NCAA Wrestling Championship Update

by psuwresfan on Mar 20, 2010 10:58 AM EDT

We have reached the final day of the NCAA wrestling championships. Anyone wrestling at this point is guaranteed to be an All American.

There are three Nittany Lions that fit that description. Frank Molinaro and Cyler Sanderson wrestle in the consolation semifinals which start in about 2 minutes. They can finish no lower than 6th.

Frank will be wrestling Kyle Ruschell who he is 1 - 1 against. Cyler will be taking on unseeded Justin Lister from Binghamton.

Dan Vallimont will be in the finals tonight against Andrew Howe. The finals can be seen live at 7:30 on ESPN.

In terms of the team race Penn State is currently in 9th place 3 points ahead of Missouri. Iowa has locked up the team title with a staggering 5 guys in the finals.

Of the Nittany Lions eliminated all had pretty good tournaments but some bad luck.

Cameron Wade picked up two wins including an upset of Tomei from Pittsburgh which is a decent tournament for a guy who looked like he might go 0 -2.

Dave Erwin lost to finalist Max Askren in the 2nd round, and was eliminated by former National Champion Mike Pucillo in the round of 12. That's two really tough matches before reaching All American status.

No one had worse luck than Brad Pataky, he beat the 8th and 9th seeds in the 1st two rounds and then lost to top seed Angel Escobedo. In his first consolation match he lost to 2nd seed and returning national champ Troy Nickerson. It almost seems unfair especially when Nikko Triggas reached All American status and Pataky has hammered him twice this year. But that's the way it goes in the NCAAs. A lot depends on just managing to get a good draw. Pataky will have one final season to try and reach All American honors, after having been eliminated in the round of 12 the last two years.

I'll be posting updates throughout the day in the comments of this thread.

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Molinaro loses

Ruschell won 7 1, disappointing loss for Frank. He’ll need to bounce back in a hurry as he’ll take on Torsten Gillespie from Edinboro for 5th place later in this round.

Cyler is taking the mat now for Penn State.

by psuwresfan on Mar 20, 2010 11:28 AM EDT reply actions

Terrible Start for Penn State

Cyler got pinned by Lister in the 2nd period and will fall to the 5th place bout. Where it looks like he’ll wrestle Fittery who beat him earlier in the tournament.

Cyler was dominated the entire match especially on the mat. Penn State hasn’t looked good at all so far today.

by psuwresfan on Mar 20, 2010 11:40 AM EDT reply actions

crap

This is bad…

Regrettably, I haven’t been following wrestling all that much lately (ever), but I didn’t want you to feel alone… but now I need to get a haircut.

I promise you, I’ll read everything you post here though. Don’t feel like your work is in vain!

by AdamShell on Mar 20, 2010 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Molinaro wins

Frank Molinaro dominated Gillespie from start to finish winning 10 1 with 3 minutes and 30 seconds in riding time. He’ll finish 5th. What’s important to consider though is that all 4 guys that placed ahead of him are seniors so Frank should be in good shape next year.

I’m sure most Penn State fans are already dreaming of a Molinaro Jenkins NCAA final next year.

by psuwresfan on Mar 20, 2010 1:02 PM EDT reply actions

Sanderson falls apart late

Cyler got three takedowns in the first period to take a 6 3. But gave up 5 second period points to fall behind 8 6 heading to the third period. Fittery took down to start the third period and Cyler cut him lose to trail by 3. But Fittery picked up another 5 point move to make the score 14 6. The final score was 15 6.

Terribly disappointing finish to Cyler’s collegiate career.

On the bright side Penn State clinched a top ten finish, which is a pretty good showing.

by psuwresfan on Mar 20, 2010 1:17 PM EDT reply actions

While I only got to see a few matches on TV this year...

Cyler was incredibly disappointing. He looked overmatched a lot more than I expected base don his lineage. The two matches I caught this weekend were just terrible for him. What a horrendous way for him to have to end his career. It’s a real shame for him.

Was hoping to see Frank’s consolation matches this morning on ESPNU but they conveniently left them unaired. Looking forward to next season for him already.

I’m anxious for Vallimont’s match tonight. It would be fantastic if he could shock Howe and graduate on that ultimate high. He was completely dominant over King last night. Mr. Splits had absolutely no offense and was extremely fortunate to even get that match into sudden victory. Seeing King’s expression when Dan got credit for the takedown on the edge was priceless. Guess what, kid? That’s what happens when all you do for 8 minutes is sprawl.

by PSUFlyers on Mar 20, 2010 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Yea

The takedown call was a little questionable but King didn’t do a thing the entire match but dance on the edge and hope Dan would take a bad shot. I was really pumped to see Dan finally beat him he out wrestled him and deserved it.

I would love to see Dan win a title, he’s been one of my favorite Penn Staters the past few years along with Jake Strayer. He’s vintage Penn State, good person, good student, and a very hard worker. And I love his style of wrestling, I’ve told people many times it’s insane he’s not flashy and his matches are slow and methodical but you look up at the scoreboard and he’s got 8 points already. He’s got one of the best high crotch/inside single shots I’ve ever seen.

It’s been a pleasure to watch him compete the past four years and it would be great to see him finish it with a national title. Howe is a tough tough wrestler though. I think if Dan can stay out of the tie ups and move laterally and create angles on his feet he’s got a shot.

by psuwresfan on Mar 20, 2010 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Nice praise of Vallimont

I about pooed a brick Sat night watching when they announced he had made the finals. Couldn’t believe it! Howe is damn studly. Kemerer’s got a mountain to climb these next few years with that dude. If Howe stays at 165 that is. He’s pretty thick; maybe he’ll bump up to 174 and be on Ed Ruth’s radar (any word on what weight Ruth’ll wrestle next year?)

"We just forgot our pants. Nothing against the team or anything like that." -- take a guess

by jtothep on Mar 22, 2010 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Good to See

The Lions wrestling up a bit this year. i think a top ten finish at NCAA’s is right about where this team should have been this year and it was good to see them go out and get it done.

by KC_HAWKEYE on Mar 20, 2010 5:01 PM EDT reply actions

Thanks

And congrats to Iowa on your 3rd straight title, after Big Tens I thought with the injuries the team looked vunerable but they proved me and everyone else wrong this week. Should be an exciting night for Hawkeye fans.

And as a Penn State fan it was nice to see Penn State finally have a good NCAA tournament they had that surprise 3rd place finish 2 years ago. But most years they never seem to get it done. It was a bit of surprise to since they took only six guys.

by psuwresfan on Mar 20, 2010 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Good job psuwresfan....

Watching Vallimont right now…looking bleak.

Not a huge wrestling fan but have watced every match in the finals. Incredible athletes. Good to see Cornell and Harvard have national champs. Now if Cornell can keep going in the B-Ball.

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
Vince Lombardi

by PaJoe on Mar 20, 2010 9:16 PM EDT reply actions