March 18, 2006
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Sophomore Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward) placed fourth while senior John Velez (Kings Mills, Ohio/Kings) capped off his season with a seventh-place finish at the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships Saturday in front of 15,789 raucous fans at the Ford Center. Their individual performances helped the 12th-ranked 'Cats hold steady at 12th place with 48.5 points in the team race. Northwestern has one more wrestler alive in the championships, as Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) has advanced to the 174-pound title bout. ESPN will air the championship finals live beginning at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 18.
In his wrestleback semifinal match, Lang avenged his Big Ten title bout loss to Michigan State's fourth-seeded Andy Simmons by using a dominating third-period performance to beat Simmons 3-0.
After Lang and Simmons battled to scoreless first and second periods, it all came down to the final two minutes. Lang started the period up and that would be the key as he rode Simmons out for the entire two minutes of the period. With one minute remaining, Lang circled Simmons, got in good position and scored a two-point nearfall to take a 2-0 lead. Simmons worked tirelessly to maneuver out of Lang's hold, but Lang's grip was just too strong and he took the 3-0 decision with riding time.
In the 141-pound third-place match, Lang faced Lehigh's third-seeded Cory Cooperman in a rematch of their championship quarterfinal bout. Lang wrestled hard versus Cooperman, but Cooperman's offense was too much. He went up 6-0 in the first period and didn't let up en route to a 9-0 decision. With the loss, Lang finishes the championships with a career-best fourth-place finish and the first All-America accolade of his career.
"Ryan would have liked to finish third, but he had a terrific tournament," head coach Tim Cysewski said. "He is only a sophomore and he has a great future ahead of him. I would expect he will be the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class coming into next year, but if not, he will be right up there and will have great chance to win a national championship if he continues to work hard. But he's had a great tournament this season, he wrestled very well."
Velez, who has stormed through the wrestleback bracket by winning four of his five matches entering Friday's seventh-place match, earned a career-best seventh-place finish by beating Stanford's 12th-seeded Tanner Gardner 8-5.
Velez caught Gardner on an early shot attempt and used that to set the tone for the remainder of the match. With good position after Gardner's failed shot, Velez scored a takedown to go up 2-0. With less than five seconds remaining in the first, Velez rolled Gardner over and nearly tallied the pin, but was awarded a two-point nearfall to increase his lead to 4-0 as time expired.
Starting down to begin the second period, Velez quickly escaped Gardner's hold to go up 5-0 before registering his second takedown of the bout to extend his lead to 7-0.
Gardner made a comeback late in the second as he recorded a takedown and got Velez on his back. Velez fought off the fall just long enough for time to expire and Gardner was awarded a three-point nearfall to cut Velez's lead to 7-5.
Velez was not about to fall in his final collegiate match and came out in the third period with renewed focus and energy. While neither wrestler scored in the final period, Velez controlled the action and rode Gardner out, accruing 3:37 of riding time en route to the seventh-place medal.
Velez finishes his career at Northwestern as a three-time NCAA qualifier and one of the Wildcats' all-time winningest wrestlers with 93 career victories.
"I'm happy for John," Cysewski said. "He started out as a walk-on who weighed 100 lbs. soaking wet. He has worked hard the last four years to get stronger and improve his technique. Now he's graduating this year and this will be something he will remember for the rest of his life. He should be proud of everything he has accomplished," Cysewski said.
Northwestern holds its position at 12th in the team race following session five. The Wildcats are four points behind Hofstra who hold the 11th place spot and the 'Cats can move into a tie with the Pride if Herbert wins in his title bout.
Oklahoma State remains atop the team standings with 114.5 points. Oklahoma has moved past Minnesota into second place with 80.5 points, but the Golden Gophers remain a close third with 76 points. Iowa and Cornell round out the top five with 70 and 62 points, respectively.
The 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships resume at 6:30 Saturday with the championship finals. Second-ranked Herbert faces Missouri's top-ranked Ben Askren in the 174-pound final -- arguably the most highly anticipated matchup of the season.
Live updates and updated brackets are available at NCAA.com.
SESSION FIVE SUMMARYWrestleback Bracket 141 lbs. Semifinals- Ryan Lang (NU) dec. Andy Simmons (MSU) 3-0 141 lbs. 3rd-Place Match- Cory Cooperman (WYO) MD Ryan Lang (NU) 9-0 125 lbs. 7th-Place Match- John Velez (NU) dec. Tanner Gardner (STAN) 8-5