InterMat Staff

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- To many it was a foregone conclusion that Iowa would win its third straight Big Ten title at the 2010 Big Ten Championships with a dominating performance. When the dust settled on Sunday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Iowa did in fact capture its third straight Big Ten title with 156.5 points, finishing 37 points ahead of runner-up Minnesota. But despite the large margin of victory, the word 'dominating' was not used throughout Crisler Arena to describe the Hawkeyes' performance after four of Iowa's six finalists lost. "You have some explaining to do as a coach and a coaching staff," said Iowa coach Tom Brands, who was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. "The ready state ... and we weren't ready. You think you're ready, but you think ... and funny things happen when you're thinking. You've got to know you're ready and you've got to go out there and you've got to execute." Perhaps the biggest blow to Iowa came at 149 pounds when the Hawkeyes' leader, Brent Metcalf, fell to Ohio State's Lance Palmer, 9-3. Metcalf opened the match with a takedown to go up 2-0, but Palmer hung around and trailed just 3-1 heading into the third period. After clasping call against Metcalf and an escape by Palmer, the match was knotted at 3-3. After a wild scramble, Palmer not only came out on top for the takedown, but also put Metcalf to his back, which all but sealed the deal for the Buckeye senior as he picked up three nearfall points and added riding time. Palmer, who entered the event ranked second nationally, was previously 0-4 in his collegiate career against Metcalf. "To me, I don't feel like I'm an underdog," said Palmer, who was named Outstanding Wrestler of the event. "I feel like I should be No. 1. That's the mentality that I've had every time I've wrestled him ... this year a little different than the others." Palmer, a three-time All-American who has placed fourth twice and eighth once, knows that what matters most is the NCAA Championships in less than two weeks. "It feels good to beat him, but it's not really about me and him," said Palmer. "It's about winning a national title, I think. That's the bigger picture that I look at. It's cool to be a Big Ten champ, but it doesn't mean anything if you can't win a national title in two weeks. Four of the 10 champions crowded on Sunday were multiple-time winners, including Indiana's Angel Escboedo, who won his third straight conference title at 125 pounds. Both Escobedo, a senior, and Iowa's Mike McDonough, a freshman, entered the match undefeated. Escobedo led 1-0 after two periods, but eventually secured the match with two takedowns in the third period to win 6-4. "Three Big Ten titles in a row is a tough feat to overcome," said Escobedo. "I had a tremendous freshman out there pushing me to the limits. That was just great for college wrestling to see that he has four more years and that I'm graduating. Two have those two clash ... It was a great experience out there." Minnesota had back-to-back champions at 133 pounds and 141 pounds in Jayson Ness and Mike Thorn. Ness captured his second Big Ten title with a 9-3 victory over Iowa's Daniel Dennis at 133 pounds. The Gopher senior captain led 7-0 in the third period, but Dennis added a late escape and a takedown. Ness' first Big Ten title came when he was a freshman in 2007 at 125 pounds. Despite being undefeated, ranked No. 1, and without an NCAA title, Ness, a three-time All-American, feels no pressure heading into his final NCAA Championships. "I don't feel any pressure," said Ness, who was also named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year. "I've started just relying on the Lord a lot more. All I can do is wrestle hard seven minutes. Whatever happens, it doesn't matter because I gave it my full effort. That's the only way I can look at it. It takes a lot of the pressure off." Thorn, who entered the event ranked eighth nationally at 141 pounds, avenged a loss from earlier this season by defeating second-ranked Reece Humphrey of Ohio State, 3-1. "I'm really enjoying it," said Thorn. "I had a lot of fun this tournament. Man, there's a lot of good wrestling from all teams." Thorn's focus will now turn towards Omaha and the NCAA Championships. "I'm just going to get to the NCAA tournament and take it one match at a time," said Thorn. "I think if I keep wrestling like this, I should end up in the finals and give myself a shot at winning an NCAA title. It's just exciting." At 157 pounds, Penn State's Cyler Sanderson captured his first Big Ten title with an 8-4 decision over Colton Salazar of Purdue. Sanderson and Salazar grew up together in Utah, wrestled in the same kids club, and were high school teammates at Wasatch High School in Heber City. "It was kind of weird," said Sanderson of wrestling Salazar. "It's a little bit like wrestling your brother. You've got to wrestle whoever shows up. He's done real well. He had a real good tournament. He's going to do great at the NCAAs." Wisconsin's Andrew Howe, who is undefeated and ranked No. 1, captured his second straight Big Ten title at 165 pounds with a 4-2 decision over Colt Sponseller of Ohio State. The match was tied 1-1 in the third period with just over a minute to go in the match when Howe scored the go-ahead takedown, which propelled him to the victory. So what was the key for Howe in his finals match? "Staying in good position the whole time, not giving him a lot of opportunities," said Howe. "That takedown in the third period pretty much sealed the deal." Jay Borschel put a halt to Iowa's three-match losing streak in the finals with a dominating 8-1 victory over Scott Glasser of Minnesota at 174 pounds. "It's great," said Borschel. "It was the next event on the calendar. We had a lot of focus on it, but I can't really think about anything else but what's next in two weeks here. That's kind of what your career and everything is defined by is winning a championship. It's good to win these championships and these tournaments. But that's why we wrestle is just for the next two weeks here at the national tournament." At 184 pounds, John Dergo of Illinois defeated Phil Keddy of Iowa, 5-3, to capture his first Big Ten title of his career. After a scoreless first period, Dergo, who is ranked second nationally, registered a takedown in each of the next two periods, which helped pace him to the victory. Dergo will be making his fourth appearance at the NCAA Championships. He has a 7-6 career record at the NCAA Championships, but is still in search of his first All-American medal. "I'm going in there and I'm going to worry about one match a time," said Dergo. "I feel if I wrestle my best, there's no one that can beat me right now. Wisconsin's Trevor Brandvold, who has not suffered a defeat since January 9, won a hard-fought match, 3-1, over Minnesota's Sonny Yohn at 197 pounds. The two wrestlers battled to a 0-0 tie after one period. In the second period, Brandvold picked up a reversal, which proved to be the difference in the match. "Sonny and I have wrestled before," said Brandvold, who won 5-3 over Yohn earlier this season. "He's really hard for me to score on when on the feet, so my strategy was to take only smart shots. I'm really comfortable on top, so I knew I could probably ride him and get out from the bottom. So that was the strategy." In a battle of undefeated heavyweights, Iowa's Dan Erekson used a takedown and cradle right off the bat to go up 5-0 against Indiana's Nathan Everhart, which helped pace him to a 9-6 victory. "You want to strong," said Erekson, who captured his second straight Big Ten title. "I want to finish strong too. That first takedown and to be able to turn him like that, that was really big." Finals Results 125: No. 1 Angel Escobedo (Indiana) dec. No. 3 Matt McDonough (Iowa), 6-4 133: No. 1 Jayson Ness (Minnesota) vs. No. 3 Daniel Dennis (Iowa), 9-3 141: No. 8 Mike Thorn (Minnesota) dec. No. 2 Reece Humphrey (Ohio State), 3-1 149: No. 2 Lance Palmer (Ohio State) dec. No. 1 Brent Metcalf (Iowa), 9-3 157: No. 6 Cyler Sanderson (Penn State) dec. Colton Salazar (Purdue), 8-4 165: No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) dec. No. 6 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State), 4-2 174: No. 2 Jay Borschel (Iowa) dec. No. 7 Scott Glasser (Minnesota), 8-1 184: No. 2 John Dergo (Illinois) dec. No. 10 Phil Keddy (Iowa), 5-3 197: No. 7 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) dec. No. 13 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota), 3-1 285: No. 10 Dan Erekson (Iowa) dec. No. 2 Nathan Everhart (Indiana), 9-6 Final Team Standings 1. Iowa 156.5 2. Minnesota 119.5 3. Wisconsin 109 4. Ohio State 102.5 5. Penn State 91 6. Purdue 76 7. Michigan State 68.5 8. Illinois 64 8. Indiana 64 10. Michigan 57.5 11. Northwestern 20 Individual Award Winners Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships: Lance Palmer, Ohio State Freshman of the Year: Matt McDonough, Iowa Wrestler of the Year: Jayson Ness, Minnesota Coach of the Year: Tom Brands, Iowa

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The finals matchups are set for the 2010 Big Ten Championships and will be aired live on the Big Ten Network at 2:05 p.m. ET. Below is a breakdown of each finals matchup. 125: No. 1 Angel Escobedo (Indiana) vs. No. 3 Matt McDonough (Iowa) A battle of undefeated wrestlers. Escobedo, the two-time defending Big Ten champion at this weight class, has been dominant all season long. He has picked up bonus points in his last nine matches. Escobedo was untested on Saturday, registering victories Sean Boyle of Michigan (pin) and No. 12 Brad Pataky of Penn State (14-1). The fact that McDonough made it through the entire regular season of his redshirt freshman season undefeated -- and then reached the Big Ten finals -- tells you what kind of talent he is. He is tenacious competitor who is very difficult to score on. His length also causes matchup problem for many of his shorter 125-pound opponents. Like Escobedo, McDonough is on a roll. He has picked up bonus points in his last seven matches. His road to the Big Ten finals included two major decision victories, one coming against returning All-American Zach Sanders of Minnesota. Match History: These two wrestlers have never met during their college wrestling careers. 133: No. 1 Jayson Ness (Minnesota) vs. No. 3 Daniel Dennis (Iowa) Ness, a three-time All-American, has put together one of the finest seasons ever in Gopher wrestling history. He is currently 25-0 with 18 pins. He stands just two pins away from tying, and three from breaking, his own school record for pins in a single season. He will be making his third trip to the finals of the Big Ten Championships. He was a Big Ten champion as a freshman (125), runner-up as a sophomore (125), and placed fourth (133) last season. His route to the Big Ten finals includes victories over Akif Eren of Purdue (pin) and No. 6 Tyler Graff of Wisconsin (11-4). Dennis, a returning All-American, missed over a month of the season because of an ankle injury, which kept him out of both the Midlands and the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. He has suffered only two defeats this season ... one to fifth-ranked Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State, in his first match back from his injury, and one to Ness. He has two wins this season over defending NCAA champion and two-time Big Ten champion Franklin Gomez of Michigan State, including a victory in the Big Ten semifinals on Saturday night. Match History: Dennis defeated Ness twice last season (6-4, 9-7). Ness defeated Dennis this season on February 14 by a score of 8-4. 141: No. 2 Reece Humphrey (Ohio State) vs. No. 8 Mike Thorn (Minnesota) Humphrey, an NCAA runner-up last season at 133 pounds, is one bad day away from being undefeated on the season. At the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals on January 9, the Buckeye senior dropped matches to No. 12 Chris Drouin of Arizona State and No 1 Kyle Dake of Cornell ... but has otherwise been perfect this season. On Saturday, he was pushed hard in first round match against Cole Schmitt of Wisconsin, but prevailed for the 6-4 victory. He dominated Penn State's Adam Lynch, 14-4, in the semifinals. Thorn has been one of the most consistent performers on the Minnesota team this season. After a disappointing finish to his sophomore season when he went 0-2 at the NCAA Championships, Thorn got bigger and stronger in the offseason and grew into a full-sized 141-pounder ... and it has paid off. He has not only defeated several ranked opponents this season, but dominated them, picking up bonus points in virtually all of his wins over ranked opponents. He lost by major decision to Montell Marion on February 14 (after pinning him at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals), but came back on Saturday to hammer him, 12-3, in the semifinals. Match History: Humphrey defeated Thorn, 5-3, earlier this season at the NWCA/Cliff Keen Nationals Duals on January 9. (Humphrey also defeated Thorn at University Nationals in freestyle last April) 149: No. 1 Brent Metcalf (Iowa) vs. No. 2 Lance Palmer (Ohio State) Metcalf, a two-time NCAA finalist and 2008 NCAA champion, will be vying for his third straight Big Ten championship. He is 31-0 on the season and coming off a dominating 12-3 major decision victory in the semifinals over All-American Frank Molinaro of Penn State. Palmer, a three-time All-American, avenged one of his two regular season losses this season in the semifinals when he defeated Wisconsin's Kyle Ruschell, 2-1, to advance to the finals. He will now get the opportunity to avenge his only other loss, which came to Metcalf. Match History: These two have met four times throughout their college careers ... with Metcalf winning all four meetings. Metcalf defeated Palmer earlier this season, 3-1, on February 19. 157: No. 6 Cyler Sanderson (Penn State) vs. Colton Salazar (Purdue) With Minnesota's Dustin Schlatter unable to compete because of an injury, it left this weight class wide open. Interestingly, Salazar received the No. 1 seed despite not being ranked nationally. He is a two-time NCAA qualifier, but has been struggled with consistency this season. He has some quality wins, but also some head-scratching losses. After winning by default (over Schlatter) in the opening round, he dominated Wisconsin's Greg Burke, 13-4, in the quarterfinals, and then registered a 6-2 victory over Iowa's Jake Kerr in the semifinals. Sanderson, who transferred to Penn State from Iowa State for his senior season, has gone 27-4 ... with three of those losses coming to wrestlers ranked in the top five. He was pushed in his first match on Saturday against Clinton Arlis of Illinois, but escaped with a 9-7 victory. In the semifinals, Sanderson blanked Anthony Jones of Michigan State, 6-0. An interesting side note on this matchup ... Sanderson and Salazar were high school teammates at Wasatch High School in Heber City, Utah. Match History: These two wrestlers have never met during their college wrestling careers. 165: No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) vs. No. 6 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State) Howe, the defending Big Ten champion and NCAA runner-up at this weight class, has yet to suffer a loss this season and has defeated six of the seven wrestlers ranked directly below him, including Sponseller. He is coming off a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Dan Vallimont of Penn State in the semifinals. Sponseller finally got over the mental hurdle of beating Iowa's Ryan Morningstar, a wrestler who defeated him in three previous meetings, in the semifinals on Saturday night. His only losses this season have come to wrestlers ranked in the top four. Sponseller has proven over the past three seasons that he is one of the nation's top 165-pounders, but he has never been able to put it together in March when it matters most. As a freshman, he failed to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Last season, as a sophomore, he failed to earn All-American honors after he entered the event as the No. 6 seed. Match History: These two have met twice in their college careers, once last season and once this season ... with Howe winning both meetings. Howe's most recent victory over Sponseller came earlier this season in the finals of the Cliff Keen Nationals Duals, 6-3, on December 4. 174: No. 2 Jay Borschel (Iowa) vs. No. 7 Scott Glasser (Minnesota) Borschel is one of four undefeated Hawkeyes. He was a Midlands champion in December and was named Outstanding Wrestler at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. During the Big Ten season, Borschel went 9-0 ... with seven of those wins coming with bonus points. Glasser, who moved up this season from 165 pounds, has been on fire during the second half of the season. He has won 19 of his last 21 matches ... with both losses during the span coming to Borschel. Last season, Glasser dropped 15 of his last 19 matches and went 0-2 at the Big Ten Championships. This season he looks like a completely different wrestler. Match History: These two have wrestled twice this season ... with Borschel winning both matches by major decision. Their most recent match occurred on February 14 -- a match Borschel won 14-2. 184: No. 2 John Dergo (Illinois) vs. No. 10 Phil Keddy (Iowa) Dergo, a three-time NCAA qualifier, competed at 174 pounds the past two seasons before moving up to 184 pounds for his senior campaign. He is 30-2 on the season and coming off an impressive 13-6 semifinal victory over three-time All-American and 2008 NCAA champion Mike Pucillo of Ohio State. His only losses this season have come to Missouri's Max Askren (a loss he later avenged) and No. 1 Kirk Smith of Boise State. Keddy, a two-time All-American, has struggled at times this season, but seems to be hitting his stride at the right time. He has won nine of his last 10 matches ... and avenged the only loss during that span on Saturday night in the semifinals, which came to Penn State's ninth-ranked David Erwin. Match History: Dergo defeated Keddy, 9-8, at the 2007 Big Ten Championships. 197: No. 7 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) vs. No. 13 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota) Brandvold missed the first month of the season due to injury, but competed at the Midlands in December, where he finished fourth. He dropped a match to fifth-ranked Cam Simaz of Cornell at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals on January 9, but has since reeled off 12 straight victories. He is coming off a 3-1 victory over eighth-ranked Anthony Biondo of Michigan in the semifinals. Yohn, who moved up from 184 pounds, dropped three conference matches this season, but has put together a solid Big Ten Championships. He avenged a loss Patrick Bond of Illinois before upsetting top-seeded Chad Beatty of Iowa. Match History: Brandvold defeated Yohn, 4-2, earlier this season on January 29. 285: No. 2 Nate Everhart (Indiana) vs. No. 10 Dan Erekson (Iowa) Everhart started his college career at 197 pounds before moving up to heavyweight as a sophomore. He has been one of the most improved wrestlers in the country this season. After losing 17 matches as a junior, the Indiana big man has yet to suffer a single defeat this season. He has established himself as one of the top contenders to win the heavyweight title in Omaha. Everhart outscored his three opponents on Saturday, 24-5, to en route to reaching the finals. Erekson, a returning All-American, missed the first two months of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle suffered during an early-season practice. Since returning to the mat on January 24, the Hawkeye heavyweight has gone a perfect 11-0. He is coming off a 5-2 victory over 17th-ranked Cameron Wade of Penn State in the semifinals. Match History: These two wrestlers have never met during their college wrestling careers.

BROOKINGS, S.D. -- In unusual and exciting fashion, the University of Wyoming Wrestling team qualified three individuals for the upcoming national championships and won the NCAA West Regional title on Saturday in Brookings. A trio of UW sophomores won their brackets and earned automatic bids to the 2010 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships. Michael Martinez was the victor at 125 pounds, Shane Onufer at 165 and Joe LeBlanc at 184. The Cowboys also got a second-place finish from Cory VomBaur (133) and three third-place winners: Jimmy Belleville (157), Alfonso Hernandez (197) and L.J. Helbig (Hwt.). As a team, the `Pokes came from behind and won the West Regional team title by a half point over the 24-time defending champion Northern Iowa Panthers. It is Wyoming's first-ever West Regional team title and UW's first tournament conference championship team since 1992. The Cowboys concluded the event with 75 points, Northern Iowa had 74.5, North Dakota State (44.5) was third, followed by Utah Valley (43.5), Air Force (37.5), South Dakota State (29.5) and Northern Colorado (18.5). All seven Western Wrestling Conference teams competed at the event, making it in effect the league's championship tournament. Entering the final matches in the heavyweight division, the `Pokes trailed the Panthers by a half point. UNI's Christian Brantley won his match, but so did UW's Helbig, only Helbig pinned his opponent which gave Wyoming the necessary bonus points to jump in front of Northern Iowa to end the night. The Cowboys and Panthers did battle all day long, with four head-to-head match-ups in the semifinals, two others for first place and one for third place. UW was 5-2 in those matches. Those bouts, along with some key consolation bracket wins and bonus points, helped Wyoming come from down 15 points after the semifinals and seven and a half points to UNI heading into the finals. UW was hurt by some key losses to some of their high seeds in early matches, but also benefited from a penalty point deducted from UNI for poor sportsmanship after the 157-pound final. "This is a bitter-sweet day," Wyoming head coach Mark Branch said. "I feel that we wrestled about as poor as we could today and that is the reality. The good thing is that we walk away with the team championship, which was one of our goals this year. It is hard though, because I don't believe we deserved it with our performance. I would trade the team title for a few more guys going to the NCAA Championships. "The way that we train and my philosophy as a coach is to perform well on this weekend. Everything points towards that. To come out and wrestle poorly is disappointing. We trained too hard and too smart to let our opponents dictate the outcome the way they did today. "There were some performances on our team that deserve thanks for getting this team over the hump and earning the West Regional trophy. Guys like Fonz (Hernandez), Jimmy and L.J. all showed some heart with the way they came back through the back-draw, earned bonus points and got some big wins." Martinez, the No. 2 seed at 125 pounds, faced Andrew Zwirlein from Air Force for the second straight year in the opening round. In a low-scoring match, Martinez won 3-2. Next, the Cowboy sophomore had Caleb Flores of UNI and the two had to go to a second sudden victory period before Martinez won the match in extra time with a takedown, 4-2. In the finals, he would face No. 1 seeded Ben Kjar from Utah Valley for the third time this season. The pair had split their two previous meetings. Like their match at the Cowboy Open in November, No. 9-ranked Kjar and No. 11-ranked Martinez needed extra time to determine a champion, and just like that earlier match Martinez used a takedown in the first sudden victory period to win 7-3. With the win Martinez won his second straight 125-pound West Regional title and took one of the league's two automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament. His overall record is now 30-7. Seeded No. 1 in the 133-pound weight class, VomBaur had a first-round bye and then faced No. 4 seed Ryan Jauch from Northern Iowa in the semifinals. He recorded an early first-period takedown, racked up riding time over Jauch and then held on for a 5-3 decision. In the finals, against No. 3 seed Flint Ray (UVU), VomBaur lost 8-3 and must now hope for an at-large NCAA bid. VomBaur wrestled the event on a sore knee, after a staph infection had caused his knee to swell over the past two weeks. He will now wait for the NCAA at-large selections next Wednesday to see if he will attend his fourth national championships. At 141 pounds, Chase Smith was pinned in his opening match and lost a decision in the wrestlebacks, the only Cowboy to go 0-2 on the day. Starting as the No. 3 seed at 149 pounds, Cole Dallaserra controlled his first-round match with Nick Hagar (SDSU) and won 6-0. He then had trouble creating any offense against No. 2 seed Andrey Patselov (NDSU) and lost 6-2. That dropped Dallaserra into the consolation bracket where he would face Gabe Martinez of Air Force. He would need extra time to beat Martinez, but did manage get revenge for a recent dual loss by winning in a second sudden victory period, 3-1. Dallaserra then wrestled No. 4 seed Justin Morrill (UVU) in the third place bout, losing 9-4 and taking fourth place. UW freshman Belleville was seeded No. 4 at 157 pounds and opened his tournament by avenging a recent dual loss to Alec Williams of Air Force. Belleville never trailed and beat Williams 9-3. No. 1 seed Tyson Reiner (UNI) was his next opponent and he would lose a major decision 14-4. In the back draw, Belleville first saw Nick Flynn from SDSU, winning 8-2 before meeting No. 2 seed Justin Gaethje (UNCo) for third place. In an exciting match that was back-and-forth for a full seven minutes, Belleville won 11-10 thanks to a late takedown. He finished his freshman campaign with a 31-8 record. No. 9-ranked Onufer was the No. 1 seed at 165 pounds and got an 11-2 major decision against Kevin O'Brien from Northern Colorado in his first match, followed by another major decision, 13-5, against No. 4 seed Tyler Johnson (NDSU). His finals' opponent was the No. 3 seed David Bonin (UNI). Onufer pushed the pace, scored two takedowns and won the Regional title match by a score of 6-2. He was awarded the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for his efforts, his second-straight trip to nationals. Onufer now has a 27-5 season record. Also a No. 1 seed, Brock Smith drew a first-round bye and then faced No. 4 seed Tyler French (AFA) for the third time this season. Each wrestler had one head-to-head win over the other, but French tilted the season scorecard in his favor by beating Smith this time 5-2. Mac Stoll from NDSU was next for Smith, whom he beat 10-5, setting up a third place match with Utah Valley's No. 2 seed Brad Darrington. Smith had beaten Darrington earlier this season, but this time was forced to wrestle with a foot injury he sustained in an earlier match. He lost the match 6-1. LeBlanc, nationally ranked No. 8 at 184 pounds, lived up to his No. 1 seed by earning a technical fall in his opener against Patrick Prentice (UNCo). Wyoming's All-American took a 14-1 first-period lead and then ended the match quickly at 3:13 by a 17-1 margin. It was LeBlanc's 12th technical fall victory this season. Equally as dominant was LeBlanc's next match, in which he pinned James Ciccone from Air Force at 1:49. The fall was his 12th win in that fashion this season. It would then be No. 3 seed Andy O'Loughlin (UNI) whom LeBlanc would fight in the finals and despite his opponents' defensive approach, he would win 9-2. LeBlanc rolled up over four minutes in riding time in the match. It was also his second consecutive West Regional crown and he will return to the NCAA Tournament via an automatic bid. LeBlanc's season record is now 35-4. He was named the event's Outstanding Wrestler as voted by the coaches. In a big blow against the Cowboy team, 197-pounder Alfonso Hernandez, who was seeded No. 2, was pinned by Drew Ross of North Dakota State in the opening round. He battled back in the consolation bracket with a pin of his own, his first this season, over Edward Matthews (UNCo) at 2:36, then followed that up with his second win by fall of the year, this time at 2:58 over No. 4 seed Josh Wood (UVU). Having seen his chances of qualifying for nationals go south in the first round, a frustrated Hernandez then beat No. 3 seed Dustin Bauman (UNI) by decision, 9-3. He placed third with the win and won the tournament's Most Pins award. L.J. Helbig was the No. 4 seed at heavyweight and drew a first-round bye before matching up with No. 1 seed Christian Brantley of UNI. Brantley proved to be too much for Helbig, winning 6-2, however, in his next match UW's redshirt freshman beat Joe Arthur from NDSU, 7-3. He now faced Kevin Kelly (SDSU) for third place and with the `Pokes team title hopes on the line. Helbig came through in the clutch for his team by pinning Kelly with just a second remaining in period number two and sealing the West Regional team title for Wyoming. LeBlanc, Martinez and Onufer will now begin training for the NCAA Championships which will be held in Omaha, Neb., March 18-20 at the Qwest Center Omaha. VomBaur will have to wait until after all of the qualifying events have concluded and the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee meets in-person to select the remaining 46 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 10.

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Virginia wrestling team, behind ACC champions Chris Henrich and Mike Salopek, won the program's first ACC Championship since 1977 on Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C. Virginia racked up 85 points, edging out Maryland (80.5) and Virginia Tech (78.5). Virginia captured its fourth title overall and the program's first since the George Edwards era. Under Edwards, UVa won ACC championships in 1974, 1975 and 1977. The Cavaliers narrowly missed winning the championship the past two years, finishing two points behind Maryland in each instance. "It was just about a perfect day," Virginia head coach Steve Garland said. "I'm just trying not to cry right now. It was 1977 the last time we won it and it has been a long time coming. There is so much work that goes into it. To see all of our guys hugging and crying, it means the world to me. "You know you can do it and you put the work in, but at the end of the day, this tournament is crazy. The last two years we just missed the title by two points. We finally pulled it off. Sure, you come here and think you are going to win it, but until you do it, you just cannot imagine the emotion of pulling it off. Seeing the wrestlers hugging each other after Mike (Salopek) had won, that was a special moment." The championship was a total team effort. Virginia, ranked 22nd nationally, came in as underdogs to No. 10 Maryland and No. 14 Virginia Tech, but all 10 Cavalier wrestlers reached the semifinal round and placed among the top four in their respective weight classes. UVa was the only team to place in the top four in all 10 weight classes. In addition to the team championship, a school-record eight Cavaliers qualified for the 2010 NCAA Championships. That breaks the previous record of seven, set in 1997, 1998 and 2009. Ross Gitomer (125), Derek Valenti (141), Shawn Harris (149), Dan Gonsor (157), Henrich (174), Salopek (184), Brent Jones (197) and Jack Danilkowicz (285) all punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships after earning automatic bids. In all UVa, earned one-third of the ACC's 24 automatic qualifier slots. Virginia held a narrow lead heading into the finals - by seven points over Maryland and by 11 over Virginia Tech. The Hokies won four of the first six individual championships to take a 78.5-77.5 lead over UVa heading into the final four weight classes. Behind Henrich and Salopek's championships, the Cavaliers stemmed the tide and clinched the crown. Henrich dominated at 174 pounds, winning by technical fall, 20-5, over Tommy Ferguson of North Carolina for his second-consecutive ACC title. The reigning All-American jumped out to a 7-2 lead after one period and needed just 5:08 before the match was stopped for the tech fall. Henrich also posted a pin in just 1:27 against Virginia Tech's Taylor Knapp in the semis. With his two victories, Henrich has now won 15 straight bouts and boasts a 30-2 season record. Salopek, a redshirt freshman, won a thrilling bout at 184 pounds with a takedown with 12 seconds left in the third period to upset top-seeded Tommy Spellman of Virginia Tech, 2-0. He also defeated Maryland's Corey Peltier, 6-0, in the semifinals and improved to 28-8 this season. Virginia won the 184-pound weight class for the third straight year - Rocco Caponi captured the title the previous two seasons. Including Henrich and Salopek, Virginia put five wrestlers in the finals. At 125 pounds, Gitomer dropped a 4-1 decision against Jarrod Garnett of Virginia Tech. Gitomer recorded a 19-7 major decision over UNC's Brian Bokoski before downing No. 3 seed James Knox of Maryland to reach the finals. With his two wins Saturday, Gitomer moved into a ninth-place tie with Garland on the all-time Virginia wins ledger with 91 career victories. Matt Snyder followed with a narrow 2-1 defeat against 11th-ranked Steve Bell of Maryland in the 133-pound class. Snyder, who since January has wrestled up a weight class from his normal 125 pounds, pinned Virginia Tech's Brock LiVorio in the semis to advance to the finals. At 149, Harris dropped an 8-4 decision to Brian Stephens of Virginia Tech in the championship match. Harris got to the finals after upsetting top-seeded Bobby Ward of NC State, 7-2, in the semifinals. Valenti took third place at 141 pounds. After falling in sudden victory time to second-seeded Chris Diaz of Virginia Tech, Valenti bounced back with a vengeance, pinning Mike Bell of Duke and Scott Norris of NC State to earn third place. Valenti improved to 24-8 and now has a team-high 10 falls this season. At 157, Gonsor took fourth place after dropping a 4-2 decision in sudden victory time to Thomas Scotton of North Carolina. After falling in the semis to top-seeded Jesse Dong of Virginia Tech, Gonsor knocked off Colton Palmer of NC State before losing in sudden victory time to Thomas Scotton of North Carolina in the third-place match. Beau Fisher nabbed a fourth-place finish at 165 pounds. Fisher pulled a 3-1 upset against fourth-seeded Ray Ward of NC State in the opener, and after a loss to No. 1 seed Josh Asper of Maryland in the semifinals, he earned a 5-3 win over Ben Wales of Duke before falling into consolation final, 8-5 to UNC's Kyle Kiss. At 197 pounds Jones picked up a third-place finish. He recorded his school-record 43rd career pin in the opener, in 6:44 against NC State's Christian McLean. After a 7-4 loss to UNC's Dennis Drury, Jones earned wins over Chris Penny of Virginia Tech and John Barone of Duke to secure third place. With his two wins, Jones moved into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time Virginia wins ledger with 104. Danilkowicz earned third place at heavyweight. After falling to top-seeded Konrad Dudziak of Duke in the opening round, Danilkowicz bounced back well with a 4-3 win over No. 2 seed Patrick Gilmore of Maryland and a 3-2 decision against NC State's Eloheim Palma in the third-place bout. Virginia's eight NCAA qualifiers will head to Omaha, Neb., March 18-20 for the NCAA Championships at Quest Center Omaha. Henrich will be making his third straight NCAA appearance; he won All-America honors last year. Gitomer and Jones each will be wrestling at NCAAs for the second time, while the remaining five will be making their first career appearance at the national championships. Team Standings: 1. Virginia - 85.0 2. Maryland - 80.5 3. Virginia Tech – 78.5 4. North Carolina – 44.5 5. Duke – 28.0 6. NC State – 15.5

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 4 Oklahoma State wrestling team crowned three individual champions in winning its ninth Big 12 team title and its 43rd overall conference title Saturday at McCasland Fieldhouse in Norman. OSU 133-pounder Jordan Oliver, 141-pounder Jamal Parks and 184-pounder Clayton Foster were all crowned as Big 12 individual champions at the event, with 157-pounder Neil Erisman, 174-pounder Mike Benefiel and heavyweight Jared Rosholt placing second at their respective weight classes. The Cowboys finished with 70.5 team points. No. 2 Iowa State took second with 69 points and No. 8 Oklahoma was third with 64 points. Missouri (33 points) and Nebraska (32 points) rounded out the team leader board. The title was the 11th of coach John Smith's career, as the Cowboy mentor owns two Big Eight titles to go with his nine Big 12 crowns. Oliver and Oklahoma 125-pounder Jarrod Patterson were recognized with co-outstanding wrestler honors. Perhaps the defining moment of the championship round came when 184-pounder Clayton Foster topped No. 3 Max Askren of Missouri by a 10-6 decision. After surrendering the first takedown of the bout in the first period, Foster recovered to score a reversal of his own before yielding an Askren escape. Foster started the second period in the top position and scored a key two-point nearfall to go up, 4-3. An Askren escape brought the score to 4-4. The third period was all Foster, as the Cowboy junior got things going with an escape, then bagged two takedowns and added a riding time point to seal his win. The win was Foster's first in five career tries against Askren and all but clinched the Big 12 title for the Cowboys. Oliver got things going strong for OSU in the championship round when he hit a five-point move in the second period to fuel his 6-2 win over No. 7 Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State. Fanthorpe got in on Oliver's left ankle, but Oliver wrapped his right leg over the top of Fanthorpe to score a takedown of his own and quickly turn him to his back for a three-point nearfall. Parks kept things going with his 3-2 win over Zack Bailey. Ranked No. 3 in the country, Bailey is the highest-ranked wrestler Parks has beaten in his OSU career. The two wrestlers traded escapes to start the second and third periods, respectively, but the deciding moment came when Parks bagged the winning takedown with 15 seconds left in the third period. Bailey escaped with one second left, but it was too late. The win was Parks' third in four career bouts against Bailey. With 70.5 team points, OSU improved on last year's team total at the Big 12 Championships by 30.5 points, making it the largest one-year improvement in conference history. Neil Erisman, the third of OSU's six finalists, lost a tough 6-5 decision to No. 12 Shane Vernon of Oklahoma at 157 pounds. Both wrestlers scored a takedown and recorded an escape in the first period, then traded escapes to start the second and third periods, respectively. A Vernon takedown with 56 seconds remaining proved the difference in the bout, as Erisman was unable to answer after posting an escape. OSU had three wrestlers compete in third-place bouts, with 125-pounder Chris Notte claiming a 6-4 victory over Nebraska's David Klingsheim in a heated bout that saw both wrestlers get slapped with unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. At 149 pounds, Luke Silver lost a wild 9-6 decision to Missouri's Nick Hucke in which there was only one takedown the entire bout. OSU 165-pounder Alex Meade was upset in his third-place bout by Oklahoma's Tyler Caldwell, who pitched a 5-0 shutout against the Cowboy redshirt freshman. Perhaps the most exciting bout of the semifinal round was won by Foster, who escaped in the tiebreak period then rode Iowa State's Jerome Ward out to claim a 6-5 win. Parks also won an exciting semifinal bout, taking Missouri's Todd Schavrien down with 14 seconds left on the clock to snare a 7-6 victory. Things weren't nearly as difficult for Oliver, who stormed to a 10-2 major decision win over Missouri's Nathan McCormick. Erisman, seeded third at the championships by the Big 12 coaches, pulled an upset by scoring a comfortable 8-2 victory over 15th-ranked and second-seeded Andrew Sorenson of Iowa State. Only one Cowboy wrestler competed in the pigtail round, with 197-pounder Alan Gelogaev losing a 6-5 decision to Missouri's Brent Haynes. A technical violation by Gelogaev proved costly in his defeat. Notte and Silver were both bonus-point winners in the consolation round, with Notte storming to a 16-2 major decision win over Missouri's Eric Wilson and Silver pinning Nebraska's Dustin Payne just one minute into their bout. Meade was an 11-4 winner over Nebraska's James Nakashima. The lone Cowboy to go down in the consolation bouts was Gelogaev, who dropped a 4-1 decision to Eric Lapotsky of Oklahoma. The Cowboys compete at the NCAA Championships from March 18-20 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. Final Team Standings 1. Oklahoma State - 70.5 points 2. Iowa State - 66 points 3. Oklahoma - 64 points 4. Missouri - 33 points 5. Nebraska - 32 points

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Notre Dame (Ohio) closed out its dominating run through the 53rd Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships by winning the program’s first-ever team title with 179.5 points on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University. Southern Oregon took runner-up honors for the second straight year with 120 points, followed by Great Falls (Mont.) in third at 118.5 points, Missouri Valley in fourth with 110.5 points and McKendree (Ill.) rounded out the top five with 109 points. “We had a great year,” Notre Dame head coach Frank Ramano said. “This program was started only 3 ½ years ago and to ascend to the top of the NAIA in such a short amount of time…I find it so amazing. I didn’t think it would happen this fast. We have a great coaching staff and have been building since we won the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in January.” The Falcons, who previously had two national champions, sent four wrestlers into the finals and emerged with three titlists to run the program’s total to five. Notre Dame finished the event with 10 All-Americans and Ramano was named NAIA Wrestling National Coach of the Year for his team’s accomplishments. “When you enter the National Championships, you never know what is going to happen,” Ramano said. “Our guys are in great shape and we wrestled really well. I thought we were competitive in all our matches and we wrestled really well on our feet. That’s what wins matches, performing on your feet, and our guys worked hard and did that. I’ve been in wrestling for 50 years and to come out of retirement to start this program and now win a national title, it’s really special. It is something that is rare and unique in collegiate athletics.” Campbellsville’s (Ky.) Tommy Pretty put on an offensive show en route to a 14-3 major decision over Myles Mazurkiewicz of Great Falls (Mont.) to take the 133-pound title. Pretty, who is just the second national champion for Campbellsville, opened up with a 9-3 lead in the first period scoring a two and a three-point nearfall. The matchup between Southern Oregon’s Barry Johnson and Kyle Wirkuty at 141 pounds marked only the ninth time in the event’s 53-year history that wrestlers from the same school have gone head-to-head for an individual championship. Familiarity set up a tight match, with regulation ending in a 4-4 tie. Wrestling on the edge of the mat in sudden victory, Johnson took down Wirkuty to clinch a 6-4 decision and the championship. Senior Aaron Winning capped off his McKendree career by capturing his second consecutive 165-pound crown and did so in dominating fashion with a 9-0 major decision of Lindenwood’s (Mo.) Chris Chionuma. The three-time All-American opened with a takedown and three-point nearfall in the first period and tacked on another takedown in the third period. Winning is the only wrestler in the Bearcat program’s history to win a pair of national titles. Grand View’s (Iowa) Glenn Rhees used a single-leg takedown on the edge of the mat to take a 3-1 decision in sudden victory at 174 pounds. Neither wrestler was able to generate any offensive scoring during regulation, but each tallied an escape at the beginning of the second and third periods, respectively, to deadlock the match at 1-1 and force an additional 60 seconds of action. Rhees is the second national champion in Vikings’ two-year program history. Sudden victory was again needed in the night’s final match, but returning national champ Arjan Bhullar of Simon Fraser (B.C.)’s countermove of Notre Dame’s Orlando Scales lifted the senior to his second straight title via a 3-1 decision. After a scoreless first period, Scales escaped from Bhullar, and Bhullar evened the score in the third period 1-1 with an escape of his own. Wrestling towards the edge of the mat, Scales took a shot on Bhullar, which he countered on with a single leg and converted to a double for the two points. With the win, Bhullar gave the Clan their 40th individual championship, which is tops in the NAIA. For his efforts, Bhullar was named Most Outstanding Wrestler. Southern Oregon’s Mitchell Lofstedt, who took top-honors at 125 pounds was named NWCA/NAIA National Wrestler of the Year. Notre Dame’s Ashtin Primus recorded the most pins in the least amount of time during the course of the championship, sticking five opponents in 4:57. His quickest fall came in 37 seconds. Morningside (Iowa) received the Buffalo Funds “5-Star” Champion of Character Team Award. Championship Results 125 – Mitchell Lofstedt, Southern Oregon dec. Chauncey Phillips, California Baptist, 5-2 133 – Tommy Pretty, Campbellsville (Ky.) maj. dec. Myles Mazurkiewicz, Great Falls (Mont.), 14-3 141 – Barry Johnson, Southern Oregon dec. Kyle Wirkuty Southern Oregon, 6-4 (SV) 149 – Jeffrey Pelton, Notre Dame (Ohio) dec. Byron Kuylen, Great Falls (Mont.), 7-5 157 – Thomas Straugh, Notre Dame (Ohio) dec. James Casadaban, Cumberland (Tenn.), 11-7 165 – Aaron Winning, McKendree (Ill.) maj. dec. Chris Chionuma, Lindenwood (Mo.), 9-0 174 – Glenn Rhees, Grand View (Iowa) dec. Enock Francois, California Baptist, 3-1 (SV) 184 – Chad Williams, Missouri Valley dec. Mark Peiffer, Dana (Neb.), 7-6 197 – Derek Foore, Notre Dame (Ohio) dec. Jake Kallestad, Dickinson State (N.D.), 3-1 HWT – Arjan Bhullar, Simon Fraser (B.C.) dec. Orlando Scales, Notre Dame (Ohio), 4-2 (SV) 2010 All-Americans 125 pounds – Mitchell Lofstedt, Southern Oregon; Chauncey Phillips, California Baptist; Matt Chustz, William Penn (Iowa); Angel Olea, Dickinson State (N.D.) Tyler Savage, Notre Dame (Ohio); Larone Madison, Cumberlands (Ky.) 133 pounds – Tommy Pretty, Campbellsville (Ky.); Myles Mazurkiewicz, Great Falls (Mont.); Colin Pierce, Missouri Valley; Brian Jacob, Southern Oregon; Anton Prater, Missouri Baptist; Blake Hunter, Dickinson State (N.D.) 141 pounds – Barry Johnson, Southern Oregon; Kyle Wirkuty Southern Oregon; Mikey Davis, Cumberland (Tenn.); Christian Martinez, Menlo (Calif.); Kyle Williams, McKendree (Ill.); Adam Koballa, Notre Dame (Ohio) 149 pounds – Jeffrey Pelton, Notre Dame (Ohio); Byron Kuylen, Great Falls (Mont.); Ashtin Primus, Notre Dame (Ohio); Ryan Jahn, McKendree (Ill.); Benjamin Garcia, California Baptist; Sam Schmitz, Lindenwood (Mo.) 157 pounds – Thomas Straugh, Notre Dame (Ohio); James Casadaban, Cumberland (Tenn.); Tyler Chang, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.); Joe Cornejo, Missouri Valley; Nik Turner, Oklahoma City; Dustin Center, Cumberlands (Ky.) 165 pounds – Aaron Winning, McKendree (Ill.); Chris Chionuma, Lindenwood (Mo.); Joe Sievert, Morningside (Iowa); Bulla Tuzon, Dana (Neb.); Brad Lower, Grand View (Iowa); Lamar Reed, California Baptist 174 pounds – Glenn Rhees, Grand View (Iowa); Enock Francois, California Baptist; Cody Butzer, Notre Dame (Ohio); Sameron Scrempp, Dickinson State (N.D.); Jameon Rush, Hastings (Neb.); Josh Bryant, McKendree (Ill.) 184 pounds – Chad Williams, Missouri Valley; Mark Peiffer, Dana (Neb.); Michael French, Great Falls (Mont.); Evan Hinebauch, Montana State-Northern; Brett Owen, Dickinson State (N.D.); Alex Denman, Notre Dame (Ohio) 197 pounds – Derek Foore, Notre Dame (Ohio); Jake Kallestad, Dickinson State (N.D.); Alex Calvi, Great Falls (Mont.); Nic Leither, Northwestern (Iowa); Andrew Sanchez, McKendree (Ill.); Evan Mattingly, Montana State-Northern HWT – Arjan Bhullar, Simon Fraser (B.C.); Orlando Scales, Notre Dame (Ohio); Frank Lopez, Dickinson State (N.D.); Tyler Porras, Lindenwood (Mo.); John Bates, Southern Oregon; Chas Maloch, McKendree (Ill.) Honorable Mention 125 pounds – Jason Moorhouse, Menlo (Calif.); Zach Meury, Missouri Baptist 133 pounds – Josh Rogers, Briar Cliff (Iowa); Joseph Michel, Jamestown (N.D.) 141 pounds – Timothy Mitchem, Cumberlands (Ky.); Eric Graham, Missouri Valley 149 pounds – Trace Billet, Embry Riddle (Ariz.); Levi Price, Northwestern (Iowa) 157 pounds – Ross Mosher, Great Falls (Mont.); Tommie Norton-Hooper, Southern Oregon 165 pounds – David Dwyer, McKendree (Ill.); Michale Hader, Great Falls (Mont.) 174 pounds – Jon Bittenger, Notre Dame (Ohio); Shane Bennett, Dickinson State (N.D.) 184 pounds – Jesse Alter, Missouri Valley; Jordaryl Logan, Grand View (Iowa) 197 pounds – Charlie Gibbs, Missouri Valley; Ronald Lee, Southern Oregon HWT – Corey Johnson, Oklahoma City; Jeremy Colbert, Bacone (Okla.) Awards Most Outstanding Wrestler: Arjan Bhullar, Simon Fraser (B.C.) NWCA/NAIA National Wrestler of the Year: Mitchell Lofstedt, Southern Oregon NAIA Wrestling National Coach of the Year: Frank Ramano, Notre Dame (Ohio) Most Pins in Least Amount of Time: Ashtin Primus, Notre Dame (Ohio) five pins in 4:57, quickest in 37 seconds Buffalo Funds “5-Star” Champion of Character Team Award: Morningside College (Iowa)

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- With eight All-Americans and three national runner-up individuals, the Augsburg College wrestling team claimed its 11th NCAA Division III national title in the last 20 seasons on Saturday evening at the U.S. Cellular Center. Augsburg finished with 110.5 points, 10 points better than second-place Wisconsin-La Crosse's 100.5. Defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa) was third with 83.5 points, Coe (Iowa) was fourth with 76.0 points and Delaware Valley (Pa.) was fifth with 50.5 points. Augsburg head coach Mark Matzek, named Division III National Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association, is the youngest head coach to ever win a Division III wrestling national title at age 27, in his second year as the Auggies' mentor. Augsburg assistant head coach Jared Evans was named National Assistant Coach of the Year by the NWCA. “It was nine individual efforts that created this team national championship," Matzek said. "I'm proud of each and every one of those guys that wrestled this weekend, and I'm proud of each and every one of those guys in this program.” The final session of the tournament completed a unique first for the Auggies – the first time Augsburg has won a national title without an individual national titlist. The feat has occurred just twice before in the 37-year history of the Division III championships – Ithaca (N.Y.) in 1989 and Buffalo (N.Y.) in 1978. However, Augsburg's depth carried the weekend and lifted the team to the national title. Augsburg had eight All-Americans – two more than any other school in the field – and its seven top-four finishers were also two more than any other school in the field. Augsburg extended its streak of “trophy finishes” – finishing in the top four in the team race – to 22 straight years, the longest active streak of any NCAA wrestling program, regardless of division. Augsburg has finished fourth or better every year since 1989, and its 22-year streak is the second-longest top-four finish streak of any school in NCAA wrestling history, behind the 28 of Oklahoma State in Division I from 1929-59. Competing in his first national tournament, Paul Bjorkstrand (SR, Burnsville, Minn.) finished as a national runner-up at 133 pounds, falling to Wisconsin-La Crosse's Bebeto Yewah 14-9 in the title bout. The championship match was an exciting one, as the two wrestlers exhanged takedowns and escapes throughout the early portion of the match, before Yewah took control with three straight takedowns, building 2:10 of riding time in the process. Bjorkstrand finished 39-8 on the season, 102-35 in his Auggie career. Earlier on Saturday, Bjorkstrand qualified for the national title match with a 3-2 victory over Nichalos Nothern of Cornell (Iowa). Bjorkstrand converted a takedown with eight seconds left in the first period and an escape in the second, while riding Nothern for the entire third period to claim the win. At 149, Tony Valek (SO, Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West) reached the title match for the first time in his second appearance in the national meet, but fell 8-4 to Isaac Dukes of Case Western Reserve (Ohio) in the championship match. Behind two takedowns and a three-point near-fall, Dukes built a 7-1 lead, with Valek cutting into the advantage in the final minute of the match. The loss was Valek's first in 21 matches against Division III competition this season. To reach the finals, Valek used a three-point near-fall with 50 seconds left in the third period and 2:27 of riding time to score a 7-3 win over Jason Pyle of Luther (Iowa) in the semifinals. Valek finished his sophomore campaign at 33-5, and is 65-18 in his career. At 165, Orlando Ponce (JR, Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah-Miami Lakes HS) joined Valek in reaching the finals for the first time in his second trip to the national tournament, but also dropped his title match, falling 7-3 to Vincent Renaut of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (N.Y.). Ponce built a 3-0 lead early in the second period, but Renaut scored a takedown late in the second period, then went ahead with a takedown and two-point near-fall in the final eight seconds of the bout. Ponce reached the championship match with a wild 11-9 victory over Nick LeClere of Coe (Iowa) in the semifinals. In a dramatic, back-and-forth battle, Ponce converted a takedown with 19 seconds left in the third period to win the match. Ponce finished 30-11 on the season and is 58-25 in his Auggie career. Augsburg scored five other All-Americans earlier in the day on Saturday, marking the eighth time Augsburg has had eight or more All-Americans in a single year. Augsburg has had at least five All-Americans in every national tournament since 1989. At 157, Jason Adams (SR, Coon Rapids, Minn.) became the 35th Augsburg wrestler to earn three All-American honors, finishing in third place. Adams finished 46-5 this season and 136-25 in his career. Adams and his father, three-time All-American Bob Adams '83, are the lone father-and-son combination in Augsburg wrestling history to both earn All-American honors. Jared Massey (JR, Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS), last year's national champion at 197 pounds, finished in third place this season. Massey, who returned to college wrestling after a four-year absence last year following his initial year of competition at Division I Wisconsin in the 2003-04 season, finished this season 29-1 and is 59-2 in his two seasons at Augsburg, 64-4 in his overall collegiate career. Zach Molitor (JR, Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) earned All-American honors for the second time, finishing third at 174 pounds. Molitor, who finished sixth last year, finished 31-4 this season and is 80-27 in his career (62-14 at Augsburg). Josh Roberts (FY, Grand Forks, N.D./Grand Forks Central HS) finished fourth for the Auggies at 125 in his first appearance at the national tournament, finishing the season at 27-10. Andy Witzel (SR, Fulda, Minn.) closed his career with his second All-American finish, placing eighth at heavyweight. Massey ended his final season at 28-12, and 111-47 in his Auggie career. Among other Minnesota schools, St. John's 141-pounder Minga Batsukh repeated his national title from last year with a 10-4 win over Jeremy Stierly of Ithaca (N.Y.) in the finals, finishing 18-2 on the season. Concordia-Moorhead's Phil Moenkedick, a national runner-up last season, won his first national title with a 7-4 triumph over Brennan Ward of Johnson and Wales (R.I.). The Cobbers, who finished ninth with 31.5 points, had two other placewinners, as Justin Berns placed seventh at 149 and Ross Dankers placed eighth at 174.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Top-ranked and two-time defending national champion Iowa will take a commanding 32.5-point lead over second-place Minnesota into the final day of the 2010 Big Ten Championships on Sunday. But you would never know it from listening to Hawkeye coach Tom Brands talk after Saturday night's semifinal round. "There are certain things that happened out there that cannot happen ever," said Brands. "Lack of hustle, putting your head on the mat. It just cannot happen. Those are things you iron out throughout the year. When you're doing it at this point in the year, then we're going to have conversations because that's not how you're going to get yourself to where you want to be." The Hawkeyes advanced six wrestlers to Sunday's championship finals, including four wrestlers who have not suffered a defeat all season: Matt McDonough (125), Brent Metcalf (149), Jay Borschel (174), and Dan Erekson (285). "That's what you do," said Brands of his undefeated competitors. "You get ready to wrestle, go out every time to do what them guys have done. The thing is ... they're trying to win by big margins, especially the first three. The heavyweight is a heavyweight ... and he's trying to win by big margins too with those chicken wings and being tough on top." McDonough, a redshirt freshman, advanced to the finals with a dominating 8-0 win over returning All-American Zach Sanders of Minnesota. It marked McDonough's third victory over Sanders this season. "It's a little bit extra spark being the starter and being the No. 1 weight for a team that has a lot of guys who could use that momentum," said McDonough. "As far as my match goes, I knew it was going to be a battle. I know he's a fighter and he's not going to give up for seven minutes. If I stuck to my game plan and worked hard and didn't give him any room to breathe the entire match, I could get what I wanted." It will be a battle of undefeated wrestlers in the finals at 125 pounds as McDonough will now face No. 1 Angel Escobedo of Indiana, a 2008 NCAA champion and three-time All-American. Escobedo advanced to the finals with a lopsided 14-1 victory over Brad Pataky of Penn State. It's a matchup McDonough has very much been looking forward to all season. "You come out in a season like this, being a freshman and seeing a lot of guys that are returning All-Americans, returning national champs, that's what my eye has been on since the season started," said McDonough. "It's an important match for me. It's something I've looked forward to. I'm getting pumped for it." Metcalf was untested on Saturday, winning by pin in the quarterfinals against Nick Bertucci of Purdue before dominating Penn State All-American Frank Molinaro, 12-3, to advance to the finals. The Hawkeye senior 149-pounder will be vying for his third straight Big Ten title on Sunday when he faces second-ranked Lance Palmer of Ohio State in the finals. "It's exciting," said Metcalf. "It kind of takes me back a little bit to the first championship here against a guy who is pretty tough, and against a guy who maybe I have rivalry with because it's Ohio vs. Michigan and Ohio vs. Iowa. But there's more to it than that. It's St. Eds vs. Davison. Same thing that it was when it was Schlatter vs. Metcalf. I'm going to be ready to go and I'm excited." Second-place Minnesota advanced four wrestlers to the finals. Those wrestlers include Jayson Ness (133), Mike Thorn (141), Scott Glasser (174), and Sonny Yohn. Ness, who is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country, fell behind early against Wisconsin freshman sensation Tyler Graff in the semifinals, giving up the opening takedown, but came back to win 11-4. "Down early, I just kept thinking I have to keep wrestling the way I wrestle, just keep trying to wrestle hard, and just keep going after it the whole time," said Ness. "That's how good things happen ... When you wrestle hard the whole time." Ness will now face Daniel Dennis of Iowa in the finals at 133 pounds. Dennis won a thrilling 5-4 match over defending NCAA champion and two-time Big Ten champion Franklin Gomez of Michigan State. Thorn, a returning NCAA qualifier who placed fifth at the Big Ten Championships a year ago, won by major decision, 12-3, over Iowa's Montell Marion, the same wrestler who defeated him by major decision (15-7) less than a month ago on February 14. "These last couple weeks I've really focused in on just all the things that are helping me be a good wrestler," said Thorn. "The way I'm training ... I trained harder. I worked on my conditioning. My relationship with God. My relationship with my family. It really tightened things up for this tournament. I just remembered why I was wrestling. Just having fun with it ... enjoying my teammates, enjoying the tournament, just enjoying the chase." Thorn will now face Ohio State's Reece Humphrey in the finals. Humphrey defeated Thorn, 5-3, at the NWCA Cliff/Keen National Duals on January 9. "I think I just need to keep wrestling the way I'm wrestling right now," said Thorn. "I'm going to go out there, show him my best stuff, and try to beat him in that seven-minute match." Glasser advanced to the finals with a 3-1 victory over surprise-semifinalist Ian Hinton of Michigan State. The Gopher junior has had one of the biggest turnarounds of any competitor in the Big Ten this season. Last season, Glasser lost 15 of his last 19 matches, which included an 0-2 performance at the Big Ten Championships. So what's the biggest difference this season? "Basically it helps to be healthy," said Glasser. "Last year, I had a couple injuries that didn't exactly help me ... They hurt me. Also, my mentality. I gained a lot of confidence. I believe more in my training. I believe in our system more. I'm just wrestling Minnesota's style. I'm trying to go out there and wrestle seven minutes hard ... and it's been working out. I just keep thinking, 'Go hard the entire time and good things happen.'" Glasser will now face Iowa's second-ranked Jay Borschel in the finals at 174 pounds. Borschel is the only wrestler to defeat Glasser since December 29. (Borschel has two major decision victories over Glasser) "I've just got to think attack, attack the entire time," said Glasser. "Just wrestle hard, wrestle intense, and just be physical." Ohio State sits in third place with 86 points and advanced three wrestlers to the finals. In addition to Humphrey (141) and Palmer (149) winning their semifinals matches, Colt Sponseller (165) advanced to the finals with a 3-1 victory over Iowa's Ryan Morningstar, a wrestler who had defeated him in all three of their previous meetings ... with all three of those matches decided by two points or less. "It was really just no fear, not being afraid at all," said Sponseller. "I usually hype up this match in my mind. Today I just said, 'He's another guy in your way and I just have to go out there and win. I have to wrestle match my match. In the other matches, I let him really control a lot of the pace. This time I really turned it on to him." Sponseller will take on Wisconsin's top-ranked Andrew Howe in the finals. "He's a high-tempo pace wrestler like me, so it's going to be a battle out there. It's exciting to wrestle guys like this. He's ranked No. 1 in the nation. Those are the people you want to see if you want to win a national title." Ohio State has been ranked in the top four all season long, but suffered a humiliating 32-3 loss to Iowa on February 19. The third-place Buckeyes enter the final day of the Big Ten Championships trailing the Hawkeyes by 51 points. However, despite that, Sponseller still believes the Buckeyes are capable of dethroning the Hawkeyes and winning a national title this season. "We're very capable," said Sponseller. "As long as we show up to wrestle, which is sometimes our problem. We've just got to go out there, be confident and feel good about our technique, our conditioning, everything. Once that happens, we're going to click on all cylinders. All it takes is one fault by Iowa and we can catch them. I don't know about Big Tens this weekend, but definitely nationals in two weeks." Team Standings (After Day 1) 1. Iowa 137 2. Minnesota 104.5 3. Ohio State 86 4. Wisconsin 82 5. Penn State 66 6. Purdue 65 7. Michigan State 58.5 8. Indiana 55 9. Illinois 48.5 10. Michigan 46.5 11. Northwestern 17 Finals Matchups 125: No. 1 Angel Escobedo (Indiana) vs. No. 3 Matt McDonough (Iowa) 133: No. 1 Jayson Ness (Minnesota) vs. No. 3 Daniel Dennis (Iowa) 141: No. 2 Reece Humphrey (Ohio State) vs. No. 8 Mike Thorn (Minnesota) 149: No. 1 Brent Metcalf (Iowa) vs. No. 2 Lance Palmer (Ohio State) 157: No. 6 Cyler Sanderson (Penn State) vs. Colton Salazar (Purdue) 165: No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) vs. No. 6 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State) 174: No. 2 Jay Borschel (Iowa) vs. No. 7 Scott Glasser (Minnesota) 184: No. 2 John Dergo (Illinois) vs. No. 10 Phil Keddy (Iowa) 197: No. 7 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) vs. No. 13 Sonny Yohn (Minnesota) 285: No. 2 Nathan Everhart (Indiana) vs. No. 10 Dan Erekson (Iowa)

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. -- Binghamton punctuated its rapid ascent in wrestling circles with a first-ever Colonial Athletic Association Championship, clinched Saturday at Rider University. The Bearcats produced four individual champions and won the team title with 87.5 points, ahead of runnerup Old Dominion (73) and the rest of the eight-team conference. Binghamton dethroned eight-time reigning champion Hofstra and nationally-ranked ODU and will now send a school-record five wrestlers to the NCAA Championship, March 18-20 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. Junior 141-pound top-seeded Anwar Goeres got the Bearcats started with a riveting 2-1 overtime win over second-seeded Craig Wilson of ODU. The wrestlers each earned an escape in regulation and after a scoreless sudden victory period, Goeres escaped from the bottom to start the first tiebreak session. He then rode out Wilson from top in the second tiebreak period to win his first CAA title after finishing fourth and third in the last two years. Goeres will advance to NCAAs with a 35-8 record. Sophomore 157-pound Justin Lister took control early in his match with third-seeded Joe Booth of Drexel. Lister, the top-seed, had two first-period takedowns and built a 6-2 lead with riding time before slowing down for a 6-4 decision. Lister (28-8) had already clinched an NCAA berth Friday night - one of three allotted to his weight class. In a battle between defending CAA champions, senior 174-pound Josh Patterson, exacted revenge on top-seeded and 12th-ranked Bagna Tovuujav to claim his second straight CAA title. Tovuujav was the reigning 174-lb. champ and had beaten Patterson 7-6 in a dual last month. Tovuujav jumped out to a 4-0 lead with back points 15 seconds into the bout before now four-time NCAA qualifier and 14th-ranked Patterson roared back. He had a big takedown and near-pin in the first and never looked back in posting the 16-6 major decision. He was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the championship. Patterson, who finished seventh to earn All-America honors at the 2009 NCAA Championship, will bring a 26-6 record to Omaha. "From where we started four years ago to today is night and day," head coach Pat Popolizio said. "It's a reflection on the commitment, hard work and dedication of everyone in our program. This is very rewarding because of the type of kids we have and the character they've shown." Redshirt 184-pound freshman Nate Schiedel used a second-period takedown to build a 3-1 lead plus riding time and hung on for a 4-3 decision over second-seeded Ben Clymer of Hofstra. Schiedel, the top-seed, will bring a 29-7 record into the NCAA Championship. Redshirt 149-pound freshman Donnie Vinson came up short in his title match with three-time NCAA qualifier and top-seeded Mike Kessler of Rider. Vinson led 2-0 after a first-period takedown but Kessler racked up three takedowns en route to an 8-5 decision. Vinson clinched an NCAA berth on Friday and will carry a 32-11 record to the national meet. Senior heavyweight Corey Waite placed third with three wins. He recorded three takedowns in the first period and went on to control sixth-seeded Paul Schweighardt of Sacred Heart 14-5 in his final collegiate match. Sophomore 165-pound Matt Kaylor placed fourth for the second straight year after posting two wins. Kaylor, the No. 3 seed, was beaten 11-5 by fourth-seeded Rob Morrison of Rider after leading 5-4 in his final bout. The four CAA champions and five NCAA qualifiers represents the most in BU's nine-year Division I history. Binghamton had never won more than one CAA title in any year and its two NCAA qualifiers in 2008 were the previous best.

NORMAN, Okla. -- The journey for an Iowa State four-peat is alive at the 2010 Big 12 Championship at the McCasland Field House. But like two of the last three years, it could come down to the meet’s last match. The second-ranked Cyclones lead the event through the semifinals with 51 points six finalists. Oklahoma State trails with 49 points and has six finalists. Oklahoma totaled 33 points, with Missouri and Nebraska tied at 16 points to round out the team competition. ISU advanced six wrestlers to the finals, with four Iowa Staters competing in the consolation. The second session is set to begin at 4 p.m. Championship matches are at 7 p.m. “We lost a couple matches against OSU that we thought we could win,” Iowa State head coach Kevin Jackson said. “We need to be ready tonight as we are vulnerable in the team scoring.” ISU’s Andrew Long scored big points with a semifinal stick of NU’s David Klingsheim at 125 pounds. The Cyclone freshman pinned the Husker at the 4:36 mark. ISU’s three-time NCAA finalist Jake Varner scored bonus points with a 14-3 major decision victory over Missouri’s Brent Haynes. The ISU 125-pounder advances to face OU’s Jarrod Patterson in the finals. Varner will meet Nebraska’s Craig Brester in the 197-pound final. At 133 pounds, Iowa State senior Nick Fanthorpe gutted out a tough 3-0 decision over Kendric Maple of Oklahoma. Fanthorpe faces Oklahoma State’s Jordan Oliver for the 133-pound league title in what shapes up as a key showdown. Fellow senior Mitch Mueller followed suit with a 10-3 decision of Oklahoma State’s Luke Silver at 149 pounds. Mueller matches up with OU’s Kyle Terry in the finals. Junior 165-pounder Jon Reader advanced to the finals for the Cyclones by controlling Oklahoma’s Tyler Caldwell to a 6-2 decision. Reader will take on Missouri’s Nicholas Marable. To end the first session, Cyclone heavyweight David Zabriskie needed a familiar period of overtime to best Tiger opponent and defending NCAA champion, Mark Ellis. Zabriskie downed the Missouri heavyweight, 2-1 (TB1). Zabriskie is set to meet Oklahoma State’s Jared Rosholt for the heavyweight title. It came to overtime, but Iowa State’s Jerome Ward couldn’t advance to his second Big 12 final at 184 pounds. Ward was turned away by OSU’s Clayton Foster by decision, 6-5 (TB1). In the 141-pound semifinals, ISU’s Dalton Jensen fell to top-seed Zack Bailey of Oklahoma, 11-6. Iowa State’s second-seeded Andrew Sorenson (157) dropped to third-seed Neil Erisman of OSU by decision, 8-2. Cyclone 174-pounder Duke Burk also dropped to the consolation bracket after falling to No. 1 Stephen Dwyer, 2-1. In preliminary action, Cyclones Jensen (141) and Duke Burk (174) picked up wins for the Cyclone effort. Jensen scored payback over Nebraska’s Mike Koehnline with a major decision victory, 11-2. Jensen fell to the Husker earlier this season by decision, 4-2. Burk won 7-4 over Missouri’s Dorian Henderson.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Behind the performance of six All-Americans, Great Falls (Mont.) moved into second place at the 53rd Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships on Friday at Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University. The Argos closed out the fourth session with 118.5 points, behind leader Notre Dame’s (Ohio) 167.5 points. Southern Oregon moved to third place with 112 points, followed by Missouri Valley in fourth with 106 points and Dickinson State (N.D.) is fifth with 105.5 points. Dickinson State, Notre Dame and McKendree (Ill.) each finished the round with six wrestlers garnering All-America honors and a spot on the podium. Four major decisions and three pins were recorded in third-place matches. Closing out their seasons with major decisions were Missouri Valley’s Colin Pierce (133), Cumberland’s (Tenn.) Mikey Davis (141), Joe Sievert of Morningside (Iowa) (165) and Great Falls’ Michael French (184). Notre Dame 149-pounder Ashtin Primus stuck Ryan Jahn of McKendree in 1:24 and Alex Calvi of Great Falls registered a 6:27 fall of Northwestern’s (Iowa) Nic Leither at 197 pounds. The only medal match that was pushed beyond regulation came at 174 pounds with Jameon Rush of Hastings (Neb.) emerging with the 10-5 sudden victory against McKendree’s Josh Bryant for fifth place. Nik Turner’s 1:23 pin earned the Oklahoma City junior his second All-American honor. The fall was only the sixth of his career, but third of this year’s event. Charlie Gibbs aided Great Falls’ push to second place with a 41 second stick of Southern Oregon’s Ronald Lee at 197 pounds to earn a seventh-place finish. Oklahoma City senior Corey Johnson closed out his career in Star singlet as a two-time All-American with his 33rd career pin, notching a 4:15 fall of Jeremy Colbert of Bacone (Okla.). Of 46 All-Americans from a year ago that entered the Championship, a trio of wrestlers became three-time All-Americans and 17 individuals earned their second honor. Tyler Chang of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) racked up his third All-America honor in as many trips to the National Championships by placing third at 157 pounds via 5-4 decision over Missouri Valley’s Joe Cornejo. The junior has previously earned accolades at 141 and 149 pounds during his freshman and sophomore campaigns, respectively. McKendree junior Andrew Sanchez also became a three-time All-American at 197 pounds with a fifth-place finish. Adam Koballa had a medical forfeit in the fifth-place match at 141 pounds, but he still earned a third All-America accolade. The event will close out Saturday evening with the Championship Finals starting at 6:30 p.m. Notre Dame will send four grapplers to the finals, followed by Southern Oregon with three. California Baptist and Great Falls each have two wrestlers that will contend for titles. All 10 individual weight class championship matches will be streamed live via NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. Rich Tortorelli, Mark Van Paaschen and former Oklahoma City wrestler and two-time All-American John Wilcox will call the championship bouts. A fee of $7.95 is set to view the Saturday Championship finals event.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Notre Dame (Ohio) made the most of Friday night’s session, racking up 45.5 points and advancing four wrestlers to championship matches at the 53rd Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships on Friday at Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University. The Falcons hold a 47-point advantage to second place Southern Oregon, 152.5-105.5. Great Falls (Mont.) is just two points back in third at 103.5 points, followed by Missouri Valley with 97 points and McKendree (Ill.) with 95.5 points to round out the top-five teams. Thirteen teams will be represented in Saturday’s finals, four of which will send multiple individuals to title bouts. Notre Dame will have finalists at 149, 157, 197 and heavyweight. Southern Oregon sends three, but at 141 pounds Kyle Wirkuty and Barry Johnson will go head-to-head. Wirkuty advanced by knocking off defending national champion Adam Koballa of Notre Dame in a 4-3 decision. Koballa wasn’t the only defending national champ to go down Friday. Of five returning titlists that were in the championship field, only two will be back in action Saturday night aiming for a second crown. McKendree senior Aaron Winning returns to the championship bout at 165 pounds after notching a 6-1 decision over Grand View’s Brad Lower. Arjan Bhullar of Simon Fraser (B.C.) notched a 5-3 decision of Dickinson State’s (N.D.) Frank Lopez to clinched his spot in the heavyweight title match. Great Falls and California Baptist will have two grapplers in the finals. Cambellsville (Ky.), Cumberland (Tenn.), Dana (Neb.), Dickinson State (N.D.), Grand View (Iowa), Lindenwood (Mo.) and Missouri Valley will also be represented in championship bouts. Saturday’s session of medal-round matches gets underway at 10 a.m. with third, fifth and seventh-place matches taking to the mat. Notre Dame, McKendree and Dickinson State each have six grapplers still alive in the consolation bracket, while Missouri Valley has five. Saturday night’s Wrestling National Championships will be streamed live via NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. All 10 individual weight class Championship bouts on March 6 will be available to view starting at approximately 6:30 p.m. CST. A fee of $7.95 is set to view the Saturday Championship finals event.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Claiming eight All-Americans, including six in championship contention, the top-ranked Augsburg College wrestling team took a commanding lead after the first day of competition at the NCAA Division III National Championships on Friday at the U.S. Cellular Center. Augsburg leads the team standings by 13 points over second-place Wisconsin-La Crosse, a 69-56 margin. Defending national champion Wartburg (Iowa) is third with 53.5 points, Coe (Iowa) is fourth with 47.5 points and Delaware Valley (Pa.) is fifth with 41.5 points. It's the eighth time that Augsburg has claimed eight or more All-Americans in a single championship – all since 1997. Augsburg's eight All-Americans are the most in this year's competition. Augsburg has six wrestlers remaining in championship contention, the most of any school. Both Wisconsin-La Crosse and Wartburg have four remaining in contention for a title. Two Auggies recorded pins in the second round on Friday to clinch All-American honors – 133-pounder Paul Bjorkstrand (SR, Burnsville, Minn.) and 149-pounder Tony Valek (SO, Belle Plaine, Minn./Scott West). In his first trip to the national tournament, Bjorkstrand improved to 38-7 on the season with a 10-6 win in the opening match and a 4:13 pin of Mogi Baatar of St. John's in the quarterfinals – his third win over Baatar this season. Meanwhile, Valek earned All-American honors for the first time in his second trip to the national tournament. After an 8-0, major-decision win in his opener, Valek clinched his All-American status with a 6:26 pin of Justin Berns of Concordia-Moorhead in the quarterfinals. Now 32-4 on the season, Valek is unbeaten against Division III opponents this year at 19-0. Jared Massey (JR, Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial HS) remained unbeaten at 27-0 with two victories on Friday at 197, a 3-1 win in the opening round and a 10-2, major-decision win over Martino Sottile of Cortland State (N.Y.) in the semifinals, collecting four takedowns and 2:14 of riding time in the process. The defending national champion at 197, Massey is now 57-1 in his two seasons at Augsburg, and has won 43 straight matches dating to last season. Zach Molitor (JR, Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti HS) scored three victories on Friday at 174 to claim All-American honors for the second time in his career. After 5-0 and 4-1 wins in his opening two matches, Molitor scored a 10-1, major-decision win over Seth Rehn of Coe (Iowa) in the quarterfinals. Molitor is now 30-3 on the season. Competing in his second national tournament, Orlando Ponce (JR, Hialeah, Fla./Hialeah-Miami Lakes HS) earned All-American honors for the first time at 165, with a 8-2 win in his opening match and a 3-2 triumph over Carrington Banks of Wartburg in the quarterfinals – Ponce's first win over Banks in three tries this season. Ponce is now 29-10 on the year. Josh Roberts (FY, Grand Forks, N.D./Grand Forks Central HS) made his first trip to the national tournament a memorable one, claiming All-American honors at 125 with two victories, an 8-4 triumph in his opener and a 5-4 win over Lloyd McKinney of Wisconsin-La Crosse in the quarterfinals. Roberts rallied from a 4-2 deficit entering the third period with a reversal and 1:30 of riding time. Roberts is now 26-8 overall. Two Auggies clinched All-American honors through the wrestleback rounds. At 157, Jason Adams (SR, Coon Rapids, Minn.) earned All-American honors for the third time. He clinched All-American honors with a 3-1, sudden-victory overtime win over Nicholas Loughlin of Cornell (Iowa) in the wrestlebacks. Adams is now 43-5 on the season. At heavyweight, Andy Witzel (SR, Fulda, Minn.) clinched All-American honors for the second year in a row with a 9-2 triumph over Adam Salyers of Wilmington (Del.) in the wrestlebacks. Witzel is now 28-10 on the year. One Auggie saw his season end on Friday, as Jafari Vanier (SR, Minneapolis, Minn./Bloomington Kennedy HS) opened with a win, but dropped two matches to close his senior year at 17-6 on the year, 56-11 in his Auggie career. Among other Minnesota schools, Concordia-Moorhead had three wrestlers earn All-American honors, with Phil Moenkedick alive in the championship bracket at 184, and Justin Berns (149) and Ross Dankers (174) alive in the wrestlebacks. St. John's has one wrestler left in the tournament, Minga Batsukh at 141 in the championship bracket.1. Augsburg (Minn.) 69; 2. Wisconsin-La Crosse 56; 3. Wartburg (Iowa) 53.5; 4. Coe (Iowa) 47.5; 5. Delaware Valley (Pa.) 41.5; 6. Ithaca (N.Y.) 29.5; 7. Luther (Iowa) 20; 8t. Concordia-Moorhead 19.5; 8t. Ohio Northern 19.5; 10. Elmhurst (Ill.) 17.5. Other Minnesota schools: 21. St. John's 11; 44. St. Olaf 1.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Big Ten wrestling coaches Joe McFarland (Michigan), Tom Brands (Iowa), and Cael Sanderson (Penn State) spoke at the Big Ten Championships pre-event press conference on Friday. Joe McFarland Tom Brands Cael Sanderson

NORMAN, Okla. – Official seedings for Saturday’s Big 12 Wrestling Championships were announced by the league office Friday evening. Three Iowa State wrestlers hold No. 1 spots heading into tomorrow’s action. Seedings were finalized by a vote of the conference coaches and are based on head-to-head competition against Big 12 opponents, highest-ranked common opponents and current national rankings. ISU’s Andrew Long (125), Jon Reader (165) and Jake Varner (197) are the top-seeds in their respective weight classes. The full weight-by-weight seedings are included below. FOX Sports Midwest and FOX Sports Southwest will webcast the 2010 Big 12 Wrestling Championships final matches live on Saturday, March 6 beginning at approximately 7 p.m CT. Fans can watch the internet broadcast free of charge on FOXSportsMidwest.com or FOXSportsSouthwest.com by clicking on the Big 12 Wrestling Championship banner located on the home page. Preliminary matches in the first session will be streamed live on Big12sports.com beginning at 11 a.m. CT. FOX Sports Midwest also will televise a delayed broadcast of the championship event on Thursday, March 11 at 12:30 p.m. CST and Wednesday, March 17 at 8 p.m. 2010 Big 12 Championship Official Seeding 125 pounds No. 1: Andrew Long (ISU) No. 2: Jarrod Patterson (OU) No. 3: Chris Notte (OSU) No. 4: David Klingsheim (NU) No. 5: Eric Wilson (MU) 133 pounds No. 1: Jordan Oliver (OSU) No. 2: Nick Fanthorpe (ISU) No. 3: Kendric Maple (OU) No. 4: C.J. Napier (NU) No. 5: Nathan McCormick (MU) 141 pounds No. 1: Zack Bailey (OU) No. 2: Jamal Parks (OSU) No. 3: Todd Schavrien (MU) No. 4: Mike Koehnlein (NU) No. 5: Dalton Jensen (ISU) 149 pounds No. 1: Kyle Terry (OU) No. 2: Mitch Mueller (ISU) No. 3: Quinten Fuentes/Luke Silver (OSU) No. 4: Nicholas Hucke (MU) No. 5: Dustin Payne (NU) 157 pounds No. 1: Shane Vernon (OU) No. 2: Andrew Sorenson (ISU) No. 3: Neil Erisman (OSU) No. 4: Patrick Wright (MU) No. 5: Tyler Koehn (NU) 165 pounds No. 1: Jon Reader (ISU) No. 2: Nicholas Marable (MU) No. 3: Alex Meade (OSU) No. 4: Tyler Caldwell (OU) No. 5: James Nakashima (NU) 174 pounds No. 1: Stephen Dwyer (NU) No. 2: Mike Benefiel (OSU) No. 3: Jeff James (OU) No. 4: Duke Burk (ISU) No. 5: Dorian Henderson (MU) 184 pounds No. 1: Max Askren (MU) No. 2: Clayton Foster (OSU) No. 3: Jerome Ward (ISU) No. 4: Josh Ihnen (NU) No. 5: Erich Schmidtke (OU) 197 pounds No. 1: Jake Varner (ISU) No. 2: Craig Brester (NU) No. 3: Eric Lapotsky (OU) No. 4: Brent Haynes (MU) No. 5: Alan Gelogaev (OSU) 285 pounds No. 1: Jared Rosholt (OSU) No. 2: David Zabriskie (ISU) No. 3: Mark Ellis (MU) No. 4: Tucker Lane (NU) No. 5: Nathan Fernandez (OU)

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- The final brackets for the 2010 Big Ten Wrestling Tournament were finalized and announced today (Mar. 5), with action beginning Saturday, Mar. 6 at 11:00 a.m. Three Gophers will have to earn their way into the quarterfinals as Ben Berhow (Hayward, Minn.), Mario Mason (Moorestown, N.J.) and Kaleb Young (Tenstrike, Minn.) all take the mat first in the Pigtails. Unseeded Young was the only guarantee to open up in the first round, and he drew sixth seeded Eric Cameron of Indiana for his preliminary match-up at 184. With a win in his first match, Young will advance to face third seeded Phil Keddy of Iowa in the quarterfinals. Young dropped a tough sudden victory match to Cameron in the regular season, as lost by major decision to Keddy. Berhow and Mason were each among the top-eight in the pre-seeds but were drawn to open up against unseeded opponents. Fourth seeded Berhow matches up with Marcus Shrewsbury from Northwestern at heavyweight, and win puts him up against Eric Bugenhagen of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals. Berhow beat Bugenhagen on the regular season, and never met Shrewsbury. At 149, seventh seeded Mason drew Eric Terrazas of Illinois, and with a win he will advance to face second seeded Lance Palmer from Ohio State in the quarterfinals. Mason beat Terrazas 3-1 during the Big Ten season, and in his match with Palmer, at the National Duals, he lost by a 7-1 final. Top seeded Jayson Ness (Bloomington, Minn.) gets no surprises at 133 and will meet eighth seeded Akif Eren from Purdue in the quarterfinals, the first match for each. The two did not meet in the regular season. Similarly, second seeded Mike Thorn (St. Michael, Minn.) at 141 and Scott Glasser (Bismarck, N.D.) at 174 each get byes to the quarters. Thorn will meet seventh seeded Dan Osterman of Michigan State, who majored back in January, while Glasser will face off for the first time with Brian Roddy of Northwestern. It will be the first match of the tournament for each wrestler. Zach Sanders (Wabasha, Minn.) at 125, Cody Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) at 165 and Sonny Yohn (Alamosa, Colo.) at 197 all also get byes into the quarterfinals, but must wait until after the Pigtails are over to find out their first opponents. Dustin Schlatter (Massilion, Ohio) was seeded No. 1 when the pre-seeds were originally announced, but an injury during the week of practice has forced him to take a medical forfeit for the tournament in preparation for the NCAA Championships in two weeks. Knowing that Schlatter would be forfeiting his matches, the coaches decided to reseed the 157 bracket, leaving Schlatter unseeded. He will still weigh in and take the mat for his Pigtail match with new No. 1 Colton Salazar of Purdue, but will take the medical forfeit loss, leaving him eligible for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament on Omaha, Neb. Mar. 18-20. All the action at the Big Ten Tournament begins tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. with preliminary round action. Be sure to follow the official championship page at MGoBlue.com, and GopherSports.com for updates throughout the weekend.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Central Michigan head wrestling coach Tom Borrelli has agreed to a new five-year contract with the university. "We are very excited to have the opportunity to structure a longterm agreement with Coach Borrelli," said CMU Director of Athletics Dave Heeke. "It is no secret that he is one of the top wrestling coaches in the nation. Tom has done an incredible job guiding the Central Michigan wrestling program to an elite level on a national scale. We are pleased that this new agreement ensures his leadership and vision will continue with the Chippewas well into the future." Borrelli, in his 19th season at CMU, is the winningest wrestling coach in school history. He has guided the Chippewas to 11 Mid-American Conference championships and 11 conference tournament titles. Twenty-nine Chippewas have earned All-America honors during Borrelli's tenure. In 2006, Borrelli became the first Olympic sport coach in CMU history to sign a multi-year contract when he and the university agreed to a four-year deal. The new five-year pact includes a base salary of $104,448 and several performance bonuses. "I'm very appreciative of everything Central Michigan University and the athletics department have done for my family and me," Borrelli said. "I'm looking forward to continuing to build the program that we have established here." Borrelli has guided the Chippewas to seven top-15 finishes at the NCAA Championships, including five in the past six seasons. He has coached four individual national finalists, including 1999 national champion Casey Cunningham. CMU has been a fixture among the top 10 in the national dual meet polls in recent years, climbing as high as No. 2 in the InterMat poll during the final week of the 2007-08 season. The Chippewas are 238-92-7 in dual meets during Borrelli's tenure, including 82-13 in MAC duals. CMU has won 62 of its last 64 conferece duals dating back to the 1998-99 season. Borrelli has been named MAC Coach of the Year a conference record 10 times. He was named national coach of the year by a pair of organizations in 1998, and he was recognized with the National Wrestling Coaches Association Bob Bubb Coaching Excellence Award in 2004. Borrelli's wrestlers have excelled in the classroom as well. The Chippewas have ranked in the top 16 nationally in team grade-point average in 15 of the past 16 seasons, and two Chippewas--Wynn Michalak and Mark DiSalvo--have been named Academic All-Americans and earned NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships. CMU hosts the MAC Wrestling Championships Saturday and Sunday at Rose Center. Competition begins at 1 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.

Rob Koll

Pat Popolizio

Eric Guerrero

Joel Sharratt

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Notre Dame (Ohio) pushed 10 wrestlers through the championship bracket to take the early lead with 44 points at the 53rd Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University. Southern Oregon is in second place with 38 points and has eight wrestlers in the championship bracket. Missouri Valley is third (32 points), McKendree (Ill.) is fourth (31 points) and Great Falls (Mont.) is fifth (28 points) to round out the top five teams after the first day of action. Notre Dame picked up bonus point performances in 13 matches, led by 149-pounder Ashtin Primus. The sophomore notched a major decision and back-to-back falls to provide big points for the Falcons. Of 12 wrestlers taking the mat for Notre Dame, only two fell into the consolation bracket in the first session. Three-time defending national champion Lindenwood (Mo.) wrapped up the first day in sixth place with 25.5 points. Nine Lions suffered defeat and will have to work back through the consolation bracket, while three wrestlers are still alive in the championship bracket. Pins were prevalent with 59 sticks registered, including seven in under 60 seconds. Chauncey Phillips of California Baptist recorded the quickest fall of the day by putting Oklahoma City’s Bryce Dicus on his back in 29 seconds at 125 pounds. Two sessions are slated for Friday, starting with a 10 a.m. round of championship quarterfinals along with preliminary, first, second and third round matches of consolation action. The third session gets underway at 6 p.m. and will feature championship semifinal matches and two rounds of consolation wrestling.

Recruits have a lot to consider when they are choosing which school to compete for in college: Do I like the coach? What about the team? Can I qualify from the conference? How are the academics? Turtogtokh LuvsandorjFor Turtogtokh Luvsandorj, The Citadel's 157-pound Mongolian grappler, the set of questions was much narrower, but tethered to a heavier set of consequences. As a citizen of Mongolia with a temporary student visa his collegiate question was whittled down to, 'Where can I get a scholarship and keep my visa?' Originally from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Turtogtokh (pronounced: ter – tog – tahk) was a National Prep champion and NHSCA All-American at St. Benedicts in New Jersey. Originally there wasn't much stress in finding interested schools -- a well-built kid with 15 years of experience banging heads with the best in Europe and Asia tends to attract the attention of coaches (see: Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov, Alan Gelogaev, the Novachkov brothers). Coaches called and Turtogtokh returned their interest. He had confidence he'd get an offer and retain his student visa, but as the months passed he missed out on a few opportunities and eventually the scholarship offers had disappeared. By the second week of August, Turtogtokh's chances at wrestling in college were dimming quickly. Most schools were less than a week from opening their fall semesters and Tutogtokh was living in a Brooklyn apartment with his Russian girlfriend, no money, and no scholarship offers. If nothing happened he'd be on a plane back to Mongolia. Turtogtokh's twin brother, Turbat, had flown home that summer, choosing to wrestle for the Mongolian National team. Going home would have been easy to do. "Turbat wanted to be with our family," Turtogtokh said. "I didn't want to go home. I love my family but wanted to stay in America." Rob HjerlingIt was the Friday before new students enrolled at The Citadel when head wrestling coach Rob Hjerling called Turtogtokh at his apartment in Brooklyn. "Coach Fleckman at St. Benedicts called me and said Turtogtokh didn't have a school,' Hjerling said. "I knew he wasn't interested in March, but when his circumstances changed he was all ears." Without a normal courting process, Hjerling didn't know too much about Turtogotkh and would have to trust that he'd work hard and be a good student. Turtogtokh's recruitment process became a sprint to complete paperwork, working to get him accepted and secure scholarship money. "We had our first conversation on a Friday and by the next Saturday he's sitting in a chair getting his head shaved and people are screaming at him," Hjerling said. Hjerling is being rewarded for his good faith -- Turtogtokh has delivered on the mat and in the classroom. The 157-pounder is heading into this weekend's Southern Conference tournament with momentum as the conference's final "Wrestler of the Week" fresh off a win over 16th-ranked Thomas Scotton of North Carolina; a 3-0 decision. He's also 15-1 in his last 16 matches. According to Hjerling he's also a sociable team leader, keeping a good attitude throughout the season. Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (Photo/CitadelSports.com)Hjerling also praises the help of assistant coach Plamen Paskalev in teaching Turtogtokh to translate his European style into a more aggressive neutral game plan and improved mat competency– a problem for both freshman and foreigners. Their similar styles and Paskalev's collegiate success (NCAA Division II champion at Central Missouri) has helped Turtogtokh develop his attacks this season. "My biggest problem is locking hands on top. I work a lot with the coaches to improve my top-bottom," Turtogtokh said. Turtogtokh's aggressiveness on his feet and improved mat techniques are what won him the match against Scotton. He drew a stall point, earned an escape, and even secured a riding time point - the trifecta of a solid top-bottom wrestling. Turtogtokh Luvsandorj (Photo/CitadelSports.com)Wrestling aside, how does a 19-year-old only a few days away from returning to Mongolia like living at one of America's strictest military schools? Answering with some diplomacy, Turtogtokh admitted The Citadel wasn't what he'd dreamed college might be; according to him they have "97-percent guys and very strict rules." He also misses his brother (they talk on Skype) but has found a new camaraderie in the relationships with his teammates. With the recruiting process behind him and fully acclimated to a sometimes intimidating school life (he's a business major), Turtogtokh looking forward to making his coaches proud, "My goal is to win the conference and be an All-American," said Turtogtokh, "Coach Rob did a lot for me and I'm very thankful to him to be here."

The mobile Brute adidas studios will be on the road again this week. Friday- Steve Foster, Truman and Scott head to Oklahoma City for a day of filming the Championships of the NAIA. The 53rd Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships will get underway Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University. The event will feature three days of action on the mat, capped off with 10 individuals earning national titles on Saturday night and the crowning of a team champion. Archie Randall and the Stars of OCU will play host to this growing conference. Hear Archies words: http://www.intermatwrestle.com/articles/6618 Coach Frank Romano and his Notre Dame College squad have been playing keep away leading the conference as they head in to the championships. Hear Coach Romano's words: http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/6619 NAIA's Manager of Championship Sports Scott McClure- Clearly excited about these Championships: http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/6614 The NAIA Wrestling National Championships will be streamed live via NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. All 10 individual weight class Championship bouts on March 6 will be available to view starting at approximately 6:30 p.m. CST. A fee of $7.95 is set to view the Saturday Championship finals event. Click here to order Saturday night’s finals. Saturday- Join Scott Casber, Steve Foster for the call and the action of the Big 12 Championships. Sat., March 6, All Day, preview show at 9:01 AM to 11:00 AM. First Round: 11 a.m.; Second Round: 2:30 p.m. Live from Norman, Okla. • McCasland Field House No Charge Live Stats: various collegiate partner web sites including Sooner Sports and cyclones.com Television: Fox Sports Net (Tape delay) Radio: Takedown Radio Takedownradio.com (Online, 9 a.m. CST) The 2010 Big 12 Wrestling Championship will be held on Saturday, March 6, at McCasland Field House in Norman, Okla. The University of Oklahoma last hosted the event in 2002. Doors open at 10 a.m. CT, with the first round beginning at 11 a.m. CT. All five nationally-ranked league squads will be in action for the 14th annual event. Iowa State will be competing for its fourth-straight Conference title, Oklahoma State for its ninth overall title, OU for its third, Nebraska for its second (co-Champions with ISU last year) and Missouri for the first title in school history. Located in the heart of campus just north of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the Howard McCasland Field House provides OU and wrestling with a first-class training and competition venue. In 2005, the Field House underwent a $6 million facelift that included a complete interior renovation. Wrestling fans- Please note that Episode 47 of TDR TV is now available on all the top web sites and cable systems around the country. TDR every week! It's appointment Radio and TV! Join us at Takedownradio.com. America's Wrestling Radio Talk Show airs on Supertalk 1570 in Michigan, AM 1460 KXNO in Iowa and on a radio station near you or on line at many of our broadcast partners around the world including Livesportsvideo.com. TDR "the Radio Program" airs 9 AM to 11 AM CST every Saturday morning we look forward to having you listen. Thanks for listening and watching!

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The 53rd Annual NAIA Wrestling National Championships will get underway Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University. The event will feature three days of action on the mat, capped off with 10 individuals earning national titles on Saturday night and the crowning of a team champion. Thursday’s action will get underway at 1 p.m. CST with a single session of championship round preliminary and first round matches. Two sessions will take place on Friday, starting with a 10 a.m. round of championship quarterfinals along with preliminary, first, second and third round matches of consolation action. The third session, starting at 6 p.m. Friday, will feature championship semifinal matches and two rounds of consolation wrestling. Medal matches will get underway at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by the championship finals starting at 6:30 p.m. The Wrestling National Championships will be streamed live via NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. All 10 individual weight class Championship bouts on March 6 will be available to view starting at approximately 6:30 p.m. CST. A fee of $7.95 is set to view the Saturday Championship finals event. Click here to order Saturday night’s finals. Lidenwood (Mo.) will be seeking its fourth consecutive team title and sixth in program history, but will have to do it with only five returning wrestlers from the 2009 championship squad. The Lions would be in rare company to four-peat. Central State (Okla.) took home four national team titles from 1984-87. In a decade’s span, Central State is the most successful team in five decades of NAIA wrestling, capturing seven titles during the 1980s. Lindenwood follows with five championships during the 2000s. The challenge of maintaining that dominance will begin on Thursday. Five national champions from a year ago will be back to defend their titles, with a pair of grapplers looking to make their third appearance in the championship bout of their respective weight class. Notre Dame (Ohio) senior Adam Koballa captured the 141-pound title as a junior after taking runner-up honors in 2008. The Falcon is 27-2 in his final season. Andrew Sanchez, a junior 197-pounder from McKendree (Ill.), will also be eyeing a spot in the finals for the third time in as many trips to the NAIA Wrestling National Championships. As a freshman in 2008, Sanchez took runner-up honors and followed up with the title in 2009. The junior Bearcat has registered a 33-6 mark heading into Oklahoma City. McKendree’s other national champ, senior Aaron Winning, will look to repeat at 165 pounds and earn his third All-America honor. Winning took seventh at 165 in 2008. Chris Platt, a junior 184-pounder from Southern Oregon, and Simon Fraser (B.C.) heavyweight Arjan Bhullar return to the field to defend their titles. Forty-six All-Americans return to the field to challenge for their right to stand on the podium again. Two-time All-American Tyler Chang of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) has previously earned accolades at 141 and 149 pounds. The junior, who was ranked third for the final four polls, will take to the mat at 157 pounds. After finishing second at 174 pounds in 2008, Brendon DeCock of Great Falls (Mont.) took home fifth-place honors a year ago. Missouri Baptist’s Ike Okenwa is a two-time placewinner at 197 pounds, finishing seventh in 2008 and fifth in 2009. California Baptist’s Enock Francois, a two-time 174-pound All-American for Northwestern (Iowa), will be looking to reach the podium for the first time in a Lancer singlet after sitting out last season. Francois was the top-ranked 174-pounder for all seven regular season polls and boasts a 34-11 record on the mat in his senior season. A 133-pound All-American a year ago, Kyle Williams of McKendree will make a run at the podium at 141 pounds. Austin Ouellette was a seventh-place finisher at 174 pounds for Montana State-Northern, but has dropped down to 165 pounds for his senior season. For updated information throughout the Championships, click here.