Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
NCAA Championships -- Session II
Wildcats Send Two to NCAA Championships Quarterfinals Friday
3/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 17, 2011
Event: 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships -- Session II
Site: Philadelphia, Pa. • Wells Fargo Center (19,500)
Final Session II Brackets 
Updated Team Standings (After Session II)
Championships Website: NCAA.com
NWCA Live Scoring: NWCA.com
Next NU Event: Session III (Friday, 9:30 a.m. CT)
Live Updates: Twitter (@NU_SportsLIVE) (Search hashtag #d1wrestle)
Television Coverage:
All three days of action at the 2011 NCAA Championships can be viewed live in their entirety and in high definition on the ESPN family of networks, including streaming webcasts on ESPN3.com. Below is a complete session-by-session viewing schedule:
Session III (Friday, March 18, 9:30 a.m. CT): ESPNU and ESPN3.com
Session IV (Friday, March 18, 6 p.m. CT): ESPNU and ESPN3.com
Session V (Saturday, March 19, 10 a.m. CT): ESPNU and ESPN3.com
Session VI -- Championship Finals (Saturday, March 19, 6:30 p.m. CT): ESPN and ESPN3.com
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- After another gritty session of wrestling at the 2011 NCAA Championships Thursday evening in Philadelphia, Northwestern emerged with two wrestlers in the quarterfinals of the championship bracket -- Brandon Precin (125) and Jason Welch (157) -- and two more still alive in the wrestlebacks. The quartet of Wildcats will hit the mats at the Wells Fargo Center when Friday's Session III begins at 9:30 a.m. CT.
A glance at the team standings shows Northwestern tied for 24th place with Stanford, Penn and two Big Ten teams in Illinois and Indiana. Penn State continues to lead all squads with 30.5 points and a tournament-best seven wrestlers in Friday's quarterfinals.
Precin's matchup with Langel was slowed early on by repeated blood timeouts taken by the Scarlet Knight, but that didn't distract Precin from notching a takedown and three back points before the first period expired. He worked hard on top throughout the second, compiling 3:19 in riding time before the third period began.
One final takedown and a riding time point secured the 8-0 major decision for Precin (32-2) as well as his berth in the quarterfinals against sixth-seeded Nick Bedelyon of Kent State.
Like Precin, Welch took the floor on Mat Seven against an opponent he had never faced before, ninth-seeded James Fleming of Clarion. In the first period Fleming believed he was in control for a '2' only to have his hold ruled dangerous and brought back to the center of the mat. From that point on it was all Welch, who collected a takedown and over a minute of riding time at the end of the first.
In the third, Welch used a quick burst off the whistle to stand and put himself in prime position for a reversal, which gave him the 4-0 lead that stood up as a 5-0 final. Welch (28-4) is into the quarterfinals for the first time in his career where he will meet the No. 1 seed at 157, Adam Hall of Boise State.
Coming off a strong outing in his debut at nationals Thursday morning, sophomore Levi Mele ran into a No. 1 seed in Oklahoma State's Jordan Oliver, who is undefeated and wrestling near his hometown in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. Oliver came out with his second pin of the day in 2:11, sending Mele into Friday's wrestlebacks where he'll face Oklahoma's Jordan Keller, who enters with a 17-9 overall record.
In the first round of wrestleback action, 11th-seeded Andrew Nadhir took on Pittsburgh's Dane Johnson and worked his way to a 3-0 lead entering the third period. After Johnson escaped in the third to make it 3-1, the Panther managed a quick takedown but cut Nadhir knowing the NU senior maintained a one-point edge thanks to riding time. Johnson's strategy worked as he took down Nadhir with 13 seconds left to force overtime.
After 55 seconds elapsed in the one-minute sudden victory period, Nadhir (30-6) worked to finish a shot on the edge of the mat just as time was ticking off the clock, assuring him a 7-5 win and the right to compete in Session III Friday.
NU's fifth qualifier, 141-pounder Kaleb Friedley fell out of the tournament after losing a high-scoring 11-8 decision to Binghamton's Anwar Goeres. Trailing 8-4 in the third, Friedley picked up two takedowns to cut the deficit to 9-8, but one final scoring move by Goeres put the outcome out of reach. The NU true freshman finishes a stellar rookie season with a 25-11 mark, with 13 of those wins coming by fall.
Northwestern's Session II match-by-match results and a schedule for Friday morning can be found below.
NCAA Championships -- Session II Results
Championship Second Round
125: #3 Brandon Precin (NU) maj. dec. Joseph Langel (RUTG), 8-0
133: #1 Jordan Oliver (OKST) FALL Levi Mele (NU), 2:11
157: #8 Jason Welch (NU) dec. #9 James Fleming (CLAR), 5-0
Wrestlebacks First Round
141: Anwar Goeres (BING) dec. Kaleb Friedley (NU), 11-8
149: #11 Andrew Nadhir (NU) dec. Dane Johnson (PITT), 7-5 (SV1)
NCAA Championships -- Session III Schedule
Championship Quarterfinals
125: #3 Brandon Precin (NU) vs. #6 Nic Bedelyon (KENT)
Previous meeting -- Nov. 15, 2008: Precin dec. Bedelyon, 5-0
157: #8 Jason Welch (NU) vs. #1 Adam Hall (BOISE) (first meeting)
Wrestlebacks Second Round
133: Levi Mele (NU) vs. Jordan Keller (OKLA) (first meeting)
149: #11 Andrew Nadhir (NU) vs. #1 Darrion Caldwell (NCST) (first meeting)
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
