Northwestern
Iowa
McMullan Knocks Off Nation's No. 1 Heavyweight in Overtime
1/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
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| #2 Iowa 38, #22 Northwestern 3 Carver-Hawkeye Arena • Iowa City, Iowa |
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IOWA CITY, Iowa - Fourth-ranked Mike McMullan picked up a big road win Friday night, taking down Iowa's top-ranked Bobby Telford in the second sudden victory period for a 3-1 win. McMullan (18-2) sent Telford (18-1) to his first loss of the season.
The Northwestern heavyweight regained a 4-3 advantage in the series between the two.
In yet another low-scoring affair, each wrestler could only muster an escape apiece in regulation. After a scoreless first sudden victory period, McMullan and Telford rode each other out in the 30-second tiebreakers. With just 17 seconds remaining in the second sudden victory, McMullan scored a takedown to claim the victory.
Four of the previous five meetings between the two have ended in a 3-1 score with McMullan holding a 3-1 edge in those matches.
All four ranked Wildcats were in tight matches on Friday night.
Top-ranked Jason Tsirtsis saw his 40-match winning streak at 149 lbs. come to an end with a bitter 3-2 loss in the second tiebreaker to No. 3 Brandon Sorensen. The competitors split escapes in regulation and again in the first tiebreaker. After Sorensen escaped to begin the second tiebreak he rode Tsirtsis out to pull the upset. The defending national champion's streak extended all the way back to Jan. 10, 2014.
Pierce Harger also ran into tough competition at 165 lbs. in the second of three matches between top-10 wrestlers. Sixth-ranked Harger and No. 9 Nick Moore battled it out through regulation to a 2-2 tie. Moore managed a takedown with just seconds remaining in the first sudden victory to pick up the win.
In the second to last match of the night, No. 13 Alex Polizzi fell in nearly the same fashion as Tsirtsis and Harger. Polizzi scored an early first period takedown, but fifth-ranked and undefeated Nathan Burak quickly escaped. Polizzi upped his advantage to 3-1 with an escape in the second period. Burak countered with an escape of his own to begin the third and, with fewer than 10 ticks on the clock, took down Polizzi for the 4-3 win.
Northwestern (9-5, 1-4) had a tough go of it for most of the night Friday against the second-ranked Hawkeyes. All ten of Iowa's wrestlers were ranked and nine of them were in the top-10 at their respective weight classes. The Wildcats ultimately fell 38-3 in Iowa City.
Northwestern returns to Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday to square off against No. 10 Illinois at 2 p.m. The Fighting Illini lost to 12th-ranked Nebraska on Friday, 22-9.
Sunday's match is the celebration of Alumni Weekend at Northwestern. Former Wildcat wrestlers will be acknowledged at intermission of the meet. The 1990 team that finished third at Midlands, third at the Big Ten Championships and fourth at the NCAA Championships will be recognized at that time.
The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a Northwestern-themed `90s throwback tank in honor of the team.
The Northwestern-Illinois dual will be streamed live via BTN Plus on BTN2GO.
Results
125: #5 Thomas Gilman (Iowa) Tech Fall Garrison White (NU), 21-6, 4:16
133: #4 Cory Clark (Iowa) Fall Dominick Malone (NU), 2:56
141: #8 Josh Dziewa (Iowa) dec. Jameson Oster (NU), 6-0
149: #3 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) dec. #1 Jason Tsirtsis (NU), 3-2 (TB-2)
157: #15 Mike Kelly (Iowa) Tech Fall Ben Sullivan (NU), 18-3, 7:00
165: #9 Nick Moore (Iowa) dec. #6 Pierce Harger (NU), 4-2 (SV-1)
174: #2 Mike Evans (Iowa) Win by Forfeit
184: #8 Sam Brooks (Iowa) maj. dec. Mitch Sliga (NU), 18-6
197: #5 Nathan Burak (Iowa) dec. #13 Alex Polizzi (NU), 4-3
285: #4 Mike McMullan (NU) dec. #1 Bobby Telford (Iowa), 3-1 (SV-2)
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Players Mentioned
