleveland of Chattanooga in the fifth-place match by virtue of a medical forfeit. He went 5-2 in the tournament with one fall. "It was big-time performance, something we can leave the first semester feeling good about," Branch said. "We needed that. It was nice that they showed up and wrestled hard. I'm awfully proud of the performance."

103: No. 1 Darian Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Zach Ulerick (Middletown, Pennsylvania) Camden Anderso (Grassfield, Virginia) vs. Matt Calcote (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) No. 9 Joey McKenna (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. Brett Marino (Bethlehem Liberty, New Jersey) Jeremy Schwartz (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) vs. Micah Hight (Caesar Rodney, Delaware) 112: Zach Bridson (Timberlane, New Hampshire) vs. Kaleb LeMaire (Caesar Rodney, Delaware) Max Hvolbek (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. J.R. Wert (Christiansburg, Virginia) Will Mason (Cape Henry Collegiate, Virginia) vs. Cody Stageberg (Christiansburg, Virginia) No. 11 Zeke Moisey (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Anthony Cabrera (Bethlehem Liberty, Pennsylvania) 119: No. 4 Robert Deutsch (Eastern Regional, New Jersey) vs. Jake Smith (Robinson, Virginia) Dennis Gustafson (Forest Park, Virginia) vs. No. 13 (at 125) Caleb Richardson (Blair Academy, New Jersey) No. 11 Joey Dance (Christiansburg, Virginia) vs. Eric Friedman (St. Paul's, Maryland) Paul O'Neil (Gonzaga, DC) vs. No. 9 Dominick Malone (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) 125: No. 3 (at 130) Mark Grey (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. No. 17 John Fahy (Trinity, Kentucky) Tyson Dippery (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) vs. Chris Dinnien (Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania) Kyle Casaletto (Southern Regional, New Jersey) vs. Devon Lotito (Bethlehem Liberty, Pennsylvania) Daniel Sanchez (Georgetown Prep, Maryland) vs. Jack Bass (Robinson, Virginia) 130: No. 7 Brandon Jeske (Cox, Virginia) vs. Shane Arechiga (Good Counsel, Maryland) Jack Clark (McDonogh, Maryland) vs. No. 13 (at 135) Todd Preston (Blair Academy, New Jersey) Jeff Ott (Belmont Hill, Massachusetts) vs. Mitch Baran (Brecksville, Ohio) Shyheim Brown (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) vs. No. 2 Zach Horan (Nazareth, Pennsylvania) 135: No. 1 (at 140) Austin Ormsbee (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. Brent Hitchings (Trinity, Kentucky) Greg Noll (Nazareth, Pennsylvania) vs. Connor Melde (Bergen Catholic, New Jersey) Brooks Martino (Robinson, Virginia) vs. Scott Wolfinger (Quakertown, Pennsylvania) Joey Mazzi (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) vs. No. 20 Jeff Canfora (Delbarton, New Jersey) 140: No. 12 (at 145) Evan Henderson (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) vs. No. 17 Matt Cimato (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) Devon Gobbo (Delbarton, New Jersey) vs. No. 18 Mark Pinero (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) Lucas Wisniewski (Plymouth Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania) vs. Cody Broomall (Sussex Central, Delaware) Ross Parsons (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. No. 11 Jacob Crawford (Millbrook, Virginia) 145: No. 2 Nick Hodgkins (Wyomissing, Pennsylvania) vs. Zach Epperly (Christiansburg, Virginia) No. 14 Henry Carlson (Cox, Virginia) vs. Sal Mastriani (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) No. 20 C.J. Cobb (Williamstown, New Jersey) vs. Chris Dowdy (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) Brady Massaro (Mt. St. Joseph's, Maryland) vs. No. 10 Blake Roulo (Matoaca, Virginia) 152: No. 3 Codey Combs (Sussex Central, Delaware) vs. No. 15 (at 145) Caleb Ervin (Union County, Kentucky) Lorenzo Thomas (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Zach Martinez (Colonial Forge, Virginia) No. 17 (at 160) David Wesley (St. Christopher's, Virginia) vs. No. 15 Duke Pickett (Woodberry Forest, Virginia) Kyle Dehaut (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Eric Morris (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) 160: No. 3 Jason Luster (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Wes Jones (Robinson, Virginia) Nate Lawrence (Timberlane, New Hampshire) vs. Angelo Bortoluzzi (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) Shane Sprigner (La Salle, Pennsylvania) vs. Scott Reilly (Colonial Forge, Virginia) Kyle Roddy (Brecksville, Ohio) vs. Cody Allala (Hopewell, Virginia) 171: No. 17 JM Staudenmeyer (Plymouth Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania) vs. Addison Knepshield (Blair Academy, New Jersey) Josh Snook (St. Mark's, Delaware) vs. Turner Bishop (Kellam, Virginia) Scott Gibbons (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) vs. Frank Mattiace (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) Marshall Willet (Brecksville, Ohio) vs. Nick Lawrence (Timberlane, New Hampshire) 189: No. 3 Kenny Courts (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) vs. Shane Cockerlie (DeMatha, Maryland) James Fox (St. Peter's Prep, New Jersey) vs. Dallas Winston (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) Dawud Hicks (Plainfield, New Jersey) vs. Perry Hills (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania) Bryce Barnes (Kempsville, Virginia) vs. Joe Jessen (Millbrook, Virginia) 215: No. 17 Matt Idelson (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania) vs. Dean Sullivan (Delbarton, New Jersey) Dustin Dennison (Pleasant Grove, Utah) vs. Colynn Cook (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) Tyler Mauger (Boyertown, Pennsylvania) vs. Austin Dickie (Kempsville, Virginia) Dylan Devine (DeMatha Catholic, Maryland) vs. Kyle Snyder (Good Counsel, Maryland) 285: No. 5 Brooks Black (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. Brendan Walsh (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania) Stephen Snyder (Good Counsel, Maryland) vs. Ben Tammany (Timberlane, New Hampshire) No. 19 Terrance Jean-Jacques (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) vs. Taylor Horner (Franklin County, Virginia) Wes Tillett (Shamokin, Pennsylvania) vs. Joe Nolan (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) Team Standings: (through championship round of 16 and wrestleback No. 3 ... one consolation round to go tonight) 1. No. 3 Blair Academy, New Jersey 116 (9 quarters, 5 consolation) 2. No. 8 Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania 93-1/2 (3, 9) T3. No. 20 Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania 74-1/2 (4, 6) No. 31 Cox, Virginia (3, 6) 5. Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania 73 (3, 6) 6. No. 36 Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania 72 (3, 7) 7. Brecksville, Ohio 68 (3, 6) 8. Caesar Rodney, Delaware 65-1/2 (2, 7) T9. No. 33 Christiansburg, Virginia 65 (3, 3) Timberlane, New Hampshire (4, 3) Other Ranked teams: No. 27 Jackson Memorial, New Jersey - 16th place 55-1/2 (2, 5); No. 38 LaSalle, Pennsylvania – 20th place 51 (3, 4)

2:00 p.m. EST: Jean-Jacques will win 4-1 (mercifully), No. 19 vs. No. 5 this afternoon. And that's the semis. 1:50 p.m. EST: Brooks Black (Blair Academy, New Jersey) a 7-0 winner at 285 pounds. Kyle Snyder at 215 pounds wins by 14-6 major decision and will face Idelson. One last match at 285 is No. 19 nationally Terrance Jean-Jacques (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) gainst Joe Nolan (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey). That is five in the finals for Blair Academy. 1:40 p.m. EST: And mercifully we're onto 285 pounds on one of the mats in the semis. Food in the hospitality room awaits after the semifinals are done. We'll have updated team scores right before the finals ... or check online. 1:35 p.m. EST: 215's on the mats. top seed, No. 17 nationally Matt Idelson (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania) in the lead 2-0 midway through the second period against Colyn Cook (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania). On the other mat, starting off is freshman Kyle Snyder (Good Counsel, Marylad) facing off against Tyler Mauger (Boyertown, Pennsylvania). Idelson closes out the 3-0 victory. Tied 2-2 in the other match. 1:30 p.m. EST: And in a mega upset, Fox with the 2-1 win in the tiebreaker against defending Beast champ Courts. In the other 189 pound semifinal match, Dawud Hicks (Plainfield, New Jersey) leads 5-1 early portion of the third period against Bryce Barnes (Kempsville, Virginia). Hicks closes out the 8-4 win and he'll be in the final. 1:25 p.m. EST: Scott Gibbons (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) will survive to win 3-2 at 171 pounds in the semifinal round. No. 2 in the nation Kenny Courts (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) struggling in his semifinal bout at 189 pounds, as he's been taken to overtime in a 1-1 match against unseeded James Fox (St. Peter's Prep, New Jersey) ... Courts in deep now ... and they square off ... :30 left in overtime. 1:15 p.m. EST: JM Staudemeyer (Plymouth Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania) a 3-1 winner against Turner Bishop (Kellam, Virginia) at 171 pounds, and the No. 17 wrestler in the nation will be in the finals. To face Luster in the finals will be Cody Allala (Hopewell, Virginia) - a 8-3 winner against Scott Reilly (Colonial Forge, Virginia) at 160 pounds. 1:05 p.m. EST: No. 3 in the nation Jason Luster (Pittsburgh CC, Pennsylvania) joins his teammate Thomas in the final with a win at 160 pounds. Eric Morris (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) will meet Thomas in the final at 152 after beating David Wesley (St. Christopher's, Virginia) 4-0 in the battle of National Prep runners-up. 12:55 p.m. EST: And yet another 1-1 match for No. 10 Blake Roulo (Matoaca, Virginia) headed into overtime. This one against No. 20 CJ Cobb (Williamstown, New Jersey) at 145 pounds. Roulo gets the takedown and the win! No. 10 vs. No. 2 this afternoon. Lorenzo Thomas (Pittsburgh CC, Pennsylvania) wins 6-4 at 152 against nationally ranked Caleb Ervin (Union County, Pennsylvania). 12:45 p.m. EST: No. 11 Jacob Crawford (Millbrook, Virginia) advancing to the finals with a 8-2 victory over Lucas Wisiewski (Plymouth Whitmarsh, Pennsylvania). Crawford v Gobbo in the final, a pair of Super32 placers. No. 2 Nick Hodgkins (Wyomissing, Pennsylvania) in the lead 10-3 early in the third period against Sal Mastriani (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) at 145 pounds. And it's a 14-4 final score for the Super32 and NHSCA Junior Nationals champion, who will seek to put a Beast of the East title on his resume later this afternoon. 12:35 p.m. EST: A pair of Delbarton, New Jersey teammates on the mat in the semifinals. Devon Gobbo and No. 12 (at 145) Evan Henderson (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) are tied 4-4 under one minute left third period. Canfora will secure a 6-5 win over Wolfinger to advance to the 135 final against Ormsbee ... No. 1 (at 140) vs. No. 20 in the 135 Beast final! Gobbo gets the escape inside of five seconds left, and a second victory over a ranked wrestler on the way to a Beast finals date! 12:30 p.m. EST: No. 1 (at 140) Austin Ormsbee (Blair Academy, New Jersey) closes out the 9-2 victory over Connor Melde (Bergen Catholic, Pennsylvania) at 135 pounds. Ormsbee will be seeking a second Beast title at 3:30ish today. An early 2-1 lead for Scott Wolfinger (Quakertown, Pensnylvania) against No. 20 Jeff Canfora (Delbarton, New Jersey). 12:20 p.m. EST: Preston wins the semi over Jeske this week, 5-1 in overtime. Jeske last week had beaten DiJulius in overtime while Preston lost to Whitford. No. 2 Zach Horan (Nazareth, Pennsylvania) in a scoreless match against Jeffrey Ott (Belmont Hill, Massachusetts) midway through the second period. And it's a 1-0 win for Horan - second period ride out, late escape in the third period seals the deal for the No. 2 wrestler in the country. 12:15 p.m. EST: Caseletto will be joining Grey in the final with a 5-2 semifinal victory. In the 130 pound top bracket match, No. 7 Brandon Jeske (Cox, Virginia) and No. 13 (at 135) Todd Preston (Blair Academy, New Jersey) are tied 1-1 on a pair of choice escapes with under :30 left in regulation time. 12:10 p.m. EST: Mark Grey (Blair Academy, New Jersey) survives to win a 6-5 decision over Chris Dinnien (Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania). The top seeded wrestler moves to the final where he will see either Jack Bass (Robinson, Virginia) or Kyle Casaletto (Southern Regional, New Jersey). Bass in the lead 2-1 after a full period wrestling. 12:05 p.m. EST: Malone and Dance to ultimate tiebreaker, Malone chooses Top position, out of bounds they go, no change, :17 left. Dance gets the escape right with :02 left at the line, 2-1 win. No. 11 over No. 9 in the nation, and Dance will get to face No. 4 in the country - Deutsch. Noon EST: Robert Deutsch (Eastern Regional, New Jersey) fends off a very strong third period from Caleb Richardson (Blair Academy, New Jersey), the first period takedown enough to win 3-2. The other semi is tied 1-1 late in the third period as each wrestler has a choice escape - Joey Dance (Christiansburg, Virginia) vs. Dominick Malone (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) ... and this will go to overtime! 11:50 a.m. EST: J.R. Wert (Christiansburg, Virginia) wins his semifinal 3-2 at 112 pounds against Kaleb LeMaire (Caesar Rodney, Delaware). Zeke Moisey (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) leads 6-0 midway through the third period, huge cradle in the first period key to that margin. And so it ends as an 11-0 final, major decision for Moisey. No. 11 in the nation Moisey agaisnt the unranked Wert. 11:40 a.m. EST: It's a long semifinal match here, Joey McKenna (Blair Academy, new Jersey) leads 2-1 after two periods with a takedown right at the horn of the secod period. Now 3-1 on a third period escape. McKenna finishes that off. No. 1 vs. No. 9 in the country, a Beast of the East final at 103 pounds - Cruz vs. McKenna. 11:30 a.m. EST: And we've started off the semis! Darian Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) leads 2-0 against Camden Anderson (Grassfield, Virginia) early in the second period. And Darian Cruz is an 11-2 semifinal winner! Semifinal matches will be on two mats at 11:30 a.m. EST with consolation on four mats. Right now it is the cosnolation round of 12, winners place and those that lose do not. Team Scores after the semis and consi/16: 1) Blair 163 (6 semi, 3 con) 2) Wyoming Sem 129 (3, 2) 3) Pittsburgh CC 108-1/2 (2, 4) 4) Bethlehem Catholic 100 (2, 3) 5) Central Dauphin 95-1/2 (1, 5) 6) Cox 87 (1, 2) 7) Caesar Rodney 80-1/2 (2, 0) 8) Christiansburg 80 (2, 2) T9) Brecksville 79 (1, 2) Colonial Forge (1, 2) *Other nationally ranked teams: 12) Jackson Memorial 74 (1, 2); T24) LaSalle 55 (0, 4) 10:30 a.m. EST: And it'll be a pair of Snyder brothers in the semifinals, as Stephen Snyder advances to the semifinals at 285 pounds with a 3-2 win over Ben Tammany (Timberlane, New Hampshire). He'll be facing No. 1 seed Brooks Black (Blair Academy, New Jersey). And the last quarterfinal comes to an end with a fall by the unseeded Joe Nolan (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey), and he'll be facing No. 3 seed Terrance Jean-Jacques (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) 215 pound semifinals: Idelson (Garn Valley) v Cook (Kiski Prep), Mauger (Boyertown) v Kyle Snyder (GCounsel) 189 pound semifinals: Courts (CDau) v Fox (St Peter), Hicks (Plainfield) v Barnes (Kempsville) 171 pound semifinals: Staudenmayer (PWhit) v Bishop (Kellam), Gibbons (Rummel) v Willet (Breck) 160 pound semifinals: Luster (PCC) v Bortoluzzi (Kiski Prep), Reilly (CForge) v Allala (Hopewell). I thik it's Reilly over Springer, but don't quote me on that. 145 pound semifinals: Hodgkins (Wyomissing) v Mastriani (DBosco), Cobb (Williamstown) v Roulo (Matoaca) 9:55 a.m. EST: Codey Combs (Sussex Cetnral, Delaware) gets gifted overtime with a late stall call against Caleb Ervin (Union County, Kentucky). With a 6-6 score, it ends up going into the :30-:30. Combs is down in his set and gets ridden out. And it went to ultimate TB with Ervin getting the reversal to the back and a 10-6 victory. Semifinals: Ervin v Thomas (PCC), Wesley (St Chris) v E. Morris (WySem) 140 pound semifinals: Evan Henderson (Kiski Prep) v Gobbo (Delbarton), Wisniewski (Quak) v Crawford (Millbrook) 130 pound semifinals: Jeske (Cox) v Preston (Blair), Ott (Belmot Hill) v Horan (Nazareth) 9:40 a.m. EST: Jeff Canfora (Delbarton, New Jersey) with a takedown at the buzzer to beat Joey Mazzi (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) 5-3 at 135 pounds. Semifinal matches are: Ormsbee (Blair) v Melde (Bergen Cath), Wolfinger (Quak) v Canfora. 125 pound semifinals: Grey (Blair) v Dinnien (Germantown), Casaletto (Southern Reg) v Bass (Robinson) 9:20 a.m. EST: Brandon Jeske (Cox, Virginia) with a second consecutive 15-0 technical fall. His two prior matches were pin and 13-0 major decision. Very impressive to date for the No. 7 130 pound wrestler in the country. 119 pound semifinals: Deutsch (Eastern) v Richardson (Blair), Dance (C-Burg) v Malone (WySem) 112 pound semifinals: Lemaire (C-Rod) v Wert (C-Burg), Mason (Cape Henry) v Moisey (BECA) 9:15 a.m. EST: And the first pin of the quarterfinals goes to Caleb Richardson (Blair Academy, New Jersey) at 119 pounds, over Dennis Gustafson (Forest Park, Virginia). 103 pound semifinals: Cruz (BECA) v Anderson (Grassfield), McKenna (Blair) v Hight (C-Rodney) 9:08 a.m. EST: Defending champion Zach Bridson (Timberlane, New Hampshire) goes down 6-4 against Kaleb Lemaire (Caesar Rodney, Delaware) in a 112 pound quarterfinal bout. 9:00 a.m. EST: And we're rolling with quarterfinals on six mats, which means three weights per two cycles! 12:06 a.m. EST: Wrestling resumes at 9 a.m. EST. Saturday, December 18 9:34 p.m. EST: The quarterfinals are set. Below are the quarterfinal matchups. 103: No. 1 Darian Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Zach Ulerick (Middletown, Pennsylvania) Camden Anderso (Grassfield, Virginia) vs. Matt Calcote (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) No. 9 Joey McKenna (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. Brett Marino (Bethlehem Liberty, New Jersey) Jeremy Schwartz (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) vs. Micah Hight (Caesar Rodney, Delaware) 112: Zach Bridson (Timberlane, New Hampshire) vs. Kaleb LeMaire (Caesar Rodney, Delaware) Max Hvolbek (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. J.R. Wert (Christiansburg, Virginia) Will Mason (Cape Henry Collegiate, Virginia) vs. Cody Stageberg (Cox, Virginia) No. 11 Zeke Moisey (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Anthony Cabrera (Bethlehem Liberty, Pennsylvania) 119: No. 4 Robert Deutsch (Eastern Regional, New Jersey) vs. Jake Smith (Robinson, Virginia) Dennis Gustafson (Forest Park, Virginia) vs. No. 13 (at 125) Caleb Richardson (Blair Academy, New Jersey) No. 11 Joey Dance (Christiansburg, Virginia) vs. Eric Friedman (St. Paul's, Maryland) Paul O'Neil (Gonzaga, DC) vs. No. 9 Dominick Malone (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) 125: No. 3 (at 130) Mark Grey (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. No. 17 John Fahy (Trinity, Kentucky) Tyson Dippery (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) vs. Chris Dinnien (Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania) Kyle Casaletto (Southern Regional, New Jersey) vs. Devon Lotito (Bethlehem Liberty, Pennsylvania) Daniel Sanchez (Georgetown Prep, Maryland) vs. Jack Bass (Robinson, Virginia) 130: No. 7 Brandon Jeske (Cox, Virginia) vs. Shane Arechiga (Good Counsel, Maryland) Jack Clark (McDonogh, Maryland) vs. No. 13 (at 135) Todd Preston (Blair Academy, New Jersey) Jeff Ott (Belmont Hill, Massachusetts) vs. Mitch Baran (Brecksville, Ohio) Shyheim Brown (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) vs. No. 2 Zach Horan (Nazareth, Pennsylvania) 135: No. 1 (at 140) Austin Ormsbee (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. Brent Hitchings (Trinity, Kentucky) Greg Noll (Nazareth, Pennsylvania) vs. Connor Melde (Bergen Catholic, New Jersey) Brooks Martino (Robinson, Virginia) vs. Scott Wolfinger (Quakertown, Pennsylvania) Joey Mazzi (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) vs. No. 20 Jeff Canfora (Delbarton, New Jersey) 140: No. 12 (at 145) Evan Henderson (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) vs. No. 17 Matt Cimato (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) Devon Gobbo (Delbarton, New Jersey) vs. No. 18 Mark Pinero (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) Lucas Wisniewski (Plymouth Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania) vs. Cody Broomall (Sussex Central, Delaware) Ross Parsons (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. No. 11 Jacob Crawford (Millbrook, Virginia) 145: No. 2 Nick Hodgkins (Wyomissing, Pennsylvania) vs. Zach Epperly (Christiansburg, Virginia) No. 14 Henry Carlson (Cox, Virginia) vs. Sal Mastriani (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) No. 20 C.J. Cobb (Williamstown, New Jersey) vs. Chris Dowdy (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) Brady Massaro (Mt. St. Joseph's, Maryland) vs. No. 10 Blake Roulo (Matoaca, Virginia) 152: No. 3 Codey Combs (Sussex Central, Delaware) vs. No. 15 (at 145) Caleb Ervin (Union County, Kentucky) Lorenzo Thomas (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Zach Martinez (Colonial Forge, Virginia) No. 17 (at 160) David Wesley (St. Christopher's, Virginia) vs. No. 15 Duke Pickett (Woodberry Forest, Virginia) Kyle Dehaut (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Eric Morris (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) 160: No. 3 Jason Luster (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania) vs. Wes Jones (Robinson, Virginia) Nate Lawrence (Timberlane, New Hampshire) vs. Angelo Bortoluzzi (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) Shane Sprigner (La Salle, Pennsylvania) vs. Scott Reilly (Colonial Forge, Virginia) Kyle Roddy (Brecksville, Ohio) vs. Cody Allala (Hopewell, Virginia) 171: No. 17 JM Staudenmeyer (Plymouth Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania) vs. Addison Knepshield (Blair Academy, New Jersey) Josh Snook (St. Mark's, Delaware) vs. Turner Bishop (Kellam, Virginia) Scott Gibbons (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) vs. Frank Mattiace (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) Marshall Willet (Brecksville, Ohio) vs. Nick Lawrence (Timberlane, New Hampshire) 189: No. 3 Kenny Courts (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) vs. Shane Cockerlie (DeMatha, Maryland) James Fox (St. Peter's Prep, New Jersey) vs. Dallas Winston (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) Dawud Hicks (Plainfield, New Jersey) vs. Perry Hills (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania) Bryce Barnes (Kempsville, Virginia) vs. Joe Jessen (Millbrook, Virginia) 215: No. 17 Matt Idelson (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania) vs. Dean Sullivan (Delbarton, New Jersey) Dustin Dennison (Pleasant Grove, Utah) vs. Colynn Cook (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) Tyler Mauger (Boyertown, Pennsylvania) vs. Austin Dickie (Kempsville, Virginia) Dylan Devine (DeMatha Catholic, Maryland) vs. Kyle Snyder (Good Counsel, Maryland) 285: No. 5 Brooks Black (Blair Academy, New Jersey) vs. Brendan Walsh (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania) Stephen Snyder (Good Counsel, Maryland) vs. Ben Tammany (Timberlane, New Hampshire) No. 19 Terrance Jean-Jacques (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) vs. Taylor Horner (Franklin County, Virginia) Wes Tillett (Shamokin, Pennsylvania) vs. Joe Nolan (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) Team Standings: (through championship round of 16 and wrestleback No. 3 ... one consolation round to go tonight) 1. No. 3 Blair Academy, New Jersey 116 (9 quarters, 5 consolation) 2. No. 8 Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania 93-1/2 (3, 9) T3. No. 20 Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania 74-1/2 (4, 6) No. 31 Cox, Virginia (3, 6) 5. Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania 73 (3, 6) 6. No. 36 Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania 72 (3, 7) 7. Brecksville, Ohio 68 (3, 6) 8. Caesar Rodney, Delaware 65-1/2 (2, 7) T9. No. 33 Christiansburg, Virginia 65 (3, 3) Timberlane, New Hampshire (4, 3) Other Ranked teams: No. 27 Jackson Memorial, New Jersey - 16th place 55-1/2 (2, 5); No. 38 LaSalle, Pennsylvania � 20th place 51 (3, 4) 9:00 p.m. EST: As the round of sixteen is on the verge of ending, unseeded Joe Nolan (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) with the upset victory 4-3 in the tiebreakers against No. 2 seed Ross Burbank (Cox, Virginia), who placed third at the Ironman last week. And we've got a freshman at 215 pounds, No. 2 seed Kyle Snyder (Good Counsel, Maryland) with a 16-1 technical fall to reach the quarterfinal round. 8:50 p.m. EST: That's a 9-1 major decision win for the unseeded Dallas Winston (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) at 189 pounds. He'll face the follow unseeded James Fox (St. Peter's Prep, New Jersey) tomorrow morning in the quarters - or so I think. Winner of that drives into the top semi, where Kenny Courts (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) resides. 8:35 p.m. EST: And it's a second straight match that goes into the tiebreakers at 1-1 for No. 2 seed Blake Roulo (Matoaca, Virginia). This time he is facing Eric Nutter (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania). Nutter down position first portion of the TB's. Roulo survives and advances 2-1 with a rideout and the an escape. He'll face No. 7 seed Brady Massaro (Mt. St. Joseph's, Maryland) - or so I think - in the quarterfinal round tomorrow morning. 8:18 p.m. EST: Upset special. Sal Mastriani (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) with the win over Ironman runner-up Robert Henderson (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) 4-2, No. 13 over No. 4. 7:35 p.m. EST: Too much wrestling, not enough eyeballs. 7:20 p.m. EST: Top seeds at 103 and 112 are on the mats! Darian Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) and Zach Bridson (Timberlane, New Hampshire). And Darian Cruz is our first quarterfinalist on a 15-7 major decision. 7:05 p.m. EST: Championship round of 16 matches called ... we're running a bit on the late side. Gonna be a long night for the non-quarterfinalists and/or those not eliminated already. 4:00 p.m. EST: Team scores end of rd32, consis in progress, I'll be back for the round of 16 at 5 or 5:30. Blair 77.5, 12 CH/2 CON WyoSem 66, 6/7 BethCath 61, 5/8 CDauphin 55, 7/7 Cburg 53, 8/3 Brecksville 51, 5/5 Cox 50, 5/8 3:20 p.m. EST: A.J. Vizcarrando (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) with a very late takedown to force overtime agaist freshman Zach DeLuca (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, PA) ... and he'll get the two in OT to survive 7-5. An unseeded sleeper moves on to face the number one seed Matt Idelson (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania) in the round of 16 tonight. 3:15 p.m. EST: No. 4 seed Michael Mauk (St. Mark's, Delaware) taken to overtime by junior Dallas Winston (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) round of 32 match ... 1-1 in the tiebreaks with Mauk choosing down in the first of the set. Winston with a ride out in his, late escape and scores a counter takedown off a force to score the 4-1 upset. 2:35 p.m. EST: In a very unkind draw for a seed, the No. 6 seed Duke Pickett (Woodberry Forest, Virginia) beat Doug Hamann (Jackson Memoiral, New Jersey) 5-3 in the round of 32 ... Hamann a placer at multiple major events in the last couple years. 2:25 p.m. EST: No. 2 seed Blake Roulo (Matoaca, Virginia) forced to the tiebreakers by freshman Garrett Peppelman (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania). Peppelman fended off a scramble in overtime in which Roulo was on the brink of control but not given, Roulo deep in overtime and Peppelman granbied out ... Roulo now up 2-1 in TB1. Roulo outlasts him 4-2 with a reversal in the ultimate tiebreaker. 2:10 p.m. EST: Over on mat 1, No. 9 seed Ryan Ponte (Northfield Mt. Hermon, Massachusetts) loses 3-2 at the horn as he basically had a takedown on a toss but time was called ... the towel thrown in (instead of being physically tapped on the official). The winner was Josh Lahr (Shamokin Area, Pennsylvania). 2:00 p.m. EST: Progressing through the round of 32 here, not too much in the way of upsets or close calls that I can see. Some very dominant wrestling by the high-end wrestlers though. 1:15 p.m. EST: After a lunch break for me, and Delaware leads 10-0 near the half, Bethlehem Catholic leads the team race after a round with Wyoming Seminary in second. Noon EST: Noon is upon us here at the Bob Carpenter Center, weight classes 171 and 189 are on the mats. Right next to us a Division I FCS playoff game is going on, Delaware against Georgia Southern -- unfortunately that changes our hospitality and media spaces for today. VIVA THE BOWL GAMES :-) 11:20 a.m. EST: No. 4 seed Patrick Coover (Blair Academy, New Jersey) - freshman and Ironman placer last week - goes down in the first round 3-2 to Zach Martinez (Colonial Forge, Virginia) at 152 pounds ... ridden out in the third period. Another Blair Academy freshman - Dylan Milonas trails 5-0 late in the match against Eric Nutter (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania) at 145 pounds. Both Blair freshmen ranked nationally for the Class of 2014 -- get these kids now because come a year or so from now, you won't beat them much at all. 10:39 a.m. EST: And Orecchio goes down 3-1 in the tiebreak ... more early round carnage of the high seeds. 10:32 a.m. EST: No. 8 seed Matt Cimato (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) wins high scoring affair against Nick Lospinoso (David Brearley, New Jersey) 11-8, No. 3 seed Joe Orecchio (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) - 2x state placer, 2nd in 2009, struggling with Logan Bosley (Christiansburg, Virginia) ... :15 left Bosley up 1-0. And overtime it is after a technical violation for locking hands. 10:08 a.m. EST: Beast runner-up and No. 6 seed Tyler Pendergast (St. Mark's, Delaware) knocked off 7-4 by Mitch Baran (Brecksville, Ohio) ... big five point move late in the second doing the damage. 9:55 a.m. EST: And down goes the first big name ... Bass over Fraley 7-5 despite two late Fraley takedowns. Todd Preston (Blair Academy, New Jersey) also with a solid win over Alenick Richardson (St Peter's Prep, New Jersey) 7-4 at 130. BRACKETS ARE UP ON BEASTWRESTLING.COM! 9:48 a.m. EST: Mat 9 brings us to Tyler Fraley (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) -- the No. 2 seed -- against freshman Jack Bass (Robinson, Virginia). Bass with the first takedown and trying to hang on the ride about :30 left first period. 9:15 a.m. EST: Close match at 119 with No. 9 seed Jake Smith (Robinson, Virginia) surviving 1-0 in the first round against a solid freshman in Alfred Bannister (Bishop McNamara, Maryland). 8:50 a.m. EST: Some BOE results -- http://www.nwcaonline.com/nwcaonline/CompetitionResultBeast.aspx?TournamentID=36&SchoolYear=2011 8:28 a.m. EST: Ken Berger gives the clear the mats call ... no snow, even with the cold and UD football today, all is good. Fight the team across the field! (bad version though) 8:20 a.m. EST: Notable scratches - No. 9 seed Dallas Smith (Robinson, Virginia) at 112, No. 16 seed -- Hayden Felch (Kellam, Virginia) at 119, No. 14 seed - Lance Hawn-Schmitt (Grafto) at 125, No. 15 seed - Greg Nelson (Woodbridge, Virginia), No. 8 seed - Keith Corliss (Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania) at 189 pouds, No. 2 seed - Scott Syrek (Owen J. Roberts, Pennsylvania) at 215 pounds, No. 10 seed - Michael Harris (Matoaca, Virginia). 8:10 a.m. EST: Action about to start in 20 minutes. A few pigtails (previous to round of 64) will start the day. 839 wrestlers from 104 teams. It's going to be a long one.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly will host Southern Oregon, Cal Baptist and Menlo College for dual meets Friday in Mott Gym. Co-head coaches John Azevedo and Mark Perry will send the Mustangs against Southern Oregon at 11 a.m., Cal Baptist at 1 p.m. and Menlo College at 3 p.m. On a second mat, Cal Baptist will wrestle Menlo at 11 a.m., Southern Oregon faces Menlo at 1 p.m. and Cal Baptist meets Southern Oregon at 3 p.m. Cal Poly was idle last week for Fall Quarter finals. The Mustangs placed 14th in the 29th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 3-4, with Boris Novachkov placing second at 141 pounds and Ryan DesRoches claiming third place at 165 pounds. Novachkov currently sports a 9-1 record -- his only blemish a 3-2 loss to No. 1-ranked Kellen Russell of Michigan at the Las Vegas tournament -- while DesRoches is 15-1 with eight falls for the season, losing only to No. 4 Justin Kerber of Cornell 17-7 in the quarterfinals at Las Vegas. Novachkov is ranked No. 2 at 141 pounds by WrestlingReport.com, No. 3 by Amateur Wrestling News, No. 4 by InterMat and No. 5 by WIN Magazine. DesRoches sports national rankings of No. 9 by Amateur Wrestling News, No. 10 by WIN Magazine and No. 13 by both WrestlingReport.com and InterMat. Mustang 157-pounder Barrett Abel (6-3) is ranked No. 16 by WIN Magazine and No. 20 by WrestlingReport.com while 285-pounder Atticus Disney (7-2) is ranked No. 19 by WrestlingReport.com and No. 20 by InterMat. Filip Novachkov (2-2), who has competed only in the Las Vegas meet and is not expected to wrestle Friday, is ranked No. 7 by both InterMat and WrestlingReport.com, No. 8 by WIN Magazine and No. 11 by Amateur Wrestling News at 133. Cal Poly’s lone dual meet of the season so far was a 36-14 win over Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 13 in Mott Gym. Southern Oregon is 1-1 in dual meets, defeating Pacific (Ore.) 40-10 and falling to Great Falls 28-12. Menlo also has split its first two duals, defeating Skyline College 43-9 and falling 43-3 to Northwestern, while Cal Baptist is wrestling in a dual meet for the first time Friday, having competed in seven tournaments so far. Southern Oregon is ranked No. 12 in the most recent NAIA national polls while Menlo is No. 14. Southern Oregon is led by Tommie Hooper, an NAIA All-American a year ago and currently ranked No. 3 in the NAIA at 157 pounds, and Austin Vanderford, named most outstanding wrestler at the Southern Oregon Open and currently ranked No. 5 at 174 pounds. Kyle Wirkuty is ranked No. 4 at 141 pounds while Jared Dalgleish is ranked No. 11 at 133 pounds. Menlo’s top wrestlers are Christian Martinez, a returning NAIA All-American and currently ranked No. 6 at 141 pounds, and Jason Moorhouse, ranked No. 1 at 125 pounds. Cal Baptist finished eighth in the NAIA National Championships a year ago with four NAIA All-Americans, all seniors last season. Following Friday’s four-team meet, Cal Poly will have just three home duals the rest of the season, hosting Wyoming on Jan. 14, Cal State Bakersfield on Jan. 28 and San Francisco State on Feb. 13. Cal Poly’s lineup is expected to include Jake Tanenbaum (pictured above) (10-6) or Britain Longmire (7-2) at 125, the same pair at 133, Boris Novachkov (9-1) at 141, Stephen Thalin (2-2) at 149, Barrett Abel (6-3) or Pearce Swerdfeger (7-2) at 157, Ryan DesRoches (15-1) at 165, Steven Vasquez (5-4) at 174, Kelan Bragg (3-5) or Stephan Hampton (1-2) at 184, Ryan Smith (1-0) at 197 and Atticus Disney (7-2) or Jim Powers (3-2) at 285.

The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team (6-0, 0-0 Big Ten), ranked No. 5 nationally, will host No. 22 Ohio State (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten) on Sunday, December 19. Action begins at 2 p.m. in the Big Ten dual opener for both teams. The day will feature a `Wrestling Winter Cap Bonanza' scheduled for halftime (hundreds of Nittany Lion wrestling winter hats will be thrown out to the Rec Hall faithful at intermission). Penn State is coming off a stellar 48-0 shutout over visiting Lock Haven last Sunday. The Lions were a perfect 10-0 in the dual that saw head coach Cael Sanderson send six freshmen into action. Three of those freshmen remained undefeated on the season in the process. The Nittany Lions tallied 18 bonus points thanks to three pins, two technical falls, two majors and a forfeit. The Nittany Lions will send a young and talented line-up into action once again as the Big Ten season opens with the Buckeyes. Freshman David Taylor is ranked No. 3 at 157 and will carry a perfect 12-0 mark into the dual. Taylor has three pins, three technical falls and five majors to his credit as well. He is one of three freshmen starters with an unblemished record. True freshman Andrew Alton is 12-0 at 141 and carries a No. 10 national ranking. Nine of his 12 collegiate victories have been by fall. True freshman Frank Martellotti, who earned the starting spot at 125 after senior Brad Pataky went down with an injury, has been outstanding thus far this season. Martellotti is 11-0 as a rookie and is ranked No. 17 nationally. Fellow freshman Ed Ruth has been equally impressive at 174. Ruth is 11-1 on the year with five pins and three technical falls. Ruth has steadily moved up the national rankings and currently sits at No. 11. While the newcomers to Penn State's line-up have created excitement with their solid debuts, two veteran Lions continue to roll along. Two-time All-American Frank Molinaro is 7-1 at 149 and ranked No. 6 nationally. Molinaro missed the bulk of November with an injury but is wrestling back into form now. Junior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio) is 9-2 at heavyweight and carries a lofty No. 6 ranking as well. Wade has three pins and three majors and his only two losses are to the No. 1 and No. 3 ranked big men. The Nittany Lions will once again be without the services of sophomore All-American Quentin Wright, who is out at 184. Ohio State comes in with a 1-2 mark after man-handling Edinboro last weekend by a 31-17 score. The Buckeyes are being led by a trio of ranked grapplers. Sophomore Ian Paddock is 11-3 on the year and ranked No. 10 at 133, senior Colt Sponseller is 11-1 and ranked No. 13 at 157 while freshman Nick Hefflin is 13-2 and ranked No. 13 at 174. With every bout promising to be competitive, two potential match-ups featuring ranked wrestlers stand out. At 157, Nittany Lion freshman Taylor, ranked No. 3, will tangle with senior Buckeye Sponseller, ranked No. 13, in a rookie/veteran battle. Two freshmen will test each other at 174 as Penn State's Ruth, No. 11, takes on Ohio State's Hefflin, No. 13. Penn State owns a slim 13-11 advantage in the all-time series between the two schools with Ohio State winning 21-14 in Columbus last year. The Buckeyes have one the last four duals between the rivals, including the last meeting In Rec Hall (33-7 on Feb. 6, 2009). Penn State's last win was a 26-12 victory in Rec Hall on Jan. 26, 2007. Penn State returns to action on December 29-30 at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C. Penn State's next home action is on Friday, Jan. 21, when Pittsburgh invades Rec Hall for a 6 p.m. dual (broadcast live on the Big Ten Network). Fans wishing to purchase single dual meet tickets for the 2010-11 Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling season can place their orders by calling 814-865-5555 or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office. The box office is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ticket pricing is $8 for adults and $5 for youth, and there will be a limit of eight tickets per order. Group sales are also available. The 2010-11 Penn State wrestling season is presented by the Family Clothesline. Updates from the Nittany Lion Open will air on WRSC AM (1390) and WSQV FM (92.1). All radio broadcasts are streamed live at GoPSUsports.com as part of the All-Access package. The 2010-11 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline. ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS For information or credentials, contact me, Pat Donghia, Wrestling SID Phone: 814-865-1757 -- Email: pad11@psu.edu FOLLOW PSU WRESTLING @ GoPSUSPORTS: http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-wrestl/psu-m-wrestl-body.html FOLLOW PSU WRESTLING ON FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pennstatewrestling FOLLOW PSU WRESTLING ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/pennstatepat Also, check out the Blog staff at GoPSUsports... THE ALL-SPORTS BLOG AT GOPSU: http://www.gopsusports.com/blog/wrestling POSSIBLE STARTERS As of December 14, 2010 #5 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (6-0, 0-0 Big Ten) Wt. Name Yr. Hometown/High School 2010-11 Record 125 #17 Frank Martellotti Fr. Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side 11-0 out Brad Pataky Sr. Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield 0-0 133 Bryan Pearsall So. Lititz, Pa./Warwick 8-4 141 #10 Andrew Alton Fr. Mill Hall, Pa./Central Mountain 12-0 149 #6 Frank Molinaro Jr. Barnegat, N.J./Southern Regional 7-1 157 #3 David Taylor Fr. St. Paris, Ohio/St. Paris Graham 12-0 James Vollrath Fr. Richboro, Pa./Council Rock South 12-3 165 Jake Kemerer Fr. Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield 7-3 Nick Fischer So. Unionville, Pa./Unionville 9-3 174 #11 Ed Ruth Fr. Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Township 11-1 184 Andrew Church Fr. Erie, Pa./Fort LeBeouf 5-5 out *Quentin Wright So. Wingate, Pa./Bald Eagle Area 8-2 197 Nick Ruggear Fr. Oxford, Pa./Oxford 12-4 Justin Ortega So. Oxford, Pa./Oxford 3-4 285 #6 Cameron Wade Jr. Twinsburg, Ohio/St. Peter Chanel 9-2 #22 OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (1-2, 0-0 BIG TEN) Wt. Name Yr. Hometown/High School 2010-11 Record 125 Bo Touris Jr. Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota West 1-0 133 #10 Ian Paddock So. Warsaw, N.Y./Warsaw 11-3 141 Randy Languis Fr. Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Scioto 7-7 149 Sean Nemec Jr. Akron, Ohio/St. Edward 8-6 157 #13 Colt Sponseller Sr. Glenmont, Ohio/West Holmes 11-1 165 Jared Kusar So. Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian 7-8 174 #13 Nick Hefflin Fr. Massillon, Ohio/Massillon 13-2 184 Peter Capone Fr. Johnson City, N.Y./Johnson City 12-9 197 C.J. Magrum So. Oak Harbor, Ohio/Oak Harbor 4-3 285 Johnny Hiles So. Westerville, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales 0-5 Indiv. rankings Intermat/Team rankings NWCA -- *Intermat not ranking Wright until his return to line-up at 184. THIS WEEK No. 5 Penn State (6-0, 0-0 Big Ten) hosts No. 22 Ohio State (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten) in the conference opener for both teams. Action begins in Rec Hall on Sunday, Dec. 19, at 2 p.m.. Halftime will feature a Wrestling Winter Cap Bonanza, with hundreds of wrestling winter hats being tossed to the Rec Hall faithful by Penn State athletes from various Nittany Lion teams. UP NEXT Penn State will head to Greensboro, N.C., for the Southern Scuffle, hosted by North Carolina-Greensboro. Action in the team scored tournament is set for December 29-30. ON THE AIR TV - None Live Web Video -- GoPSUsports.com Radio - WRSC AM (1390) and WSQV FM (92.1) Web -- All radio broadcasts are streamed live at GoPSUsports.com as part of the All-Access package. HEAD COACH Cael Sanderson Cael Sanderson comes to Penn State after three extremely successful years as the head coach at his alma mater. Sanderson's teams did not finish any lower than fifth at the NCAA Championships and never had a wrestler not qualify for nationals, getting 30 of 30 grapplers through to the championship tournament. In 2007, Sanderson's rookie campaign, he led ISU to a 13-3 dual meet record and the first of three straight Big 12 Championships. An NCAA Runner-Up finished in Detroit capped off a wildly successful year as the Cyclones crowned one national championship and Sanderson was honored as Big 12 Coach of the Year, National Rookie Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year. The next year, Sanderson led ISU to a 16-4 dual meet mark, another Big 12 title and a fifth place finish at nationals. Iowa State's seven All-Americans in 2008 were the most at the school since 1993. This past season, Sanderson's team went 15-3 in duals, won its third straight Big 12 title and took third place at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis (just 12 points out of first place). The Cyclones also crowned another national champion. In three years, Sanderson's teams went 44-10, won three conference crowns, qualified all 30 wrestlers for nationals, and earned 15 All-America awards and two individual national titles. In his first year at Penn State, he guided the Lions to a 13-6-1 dual meet mark, 5-3 in Big Ten action, and crowned his first Big Ten Champion. Sanderson now sports a 63-16-1 dual meet mark in this, his fourth year as a collegiate head coach. He is 19-6-1 in his second year at Penn State. FISCHER AND VOLLRATH PICK UP FIRST CAREER DUAL MEET WINS Sophomore 165-pounder Nick Fischer moved up a weight to 174 and picked up his first Penn State dual meet win with a thrilling 7-5 decision over Lock Haven's Michael Khoury in Penn State's 48-0 win over LHU on 12/12. In addition, red-shirt freshman 157-pounder James Vollrath was set to step in at 165 for an ailing Jake Kemerer and picked up a forfeit victory in his Penn State dual meet debut. LIONS SHUT OUT LOCK HAVEN 48-0 FOR SECOND SCORELESS EFFORT OF THE YEAR Penn State's 48-0 shut-out of Lock Haven on 12/12 was the team's second of the year, following up on a 45-0 win over Harvard in November. The 48-0 win is Penn State's most lopsided shutout victory since a 54-0 win over Millersville on Jan. 25, 1983. The last time Penn State had two shutouts in one season was the 2006-07 season when the Lions beat Clarion (47-0) and Rider (41-0). Cael Sanderson TO BE INDUCTED INTO NATIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM The nation's first undefeated four-time NCAA champion, Cael Sanderson, joins three other of America's best wrestlers chosen for induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum on June 8-9, 2011 in Stillwater. Distinguished Members selected along with Sanderson for the Class of 2011 include Dennis Hall, Dan Brand and Richard Delgado, posthumously. "This is another outstanding class of inductees," said Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. "I am excited that our Hall of Fame gets to honor such a prestigious group whose legacies span over 60 years of wrestling in this country." Sanderson made history by becoming the first four-time undefeated NCAA Division I champion in collegiate history. The former Iowa State star went 159-0 from 1999 through 2002. He capped his career by winning a Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. LIONS CROWN FOUR AT NITTANY LION OPEN No. 5 Penn State sent 29 wrestlers into action at the 2010 Nittany Lion Open, had 16 quarterfinalists and ended the day with four champions. Three freshmen and a junior claimed titles for head coach Cael Sanderson and the Nittany Lions. Penn State sent eight wrestlers into the finals with half of them winning their bouts. Freshman Frank Martellotti went 5-0 to win at 125 with two pins, a tech fall and a major. Classmate Andrew Alton put on a show at 141, going 6-0 to claim the title with five pins. The fifth pin was a :39 fall over No. 20 Zack Kemerer of Penn in the finals. Red-shirt freshman David Taylor continued his superb run with a 6-0 day at 157. Taylor claimed the title with a 9-3 dismantling of Virginia Tech's Jesse Dong (who was the #3 seed at NCAAs last year). Taylor had a fall, a tech and three majors. Junior Cameron Wade went 5-0 with three tech falls, a pin and a major. FOUR LIONS TAKE SECOND AT NLO Penn State's superb day at the 2010 Nittany Lion Open was tempered, however, in the finals at 184. No. 6 Quentin Wright was beating No. 14 Nathan Schiedel of Binghamton when the returning All-American was injured and suffered an injury default to take second place. Wright went 4-1 on the day. Just seconds before that, two-time All-American Frank Molinaro, ranked No. 2 at 149, was upset in overtime by No. 10 Mario Mason of Rutgers. Mason downed Molinaro 3-1 (sv), giving the Lion junior a 5-1 record on the day. Red-shirt freshman Ed Ruth, ranked No. 14 at 174, handled No. 9 Scott Giffin of Penn 6-2 in the semifinals and then dropped a hard-fought 9-4 decision to No. 8 Mike Letts of Maryland in the finals. Ruth went 5-1 for second place with two pins and two tech falls. True freshman Dirk Cowburn, wrestling unattached at 165, advanced to the finals where he was pinned by No. 3 Josh Asper of Maryland. Cowburn went 5-1 for his runner-up finish. The day at the NLO was solid all-around for Penn State. The Lions had 29 entrants in the event, 16 of which advanced to the quarterfinals and 11 of which made the semis. Penn State had eight finalists, half of whom won titles. PITT DUAL MOVED TO 6 P.M. FOR LIVE BTN COVERAGE! The home wrestling dual with rival Pittsburgh on Jan. 21 has had its start time moved to 6 p.m. The time change will now allow the Big Ten Network to air the much-anticipated wrestling dual live to over 70 million homes nationwide. Penn State and Pittsburgh have a long and storied wrestling rivalry. The two teams have met 65 times with Penn State owning a 50-12-3 advantage in the series, but the teams wrestled to a 19-19 tie last year in Pittsburgh. This year's dual will feature a number of anticipated match-ups of ranked opponents and is also Penn State's final non-conference dual meet. LION FRESHMEN SHINE AT SPRAWL AND BRAWLS Penn State started six freshmen in each of its three duals at the Sprawl and Brawl Duals on Nov. 21 and the outstanding group posted a superb 16-2 record. Frank Martellotti (125), Andrew Alton (141), David Taylor (157), Jake Kemerer (165), Ed Ruth (174) and Nick Ruggear (197) combined for the solid showing. TAYLOR LEADING DUAL TAKEDOWN RACE Red-shirt freshmen David Taylor has taken the lead in Penn State's team dual meet takedown race. Taylor has 22 while teammate Ed Ruth is in second with 19. Taylor is one of three Nittany Lions who have not been taken down in a dual meet yet as well. Taylor is 22-0 in takedowns, Andrew Alton is 13-0 and Frank Molinaro is 3-0. RUGGEAR WINS PSU DUAL DEBUT True freshman Nick Ruggear made his Penn State dual meet debut at the Sprawl and Brawl Duals on Nov. 21 and won his first two bouts (an 12-1 major over Harvard's Bryan Panzano and a 4-2 win over WVU's Cameron Gallaher) before losing to Rutgers' Mike Wagner. ALTON WINS FIRST FOUR BY FALL True freshman Andrew Alton won his first four collegiate bouts in fine fashion, getting a pin in each bout. Alton won each of those four bouts with falls in the first period by a combined time of only 3:57. ENGLISH OUTSTANDING AT SPRAWL AND BRAWLS Sophomore James English stepped into the starting line-up at 149 to begin the season as two-time All-American Frank Molinaro rehabbed a pre-season injury and made a national statement at the Sprawl and Brawl Duals on Nov. 21. English downed two top-ten foes, beating #9 Corey Jantzen of Harvard 4-3 and #8 Brandon Rader of West Virginia 5-3 in back-to-back dual meet wins. LIONS GO 3-0 AT SPRAWL & BRAWLS, INCLUDING 22-10 VICTORY OVER #24 RUTGERS The Nittany Lions won seven of ten bouts against #24 Rutgers to down the Scarlet Knights 22-10 and closed out the 2010 Sprawl and Brawl Duals with a 3-0 mark on Nov. 21. The Nittany Lions opened the event by shutting out Harvard 45-0. It was Penn State's first shut-out since the Lions blanked rival Lehigh 33-0 on Dec. 7, 2007. Penn State won the takedown battle with RU 19-7 and posted a daunting 60-10 edge in takedowns over the course of the day's three duals. Dylan Alton, COWBURN AND VOLLRATH CLAIM ESU OPEN CROWNS Twelve members of the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team took part in the 2010 ESU Open, hosted on Saturday East Stroudsburg University and three of them left with individual titles. Dylan Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.), Dirk Cowburn (Coudersport, Pa.) and James Vollrath (Richboro, Pa.) each won their respective weight classes at the crowded event. With action against unrostered wrestlers not counting in the records, Vollrath was one of three Nittany Lions wrestling attached in the Blue and White singlet. The red-shirt freshman went 4-0 at 157 to win his title. Alton and Cowburn were each wrestling unattached. Alton went 5-0 with a pin and a major to with the 149 pound crown while Cowburn went 4-0 with three pins to with the 165 pound weight class. Three other Nittany Lions placed (all wrestling unattached. Nate Morgan (McCook, Neb.) went 4-1 at 125 and advanced to the final bout before losing, placing second. Sam Sherlock (West Mifflin, Pa.) went 5-1 at 133 and took third and Thomas Gorman (East Patchogue, N.Y.) went 6-2 at 157 to place fifth. SHERLOCK AND FISCHER CLAIM W&J TITLES Seventeen members of the Penn State wrestling team competed, both attached and unattached at the Washington and Jefferson Open on Saturday. Sophomore Nick Fischer (Unionville, Pa.) and true freshman Sam Sherlock (West Mifflin, Pa.) each won their respective weight classes to lead seven Penn State placers. Fischer was one of five Nittany Lions wrestling attached in their blue and white singlets and he went a perfect 6-0 to claim the 165-pound title. He notched a major and had two pins on his way to the crown. Red-shirt freshman James Vollrath (Richboro, Pa.) had a solid tournament, advancing to the finals at 157 before losing. Vollrath was 4-1 with a major to take second at his weight. Senior 125-pounder Eric Caschera (South Williamsport, Pa./South Williamsport) went 6-2 with a major to place fifth at 125. Senior Michael Lorenzo (Bellefonte, Pa.) went 1-1 at 174 and freshman Andrew Church (Erie, Pa.) went 4-2 with a major and a pin at 174 to round out Penn State's attached grapplers competing at the event. Sherlock was a perfect 5-0 at 133 to win the crown, posting two majors during his title winning run. Classmate Dirk Cowburn (Coudersport, Pa.) picked up the most wins of any Nittany Lion on the day, going 7-1 with two pins and two majors to take third at a crowded 165-pound weight class. Nate Morgan (McCook, Neb.), also a first year wrestler, went 6-1 with a major at 125 to take third while fellow first-year wrestler Nick Ruggear (Oxford, Pa.) was 5-1 with a major at 197 to place third and round out Penn State's placers at the event. FIVE FRESHMEN PERFECT IN DEBUT WEEKEND Penn State's young and talented line-up got an early lift in its opening weekend as five freshmen combined to go 10-0 in the Nittany Lions' two dual meet victories. True freshman Frank Martellotti went 2-0 at 125, true freshman Andrew Alton went 2-0 at 141 with two pins, red-shirt freshman David Taylor went 2-0 at 157 with a tech fall and a pin, red-shirt freshman Jake Kemerer went 2-0 at 165 (including a win over No. 11 Brandon Hatchett of Lehigh) and red-shirt freshman Ed Ruth went 2-0 at 174 with a tech fall. NEARLY 5,300 PACK REC HALL AS LIONS DOWN #15 LEHIGH 21-17 The Penn State Nittany Lions, ranked No. 6 at the time, thrilled nearly 5,300 fans in a packed Rec Hall on 11/14 by beating intra-state rival Lehigh, ranked No. 15, 21-17. Five Penn State freshmen made their Rec Hall dual meet debuts by grabbing exciting wins to spark Penn State to a perfect 2-0 opening-weekend start. The crowd was the largest for a Penn State dual since 5,841 watched Penn State beat Iowa 24-13 on Feb. 4, 2007. LIONS BEAT HUSKIES BEFORE SRO CROWD Penn State travelled to Bloomsburg University on 11/13 for the 2010-11 season opener and downed the host Huskies 41-3 in front of a standing-room-only crowd in BU's Nelson Field House. On a night when Bloom was re-dedicating a newly renovated arena, Penn State's fan base turned out in full force to make up a large chunk of over 2,300 fans in the 1,700 capacity venue. Penn State won nine of ten bouts, including getting five wins from freshmen making their collegiate debuts. Sophomore Bryan Pearsall got a key pin at 133, sophomore James English stepped in at 149 to grab a win, All-American Quentin Wright got a pin at 184 and sophomore Cameron Wade got a major at HWT to round out PSU's nine wins. NEARLY 3,000 FANS FILL REC HALL FOR INTRASQUAD Nearly 3,000 fans rolled into Rec Hall for the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling intrasquad dual meet. Head coach Cael Sanderson's squad took part in 12 matches in front of over 2,900 fans. With one of the nation's best and youngest line-ups, 16 of the 24 wrestlers were freshmen. PENN STATE RANKED #5 IN NWCA/USA TODAY COACHES POLL; 6 LIONS RANKED INDIVIDUALLY BY INTERMAT The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team maintains its No. 5 ranking in the latest USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll after shutting out Lock Haven 48-0 on Sunday. Red-shirt freshman David Taylor (St. Paris, Ohio) holds steady with a No. 3 nod at 157 to lead Penn State's individuals ranked by Intermat at Intermatwrestle.com. The poll's top ten are all unchanged, with Cornell sitting in first with 275 votes, Oklahoma State in second with 264, Minnesota in third with 253, Wisconsin in fourth with 238 and Penn State closing the gap in fifth with 233 votes. Boise State (6), Iowa (7), Oklahoma (8), Illinois (9) and Virginia Tech (10) round out the top ten. Purdue (15), Michigan (16), Northwestern (20), and Ohio State (22) are also ranked in the top 25, giving the Big Ten nine teams ranked by the coaches. Penn State owns dual wins over two teams that are currently ranked: No. 11 Lehigh and No. 17 Rutgers. Taylor is 12-0 and ranked No. 3 with three pins, three technical falls and five majors, meaning only one of his 12 wins was by only a decision. Two-time All-American Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.) is No. 6 at 149 and is 7-1 after missing the early part of the season with an injury. Junior Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio) is also ranked No. 6 at heavyweight. Wade is 9-2 with three pins, three technical falls and two majors. True freshman Andrew Alton (Mill Hall, Pa.) is 12-0 on the year with nine pins and is ranked No. 10 at 141. Red-shirt freshman Ed Ruth (Harrisburg, Pa.) is 11-1 and ranked No. 11 at 174 while true freshman Frank Martellotti (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is 11-0 at 125 and ranked No. 17. All-American Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.), who is 8-2, was ranked No. 5 at 184 before his injury in the finals of the Nittany Lion Open. He will return to the rankings upon his return to Penn State's line-up. SEVEN NITTANY LIONS RANKED BY THEOPENMAT.COM Seven Nittany Lions are currently ranked in the top 20 at their respective weights by TheOpenMat.com and Penn State is ranked No. 2 as a team. The seven ranked Lions are Frank Martellotti (#13 at 125), Andrew Alton (#7 at 141), Frank Molinaro (#4 at 149), David Taylor (#2 at 157), Jake Kemerer (#19 at 165), Ed Ruth (#9 at 174) and Cameron Wade (#6 at 285). All-American Quentin Wright, who was ranked in the top five at 184, will not be ranked by TOM until he returns to the Penn State line-up. SINGLE DUAL MEET TICKETS ON SALE Fans wishing to purchase single dual meet tickets for the 2010-11 Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling season can place their orders by calling 814-865-5555 or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office. The box office is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ticket pricing is $8 for adults and $5 for youth, and there will be a limit of eight tickets per order. Group sales are also available. This year's home schedule continues when Lock Haven invades Rec Hall on Sunday, Dec. 12, for a 2 p.m. match-up. The Big Ten season begins early when conference rival Ohio State comes to Happy Valley for a 2 p.m. dual on Sunday, Dec. 19. The Pittsburgh Panthers close out Penn State's non-conference schedule in Rec Hall on Friday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. The Iowa Hawkeyes come to town on Sunday, Jan. 30, at 2 p.m., followed by a match-up with the Illinois Illini on Friday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. The Nittany Lions close out their dual meet schedule with a home meeting with the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. PENN STATE WRESTLING RADIO NETWORK EXPANDS The Penn State wrestling radio network is expanding with the addition of a second station carrying all live action during the 2010-11 season. In addition, PA Sports Now will carry the Cael Sanderson Show on over 10 stations state-wide (see side panel note). Once again, Forever Broadcasting's WRSC (1390 AM) will serve as the flagship station for the entire dual meet schedule as well as tournament action from the Nittany Lion Open, the Southern Scuffle, the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships. This year, Clinton County's WSQV (92.1 FM) has signed on to carry the live schedule as well. Jeff Byers, long-time voice of Penn State wrestling, will once again call the action for Nittany Lion fans. All live broadcasts, dual meets and tournaments, as well as the Cael Sanderson Show, will also be streamed live on GoPSUsports.com as part of the All-Access package. Simply got to www.GoPSUsports.com, click on the All-Access icon and follow the steps to sign up.

CASPER, Wyo. -- Colby Covington and Clayton Jack each recorded major decisions and the 14th-ranked Oregon State wrestling team bounced back from last week's loss at Nebraska with a 20-15 win over Wyoming Thursday night. "The team competed very well; it was a good start to the weekend," Oregon State head coach Jim Zalesky said. "Obviously, Colby and Clayton earned the most number of individual points but everyone contributed to the win." The Beavers improved to 4-1-2 on the year and pushed their all-time record over Wyoming to 18-6 by getting out to a small lead via decisions by Kelly Kubec, Mike Mangrum and Alex Elder, then breaking it open on the major decisions by Covington and Jack, sandwiching a decision by Chad Hanke at 197 pounds. Covington extended his bout win streak to six by defeating Patrick Martinez, 16-6, at the 174-pound class. He improved to 9-1 on the year, and 3-0 in duals, and extended OSU's lead to 13-6 over the Cowboys. Jack, meanwhile, improved to 8-4 this season in defeating Joe O'Farrell, 12-3, at the heavyweight class. That victory sealed Oregon State's team win when the Beavers went up 20-12. The meet started at the 133-pound class, where Kubec got the Beavers off on the right foot with a 3-1 win over Kasey Garnhart. Mangrum made it 6-0 in favor of the Beavers, when he took the 141-pound class, 6-3 over Wyoming's Chase Smith. The win was the 20th of Mangrum's career to come by decision and he improved to 19-5 all-time in dual meets. Wyoming earned its first points of the night when Cole Dalaserra defeated Scott Sakaguchi, 5-3, at 149 pounds, but Alex Elder downed Jimmy Belleville, 15-8, at the 157-pound class. The win snapped Elder's three-bout losing streak and pushed OSU's lead to 9-3. Jon Brascetta and Shane Onufer battled at the 165-pound class, with the Wyoming grappler coming away victorious, 5-2, and pulling the Cowboys to within three, 9-6. But Covington stepped in and defeated Martinez, 16-6, to put OSU's lead at 7 points. Joe LeBlanc earned Wyoming's most points of the night when he pinned Brice Arand at 3:29 (184 pounds). OSU's lead stood at 13-12, but was extended to 20-12 after Chad Hanke recorded a win over LJ Helbig, 13-8, at the 197-pound class and Jack earned his major decision over Wyoming's Joe O'Farrell. Oregon State returns to action Friday night when the Beavers visit Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. Start time is scheduled for 5 p.m. PT and fans can follow along via live stats and live video, with links available on osubeavers.com. Oregon State 20, Wyoming 16 Weight Winner Loser Outcome Score OSU WYO 133 Kelly Kubec (OSU) Kasey Garnhart (WYO) Decision 3-1 3 0 141 Mike Mangrum (OSU) Chase Smith (WYO) Decision 6-3 6 0 149 Cole Dallaserra (WYO) Scott Sakaguchi (OSU) Decision 5-3 6 3 157 Alex Elder (OSU) Jimmy Belleville (WYO) Decision 15-8 9 3 165 Shane Onufer (WYO) Jon Brascetta (OSU) Decision 5-2 9 6 174 Colby Covington (OSU) Patrick Martinez (WYO) Major Decision 16-6 13 6 184 Joe LeBlanc (WYO) Brice Arand (OSU) Fall 3:29 13 12 197 Chad Hanke (OSU) LJ Helbig (WYO) Decision 13-8 16 12 HWT Clayton Jack (OSU) Joe O'Farrell (WYO) Major Decision 12-3 20 12 125 Tyler Cox (WYO) Jason Lara (OSU) Decision 9-2 20 15

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The 15th-ranked Purdue wrestling squad is set to open its Big Ten Dual schedule, traveling to ninth-ranked Illinois this Sunday for a 1 p.m. (CT) dual meet at Huff Hall. The Boilermakers head to Champaign, Ill., at 3-0-1, fresh off an 18-15 victory over No. 18 Missouri, while the Fighting Illini are just 1-0, taking down the Tigers in their lone contest. Purdue’s ascent to No. 15 in this week’s NWCA Coaches Poll is the squad’s highest national ranking since 2004, when the Old Gold and Black climbed to the same spot in the poll after an 18-15 win at Minnesota on Feb. 1. The Boilermakers’ are excited about the show of national respect, but they’re far from satisfied. “It’s outstanding to be recognized among the nation’s elite, but it’s much more important that we keep going out and proving we belong there,” said Purdue head coach Scott Hinkel. “We took a great step against Missouri last weekend; we need to take another one this Sunday.” The Boilermakers head into the weekend trailing the all-time series, 29-51-2, including a 13-28-1 mark at Illinois. Last season’s 25-11 win for Purdue snapped a string of 11 consecutive losses to the Fighting Illini, and gave the Old Gold and Black its fourth straight winning dual season. Purdue and Illinois have not wrestled consecutive matches in Champaign since a three-meet series from 1984 to 1986, when the Boilermakers took two of three contests. Bouncing back from a down year in 2009-10, Illinois has restocked its lineup, currently featuring six nationally-ranked grapplers, including three in the top-10 of their respective weight classes. Two-time All-American Jimmy Kennedy anchors the Fighting Illini lineup at 141 pounds, where he carries a 6-1 record and No. 3 national ranking into Sunday. Kennedy climbed the national podium at 133 pounds in 2008 and 2009, before taking a redshirt in 2010 and moving up a weight this season. Sophomore B.J. Futrell and junior Jordan Blanton also hold high rankings as Futrell is fifth at 133 pounds with a record of 10-2, while Blanton is eighth at 174 pounds, holding a 6-2 mark. Illinois features additional ranked individuals at 149, 184 and 197 pounds in the forms of junior Eric Terrazas and freshmen Tony Dallago and Mario Gonzalez. Terrazas is 13th at 149 pounds, Dallago is 15th at 184 and Gonzalez is 20th at 197, and all three placed at the 2010 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, helping the Fighting Illini to a fifth-place team finish. The Boilermakers’ continue to be led by their quartet of nationally ranked grapplers in seniors Colton Salazar, Luke Manuel and Logan Brown, and junior A.J. Kissel. Salazar, Kissel and Brown keyed the squad’s win over Missouri, scoring much needed bonus points, while Manuel was victorious in the headline bout of the meet as he scored a 2-1 decision over No. 17 Dorian Henderson. This week’s contest will need a similar theme as Salazar, Brown and Kissel head into their respective matches as the favorite, while Manuel will have another dogfight on his hands with Blanton. Manuel and Blanton have previous met three times with Manuel holding a 2-1 advantage in the series. Manuel won at the 2009 Midlands Championships, 5-4, and again in the 2010 dual, 5-3, while Blanton scored a 10-1 major decision at the 2010 Big Ten Tournament and went on to earn All-America honors at the national championships. Other potential for swing matches come at 149 and 165 pounds, where Purdue goes in as underdogs, but could have shots at an upset. At 149, Terrazas is off to a great start with a 6-2 mark, including his fifth-place effort in Las Vegas, while Purdue senior Sam Patacsil has been up-and-down with a 7-6 season record. Patacsil has wins over Terrazas in freestyle competition, and Hinkel believes that Patacsil’s best wrestling is yet to come. At 165 pounds the fans will see a rematch from the tournament in Las Vegas as Boilermaker freshman Kyle Mosier looks to avenge a 7-4 loss to Illinois sophomore Conrad Polz. Polz used a pair of early takedowns to ride out his decision over Mosier, giving him one of his two victories on the season, but Mosier managed a third-period takedown in the bout, which could give him some confidence heading into the rematch. The Fighting Illini are set to stage a charity drive for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank at Sunday’s dual, collecting food or funds to assist the foodbank in serving the hungry in 14 counties in Eastern Illinois. Donations will be collected throughout the match at the marketing table at the south end of Huff Hall and admission to the match is free for all fans. “Our staff decided to do this based on associate head coach (Carl) Perry’s personal endeavor during the holiday season,” head coach Jim Heffernan said. “Carl and his family work along with the assistance and contributions of a lot of other people to sponsor 15 local families every year at this time, in order to make sure these disadvantaged families’ needs are met in time for Christmas. Our idea to hold a food drive for Sunday’s dual meet with Purdue is a reflection of that. Plus, Jim Hires, the executive director of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, has been a very loyal fan of our team for the past several years and we hope to be able to assist with his cause during the holidays.” Sunday’s meet will air live via Fighting Illini All-Access (http://www.fightingillini.com/allaccess/), while live stats will be available from the match via the NWCA Scorebook (http://www.nwcaonline.com/nwcaonline/results/ColScorebook/CompetitionResult.aspx?ID=747772&ID2=30053&ResultID=-1&Mode=Live). In addition, visit The Official Purdue Wrestling Twitter Page (http://www.twitter.com/PurdueWrestling) for live updates.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Hello Wrestling Fans! Scott Casber, Jeff Murphy and Geoff Murtha will be LIVE in TDR's home based Brute Adidas studios for another 2 hour show this week brought to you by Kemin Agrifoods. LIVE 9 AM to 11 AM its Takedown Wrestling Radio. Listen on radio, on computer, your Blackberry or iPhone with the iHeartRadio App. Our Guests Include: (All times Central) 9:01 Teague Moore- Head Coach : Clarion Golden Eagles 9:20 Drew Pariano- Head Coach of Northwestern 9:40 Chad Tuninck- Head Coach High Altitude Wrestling 10:01 Rande Stottlemyer- Head Coach University of Pittsburg 10:20 Jeff Murphy- with the Kemin Big 10 and Big 12 report 10:50 Amy Ruble- Wildrose Resort

This weekend marks the 18th annual Beast of the East, the 16th of which has been held in December. Blair Academy, New Jersey -- ranked third nationally -- is the strong favorites to win the tournament for an eleventh consecutive year, and for the fifteenth time overall. The only other teams to win the Beast are Brick Memorial, New Jersey in January 1994; Bald Eagle Area, Pennsylvania in 1998; and St Edward, Ohio in 1999. The Bucs have also never finished below third in the event (1998). While first place is likely locked, and No. 8 Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania, is the on-paper favorite to take second, there are a bevy of teams in the running for third place and beyond. These include the six other nationally-ranked teams in the tournament -- No. 20 Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania; No. 27 Jackson Memorial, New Jersey; No. 31 Cox, Virginia; No. 33 Christiansburg, Virginia; No. 36 Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania; and No. 38 LaSalle, Pennsylvania -- plus other teams outside of the rankings such as Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania seeking to break their way into the Fab 50. Seeking a third consecutive title is junior Mark Grey (Blair Academy, New Jersey), champion at 103 and 119 the last two years and in the 125 pound weight class this year. Also seeking a third title is Kenny Courts (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) who won titles in 2007 and 2009, and is in the 189 pound weight class this year. Two other wrestlers seek to defend weight class titles: Zach Bridson (Timberlane, New Hampshire), competing at 112 pounds, and Matt Idelson (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania) at 215 pounds. Austin Ormsbee (Blair Academy, New Jersey) seeks a second Beast of the East title after winning in 2008 but not competing last year. In addition, two-time defending champion Evan Silver (Blair Academy, New Jersey) will not be in the tournament, as he was beaten out of the lineup by Caleb Richardson at 119 pounds. What: Silvestri Mushrooms presents the 18th annual Beast of the East When: Saturday 12-18-10 and Sunday 12-19-10 Where: Bob Carpenter Center, University of Delaware; Newark, DE Schedule: Wrestling on Saturday starts at 8:30 a.m. ET on 11 mats with three championship and four consolation rounds; the round of 16 is projected to start at about 5:30 p.m., and day one should end at around 9:30 p.m. Competition on Sunday starts at 9:00 a.m. on 11 mats with the quarterfinals on six mats and consolations on five mats, a second consolation round will then be wrestled; at approximately 11:30 a.m., the tournament will break down to only six mats with the semifinals on two of them. The consolation semifinals should end at approximately 2:15 p.m., with the finals matches for first through eighth place slated to being at 3:15 p.m. Tournament Website: http://www.beastwrestling.com InterMat Coverage: During the day on Saturday, there will be both periodic updates of a notebook article on the InterMat front page as well as postings on the twitter account of High School Analyst Josh Lowe (http://twitter.com/#!/JLowe_intermat). Cover-it-Live blogging will occur on Sunday focusing on quarterfinal, semifinal, and placement round activity. A recap of the tournament will be published on Monday. 103: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 1 Darian Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania); No. 9 Joey McKena (Blair Academy, New Jersey). Commentary: Any weight class that contains the nation's number one ranked wrestler has a superstar in it. However, what is lacking in this group is the broad base of depth that typifies Beast of the East weight classes. Despite suffering a loss in the ultimate tiebreaker in last week's championship final at the Walsh Ironman, Cruz is the solid favorite in this weekend's tournament. The most formidable challengers for him are both on the other half of the draw in McKenna and fellow freshman Micah Hight (Caesar Rodney, Delaware). The pair of wrestlers split matches at the Ironman; McKenna winning on the front side, while Hight got him in the consolation semifinal. Three others to watch -- among seeded - in this weight are freshmen Brent Fleetwood (Smyrna, Delaware), Tyler Casamenti (Bergen Catholic, New Jersey), and Zach Ulerick (Middletown, Pennsylvania); Fleetwood and Casamenti met in the Cadet National freestyle championship at 84 pounds this past summer, a match that Fleetwood won. Saturday Match to Watch: Casamenti vs. Jeremy Schwartz (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania). Unseeded Wrestlers to Watch: Four wrestlers can be absolute poison pills for the subset of seeded wrestlers -- Brock Ervin (Union County, Kentucky), Louis Gonzalez (North Bergen, New Jersey), Tyler Ponte (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania), and Alec Huxford (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) Predicting a Finals Match: Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic) over McKenna (Blair Academy) 112: Nationally-Ranked Wrestler: No. 11 Zeke Moisey (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania). Commentary: Even though there is only one nationally-ranked wrestler in this weight class, there is significant depth with six returning Beast of the East placers - including both 103 pound finalists from last year, and at least three other state champions. Life for the lone nationally-ranked wrestler, two-time Super 32 Challenge placer Moisey, is not easy based on his draw. Prior to the quarterfinal, as the seven seed Moisey is looking at a match with state champion Kaleb Lemaire (Caesar Rodney, Delaware). The projected quarterfinal and semifinal matches would be against returning Beast of the East placers in state placer Anthony Cabrera (Bethlehem Liberty, Pennsylvania) and National Prep champion Will Mason (Cape Henry Collegiate, Virginia). The top half of this draw features both finalists from last year's 103 pound weight class -- Zach Bridson (Timberlane, New Hampshire) and Max Hvolbek (Blair Academy, New Jersey). Also in the top half of the draw is Evan Botwin (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania), a wrestler that has been in the mix in many major tournaments, and NHSCA Freshman Nationals champion JR Wert (Christiansburg, Virginia) who finished fourth at the Ironman last week. Saturday Matches to Watch: Moisey vs. Lemaire, Botwin vs. Dallas Smith (Robinson, Virginia), and Wert vs. Trevor Albrecht (Bergen Catholic, New Jersey) Unseeded Wrestler to Watch: Bryan Pflanz (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) Predicting a Finals Match: Moisey (Bethlehem Catholic) over Wert (Christiansburg) 119: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 4 Robert Deutsch (Eastern Regional, New Jersey), No. 9 Dominick Malone (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania), No. 11 Joey Dance (Christiansburg, Virginia), and No. 13 (at 125) Caleb Richardson (Blair Academy, New Jersey). Commentary: Four nationally-ranked wrestlers headline what is a rather balanced weight class overall. Each of the nationally-ranked wrestlers anchors a quarter-bracket of the draw. 2009 New Jersey state champion Deutsch, third at the Beast last year, is the top seed and has Richardson in his half bracket; while National Prep runner-up Malone is the second seed, with Dance in his half bracket. Those are the four wrestlers that should advance to the semifinal round. In the quarterfinal round, Deutsch is looking at a match with one of two wrestlers with a state runner-up finish in their career in either Randy Cruz (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) or Jake Smith (Robinson, Virginia). Richardson is slated to face NHSCA Freshman Nationals champion Dennis Gustafson (Forest Park, Virignia). Malone is in position to face either National Prep placer Paul O'Neil (Gonzaga, DC) or state placer Ethan Kenney (Connellsville, Pennsylvania). Dance is projected to face either former state runner-up Chris Donaldson (Salesanium, Delaware) or former National Prep runner-up Eric Friedman (St. Paul's, Maryland). Saturday Matches to Watch: Cruz vs. Smith, O'Neil vs. Kenney, and Friedman vs. Donaldson. Unseeded Wrestlers to Watch: Mike Shupin (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey), Austin Rose (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania), and Jon Brigham (Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania). Predicting a Finals Match: Deutsch (Eastern Regional) over Malone (Wyoming Seminary) 125: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 3 (at 130) Mark Grey (Blair Academy, New Jersey) and No. 17 John Fahy (Trinity, Kentucky). Commentary: Grey seeks a third consecutive Beast of the East title in as many tournaments, and after falling short in the Ironman last week, he should come in very hungry. While there is terrific depth in this field, it is very hard for me to see anyone derailing Grey from the championship. An indication of how close the field is from two-to-eight, nationally ranked Super 32 placer Fahy is the eighth seed and would draw Grey in the Sunday morning quarterfinal round. The top seeds in the other quarter of the top half are three-time National Prep placer Chris Dinnien (Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania) and returning Beast of the East placer Tyson Dippery (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania). State runner-up and Junior National Greco-Roman champion Tyler Fraley (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) is the second seed, and it will be interesting to see how he handles the jump from 103 pounds. State runner-up Dane Harlowe (Annandale, Virginia) is the seventh seed, and would project to the quarterfinal bout with Fraley. Occupying the other quarter of the bottom half are a pair of wrestlers that have placed sixth at the Super 32 Challenge in state runner-up Kyle Casaletto (Southern Regional, New Jersey) and state placer Devon Lotito (Bethlehem Liberty, Pennsylvania). Saturday Match to Watch: Harlowe vs. Daniel Sanchez (Georgetown Prep, Maryland). Unseeded Wrestlers to Watch: George Weber (John Carroll, Maryland), Jeremy Minich (Boyertown, Pennsylvania), and Jack Bass (Robinson, Virginia) Predicting a Finals Match: Grey (Blair Academy) over Casaletto (Southern Regional) 130: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 2 Zach Horan (Nazareth, Pennsylvania), No. 7 Brandon Jeske (Cox, Virginia), and No. 13 (at 135) Todd Preston (Blair Academy, New Jersey). Commentary: This weight is headlined by a pair of wrestlers that were runners-up at the Beast of the East and their respective state-level tournaments last season. The top seed here is Jeske, who was a National Prep runner-up while competing at St. Christopher's, Virginia last year. He just took second at the Walsh Ironman, and was a Cadet National freestyle champion this summer. Horan is the second seed, a three-time state runner-up, and was second at the Junior Nationals in freestyle this past summer. The specific seed is not as important, since each has a similar draw with a National Prep champion as the likely semifinal opponent and a returning low placer at the Beast of the East in the quarterfinal. Jeske is likely to have to navigate two-time National Prep placer Shane Arechiga (Good Counsel, Maryland) and Junior National freestyle All-American Todd Preston (Blair Academy, New Jersey) prior to the final; while Horan faces off against 2009 state third placer Shyheim Brown (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) and FloNationals third place finisher Jeffrey Ott (Belmont Hill, Massachusetts) prior to the final. Freshman sensation Jack Clark (McDonogh, Maryland) seeks to bounce back from a disappointing Walsh Ironman from the fifth seed, while returning Beast of the East runner-up Tyler Pendergast (St. Mark's, Delaware) is the sixth seed. Saturday Match to Watch: James Stowell (Malvern Prep, Pennsylvania) vs. Brown. Unseeded Wrestler to Watch: Alenick Richardson (St. Peter's Prep, New Jersey) Predicting a Finals Match: Horan (Nazareth) over Jeske (Cox) 135: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 1 (at 140) Austin Ormsbee (Blair Academy, New Jersey), No. 20 Jeff Canfora (Delbarton, New Jersey). Commentary: Three-time National Prep champion Ormsbee seeks a second Beast of the East championship, and is a very strong favorite to earn that honor. While not much stands in his way in the top half of the draw, a likely semifinal match would be against either two-time Super 32 Challenge placer Greg Flournoy (Fauquier, Virginia) or returning state placer Connor Melde (Bergen Catholic, New Jersey). Returning third in the state Canfora headlines the bottom half of the draw. While this half is not star-studded, he is likely to have to face two state placers on his way to the final. Either Brandon Pesarchik (Shamokin, Pennsylvania) or Joey Mazzi (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) await as a quarterfinal opponent, with Ironman placer and state champion Gabe Lavey (Hanover, Virginia) or returning Beast of the East placer Scott Wolfinger (Quakertown, Pennsylvania) as a semifinal opponent. Saturday Match to Watch: Pesarchik vs. Mazzi. Unseeded Wrestlers to Watch: Johnny McClanahan (Great Bridge, Virginia), Greg Noll (Nazareth, Pennsylvania), and Dylan Good (Brecksville, Ohio). Predicting a Finals Match: Ormsbee (Blair Academy) over Canfora (Delbarton) 140: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 11 Jacob Crawford (Millbrook, Viriginia), No. 12 (at 145) Evan Henderson (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania), No. 17 Matt Cimato (LaSalle, Pennsylvania), and No. 18 Mark Pinero (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana). Commentary: This weight has oodles upon oodles of depth with Walsh Ironman champ Henderson the top seed. Henderson was a National Prep champion last year, state runner-up at the public school he attended as a sophomore, and was probably runner-up in Outstanding Wrestler voting at the Walsh Ironman. In a manifestation of this depth, Henderson will have to face the very tough Shane Miller (Middletown, Pennsylvania) prior to the quarterfinal round. Should Henderson clear that match, it would be a date with either Junior National freestyle All-American Cimato or multi-time National Prep placer Ryan Ponte (Northfield Mt. Hermon, Massachusetts). The other quarter of the top half features Pinero, a Junior National All-American, and two-time Super 32 Challenge placer Devon Gobbo (Delbarton, New Jersey). Returning Beast placer, Super 32 Challenge placer, and two-time state champion Crawford is the second seed in this weight class. Prior to the quarterfinal, he would be projected to face Cadet National freestyle All-American Wayne Stinson (North Burlington, New Jersey). The likely quarterfinal is against two-time National Prep placer and Preseason Nationals runner-up Peter Galli (St. Paul's, Maryland) or National Prep placer Ross Parsons (Blair Academy, New Jersey). The other quarter of the bottom half features returning Beast of the East placer and 2009 state runner-up Joe Orecchio (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) as the third seed; with two-time state champion Cody Broomall (Sussex Central, Delaware) or Cohl Fulk (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania), a National Prep and Ironman placer, as the projected opponent. Saturday Matches to Watch: Cimato vs. Ponte and Broomall vs. Fulk. Unseeded Wrestlers to Watch: Tyler Manion (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, PA) and Kevin Gooding (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania) Predicting a Finals Match: Henderson (Kiski Prep) over Crawford (Millbrook) 145: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 2 Nick Hodgkins (Wyomissing, Pennsylvania), No. 10 Blake Roulo (Matoaca, Virginia), No. 14 Henry Carlson (Cox, Virginia), and No. 20 CJ Cobb (Williamstown, New Jersey). Commentary: This is another very deep weight that will be hotly contested. Super 32 Challenge and NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Hodgkins is the top seed, and he has finished top three at state all three years of his career. Life will not be necessarily easy for him throughout this tournament, starting with a National Prep placer in Johnny Allenson (Germantown Academy, PA) prior to the quarterfinals. Hodgkins is looking at either state champion Zach Epperly (Christiansburg, Virginia) or state placer Dan Ries (David Brearley, New Jersey) in the quarterfinal. The other quarterfinal in the top half is most likely to be a rematch of a semifinal at last weekend's Walsh Ironman, which was won by Robert Henderson (Kiski Prep, Pennsylvania) against Junior National freestyle All-American Carlson. However, NHSCA Sophomore Nationals runner-up Sal Mastriani (Don Bosco Prep, New Jersey) stands in the way of Henderson and the quarterfinal round. The bottom half of the draw has four highly talented wrestlers with state champion and NHSCA Junior Nationals champion Roulo leading the way. Waiting in the quarterfinals for Roulo is mostly likely going to be two-time National Prep placer Brady Massaro (Mt. St. Joseph's, Maryland); with two-time state placer Cobb and National Prep runner-up Chris Dowdy (St. Benedict's, New Jersey) standing in the other quarter of that half. Saturday Matches to Watch: Henderson vs. Mastriani and Epperly vs. Ries. Unseeded Wrestlers to Watch: Ryan Todora (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania), Eric Nutter (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania), Garrett Peppelman (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania), and Dylan Milonas (Blair Academy, New Jersey) Predicting a Finals Match: Hodgkins (Wyomissing) over Roulo (Matoaca) 152: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 3 Codey Combs (Sussex Central, Delaware), No. 15 Duke Pickett (Woodberry Forest, Virginia), No. 15 (at 145) Caleb Ervin (Union County, Kentucky), and No. 17 (at 160) David Wesley (St. Christopher's Virginia) Commentary: This is the third of three consecutive weights with four nationally-ranked wrestlers and remarkable depth throughout the weight. Anchoring the class is Beast of the East runner-up and Super 32 Challenge champion Combs, who is the top seed. Life is not easy for him, as he could end up facing multi-time state champion, and NHSCA Sophomore Nationals champion in 2009 Ervin in the quarterfinal round. Freshman sensation Patrick Coover (Blair Academy, New Jersey) is the fourth seed coming off a sixth place finish at the Walsh Ironman and winning the Cadet National Greco-Roman title this past summer. State runner-up Lorenzo Thomas (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania) is the fifth seed, and an opponent that Coover beat in the match to place at the Ironman last week. The bottom half of this draw features three National Prep runners-up, a state runner-up, and a wrestler that placed third in the state tournament. How about that for some depth?! Sophomore Eric Morris (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) is the second seed as a Cadet National freestyle champion after placing second at National Preps and fifth at the Beast last year. The pre-quarterfinal match feeding into Morris features state runner-up, and returning Beast placer, Kyle Dehaut (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) facing off against Cadet National Greco-Roman runner-up Casey Kent (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) who was third in the state last year. The other quarter of the bottom half features National Prep runners-up in NHSCA Junior National champion Wesley and Junior National freestyle All-American Pickett. Saturday Match to Watch: Kent vs. Dehaut. Unseeded Wrestler to Watch: Super 32 Challenge placer and NHSCA Junior Nationals All-American Doug Hamman (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey). Predicting a Finals Match: Combs (Sussex Central) over Wesley (St. Christopher's) 160: Nationally-ranked wrestler: No. 3 Jason Luster (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania). Commentary: Luster is one of three wrestlers seeking an Ironman-Beast double, the other two being Henderson at 140 and Brooks Black at 285 pounds. If ranking the likelihood in order, Luster would have the highest of the three. Luster -- a National Prep champion -- is the top seed in this weight, and a very strong favorite to clear what would be by Beast of the East standards a thin top half of the draw. The likely semifinal opponent for Luster would be two-time state champion Rich Eva (Christiansburg, Virginia). Two-time state champion Cody Allala (Hopewell, Virginia) and state runner-up Shane Springer (LaSalle, Pennsylvania) are the best of the bottom half of the draw, projecting to meet in the semifinal round. Saturday Match to Watch: Kyle Roddy (Brecksville, Ohio) vs. Bobby Scheivert (Chichester, Pennsylvania). Unseeded Wrestlers to Watch: Elliott Riddick (Bethlehem Catholic, Pennsylvania) and Johnny Sebastian (Bergen Catholic, New Jersey) Predicting a Finals Match: Luster (Pittsburgh Central Catholic) over Allala (Hopewell) 171: Nationally-Ranked Wrestler: No. 19 John Staudenmayer (Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania) Commentary: Like last weekend at the Walsh Ironman, 171 pounds is one of the weaker weights in this Beast of the East field. Not only does this weight lack the overall depth that is customary of Beast fields, there is also no bona fide superstar at the top of this weight. The best present here is Staudenmayer -- who was third in the state last year, a Junior National Greco-Roman medalist, and Disney Duals gold medalist. As the top seed, Staudenmayer will have nominal at best challenges to clear his half of the draw. Of interest is a pre-quarterfinal match feeding into Staudenmayer that features Ironman placers Marshall Willet (Brecksville, Ohio) and Addison Knepshield (Blair Academy, New Jersey) wrestling each other; Willet beat Knepshield in the consolation quarterfinals last week. There is a bit more depth in the bottom half with New England regional third placer Nick Lawrence (Timberlane, New Hampshire) as the second seed. Cadet National double All-American (Greco-Roman champion) Scott Gibbons (Archbishop Rummel, Louisiana) is the third seed. In the pre-quarterfinal match feeding to Gibbons, it is Josh Snook (St. Mark's, Delaware) likely to face Matt Miller (John Carroll, Maryland); Snook was second at state and fifth at the Super 32 Challenge, while Miller is a two-time National Prep placer. Saturday Match to Watch: Snook vs. Miller. Unseeded Wrestler to Watch: Austin Coniker (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania). Predicting a Finals Match: Staudenmayer (Plymouth-Whitemarsh) over Snook (St. Mark's) 189: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 2 Kenny Courts (Central Dauphin, Pennsylvania). Commentary: Like the Super 32 Challenge weight class in which Courts took apart "like a knife cutting through butter," this weight class provides limited legitimate threats to him. The question to ask is if Courts can replicate the absolute dominance with which he tore apart the 135 pound weight class as a freshman on the way to a championship and Outstanding Wrestler honors. Some other names to watch in the top half of the draw -- Courts is the one seed -- are National Prep placer Keith Corliss (Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania), state runner-up and Super 32 Challenge placer Michael Mauk (St. Mark's, Delaware), and state placer David Reck (Colonial Forge, Virginia). The bottom half includes a pair of Ironman placers in Kevin Marvel (McDonogh, Maryland) and Perry Hills (Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Pennsylvania), along with state runner-up Joe Jessen (Millbrook, Virginia) and state placer Dawud Hicks (Plainfield, New Jersey). Unseeded Wrestlers to Watch: Isaiah Cromwell (St. Benedict's Prep, New Jersey) and Dallas Winston (Jackson Memorial, New Jersey) Predicting a Finals Match: Courts (Central Dauphin) over Hicks (Plainfield) 215: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 17 Matt Idelson (Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania) Commentary: The lone nationally-ranked wrestler in this field is one yet to make his state tournament; however, Idelson does have titles at the Beast of the East and Super 32 Challenge to his credit. It will be interesting to see how Idelson handles the pressure of expectations, as last year he became the first and only unseeded wrestler ever to win the Beast of the East. This weight has a similar dynamic to 171 in the Beast of the East, as it lacks both a top hitter and some of the traditional high-level depth associated with the Beast of the East. Idelson is the top seed in this weight, the second seed is the opponent he beat in the Super 32 final -- Scott Syrek (Owen J. Roberts, Pennsylvania); Syrek is a three-time state qualifier placing sixth as a sophomore. The freshman sensation Kyle Snyder (Good Counsel, Maryland) enters as the third seed coming off of titles at the Ray Oliver and War on the Shore; this has to be a record high seed for a freshman in the upper-weights. Snyder is looking at a projected quarterfinal against state champion Dustin Dennison (Pleasant Grove, Utah). In the top half quarter opposite of Idelson, you have National Prep placer Tyler Tippett (Mt. St. Joseph, Maryland), FILA Cadet double All-American Willie Wilson (Blair Academy, New Jersey), and state runner-up Joey Spicer (Sussex Central, Delaware). Saturday Match to Watch: Tippett vs. Wilson. Unseeded Wrestler to Watch: AJ Vizcarrando (Wyoming Seminary, Pennsylvania) -- this NHSCA Sophomore Nationals champion could represent an absolute poison pill to the bracket, and is a legit candidate to make it two straight years that 215 pounds is won by an unseeded wrestler. Predicting a Finals Match: Idelson (Garnet Valley) over Syrek (Owen J. Roberts) 285: Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers: No. 5 Brooks Black (Blair Academy, New Jersey) and No. 19 Terrence Jean-Jacques (Wyoming Seminary, PA). Commentary: An impressive third here last year at the Beast, Black built upon that to take a runner-up finish at National Preps and become a double champion at both the FILA Cadet and Cadet Nationals during the off-season. As a result, Black enters this tournament as the number one overall wrestler in the Class of 2013. He is favored to pull off the Ironman-Beast double. The most notable stumbling block prior to the final will be a semifinal match against either Super 32 Challenge placer Ben Tammany (Timberlane, New Hampshire) or Stephen Snyder (Good Counsel, Maryland) who has started off the season on a positive note with titles at the Ray Oliver and War on the Shore). The bottom half semifinal is most likely to be a rematch of a third place match at the Walsh Ironman won by Ross Burbank (Cox, Virginia); one in which he beat NHSCA Junior Nationals runner-up Jean-Jacques in the tiebreaker. Prior to that semifinal, Burbank has to get through state placer Wes Tillett (Shamokin, Pennsylvania) in the quarterfinal. Predicting a Finals Match: Black (Blair Academy over Jean-Jacques (Wyoming Seminary)

The No. 4 Minnesota Gophers defeated a respectable hard fighting CSUB Roadrunner team 26-6 for West Coast NCAA Division I wrestling action on Saturday Dec 11 at the Icardo Athletic Center. With much respect, the CSUB Roadrunners fought hard against the top nationally ranked Gophers wrestling program whose record is (5-1). The final score did not relay the close efforts of CSUB wrestlers. Roadrunners sole victories came from 133-pounder Jose Mendoza, recruited from Selma High School and 157-pound Andrew Balch a state champion who graduated from the Central Valley at Buchanan High School. Mendoza man handled Bart Reiter for the win at 8-6. Andrew Balch served an arsenal of delicious underworld tilts which surprised Alec Ortiz 7-5 for the decision. Minnesota losses came via the unranked athletes against the Roadrunners whose dual record now stands at 0-2. Some outstanding efforts came from CSUB Roadrunners wrestler Riley Orozco who is the number 18th-ranked wrestler whose opening match of the evening encountered No. 5 Sonny Yohn. The Wrestling match went down to the wire with a final score of 7-4 to give the Golden Gophers a solid lead. Zach Sanders (Photo/Joey Krebs)No. 6 Zach Sanders pushed the Golden Gophers' advantage to 10-0 with a 21-10 come from behind major decision over Frank Lomas. Elijah Nacita took a 4-3 first period lead over No. 2 Mike Thorn, but die-hard Thorn battled back to take an 8-5 decision. Thorn remains undefeated this season at 141 pounds (15-0) and is ranked number two in the nation. 16 of the 20 participating wrestlers who competed in the dual were nationally ranked in at least one of the six Division I Wrestling polls. Minnesota sealed the victories in the remainder weight classes for the final Gopher win and score at 26-6. Results: 197: No. 5 Sonny Yohn (M) dec. Riley Orozco (CSUB), 7-4 285: Ben Berhow (M) dec. David Morgan (CSUB), 9-3 125: No. 6 Zach Sanders (M) major dec. Frank Lomas (CSUB), 21-10 133: Jose Mendoza (CSUB) dec. Bart Reiter (M), 8-6 141: No. 2 Mike Thorn (M) dec. Elijah Nacita (CSUB), 8-5 149: Danny Zilverberg (M) dec. John Cardenas (CSUB), 8-6 157: Andrew Balch (CSUB) dec. Alec Ortiz (M), 7-5 165: No. 6 Cody Youhn (M) dec. Trevor Hall (CSUB), 11-5 174: No. 10 Scott Glasber (M) dec. Joey Granata (CSUB), 11-5 184: No. 15 Kevin Steinhaus (M) major dec. Brady Garner (CSUB), 18-6

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Northwestern wrestling's Big Ten dual season got off to a promising start Wednesday evening as the ninth-ranked Wildcats dispatched of host Indiana, 28-9, at University Gymnasium in Bloomington. NU (8-0, 1-0 Big Ten) handed the Hoosiers their first loss thanks in part to key wins against highly ranked opponents by No. 7 Andrew Nadhir (149) and No. 5 Jason Welch (157). Those swing-match victories, coupled with pins by No. 2 Brandon Precin (125) and Aaron Jones (184) as well as a major decision by No. 16 Levi Mele (133) and a one-point win by 20th-ranked Kaleb Friedley (141), allowed Drew Pariano to win his first league dual match as NU head coach. "We have high standards for our team this season so we came to Indiana with the expectation of performing well tonight," Pariano said. "We did well to not give away some close matches early but we need to put those away sooner and not let it come down to that. I thought Nadhir and Welch wrestled smart matches against quality opponents, Aaron Jones showed he is gaining more and more confidence and wrestling well, and I'm proud of how (John) Schoen battled today. This is only the beginning of the Big Ten season for us so we have to continue to improve." Precin opened the action at 125 pounds against Justin Brooks with a quick takedown and three sets of near-fall points to take a 9-0 lead at the end of the first period. Still dominating the match in the third, Precin rolled Brooks to secure at least a tech fall but worked for over a minute to earn his fourth fall of the year and the full six points for NU. Sixteenth-ranked Levi Mele got the nod at 133 pounds for Northwestern, where he jumped to a 5-2 advantage with two takedowns in the first period. Mele carried a four-point lead into the third and, after collecting three near-fall points, was able to expand his decision to a 10-2 major thanks to 1:03 of riding time. Mele improved to 8-1 on the year with the win. In his first Big Ten dual match and first career match as a ranked wrestler, Kaleb Friedley surrendered an early takedown to Mitchell Ritchey but came back with a reversal in the opening period. He scored again on a reversal late in the second and a key takedown in the third to take a 6-2 lead, but Ritchey scored on a reversal with 10 seconds to go. It was too little too late for the Hoosier, however, as Friedley held on for the 6-5 win and improved to 14-1 in his true freshman season. That brought about a matchup of two top-11 wrestlers in Nadhir and IU's three-time national qualifier Kurt Kinser, with Nadhir getting on the board first with an escape in the second period. The one-point lead stood through the start of the third when Kinser answered with an escape, but Nadhir's relentless aggressiveness paid off in the final 15 seconds when he was finally able to finish a shot, win the match 3-1 and remain unbeaten at 12-0 on the year. It was a third straight edge-of-your seat match at 157 where Welch met two-time NCAA qualifier Paul Young, who looked as if he'd take an early lead with control of Welch's left leg for nearly a full minute before Welch was able to slip free and avoid the takedown. The action intensified in the second when Young scored an escape on the edge of the mat only to be quickly taken down by Welch, who wisely kept his feet in the circle in the process. One more escape was all the scoring Welch would need to earn a 4-1 victory -- his 10th of the year -- and give NU a 19-0 cushion in the team score. The home team picked up its first victory at 165, where NU's Kevin Bialka fell behind Ryan LeBlanc by a 7-2 score. Bialka notched a takedown in the third to pull within 7-5, but couldn't come up with another '2' after cutting LeBlanc, who held on for the 8-5 win. Looking to counter the Indiana victory, Brian Roddy, Jr. scored a quick takedown against Nick Avery in the first and nearly had a second in the waning moments of the period but was unable to finish before the horn sounded. He made up for it by riding out the entire second period, collecting near-fall points along the way and going on to win, 6-1, while also moving to 6-1 in the won-loss column this year. Senior Aaron Jones kept NU in cruise control at 184 against Eric Cameron, using his strength to build a 3-0 lead despite dealing with a cut lip in the second period. He began the third period on top and soon managed to get perpendicular to Cameron, getting Cameron's shoulders to the mat for the pin at the 6:03 mark to put away the match for the Wildcats. Taking on a ranked competitor in No. 14 Matt Powless, John Schoen wrestled as the aggressor at 197 pounds by executing quickly on a double leg and later getting Powless to his back to take a 5-0 lead. Powless came alive in the second and closed the frame with a takedown to tie the score at six. A free escape to begin the third gave Schoen a 7-6 lead -- with riding time in his favor - but the Hoosier finally got the takedown with 17 seconds remaining to send the bout to sudden victory. Half a minute went by in the extra session before Powless finished a shot to win, 10-8, and deny Schoen the chance at the upset. The dual match ended with one final tight bout, with Indiana's Ricky Alcala getting around for a takedown of NU's Ben Kuhar with only three seconds remaining to break a 6-6 tie and win, 8-6. After returning from Bloomington, the Wildcats prepare for another road trip Sunday, one that will bring them to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville where the 'Cats will dual with the host Cougars as well as Northern Illinois. Results: 125: #2 Brandon Precin (NU) FALL Justin Brooks (IU), 6:30 (NU 6, IU 0) 133: #16 Levi Mele (NU) dec. Matt Ortega (IU), 10-2 (NU 10, IU 0) 141: #20 Kaleb Friedley (NU) dec. Mitchell Ritchey (IU), 6-5 (NU 13, IU 0) 149: #7 Andrew Nadhir (NU) dec. #11 Kurt Kinser (IU), 3-1 (NU 16, IU 0) 157: #5 Jason Welch (NU) dec. #9 Paul Young (IU), 4-1 (NU 19, IU 0) 165: Ryan LeBlanc (IU) dec. Kevin Bialka (NU), 8-5 (NU 19, IU 3) 174: Brian Roddy, Jr. (NU) dec. Nick Avery (IU), 6-1 (NU 22, IU 3) 184: Aaron Jones (NU) FALL Eric Cameron (IU), 6:03 (NU 28, IU 3) 197: #14 Matt Powless (IU) dec. John Schoen (NU), 10-8 (SV1) (NU 28, IU 6) 285: Ricky Alcala (IU) dec. Ben Kuhar (NU), 8-6 (NU 28, IU 9)

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota redshirt freshman Kevin Steinhaus has been honored as the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week after leading the No. 3 Golden Gophers to three wins over the weekend. Steinhaus, now ranked ninth in the country at 184 pounds by Intermat, earned a 3-2 decision win over then-No. 8 Josh Ihnen of Nebraska, helping Minnesota score a 26-8 victory over the then No. 15 Cornhuskers on Thursday. The 184 pounder followed with an 18-6 major decision over Cal State Bakersfield's Brady Garner in a 26-6 Minnesota win on Sunday afternoon. Steinhaus concluded his week by tallying another major decision over Cal State Fullerton's Todd Noel, winning by a 12-3 score in the Gophers' 39-0 triumph over the Titans on Sunday evening. Steinhaus, now 14-2 overall this season and 6-1 in duals, has rocketed up the national rankings in the last two weeks from unranked to No. 15 last week to No. 9 in the latest poll following the redshirt freshman's three-win weekend. The award is the first Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honor for Steinhaus and the first for Minnesota since Ben Berhow was honored with the accolade on Dec. 15, 2009. Minnesota returns to action later this month at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C. The two-day event begins on Wednesday, Dec. 29.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan wrestling program will host a free wrestling clinic on Sunday, Jan. 2, from 10 a.m.-noon at the Bahna Wrestling Center. The clinic is open to all ages and skill levels and will feature technique and practice-planning instruction from Wolverine All-American Tyrel Todd (2006-09) as well as members of the U-M coaching staff. Video cameras will be permitted. As a Wolverine wrestler, Todd was a three-time NCAA All-American -- at 184 (2007, '08) and 197 (2009) pounds -- earning national finishes of third, fourth and fifth place. He captured the Big Ten 197-pound title as a senior (2009) and won the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at 184 pounds in 2007. Todd posted a 121-30 career record, including a 54-11 mark in dual meets, to rank 16th among Michigan's all-time winningest wrestlers. He accumulated 22 career falls, leading the team with 10 during his senior season. A two-time team captain, Todd garnered Big Ten Distinguished Scholar (2009) and Academic All-Big Ten (2006) honors off the mat. Todd has also excelled in freestyle wrestling, placing fourth at the 2008 Olympic Trials and fifth at the 2007 U.S. Open in the 84 kg/185-pound division. He is currently training for the 2012 Olympic Games and is in his first season as an assistant coach at Cal Poly. The Wolverines will hold an open practice, beginning at 1 p.m., following the clinic. All participants are invited to remain at the Bahna Wrestling Center to observe practice. For any further information regarding the clinic, please contact the Michigan wrestling office at 734-647-1223.

OREM, Utah -- Air Force Academy 141-pounder Cole VonOhlen (Jackson, Minn./Jackson County Central HS) has been named the Western Wrestling Conference's Wrestler of the Week as announced Tuesday by the league. VonOhlen helped lead Air Force to a pair of victories on Friday, as the Falcons defeated Coe, 21-13, and Western State, 26-12, to open their 2010-11 dual slate. VonOhlen, ranked 11th in the nation at 141 pounds, outscored his opponents 22-2 in his two bouts. VonOhlen opened the day with a 4-0 decision over Coe's Chris LeClere, ranked sixth in Division III. Meanwhile, he posted a technical fall over Western State's Jesse Cruz in his second match of the day. Air Force's victory over Western State broke a five-match losing streak to the Mountaineers, dating back to the 2005-06 season. The Western Wrestling Conference, which is in its fifth year of competition, is comprised of seven schools including the Air Force Academy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming. Other Nominees: Northern Iowa: David Bonin, 157 pound, sophomore, (Broussard, La./Comeaux HS) South Dakota State: Jimmy Hamilton, 149 pounds, freshman (Manchester, Mich./Manchester HS) Utah Valley: Wyatt Ray, 141 pounds, sophomore (Roy, Utah/Roy HS) Wyoming: Tyler Cox, 125 pounds, redshirt freshman (Gillette, Wyo./Campbell County HS) 2010-11 WWC Wrestlers of the Week Nov. 16 – Cole Dallaserra (Wyoming)/Cole VonOhlen (Air Force) Nov. 24 - Cole Dallaserra (Wyoming/Flint Ray (Utah Valley) Dec. 1 - Vince Salminen (North Dakota State) Dec. 7 - Ryan Loder (Northern Iowa) Dec. 14 - Cole VonOhlen (Air Force)

Five champs not enough for Allen at Mid-America Nationals Despite having five wrestlers win individual titles at the Mid-America Nationals, 25th-ranked Allen, Texas took second place to 18th-ranked Tulsa Union, Oklahoma. Winning titles for Allen were Bo Nickal (125), Jarrod Trotter (130), No. 17 (at 145) Oliver Pierce (152), Ophir Bernstein (189), and Nick Cobb (215). Five other wrestlers earned placement -- third, fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth -- for the Eagles, as they totaled 235-1/2 points for the tournament. What took Tulsa Union to the top was the fact they had seven finalists -- three champs, four second-place finishers -- among their ten placers to total 260-1/2 points. Champions were Josh Walker (119), Kyle Ash (160), No. 9 (at 160) Kyle Crutchmer (171); second-place finishers were Brandon Martin (103), Brian Crutchmer (130), Connor Baxter (135), and Throcan Samuels (145). Outstanding Wrestler honors went to Cadet freestyle champion Pierce, who won the 152 pound weight class over No. 12 Ryne Cokeley (St. James Academy, Kansas) 3-0; Cokeley had a semifinal win 5-3 in overtime against No. 13 Jeromy Davenport (Sallisaw, Oklahoma). Calib Freeman (112) -- ranked 15th nationally -- was one of four champions for Claremore, as he defeated No. 11 Gary Wayne Harding (Collinsville, Oklahoma) 4-1 in the championship final. Others to win titles for the 21st-ranked Claremore squad were Gunnar Woodburn (103), Michael Williams (135), and Nick Haugen (145). With only three other placers -- fourth, fifth, and eighth -- they finished third scoring 179-1/2 total points. Rounding out the tournament champions were No. 14 Taylor Moeder (St. James Academy, Kansas) at 140 pounds and Caleb Cline (Norman North, Oklahoma) at 285 pounds. Wonderful Waverly Coming off of a second place finish at the Keith Young Invitational with five champions at that event (No. 1 Apple Valley, Minnesota took first with No. 12 Bettendorf, Iowa and defending state champions Denver-Tripoli, Iowa finishing tied for third), the Go-Hawks faced another challenging Saturday at the Five Seasons Duals in Cedar Rapids. After No. 11 Waverly-Shell Rock won their first two duals meets, 84-0 against Cedar Rapids Washington and 49-15 over Linn-Mar, their semifinal match was against No. 14 Iowa City West, Iowa. With the dual meet starting at 189 pounds, the Go-Hawks faced a 10-0 deficit before No. 1 Cody Krumwiede secured a fall at 285 pounds to spark a six match spurt. This included the first of two big upset wins on the day for senior Tanner Werner at 125 pounds - a 6-4 win over No. 16 Jack Hathaway in which he rallied back from a 4-0 third period deficit. Iowa City west won the next three matches, including an 8-5 victory for No. 12 Elijah Sullivan over Jordan Rinken at 140 pounds in a battle of returning state runners-up. Iowa City West then chose to give No. 7 Cody Caldwell a forfeit at 152 pounds in hope of getting pins from Britton Thompson and No. 12 Justin Koethe who would bump up one weight class each to 160 and 171 pounds. However, that was not to be, as Thompson was held to a 10-8 decision victory. When Waverly-Shell Rock chose to forfeit the last match, the Go-Hawks would come away with a 33-31 victory. It was onto the championship final for the Go-Hawks, where a meeting with Bettendorf was on the docket. After suffering a 5-4 defeat in the starting match at 215 pounds, Krumwiede would continue his reign of terror with a second consecutive pin over No. 12 Brodie Berrie in a battle of state champions at 285 pounds. As part of a five match win streak from 119 to 140 pounds, Werner came away with a 6-0 victory over two-time state runner-up Connor Ryan at 125 pounds to cap off a stellar opening two weeks to the season. When all was said and done, the Go-Hawks had won nine of the matches and secured the Five Seasons Duals championship with a 41-23 victory. A Clash in Iowa With the complete and total success of The Clash Duals (held annually in Rochester, Minnesota), organizers in the Waterloo area decided to create an event with a similar format. The Battle of Waterloo, to be held at Young Arena this Friday and Saturday, features 32 Iowa schools competing in a dual meet tournament. Each team will have three dual meets on Friday as part of an eight-team “umbrella” bracket, and three more dual meets on Saturday against those teams finishing in the same position of bracket competition on Friday. Half of the field is composed of teams ranked in the top 15 of the most recent IWCOA Dual Rankings for each division. This includes nationally-ranked teams No. 11 Waverly-Shell Rock, No. 12 Bettendorf, and No. 14 Iowa City West; along with defending state champions Denver-Tripoli and Don Bosco. Eleven wrestlers in this tournament are nationally ranked in their weight class (indicated with *), with fourteen additional wrestlers ranked either first or second in their state tournament weight class according to preseason rankings published by The Predicament. 103: Andrew Steiert (Waverly-Shell Rock) 112: *Dylan Peters (Denver-Tripoli) 119: *Eric Devos (Waverly-Shell Rock), Kody Kreiz (Louisa-Muscatine) 125: Connor Ryan (Bettendorf), *Jack Hathaway (Iowa City West), Gunnar Wolfensperger (Denver-Tripoli) 130: Alex Hernandez (Bettendorf), *Brandon Sorensen (Denver-Tripoli), Jesse Etherington (Charles City) 135: Grady Gambrall (Iowa City West), Adam Perrin (North Scott), Brandon Welter (Don Bosco) 140: *Bo Schlosser (Bettendorf), *Elijah Sullivan (Iowa City West) 152: *Cody Caldwell (Waverly-Shell Rock), Britton Thompson (Iowa City West) 160: *Justin Koethe (Iowa City West), Garrett Smith (Denver-Tripoli) 171: Travis Mallo (Mason City) 189: *Brandon Abernathy (Indianola), Jared Bartel (Mason City), Blaize Cabell (Independence) 285: *Cody Krumwiede (Waverly-Shell Rock), *Brodie Berrie (Bettendorf) Link to pairings for Friday competition: http://www.wrestlingbattleofwaterloo.org/news_article/show/71870?referrer_id=228416-news Top seeded teams are Iowa City West, Denver-Tripoli, Bettendorf, and Waverly-Shell Rock. The lone opening first round match with a pair of ranked teams is Louisa Muscatine and Osage facing one another. Cavaliers double the pleasure After winning the season opening Ray Oliver Invitational hosted by McDonogh High School outside of Baltimore, Maryland, Archbishop Spalding travelled to Ocean City for the War on the Shore Tournament hosted by Stephen Decatur High School. The Cavaliers -- whose home base is near Annapolis, Maryland -- dominated the field with five finalists (two champs), nine total placers, and 190 points. Champions for Archbishop Spalding were Mike Still (103) and No. 15 (at 140) Charlie Lynch (152); while Cole Gallagher (112), Brady Gaynor (135), and Will Switzer (145) earned second place medals. A close battle for second place occurred between Sussex Central, Delaware and La Plata, Maryland. Despite just a single placer in each first through fourth, the Golden Knights used a tournament high eleven total placers to score 159 points -- enough to finish in second place by a single point over La Plata. Codey Combs -- ranked 3rd nationally at 152 pounds -- was the lone champion for Sussex Central, while Cody Broomall (140) was the sole runner-up. The tournament was smooth sailing for La Plata until the semifinal round, one in which six of their seven semifinalists were sent to the backside of the draw. The lone finalist -- Josh Lopez -- fell to Combs in the final. However, in good news for La Plata, all six semifinal losers won their next consolation match and all but one followed up that win with a victory in the third place match. Other weight class champions were Thomas Payne (Poquoson, Virginia) at 112 pounds, Paul O'Neil (Gonzaga, DC) at 119, No. 10 (at 119) Nathan Kraisser (Centennial, Maryland) at 125, Kyle Bauer (Wheeling Park, West Virginia) at 130, Johnny McClanathan (Great Bridge, Virginia) at 135, Salaman Riddell (Old Mill, Maryland) at 140, Brady Massaro (145) and Tyler Mill (171) winning titles for Mt. St. Joseph, Maryland, Alex Zwier (Caravel Academy, Delaware) at 189, along with Kyle (215) and Stephen (285) Snyder winning titles for Good Counsel, Maryland. Who will become Kings of the Mountain The host Wildcats from Central Mountain, Pennsylvania, seek to defend their championship against a formidable field this coming weekend at the King of the Mountain. Even though they return as champions of the KOTM and Pennsylvania big-school state tournament, they are not favored in this event. There are three nationally-ranked teams in the field - No. 10 High Point, New Jersey, No. 23 Massillon Perry, Ohio, and No. 49 Council Rock South, Pennsylvania. In addition to Central Mountain, the field features six other teams that were either champions or runner-up in their respective state individual or dual meet tournaments: High Point, Benton (PA), Schuylkill Valley (PA), Fort LeBeouf (PA), Reynolds (PA), and Parkland (PA). Eleven wrestlers in the field are nationally ranked in their respective weight classes (marked with asterisk). Four other wrestlers are unranked but have a state finals appearance to their credit career to date. 112: *Zain Retherford (Line Mountain, Pennsylvania) 119: Mitch Newhouse (Massillon Perry, Ohio) 125: *Mason Beckman (Reynolds, Pennsylvania) and (*at119) Nick Francavilla (High Point, New Jersey) 130: Arty Walsh (Schuylkill Valley, Pennsylvania) and Coltin Fought (Benton, Pennsylvania) 135: *Steve Spearman (Erie McDowell, Pennsylvania) 140: Zach Beitz (Juniata, Pennsylvania) 145: *Matt Martoccio (Council Rock South, Pennsylvania) 160: *John Guzzo (High Point, New Jersey) 171: *Nathaniel Brown (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania) and (*at152) Ethan Orr (High Point, New Jersey) 189: Stephan Ceramuga (Commodore Perry, Pennsylvania) 285: *Zach Corl (Central Mountain, Pennsylvania) and *William Smith (High Point, New Jersey) Top teams ride momentum heading into Reno TOC All three of the nationally-ranked teams in the 16th annual Reno Tournament of Champions field come into the event riding strong positive momentum from their performances last weekend. No. 13 Roseburg, Oregon won the coast classic; No. 18 Tulsa Union, Oklahoma won the Mid-American nationals as the host team; while No. 24 Easton, Pennsylvania dominated conference rivals Parkland with a 41-21 dual meet victory. Fourteen nationally-ranked wrestlers are featured in the tournament. 112: No. 5 Nashon Garrett (Chico, California) 119: No. 17 Stevan Knoblauch (Clovis West, California) 125: No. 3 Vince Rodriguez (Clovis North, California), No. 12 Kyle Garcia (Choctaw, Oklahoma), and No. 15 Fabian Garcia (Turlock, California) 135: No. 10 Isaiah Martinez (Lemoore, California) 140: No. 19 Jacob Falk (West Jordan, Utah) 152: No. 10 (at 160) Seth Thomas (Roseburg, Oregon) 160: No. 9 Kyle Crutchmer (Union, Oklahoma), No. 16 Nikko Reyes (Clovis West, California), No. 17 (at 152) Zach Brunson (Churchill, Oregon), and No. 20 Steve Congenie (Villa Park, Illinois) 171: No. 20 Dylan Fors (Roseburg, Oregon) 189: No. 5 Lucas Sheridan (De La Salle, California) Tournament website: http://rtoc.net/index.asp Wrestling starts at 12 noon ET (9 a.m. PT) on both Friday and Saturday, with the championship finals starting at 8 a.m. ET (5 PT) on Saturday evening. Lumps of coal for all in the Gopher State courtesy of Apple Valley Best in the nation Apple Valley, Minnesota will travel to the Rochester Community and Technical College in Rochester, Minnesota to dole out their annual beating of the best from the rest of the Gopher State. They are seeking a fourth consecutive tournament title and thirteenth in the last fifteen years. The Eagles bring back four defending champions to the tournament, of the seven in all that return from the December 2009 edition. In addition to Apple Valley, three other nationally-ranked teams from the Gopher State are present in the field: No. 9 Simley, No. 42 Kasson-Mantorville, and No. 47 STMA. All three teams that top the Minnesota divisional rankings are present in the field -- Apple Valley, Simley, and Jackson County Central. Four of the 35 teams come from other states, with the pair of North Dakota teams being formidable entries -- Bismarck and West Fargo. The following nationally-ranked wrestlers are present in the tournament field: 103: No. 19 Kyle Gliva (Simley) and No. 20 Tommy Thorn (STMA) 112: No. 19 Jordan Kingsley (Apple Valley) 130: No. 16 Ben Morgan (Forest Lake) and No. 20 Dakota Trom (Apple Valley) 135: No. 7 Matt Kelliher (Apple Valley) and No. 19 Bronson Steuber (Jackson County Central) 140: No. 7 Brandon Kingsley (Apple Valley) and No. 9 Jake Short (Simley) 152: No. 1 Destin McCauley (Apple Valley) 160: No. 6 Steven Keogh (Apple Valley) 171: No. 6 Jake Waste (Apple Valley) 215: No. 16 Michael Kroells (Scott West) 285: No. 2 Donny Longendyke (White Bear Lake) In addition, these are additional wrestlers ranked first in the state of Minnesota by The Guillotine: defending MCT champion Nate Thomas (Kasson-Mantorville) at 112 pounds, Sam Brancale (Eden Prairie) at 119, Garrett Garness (Kasson-Mantorville) at 135, Daniel Woiwor (Apple Valley) at 145, Dan Dick (Simley) and Cooper Moore (Jackson County Central) at 160, along with Matt Hechsel (Apple Valley) and Broc Berge (Kasson-Mantorville) at 189. These wrestlers from the North Dakota were state finalists last year: Joe Schumacher (Bismarck) at 140, Kip Jangula (Bismarck) and Preston Lehmann (West Fargo) at 171, and Eric Lehmann (West Fargo) at 189. Diverse field to convene on Kansas City In five years, the Kansas City Wrestling Classic has been known by as many names -- or so it seems. However, the constant feature has been a field that includes many of the best wrestlers from across the great Midwest and beyond. This year's 32-team field features teams from nine different states. Fourteen teams in this field finished either first or second in their state tournaments last year, with four of those teams appearing in the national rankings: No. 21 Claremore, Oklahoma, No. 25 Allen, Texas, No. 28 Collins Hill, Georgia, and No. 37 Oak Park, Missouri. The weekend of wrestling to be held at the Hale Arena, attached to Kemper Arena in the American Royal Complex, will also commence on Thursday night with a showcase dual meet placing state champions Platte County, Missouri (Class 2A) against Claremore. Additionally on Thursday night, there will be junior high and youth tournaments along with select high school duals. Wrestling on Friday night features three matches for each wrestler -- eight pools of four wrestlers each. The top two wrestlers in each pool advance to the gold bracket for Saturday's competition, with the bottom two being placed in the Silver bracket. Saturday wrestling seeks to guarantee competitors four-plus matches. The tournament can be followed on TrackWrestling. Eight wrestlers in the tournament field are nationally ranked, in addition to defending champion Skyler Wood (Platte County, Missouri) at 125 pounds. 103: No. 16 Daniel Lewis (Blue Springs, Missouri) and Noah Teaney (Oak Park, Missouri) 112: No. 15 Calib Freeman (Claremore, Oklahoma) 119: No. 7 Thomas Gilman (Skutt Catholic, Nebraska) 125: No. 4 Bricker Dixon (Park Hill, Missouri) 130: No. 5 Cody Brewer (Oak Park, Missouri) 152: No. 17 (at 145) Oliver Pierce (Allen, Texas) 189: No. 17 Dallas Smith (Neosho, Missouri) Clovis dominates Clovis West Shootout The two-day Clovis West Shootout had some surprises, but one of them was not the ultimate winner of the event. No. 16 Clovis, California swept their six dual meets, all with margins of 27 or more points. With two of the matches being clean sweeps, the average match score was 58-1/2 to 11. In what was a surprise, the teams from the Central section did not dominate the event. The visitors emerged with a winning record across the six rounds of wrestling. Clovis obviously was the home champion and overall champion, Buchanan was runner-up for the home group, Vacaville was champion of the road group with a 5-1 record, and Laguna Hills was runner-up in the road group. It's late early in Alaska While the scholastic wrestling season is just under way in the other 48 states that sanction wrestling -- or in the case of New Jersey, starting this weekend -- the end of season state championships were just conducted in Alaska with a couple of teams travelling to Reno for the Reno TOC this coming weekend. In the small-school division (Class 1A-2A-3A), Bethel was the champion with 228-1/2 points, while the host school Nikiski took second with 169-1/2 points. Link to results: http://www.akmat.org/Results/10-11Results/3A_State/3A_State.htm In the big-school division (Class 4A), Wasilla took home the title with 200-1/2 points, while Service finished in second with 177 points. Link to results: http://www.akmat.org/Results/10-11Results/4A_State/4A_State.htm