Latest entries in Live blog: NCAA Wrestling Championships
Stay updated with analysis from the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis.
March 21, 2009
Ellis to wrestle live on ESPN for National Championship
Junior Mark Ellis will square off against Duke's Konrad Dudziak tonight with the hope of bringing home some heavyweight class hardware from the NCAA Tournament at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN.
Just as a reminder, Ellis will wrestle live on ESPN for the National Championship tonight against Duke's Konrad Dudziak. ESPN goes live at the Scottrade Center at 5:30 CT and Ellis will be the final match of the tournament.
Chandler takes fifth, Marable seventh, Jordan third and Askren fifth
Chandler opened his day by wrestling against the No. 4 seed, Edinboro's Gregor Gillespie. Gillespie struck first, getting a takedown followed by two back points on Chandler. Gillespie then got another three back points to cruise to a 10-2 win over Chandler. In his match for fifth place, Chandler wrestled against Bloomsburg's Matt Moley. Chandler scored first against Moley by earning an escape in the second period. Chandler was then able to ride Moley out for long enough in the third period to get an additional point and win 2-1 to finish in fifth place and end his career on winning note. The win over Moley marked Chandler's 100th career victory.
"It's always nice to go out on a win like that," Chandler said. "Having that last match being my 100th win was really something special. I don't think it's me yet that my career's over and it's the last time I'll get to compete wearing the black and gold, but I'm really excited just to be an All-American."
Jordan wrestled against Penn State's Quinten Wright in his wrestle-back match. Jordan scored the first takedown. After an escape in the second period, in addition to having a minute of riding time advantage to get a 4-2 win. For third place, Jordan wrestled against Nebraska's Brandon Browne. Earlier this season, the two Big 12 grapplers split, with Jordan winning in the dual meet and Browne winning in the Big 12 Championship. In this match, Jordan scored the first takedown of the match and rode Browne out for the rest of the period. Jordan took down in the second period and was able to get an escape for an additional point. With the big lead at the start, Jordan ended up defeating Browne 4-0 to finish his Missouri career.
"It's a good feeling," Jordan said. "Obviously my goal was to be a national champion. But when things don't happen the way you want them to you have to put that behind you. I was really disappointed last night, but I had to come out and just have some fun today."
Marable wrestled for seventh place against Boise State's Tyler Sherfey. Marable gave up the first takedown, but got an escape, followed by a reversal and three back points in the second period to reclaim the lead. Marable ended up winning the match 6-4.
"It's been a rough weekend," MU Coach Brian Smith said of Marable. "He's had an upset stomach and a small concussion. In his first match, he nearly passed out. We weren't sure if he was going to be cleared (to wrestle), but in every match, it's been tough, he's been throwing up, it's been hard. For him to get through and still take seventh, it's a testament to his character and his pride in the program."
Askren wrestled against Maryland's Hudson Taylor in his wrestle-back match. After a scoreless first period, Askren took down, but was ridden out the entire period and gave up five back points. Askren ended up losing 8-0. In his match for seventh place against Boise State's Brent Chriswell, Askren struck first, scoring a takedown in the first period. Askren took down in the third period and got an escape to win 3-0.
March 20, 2009
Missouri clinches five All-Americans, Ellis to wrestle for NCAA Championship
Junior Mark Ellis works for control on Kent State's Jermal Porter during their semifinal match Friday at the NCAA Tournament in St. Louis. Ellis won 5-2 and will face Duke's Konrad Dudziak in Saturday's national championship bout.
Junior Mark Ellis became MU's first wrestler since Ben Askren in 2007 to advance to the NCAA Final by defeating Kent State's Jermail Porter. Ellis gave up the first takedown, but was able to get an escape followed by another takedown. Ellis then took down in the second period and got another escape, which is all he needed. Ellis defeated Porter 5-2, and will now wrestle Duke's Konrad Dudziak for the national championship. Dudziak defeated No. 1 seed Zabriskie of Iowa State in his semi-final bout.
"I just had to stay focused (after giving up the first takedown)," Ellis said. "I just had to stay focused and I knew I'd eventually get a takedown. I can't let (Dudziak) stop my dreams of becoming a national champion."
Ellis' match will be broadcast live on ESPN on Saturday night.
"He's bigger than me," Dudziak said of Ellis. "It's going to be a tough match. He's got home town advantage, people are going to cheer for him, and I look forward to it."
Senior Raymond Jordan wrestled the No. 1 seed, Steve Luke of Michigan, in the semi-finals. Luke struck first, scoring an escape in the second period. Jordan then got an escape in the third period to tie it up. The match went to double overtime. Jordan escaped just three seconds into the period, but gave up a takedown at the end of the period, which ended up being the difference in a 4-2 Luke win.
"He's super strong," Luke said of Jordan. "I didn't realize how strong he really was until we first tied up, and it was like tying up with a brick wall. He's huge!"
Junior Max Askren wrestled two-time finalist Jake Varner of Iowa State. Varner scored the first takedown and that was just the beginning of his dominance over Askren. Varner defeated Askren 8-3.
Senior Michael Chandler and junior Nick Marable both won their wrestle-back matches on Friday night to bring MU's number of All-Americans to five, a school record.
Marable had a long road to get to All-American status. Marable defeated Hofstra's Ryan Patrovich 3-2 to clinch All-American, but had to get by Nebraska's Stephen Dwyer in his previous match to get to Patrovich. The match against Dwyer went to two double-overtimes, but Marable was able to score a reversal and two back points to get the win. After the match, the Nebraska crowd booed Marable as his hand was raised, and he responded by holding up five fingers to them, in lieu of Marable's five straight wins over Dwyer. Marable then lost to Northern Iowa's Moza Fay 4-2 and will now wrestle for seventh place.
"Marable's overcome a lot with a concussion," MU Coach Brian Smith said. "He's coming back and battling and placing for us; doing it for the team and for himself."
Chandler nearly saw his career come to an end, but was able to hang on for a 6-5 win against Hofstra's Jonny Bonilla-Bowman to clinch his status as an All-American. He then won his second match of the night 13-5 to clinch at least a top six finish.
"There's nothing that I can do about the match against Leen," Chandler said. "Right now, my number one goal is to take third. I've got a returning national champ from two years ago in the morning, and hopefully I can get another shot at Leen for third after that."
Jordan, Askren, Marable and Chandler will all finish wrestling in Saturday morning's session, while Ellis will compete in the final dual of the tournament on Saturday night. Missouri currently stands in seventh place in the team standings, with Ohio State leading the pack.
Junior Mark Ellis celebrates with assistant coach and former MU wrestler Ben Askren after his semifinal victory against Kent State's Jermal Porter.
Raymond Jordan battles the clinch with Michigan's Steve Luke during their semifinal match at the NCAA Tournament in St. Loius. Luke defeated Jordan 4-2.
Senior Michael Chandler flips Hofstra's Jonny Bonilla-Bowman during their consolation match at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Chandler's victory over Bonilla clinched him All-American status.
Junior Nick Marable picks up Hofstra's Ryan Patrovich during their consolation match at the NCAA Tournament in St. Loius. Marble defeated Patrovich 3-2 and also became an All-American.
Missouri sends three to semi-finals
Senior Raymond Jordan celebrates after his NCAA Tournament quarterfinal win over Iowa's Jay Borchel on Friday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Jordan will face No. 1 seed Steve Luke of Michigan in the semifinals.
Schavrien and Hoehn both lost in their opening matches on Friday morning to end both of their season's.
Chandler lost in a nail-biter to defending national champion Jordan Leen of Cornell. Tied at two points each, Leen was able to take Chandler down with just two seconds remaining in the match to continue his run for a second consecutive title.
Jordan avenged his earlier loss this season to Iowa's Borschel, winning 3-2 in a nail-biting match. Borschel was in deep on a shot on Jordan, but Jordan was able to scramble his way out of bounds and hang on for the win.
Askren scored a reversal in the second and rode out Boise State's No. 3 seed Brent Chriswell for the entire third period to win 3-0. Askren will now wrestle Iowa State's Jake Varner in the semi-finals. Earlier this season, Varner simply man-handled Askren.
Ellis got an escape in the closing seconds of the match to advance to defeat Iowa's Daniel Erekson by one point and advance to the semi-finals as well.
Tonight's semi-finals will be broadcast live on ESPN 2 at 6 p.m. CT. Jordan, Askren and Ellis will all be competing.
Junior Mark Ellis takes down Iowa's Daniel Erekson during a Friday quarterfinal match of the NCAA Tournament at the Scotttrade Center in St. Louis. Ellis defeated Erekson 6-5 to advance to the semifinals.
Senior Michael Chandler takes down Cornell's Jordan Leen during a Friday quarterfinal match of the NCAA Tournament at the Scotttrade Center in St. Louis. Leen defeated Chandler 4-2.
March 19, 2009
Four Missouri wrestlers remain undefeated
After the first day of the NCAA Tournament, Missouri currently stands in tenth place and still has four guys in the champions bracket.
After a tight first match with unseeded Kuer Kinser of Indiana in which senior Michael Chandler won 4-3, Chandler came out and completely dominated No. 11 Chase Pami of Cal Poly. After a scoreless first period, Chandler scored five consecutive points to win the match by a score of 6-1.
"That first match was a little closer than I wanted it to be," Chandler said. "But you do what you got to do. You get the win and you advance."
Chandler will now wrestle Cornell's No. 3 seed and defending national champ Jordan Leen in the quarterfinals on Friday morning.
"I wrestled (Leen) up in New York and it was a real controversial match," Chandler said. "Leen had an interview and he said that he felt like I won that last match. That gives me a load of confidence because I know that he's going to have trouble sleeping tonight knowing that he's got to wrestle me in the morning."
Senior Raymond Jordan also got off to a fast start, defeating Bucknell's Shane Riccio 11-3 and Iowa State's Ryan Burk 7-1.
"Today was a good day," Jordan said. "They weren't the prettiest matches, but I've got to look at the positives. I got majors in both of them, so I've got a lot of confidence going into tomorrow."
Jordan will now wrestle the No. 4 seed, Iowa's Jay Borchel on Friday morning.
"Im real excited to wrestle him," Jordan said. "It's always good to wrestle someone who beat you previously to see how far you've come. I didn't have the best match last time against him, so I'm really looking forward to this one."
Junior Max Askren also went 2-0 on the day, defeating Millersville's Raymond Bennet and Cornell's Cam Simaz. Askren will now wrestle No. 3 seed Brent Chriswell of Boise State.
"You just have to go out there and do what you can do," Askren said. "That's all you can really do."
In addition to Chandler, Jordan and Askren, junior Mark Ellis is also still alive in the champions bracket.
Junior Nick Marable lost in his opening match to Stanford's Nick Amuchastegui 5-2, but defeated Michigan State's Rex Kendle 5-1 to stay alive in the tournament. 165 lb. No. 1 seed Mack Lewnes of Cornell was eliminated from the tournament after going 0-2.
Hoehn loses, Chandler wins
Hoehn's overtime success turned on him in the second round, as he lost 7-5 in double overtime to Kent State's Kent Lashaway. Hoehn was extremely jumpy in this match, and that is not his usual style. That could be the nerves still coming in.
Chandler came out and dominated No. 11 seed Cal Poly's Chase Pemi. After a scoreless first period, Chandler scored a reversal, followed by nearfall to win 6-0.
Five Tigers win in first round, Marable loses
Franklin Gomez, the No. 1 seed from Michigan State, showed why he is ranked so high in his first match, easily defeating sophomore Todd Schavrien by a score of 13-2.
Senior Marcus Hoehn had a scare in his first match, but was able to win 3-2 in double overtime. Hoehn looked sloppy in this match, but it could have simply been a case of being nervous, since this is Hoehn's first NCAA Tournament. We'll find out later if this was the case, and if Hoehn can work out the nerves.
Senior Michael Chandler scored a takedown less than a minute into his match. After his opponent tied it up with a reversal in the third period, Chandler got an escape and won by a score of 4-3. Chandler also looked a little sloppy in this round. We'll see if that can change in his next match tonight.
Junior Nick Marable was up next for the Tigers. Marable scored the first takedown, but then things went downhill from there. His opponent managed two escapes, and then got the last takedown to pull off the 4-2 upset. Marable had to take an injury timeout during the match, and he looked seriously injured. He continued the match, but that fire wasn't there anymore, which resulted in his loss. It will be interesting to see how seriously he's hurt and if he can wrestle 100% and try to take third.
Marable wasn't the only one upset in the first round in the 165 lb. weight class. No. 1 seed Mack Lewnes from Cornell was upset in his first match, losing 5-3.
With the Missouri crowd feeling pretty down after Marable's loss, senior Raymond Jordan wanted to pump things up. Jordan wasted no time in taking his opponent straight to his back to get an early five point advantage. Jordan won by a final score of 11-3.
Redshirt freshman Dorian Henderson gave up an early 5-0 lead and was never able to fight back to lose his first match.
Junior Max Askren fell down by one point in the first period, but got two takedowns and an escape to win decisively.
No. 2 seed Mark Ellis benefited from a stalling call and an escape to win 2-1. The HWT No. 1 seed David Zabriskie of Iowa State nearly lost, but was able to pull out a win in overtime.
Less than an hour away from NCAA's
The NCAA Wrestling Tournament is less than an hour away here at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Iowa comes into the tournament as the heavy favorite, but could be surprised by four or five teams, one being Missouri, who are lurking behind.
133 lb. sophomore Todd Schavrien will have a very tough opening match in No. 1 seed Franklin Gomez of Michigan State. The other first round matches are as follows for MU wrestlers. No. 5 Marcus Hoehn vs. Richard Rappo (Penn) No. 6 Michael Chandler vs. Kurt Kinser (Indiana) No. 5 Nicholas Marable vs. Nick Amauchastegui (Stanford) No. 5 Raymond Jordan vs. Shane Riccio (Bucknell) Dorian Henderson vs. Vincenzeo DiDona (Central Michigan) No. 6 Maxwell Askren vs. #7 Brandon Halsey (Cal State Bakersfield) No. 2 Mark Ellis vs. Zach Sheaffer (Pittsburgh)
Jordan defeated Riccio in their earlier bout this season with a one-sided win, and Ellis defeated Sheaffer in the championship of the Midlands Tournament on December 30.
After the graduation of two-time national champion Mark Perry of Iowa at 165 lbs., that weight class is wide open. Marable could win the title, but he could also lose his first two and be eliminated immediately. In Marable's 94 career matches at Missouri, 44 of them have been determined by two or fewer points. In those matches, Marable holds a 32-12 record in those bouts.
There will be plenty of exciting matches throughout the tournament as we get under way. The semi-finals will be broadcast live on national TV on ESPN 2 on Friday night, with the finals airing live on ESPN on Saturday night. The Maneater will be blogging with live analysis throughout the tournament as well.