Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Send Four To Second Round Of NCAA Championships
3/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 20, 2008
ST. LOUIS -- After one session of action, four Wildcats are still alive in their championship brackets. Top-seeded Dustin Fox, third-seeded Mike Tamillow, eighth-seeded Brandon Precin and 11th-seeded Ryan Lang all advanced to Thursday night's second round. Nick Hayes and Keith Sulzer will look to stay alive in the consolation bracket. Session Two begins at 6:30 p.m.
Over 15,000 wrestling fans came out to the Scottrade Center to witness the tournament's first session.
Northwestern's day started early, as Precin was one of the first matches to hit the mats in Session One. After surviving an early headlock by Mike Rodriguez of Cornell, Precin scored his first points of the match with a takedown. The sophomore came close to a pin twice, but had to settle for five points from near falls.
Precin added an escape in the second and another takedown in the third to take the major decision, 11-0, with riding time. Precin faces ninth-seeded Rollie Peterkin of Pennsylvania in Thursday night's second round.
In his final NCAA Championships, Lang advanced to the second round with an 11-4 decision over Matt Fittery of Lock Haven. Fittery advanced through the pigtail round with a win over Missouri's Josh Wagner.
Lang scored two takedowns in the first with a Lock Haven escape sandwiched in to take a 4-1 lead into the second period. Lang started down in the second and scored two more points on a swift reversal. After riding out the second, the third period saw a mad scramble in the closing seconds -- a staple of Lang's matches -- that resulted in an eight-point period. Lang came out of the match with an 11-4 decision.
In Thursday night's second round, Lang faces sixth-seeded Bubba Jenkins of Penn State. Jenkins took the last meeting, in a dual at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The top-seeded Fox and third-seeded Tamillow wrestled on adjacent mats and both came away with first-round victories. At 197, Tamillow defeated Arizona State's Jason Trulson by 4-2 decision.
Tamillow scored his first takedown in opening period to take a 2-0 lead into the second frame. Trulson was able to register a takedown on the Wildcat in the second after Tamillow escaped from the down position, but Tamillow quickly scored another escape to go up 4-2. The third period ended scoreless.
Tamillow faces Iowa State's Dave Bertolino in the second round.
Picking up right where he left off at the Big Ten Championships, Fox scored early and often on Columbia's Ryan Flores. Fox got his takedown and turned Flores three times to take a 9-0 lead into the second period.
The match did not make it out of the second as Fox started on bottom and scored a reversal and more near fall points to end the match with a 17-0 technical fall. Fox faces VMI's Joshua Wine in the second round.
At 141 lbs., the 11th-seeded Sulzer, wrestling in his first NCAA Championships, fell to 2006 All-American Drew Headlee of Pittsburgh. Headlee scored a takedown in the first, added an escape in the second and rode out Sulzer in the third to take the 3-1 decision.
Sulzer faces UC Davis' Nexi Delgado in the consolation bracket Thursday evening. Delgado put up 10 points in a 13-10 loss to Ohio State's sixth-seeded J Jaggers in the first round.
With a loss to Northern Illinois' Duke Burk at 174 lbs., 12th-seeded Nick Hayes also fell into the consolation bracket. After a scoreless period, Hayes got on the board first with an early escape in the second. However, Burk was able to notch three takedowns over the final two periods to take the match by 7-3 decision.
Hayes will face UC Davis' Tyler Bernacchi in wrestleback action Thursday evening.
Live scoring and bracket updates can be found at NCAA.com
Northwestern Results and Play-by-Play
125: #8 Precin (NU) maj dec. Mike Rodriguez (Cornell), 11-0
1: Neutral, 2 TD (NU), 3 NF (NU), 2 NF (NU)
2: NU Down, 1 ESC (NU)
3: Neutral, 2 TD (NU)
Riding Time (NU)
141: Drew Headlee (Pittsburgh) dec. #11 Sulzer (NU), 3-1
1: Neutral, 2 TD (Pitt), 1 ESC (NU)
2: Pitt Down, 1 ESC (Pitt)
3: NU Down
149: #11 Lang dec. Matt Fittery (Lock Haven), 11-4
1: Neutral, 2 TD (NU), 1 ESC (LH), 2 TD (NU), 2: NU Down, 2 REV (NU)
3: Neutral, 2 TD (NU), 1 ESC (LH), 2 TD (LH), 1 ESC (NU) 2 TD (NU)
Riding Time (NU)
174: Duke Burk (NIU) dec. #12 Hayes (NU), 7-3
1: Neutral, No Points
2: NU Down, 1 ESC (NU), 2 TD (NIU)
3: NIU Down, 1 ESC (NIU), 2 TD (NIU), 1 ESC (NU), 2 TD (NIU), 1 ESC (NU)
197: #3 Tamillow (NU) dec. Jason Trulson (Arizona St.), 4-2
1: Neutral, 2 TD (NU)
2: 1 ESC (NU), 2 TD (ASU), 1 ESC (NU)
3: Neutral
285: #1 Fox (NU) tech fall Ryan Flores (Columbia), 17-0
1: 2 TD (NU), 2 NF (NU), 2 NF (NU), 3 NF (NU)
2: 2 REV (NU), 3 NF (NU), 3 NF (NU)
Session 2 Matches
Championship Bracket:
125: #8 Precin (NU) vs. #9 Rollie Peterkin (Penn)
149: #11 Lang (NU) vs. #6 Bubba Jenkins (PSU)
197: #3 Tamillow (NU) vs. Bertolino (Iowa State)
285: #1 Fox (NU) vs. Joshua Wine (VMI)
Consolation Bracket:
141: #11 Sulzer (NU) vs. Nexi Delgado (UC Davis)
174: #12 Hayes (NU) vs. Tyler Bernacchi (UC Davis)
