March 8, 2008

Brackets After Session 3

MINNEAPOLIS - Top seeds Jimmy Kennedy (133) and Mike Poeta (157) rode their momentum to Sunday's title match of the Big Ten Championships with wins in Saturday night's semifinal round and five other Illini are alive in the consolation round as Illinois stands in third place leading into Sunday's final session. Consolation matches begin at noon and championship bouts will start at approximately 2:06 p.m. No. 5 seed and eighth-ranked Gabe Flores (125) and No. 5 seed Roger Smith-Bergsrud (165) took narrow losses to the top-ranked wrestlers in their weight classes as the Illini battled through the evening session in front of 6,391 fans at Williams Arena.

"I'm happy for Jimmy and Mike because they've worked so hard at this," Illinois coach Mark Johnson said. "Overall, we put two pretty good rounds back-to-back today."

The Illini struggled early in the second round of wrestlebacks, with Ryan Prater and Grant Paswall losing by fall at 141 and 149, respectively, to be eliminated, and Ben Friedl dropping a 3-1 decision at 184 to drop out of the tournament. Because his mat was slower than Friedl's, No. 5 seed and 15th-ranked John Dergo (174) wrestled after Friedl and hoped to turn things for the Illini.

Dergo looked to be in trouble late, though, trailing 3-1 to Penn State's sixth-seeded and 16th-ranked Dave Erwin late in the third. But Dergo flipped over on Erwin for the takedown and nearly pinned him, earning a three-point near-fall for a 6-3 victory to stay alive in the tournament.

In Illinois' first semifinal match, No. 5 seed and eighth-ranked Gabe Flores gave up a takedown to top-seeded and top-ranked Jayson Ness (MINN) late in the first period, then Ness notched a reversal after Flores nearly got back points on the Gopher in the second as Ness took a 4-0 lead. But Flores spun into a takedown and scored a three-point near-fall before Ness got another reversal to re-take a 6-5 advantage. Flores nearly grabbed the reversal at the buzzer, but Ness held on and got the riding time point for a 7-5 win and a trip to the Big Ten title match on Sunday. Flores will face Ohio State's seventh-seeded Nikko Triggas in the consolation semifinals on Sunday for the right to wrestle for third place.

At 133, No. 1 seed and third-ranked Jimmy Kennedy scored a takedown late in the first period on Minnesota's fifth-seeded and ninth-ranked Mack Reiter, but Reiter started down in the second and got a quick escape. After no further scoring in the second, Kennedy chose down to start the third and escaped 30 seconds in for a 3-1 lead. After Reiter nearly scored the takedown, Kennedy worked a bridge into a takedown of his own for the final 5-1 victory and trip to the championship bout against Michigan State's second-seeded and fifth-ranked Franklin Gomez. It will be the first meeting between the two in their careers.

In Illinois' next semifinal matchup, No. 1 seed and second-ranked Mike Poeta took on No. 4 seed and sixth-ranked C.P. Schlatter in one of the year's most anticipated matches after Schlatter missed the teams' dual with an injury. The first period ended scoreless after Schlatter fought off three of Poeta's shots and the duo spent the rest of the period hand-fighting. Schlatter started down in the second and escaped in 21 seconds to take a 1-0 lead. After no further scoring, Poeta started down in the third and escaped in 15 seconds to tie the match. With just under a minute left in the bout, Poeta shot and Schlatter tried to escape off the side of the mat, but the Illini latched onto both legs and took down the Gopher off the mat's edge for a 3-1 lead, with Schlatter taking injury time. Poeta rode him for approximately 40 seconds before Schlatter asked for injury time a second time. It ran out with Schlatter still on the mat, resulting in an injury default by the Gopher and sending Poeta to his first Big Ten title bout, where he will face Penn State's second-seeded and third-ranked Dan Vallimont.

At 165, No. 1 seed and top-ranked Mark Perry (IOWA) and fifth-seeded Roger Smith-Bergsrud fought to a scoreless period after Perry fought off a number of shots by the Illini junior. Perry started down in the second and quickly escaped, but that was the only scoring of the period. Smith-Bergsrud chose a neutral start in the third and was awarded a point for Perry stalling with 20 seconds left in the bout, tying it 1-1 and sending it to sudden-victory time. Smith-Bergsrud shot with 25 seconds left, Perry defended and rolled into a takedown of his own for the 3-1 win in extra time. Smith-Bergsrud will now face Penn State's Dave Rella, the No. 7 seed, in the consolation semifinals on Sunday.

In Dergo's consolation quarterfinal against Michigan State's John Murphy, he scored a takedown with 1:45 left in the first period and rode out Murphy. The Spartan started down in the second and Dergo gave him more of the same, riding him the entire period for a 2-0 lead with 4:02 of riding time after two periods. Dergo started down in the third and escaped after 48 seconds. He quickly scored a takedown, then let Murphy up for a 5-1 lead. Murphy shot with 45 seconds left and Dergo defended it before eventually working into a takedown of his own. Dergo allowed Murphy up then scored a takedown on the edge of the mat right before the final buzzer for the major decision victory, 10-2. Dergo will now face Iowa's second-seeded and third-ranked Jay Borschel in the consolation semifinals.

"Roger came within an eyelash of beating an NCAA champion in Perry, on what I thought was a controversial call where they stopped the match in overtime," Johnson said. "And I'm proud of the way John Dergo fought back and got two wins tonight because he was almost out of this thing."

No. 3 seed and 11th-ranked Patrick Bond faced second-seeded and third-ranked Phil Davis in a 197-pound semifinal. After a scoreless first period, the wrestlers started neutral in the second. Bond got a leg 50 seconds into the period, but Davis sat out of it and worked into a takedown of his own for a 2-0 lead. Davis rode him out the rest of the period, then started down in the third before escaping quickly. Bond and Davis each got a leg in a scramble with 25 seconds left, but it wasn't until only five seconds remained that Davis secured control for the eventual 6-0 win. Bond will take on Purdue's Logan Brown in the consolation semifinals.

In his consolation quarterfinal bout, No. 5 seed and 13th-ranked John Wise got a quick takedown against Indiana's Nate Everhart at heavyweight and rode him out the rest of the period. After a neutral start to the second period, Wise scored a takedown 28 seconds into the period and rode him the rest of the two minutes. Wise started down in the third and escaped in eight seconds for a 5-0 lead. Wise then recorded a late takedown and got the riding time point for the 8-0 major decision. Wise will face Wisconsin's third-seeded and second-ranked Kyle Massey in the consolation semifinals.

TEAM STANDINGS
1.	Minnesota	106.0
2.	Iowa	93.5
3.	ILLINOIS	79.0
4.	Michigan	78.0
5.	Ohio State	76.5
6.	Penn State	68.0
7.	Indiana	66.5
8.	Wisconsin	66.0
9.	Northwestern	65.0
10.	Purdue	39.5
11.	Michigan State	30.0

WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT RESULTS
125: No. 5 seed, #8 Gabe Flores 
Quarterfinals: dec. No. 4 seed, #5 Brandon Precin (NU), 6-0
Semifinals: dec. by No. 1 seed, #1 Jayson Ness (MINN), 7-5
Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: No. 7 seed Nikko Triggas (OSU)

133: No. 1 seed, #3 Jimmy Kennedy 
Pigtail: maj. dec. Eric Metzler (NU), 10-2
Quarterfinals: maj. dec. No. 8 seed Tim Haas (PSU), 10-2
Semifinals: dec. No. 5 seed, #9 Mack Reiter (MINN), 5-1
Up Next - Championship: No. 3 seed, #5 Franklin Gomez (MSU)

141: No. 8 seed, #15 Ryan Prater 
Quarterfinals: dec. by No. 1 seed, #4 Kellen Russell (MICH), 8-7
Consolation Round 2: pinned by No. 2 seed, #5 Kyle Ruschell (WIS), 4:10
*Prater eliminated

149: No. 8 seed Grant Paswall 
Quarterfinals: pinned by No. 1 seed, #1 Brent Metcalf (IOWA), 3:30
Consolation Round 2: pinned by No. 7 seed, #11 Ryan Lang, 2:07
*Paswall eliminated

157: No. 1 seed, #2 Mike Poeta 
Pigtail: dec. Andrew Nadhir (NU), 10-4
Quarterfinals: maj. dec. No. 8 seed John Fulger (MSU), 15-3
Semifinals: inj. def. over No. 4 seed, #6 C.P. Schlatter
Up Next - Championships: No. 2 seed, #3 Dan Vallimont (PSU)

165: No. 5 seed Roger Smith-Bergsrud
Pigtail: dec. Dominic Marella (NU), 6-2
Quarterfinals: dec. No. 4 seed, #12 Colt Sponseller (OSU), 5-3 (SV1)
Semifinals: dec. by No. 1 seed, #1 Mark Perry (IOWA), 3-1 (SV1)
Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: No. 7 seed Dave Rella (PSU)

174: No. 5 seed, #15 John Dergo 
Quarterfinals: dec. by No. 4-seed, #12 Nick Hayes (NU), 5-3
Consolation Round 2: dec. No. 6 seed, #16 Dave Erwin (PSU), 6-3
Consolation Quarterfinals: maj. dec. John Murphy (MSU), 10-2
Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: No. 2 seed, #3 Jay Borschel (IOWA)

184: No. 7 seed Ben Friedl 
Pigtail: maj. dec. Adil Kolovic (NU), 11-2
Quarterfinals: maj. dec. by No. 2 seed, #3 Tyrel Todd (MICH), 15-5
Consolation Round 2: dec. by Nick Palmieri (MSU), 3-1
*Friedl eliminated

197: No. 3 seed, #11 Patrick Bond 
Pigtail: maj. dec. Logan Brown (PUR), 14-6
Quarterfinals: maj. dec. No. 6 seed Justin Bronson (MINN), 11-3
Semifinals: dec. by No. 2 seed, #3 Phil Davis (PSU), 6-0
Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: Logan Brown (PUR)

HWT: No. 5 seed, #13 John Wise 
Quarterfinals: dec. by No. 4 seed, #6 Matt Fields (IOWA), 7-5
Consolation Round 2: Bye
Consolation Quarterfinals: maj. dec. Nate Everhart (IND), 8-0
Up Next - Consolation Semifinals: No. 3 seed, #2 Kyle Massey (WIS)