March 17, 2007
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Northwestern went 3-0 in Session Five of the NCAA Championships as junior Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) won two matches to capture third place at heavyweight and junior Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick) earned seventh place at 197 lbs. The 'Cats remain in fifth place in the overall team standings entering the final session. Jake Herbert and Ryan Lang will wrestle in the finals tonight at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Television Coverage
ESPN will air the championships live at 7 p.m. CT Saturday.
Team Standings
1. Minnesota - 92.0
2. Iowa State - 84.5
3. Missouri - 76.0
4. Oklahoma State - 69.0
5. Northwestern - 67.5
6. Michigan - 62.0
The junior earned revenge in the third-place match, topping Oregon State's fifth-seeded Ty Watterson by 3-1 decision. Watterson defeated Fox in the quarterfinals.
Fox wrestled his kind of match for third place with only four points being scored in the bout. The third-place match started slow with no points being scored in the first period. Fox started on top in the second and Watterson escaped to go neutral.
With both wrestlers on their feet, Fox dove in for a shot and took down his opponent for two points. Watterson gave Fox the escape early in the third to give the Wildcat a 3-1 advantage. No more points were scored and Fox, who captured his first career All-America honor at this year's tournament, finished third in the nation at heavyweight.
"We still have some work to do tonight," Fox said. "I know the sport is a lot about individual things, but we're showing that if we put in the time and work that is necessary as a team, we can become one of those storied wrestling programs."
Fox advanced to the third-place match with a 6-2 upset over Central Michigan's third-seeded Bubba Gritter. The fourth-seeded junior trailed 2-1 after the second period when Gritter scored a reversal and Fox responded with an escape.
The Wildcat evened the match at 2-2 with an escape in the third and the bout went to overtime. After no score in the sudden victory period, the match went to tiebreakers. Fox came out the aggressor, starting on top and scoring a two-point near-fall in the first tiebreaker.
Fox started on bottom for the second tiebreaker and extended his lead to 6-2 with a reversal.
Tamillow took on Michigan's Nick Roy for seventh place at 197 lbs. and took a 7-3 decision.
The junior did not waste any time scoring points, notching a two-point takedown early in the first. Roy escaped to close to 2-1 at the end of the first, but Tamillow was in control for the rest of the bout.
Tamillow rode out the second period and scored four more points on two escapes and a takedown in the third to seize victory.
Herbert and Lang will be in finals action tonight. Herbert takes on Iowa State's Jake Varner at 184 lbs. and Lang faces UC Davis' Derek Moore at 141.
The finals begin at 7 p.m. CT and will be televised live by ESPN. For updated schedules, results and brackets, visit ncaasports.com.