Northwestern University Athletics
Tsirtsis, McMullan Advance to B1G Finals
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
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Big Ten Championships • Northwestern: 56.5 points, 9th/14 place St. John Arena • Columbus, Ohio Watch Session III on BTDN | Big Ten Championships Bracket  |
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2015 Big Ten Championships Brackets
2015 Big Ten Championships Website
Northwestern Big Ten Championships Notes
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Jason Tsirtsis and Mike McMullan advanced to the 2015 Big Ten Wrestling Championships finals Sunday afternoon with wins in the semifinal round during Session II Saturday night. The finals will be aired live on the Big Ten Network at 2 p.m. CT.
Tsirtsis received a win by injury default after Ohio State's Hunter Stieber, the No. 3 seed, was unable to compete. He will get a chance to avenge his only loss this season when he takes on No. 1 Brandon Sorensen of Iowa in the 149 lbs. finals. Tsirtsis and Sorensen went to the second tiebreak round at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Jan. 23, and Sorensen managed to hold on for the 3-2 win.
McMullan won a 7-6 thriller over No. 2 seed Adam Coon of Michigan. With Coon up 5-3, McMullan scored a takedown to tie at five, but Coon quickly escaped to regain the lead. His one-point advantage did not last long as McMullan scored a takedown to capture a 7-6 lead. The Northwestern senior rode out Coon for the rest of the third period to capture a spot in the finals in his last Big Ten Championships.
Six Northwestern wrestlers clinched automatic bids to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis from Thursday, March 19 to Saturday, March 21.
Tsirtsis, Harger and McMullan locked up their spots in the opening session by advancing to the semifinals of their respective weight classes. Dominick Malone, Jameson Oster and Alex Polizzi will join them in St. Louis after that trio won key matches of their own to earn Big Ten automatic bids.
Oster punched his ticket with a 7-4 win over Penn State's Kade Moss, the tournament's ninth seed. The top eight finishers at 141 lbs. received bids to the NCAA Championships, and Oster's win in the first consolation match ensured he could finish no lower than that mark.
Polizzi gave perhaps the day's toughest effort at 197 lbs. After defaulting due to injury in his first-round match, Polizzi needed to win one match to qualify for the NCAA Championships, so he came out to face No. 8 Timmy McCall of Wisconsin.
McCall led 5-3 with a minute remaining in the match and had over one minute of riding time. Polizzi escaped, got a quick takedown and erased McCall's riding time advantage to win the match 6-5.
With a spot in the NCAAs secured, Polizzi injury defaulted his next match and will wrestle for seventh place.
Malone lost to Ohio State's No. 4 Johnni DiJulius in the 133 lbs. consolations, but it did not matter because he already secured one of 12 automatic bids for his weight class after his performance in Session I.
Pierce Harger lost a tough semifinal match in his last go round at the Big Ten Championships. He went up against the No. 1 seed and undefeated Bo Jordan of Ohio State. Jordan won 8-1, so Harger will wrestle for a chance at third place on Sunday.
The Big Ten only had five bids to give out at 125 lbs., and Garrison White gave it a good run but fell one round shy with a loss to Nebraska's Tim Lambert. White did pick up a win in Session I over Luke Welch of Purdue, claiming a competitive 1-0 decision.
Northwestern finished day one of the 2015 Big Ten Championships in ninth place out of 14 teams with 56.5 points. They trail Wisconsin, who has 64.5 points. Host Ohio State leads the team scoring with 102.5 points.
Session III, which will showcase the consolation semifinals andseventh place matches, begins at 12 p.m. CT on Sunday and can be seen live via the Big Ten Digital Network.
The Big Ten finals and third and fifth places can be seen live on the Big Ten Network at 2 p.m. CT.
Semifinals
149: No. 2 Jason Tsirtsis (NU) inj. def. Hunter Stieber (OSU)
165: No. 1 Bo Jordan (OSU) dec. No. 4 Pierce Harger (NU), 8-1
285: No. 3 Mike McMullan (NU) dec. No. 2 Adam Coon (MICH), 7-6
Consolation
125: Garrison White (NU) dec. No. 8 Luke Welch (PUR), 1-0
125: No. 4 Tim Lambert (NEB) Fall Garrison White (NU), 0:27
133: No. 4 Johnni DiJulius (OSU) maj. dec. No. 11 Dominick Malone (NU), 10-0
133: No. 10 Scott Delvecchio (RUT) dec. No. 11 Dominick Malone (NU), 9-6
141: No. 7 Jameson Oster (NU) dec. No. 9 Kade Moss (PSU), 7-4
141: No. 3 Anthony Abidin (NEB) maj. dec. No. 7 Jameson Oster (NU), 13-0
184: No. 6 T.J. Dudley (NEB) dec. No. 12 Mitch Sliga (NU), 4-0
184: No. 9 John Rizqallah (MSU) Fall No. 12 Mitch Sliga (NU), 3:55
197: No. 7 Alex Polizzi (NU) dec. No. 8 Timmy McCall (WIS), 6-5
197: No. 11 Jeff Koepke (ILL) inj. def. No. 7 Alex Polizzi (NU)
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