Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
#4 Iowa
McMullan Upsets Top-10 Wrestler, 'Cats Fall in Iowa City
1/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 15, 2012
Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Carver-Hawkeye Arena)
Score: No. 4 Iowa 24, No. 21 Northwestern 13
Match Statistics
Records: No. 21 Northwestern (5-3, 1-3 Big Ten), No. 4 Iowa (9-1, 4-0 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Friday, Jan. 20 vs. Michigan State • 7 p.m. • Alumni Night
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Redshirt freshman Mike McMullan and senior John Schoen avenged their overtime losses to Iowa wrestlers from Midlands and two other Wildcats won their bouts, but No. 4 Iowa defeated No. 21 Northwestern 24-13 Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The 'Cats picked up wins at heavyweight, 149, 157 and 197 in the dual.
“Overall I'm pleased with the effort and how we responded after Friday night,” head coach Drew Pariano said. “Of course, winning matches that we narrowly lost at Midlands is great, it sets you up for Big Ten's. Jason Welch was explosive and very offensive in his match. All in all, it was a good team effort but we're not satisfied with the end result, which is the team score.”
Sunday's match began at heavyweight and Northwestern jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a big overtime upset by No. 19 Mike McMullan over No. 8 Bobby Telford. In a back-and-forth match, McMullan had the 3-1 lead in the second but Telford scored a takedown late in the period to even things up at 3-3. Telford then took the 4-3 lead with an escape to start the third. McMullan would lead once more in regulation with a takedown but Telford escaped one last time to send the bout to sudden victory. In the overtime, McMullan scored the winning takedown with 16 seconds remaining for the 7-5 victory. This bout was one of three rematches from Midlands and the win for McMullan avenges his 4-2 sudden victory loss to Telford at the December tournament.
Iowa then got on the board, winning the 125, 133 and 141 bouts, but the 'Cats battled back with victories at 149, 157.
At 149, Kaleb Friedley wrestled an exciting match against Mike Kelley and edged the Hawkeye, 3-2. Kelly had the match's first takedown in the opening period, but Friedley escaped to close the first three minutes. Neither wrestler scored in the second and Friedley rode Kelly the entire two minutes, accumulating what would be the match-winning riding time. In the third, Friedley escaped to even the score at 2-2 and both wrestlers scrambled for the match-winning takedown as the bout concluded, but Friedley emerged the one-point winner with 1:18 of riding time.
No. 3 Jason Welch then put the 'Cats within four points (14-10) with bonus points at 157. He jumped out to a 9-1 lead at the end of the first, led 15-1 after the second and never looked back in his 17-4 major decision over Nick Moore. Welch had eight nearfall points in his 14th win of the season and ninth by bonus points.
Iowa then secured the dual victory, winning three of the final four bouts. In a rematch of the Midlands finals at 174, No. 9 Lee Munster battled No. 11 Ethen Lofthouse but the NU redshirt freshman was unable to get his second win over the Iowa grappler. Munster scored the first takedown of the bout but Lofthouse scored four unanswered points and had 2:35 of riding time for the 5-2 decision. Munster defeated Lofthouse 7-3 in December to win the Midlands title.
Sunday's match closed with one final Midlands rematch as John Schoen faced No. 19 Grant Gambrall. The first meeting between these two ended in a 3-1 overtime victory in favor of Gambrall but Schoen notched the 2-1 win in regulation Sunday, ending the dual on a positive note for Northwestern. Neither wrestler scored in the first period, but Gambrall was whistled for stalling. Schoen took a 2-0 lead to end the second after an escape and a second stall call against Gambrall. In the third, Gambrall escaped five seconds into the period and fought for a takedown in the closing seconds but Schoen hung on for the close 2-1 victory.
Northwestern is back in action at Welsh-Ryan Arena at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, hosting Michigan State. A number of former NU wrestlers will be in attendance as Friday night is the team's Alumni Night match.
No. 4 Iowa 24, No. 21 Northwestern 13
Hwt.: No. 19 Mike McMullan (NU) dec No. 8 Bobby Telford (I), 7-5, SV (3-0 NU)
125: No. 2 Matt McDonough (I) maj dec No. 7 Levi Mele (NU), 18-4, (4-3 Iowa)
133: No. 2 Tony Ramos (I) pins Jameson Oster (NU), 2:34, (10-3 Iowa)
141: No. 3 Montell Marion (I) maj dec Pat Greco (NU), 21-7 (14-3 Iowa)
149: Kaleb Friedley (NU) dec Mike Kelly (I), 3-2 (14-6 Iowa)
157: No. 3 Jason Welch (NU) maj dec Nick Moore (I), 17-4 (14-10 Iowa)
165: No. 9 Mike Evans (I) maj dec Pierce Harger (NU), 10-0 (18-10 Iowa)
174: No. 11 Ethen Lofthouse (I) dec No. 9 Lee Munster (NU), 5-2 (21-10 Iowa)
184: Vinnie Wagner (I) dec Robert Kellogg (NU), 11-4 (24-10 Iowa)
197: John Schoen (NU) dec No. 19 Grant Gambrall (I), 2-1 (24-13 Iowa)
Players Mentioned
