March 7, 2009
Complete Session One Results and Standings
EVANSTON, Ill. -- With the first two rounds of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships complete, four Wildcats have punched their tickets to the semifinals to be contested Saturday evening in the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State. NU's duo of top-seeded grapplers advanced easily while sophomore Andrew Nadhir (149) upset third-seeded Lance Palmer of Ohio State on his way to the semis.
True freshman and second-seeded Jason Welch also earned a spot in the round of four at 157, overcoming Penn State's Tim Darling and Michigan State's Anthony Jones Saturday morning.
NU sits in sixth place at the conclusion of session one with 36 team points. Saturday's evening session is slated to begin at 5 p.m. CT.
After a first-round bye, No. 1-seeded Brandon Precin advanced to the quarterfinals by handily defeating Michigan State's Eric Olanowski, 10-1. After riding Olanowski out for more than three minutes, Precin earned the bonus point victory after keeping Olanowski in a three-point near-fall position for the final 15 seconds of the third period.
Precin will meet Penn State's fourth-seeded Brad Pataky in the quarters. The two did not face each other in the regular season.
Junior Eric Metzler opened competition for the Wildcats with his first-round match at 133 against Ohio State's fifth-seeded Reece Humphrey, who notched a pair of takedowns in the second period to take a 6-2 lead. He eventually gained a 10-3 advantage before getting a turn on Metzler and picking up a third-period fall.
Sixth-seeded Keith Sulzer (141) faced Purdue's Juan Archuleta to begin his weekend and found himself trailing 4-0 after a two-point near-fall in the first period. But he turned the tables with a reversal out of the near-fall, narrowing Archuleta's lead to 4-2 and building more than one minute of riding time. With the score 4-3 in the third, Sulzer got the two he needed to gain a one-point edge with 45 seconds remaining. But Archuleta answered with two in the final seconds which, with Sulzer's riding time advantage, sent the match to an extra session.
Both competitors fought for the edge in the opening minute before Sulzer scored a huge three-point near-fall in the first period of the tiebreaker, vaulting him to the 10-6 victory.
In the quarterfinals, Sulzer came up against third-seeded Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa and managed to keep things interesting through the second period, trailing only 4-1. But he could not escape the grasp of Tsirtsis in the third as Tsirtsi rode out the match to earn the win. Sulzer, who placed fourth at Big Tens a year ago, will square off with Michigan State's Collin Dozier in tonight's wrestlebacks.
At 149, Andrew Nadhir met Michigan's Mark Beaudry for the first time this season and, after giving up an early takedown, came back with two of his own and took a 6-3 lead in the second. That remained the score into the third when Nadhir again took control and went up 8-5 before putting the match out of reach at 10-5 with one minute remaining in the match, winning by a final score of 12-7.
Nadhir's quarterfinal contest against third-seeded Lance Palmer of Ohio State was a back-and-forth affair throughout. Tied at five midway through the second, Nadhir picked up a takedown to take the lead before Palmer escaped to draw within one. A stalling point evened things yet again at seven and neither wrestler could gain the advantage in the final two minutes as the match headed to sudden victory.
In the top position, Nadhir did not allow Palmer to escape through the first tiebreaker period. Starting the second in the bottom position, Nadhir scored a huge two-point reversal to take a 9-7 lead. Palmer scored on an ensuing escape but Nadhir hung on for the upset to advance to the 149-pound semifinal where he will face Penn State's Bubba Jenkins for the first time this year.
In his first Big Ten Championships, Jason Welch met early resistance from Penn State's Tim Darling, ending the first period with a slim 2-0 lead. But he extended his lead to five early in the second with a three-point near-fall and didn't let up, taking the match by a 7-1 decision.
Welch moved into the semifinals with a clinical 5-0 win over Anthony Jones of Michigan State, defeating Jones for the second time this season. Welch collected two back points at the close of the first period and never looked back, improving to 23-7 in his freshman campaign. Welch's road to the finals goes through Indiana's Kurt Kinser.
NU's fourth semifinalist is senior and top-ranked Jake Herbert (184), who needed just 1:18 to pin Indiana's Eric Cameron in his only match of the morning. Herbert is trying to become NU's first-ever three-time Big Ten champion and will face Illinois freshman Jordan Blanton Saturday night in State College.
A trio of underclassmen Wildcats put forth valiant efforts in their session one matches, beginning with true freshman heavyweight Paul Rands. Facing Michigan's Eddie Phillips in the first round, Rands remained close to Phillips early on but could not register the score he needed, eventually falling 9-1.
At 197, eighth-seeded John Schoen came up against No. 1 Dallas Herbst of Wisconsin. The match was scoreless entering the third period as Schoen held off numerous shots by Herbst in the first two frames. Herbst began the third in the bottom position and escaped to gain the 1-0 edge before finally succeeding in taking down Schoen with just over a minute remaining for the 3-0 victory.
Seventh-seeded Robert Kellogg (174) fell by major decision in his quarterfinal contest against Iowa's Jay Borschel, while junior Dominic Marella (165) came up short against Penn State's Dan Vallimont, 7-2.
Fans can visit the official Web site of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships for continuous updates throughout session two.
Northwestern Decisions
First Round
133: #5 Reece Humphrey (OSU) FALL Eric Metzler (NU), 6:21
141: #6 Keith Sulzer (NU) dec. Juan Archuleta (PU), 10-6 (TB-1)
149: #6 Andrew Nadhir (NU) dec. Mark Beaudry (MICH), 12-7
157: #2 Jason Welch (NU) dec. Tim Darling (PSU), 7-1
165: #6 Dan Vallimont (PSU) dec. Dominic Marella (NU), 7-2
285: #7 Eddie Phillips (MICH) MD Paul Rands (NU), 9-1
Northwestern Decisions
Quarterfinals
125: #1 Brandon Precin (NU) MD Eric Olanowski (MSU), 10-1
141: #3 Alex Tsirtsis (IA) dec. #6 Keith Sulzer (NU), 5-1
149: #6 Andrew Nadhir (NU) dec. #3 Lance Palmer (OSU), 9-8 (TB-1)
157: #2 Jason Welch (NU) dec. #7 Anthony Jones (MSU), 5-0
174: #2 Jay Borschel (IA) MD #7 Robert Kellogg (NU), 13-3
184: #1 Jake Herbert (NU) FALL Eric Cameron (IND), 1:18
197: #1 Dallas Herbst (WIS) dec. #8 John Schoen (NU), 3-0