NCAA Wrestling Championships Summary 2017 (Brackets)

The most unexpected and exciting part of the NCAA Championships was when Vincenzo Joseph pinned Two-Time NCAA Champion Isaiah Martinez in the 165 lbs. Final at 5:25. He broke open a tight 6-5 3rd period bout with an inside trip planting Martinez on his back. Martinez got the first takedown temporarily at the one minute mark, but Joseph came back after a review with an immediate escape; then, Joseph got a takedown of his own at the edge of the mat at the 2:30 mark. Martinez escaped to end the first period, 3-3. In the second period, Martinez escaped, but Joseph got another takedown at the 3:30 mark, and Joseph built up 1:05 in riding time prior to another Martinez escape. In the 3rd period, Joseph escaped to go ahead, 6-5; then, went right after Martinez for the fall. Joseph lost to Martinez, 8-5, at the Big Ten's, and in a dual meet, 5-2. The only other losses Joseph had this season were to Isaac Jordan in overtime, 6-4, in late January, and Keaton Subjeck, 18-12 back in November. Joseph avenged both losses to Jordan and Subjeck in March at the Big Ten's and NCAA Finals, 5-2, and 5-1.

Session VI: The Final began at 197 lbs. to help build suspense for the final two bouts at 174 and 184 lbs. Two-Time Champion and Olympic Bronze medalist, J'Den Cox, of the host Missouri Tigers easily took control and defeated #2 seed Brett Pfarr of Minnesota, 8-2; Cox never trailed, and built his lead with takedowns and riding time while only giving Pfarr two escapes. Cox became the first Three-Time NCAA Champion in Tiger history.

Kyle Snyder also easily won over Conor Medbery of Wisconsin in similar fashion as Cox with an early takedown while building his lead to 6-1 before giving up a takedown near the end of the bout for a 6-3 final.

The 125 lbs. final featured two rivals from the same Pennsylvania District 11 who wrestled three times previously, Darian Cruz of Bethlehem and Ethan Lizak of Parkland; Cruz got a takedown halfway through the period, and Lizak escaped 5 seconds later for a 2-1 start. After Cruz deferred choice, Lizak chose bottom, and escaped 28 seconds later to knot the score at 2-2. In the 3rd period, Cruz chose neutral knowing how tough Lizak is on top with legs; Cruz just missed a takedown as the two went out of bound at the 6:05 mark, and then nailed a takedown at the 6:32 mark on a roll through to go ahead, 4-2. After a Lizak escape, and desperation shot, Cruz comes out with another last second takedown for a 6-3 win. It was the Mountain Hawks first NCAA Champ since 2011.

Cory Clark finally became a NCAA Champion, and the Hawkeyes' 19th Four-Time All-American in defeating former teammate Seth Gross, 4-3. Gross scored the bout's first points at the 1:56 mark with a takedown after fighting off a single leg attempt by Clark who escaped 24 seconds later for a 2-1 end to the first period. After trading escapes in the second and third period, the bout went from 2-2 to 3-2 in Gross's favor; however, Clark capitalized on a double-leg takedown at the 5:37 mark, and rode out Gross despite torn ligaments in his wrist, and a shoulder that popped out of socket twice during the season. Clark celebrated by throwing his coach, Tom Brands, to the mat at his request.

Dean Heil of Oklahoma State repeated as the 141 lbs. Champion in a rivalry match with Virginia's George DiCamillo; the two competed in high school for Cleveland Area Rivals, St. Ignasius and St. Edwards. Heil was a 4-Time Ohio State Champion while DiCamillo won two Ohio Titles. Heil scored a takedown at the 2 minute mark, and rode DiCamillo for 50 seconds until he escaped to end the first period, 2-1. After Heil escaped to go ahead, 3-1, DiCamillo just missed a takedown that could have tied the score halfway through the second period. In the final stanza, DiCamillo's escape narrowed the score to 3-2, but Heil gained another takedown to go ahead, 5-2, and although DiCamillo escaped, Heil added a riding time point for a 6-3 final.

Missouri's Lavion Mayes took down Penn State's Zain Retherford in the opening 30 seconds with an explosive double, but Retherford went on to score the next 18 points including three near falls for a technical fall, 18-2, at 6:42 to win the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler Award. Missouri placed three wrestlers in the finals for the first time in the Tigers history.

Relentless Jason Nolf won a major decision over Missouri's Joey LaVallee, 14-6. Nolf gained 6 takedowns en route to the easy win.

Perhaps one of the most controversial bouts was at 174 lbs. where Bo Jordan of Ohio State and Mark Hall of Penn State were in a rematch of the Big Ten Title bout that Jordan won, 6-5, in overtime. After a scoreless first period, Hall gained an escape, and then a controversy began when Hall recorded a takedown to go ahead, 3-0, but the reversal by Jordan was nullified in the review (see above picture) despite clear evidence. This resulted in a 3rd period where after Jordan escaped, he relentlessly chased Hall the entire period until he was taken down at the end for a 5-2 final after a stall point.

The Big Ten Conference continues to be the dominant wrestling conference with 36 of 80 All-Americans with 90 qualifiers, and 7 of 10 Champions from its 14 teams, five of those placed in the Top 10 in the team standings. Penn State's Five Champions matched the achievements of Iowa's 1986 and 1997 teams plus Oklahoma State's 2005 squad. The Big 12 which just added enough teams to create a 11 team tournament had 11 All-Americans and one champion with 44 qualifiers. The MAC Conference had 8 All-Americans and one champion with 45 qualifiers; the ACC (6 teams) had 9 All-Americans, but no champion with 33 qualifiers. The EIWA (16 teams) had 7 All-Americans and one champion with 52 qualifiers. Only three unseeded wrestlers earned All-American honors: Paul Fox of Stanford, Alex Kocer of South Dakota State, and Jake Residori of Southern Illinois. Campbell University had their first All-American in Nathan Kraiser; Coach Cary Kolat led the Camels to their first Southern Conference Title. The Southern Conference has 19 qualifiers and 3 All-Americans with 8 teams. The PAC-12 had 27 qualifiers and 3 All-Americans with 6 teams. The EWL had 20 qualifiers and 3 All-Americans with 7 teams. It seems like the PAC-12/Big-12 and ACC/Southern should combine their post season tournaments; this would make their qualifiers with 14 and 17 teams each similar to the Big Ten and EIWA who have 14 and 16 teams. The EWL and EIWA should also consider combining their tournaments as a qualifier. Fresno State is reinstating their Division I wrestling program in 2018. Penn State will be the favorite to repeat in 2018 after winning six of the past seven years, and returning all five champions; the tournament moves back to Cleveland next season. Ohio State finished runner-up, Oklahoma State 3rd, Iowa 4th and Missouri 5th; all had one champion each. Oklahoma State put the most wrestlers on the All-American podium with 8, Penn State and Ohio State had 6 each, Iowa, Missouri and Virginia Tech had 5 each, Minnesota, Cornell and Nebraska had 4 each, Michigan and Illinois had 3 each, Lehigh, Virginia, Arizona State, South Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Rutgers, Wisconsin and Rider had 2 each. Virginia Tech, Minnesota, Cornell, Nebraska, and Michigan rounded out the Top 10. In all, 29 teams had at least one All-American, and 62 teams scored points in the event. Perhaps the biggest stat of the whole event, Iowa State was tied for 57th place with one point; that has never happened at any NCAA Championships, 1928-2017. The Cyclones lowest finish at a NCAA Championships was in 2012 when they finished 35th, and prior to that is was in 1962 when they placed 30th. The lowest placement for the Iowa Hawkeyes at the NCAA Championships was 32nd in 1971, Oklahoma State lowest finish was 16th in 2009, and Oklahoma placed 41st in 1991.

Session V: In the "Blood Round" from Session IV, at 125 lbs. Sean Fausz of North Carolina State lost to Sean Russell, 8-2, Brock Hudkins of Northern Illinois lost to Nick Piccinnini of Oklahoma State, 7-5, Joey Dance beat Tim Lambert of Nebraska, 3-1, in overtime, and Nathan Kraisser defeated Southern Conference rival Freddie Rodriquez, 4-1. Hudkins eliminated Josh Terao in a consolation surprise, 5-2. It was a shame that Lambert didn't place; it was his final chance, and he qualified all four years. Both Lambert and Rodriquez are Michiganders so I was pulling for them. I saw Jack Mueller compete in Ann Arbor in November so I knew he was tough, but the surprise of the tournament was Cruz; he may have been the quickest wrestler of anyone at the tournament. Cruz was well-prepared, and executed well at crucial spots when he needed to.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 133 lbs., Cory Clark beat Micic, Tomasello, and Gross in similar fashion; he used the front headlock off scrambles to secure three critical takedowns at critical times in two of those bouts. In the Blood Round, the closest bout was Scotty Parker of Lehigh defeating Bryan Lantry of Buffalo, 6-4, in overtime. Lantry upset #6 Dom Forys of Pitt in the 2nd round. Scott DelVecchio of Rutgers lost to Eric Montoya of Nebraska, 8-5, in another close bout.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 141 lbs., Tommy Thorn of Minnesota eliminated Colton McCrystal of Nebraska, 10-6, in the Blood Round in a reversal of an earlier meeting where McCrystal won 7-5. #14 Thorn also upset #3 Joey Mckenna who was eliminated by Jaydin Eierman. Kevin Jack also turned the tables on Bryce Meredith with a pin after Meredith beat him earlier in the tournament, 6-5, in the quarters. Anthony Ashnault lost his last three bouts of the tournament with a scoring drought to place 6th after advancing to the semis. George DiCamillo finally made the podium after being denied in his first three chances in the Blood Round.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 149 lbs., Unseeded Alex Kocer of South Dakota State denied Steve Bleise of Northern Illinois an invitation on the podium with a 4-2 win as did Micah Jordan of Ohio State with Laike Gardner of Lehigh, 9-6, in the Blood Round. Kocer also upset returning All-American Jordan Oliver of Central Michigan, 4-2. #15 Ken Theobold of Rutgers had quite a tournament with upsetting #2 Anthony Collica of Oklahoma State in overtime, 9-3, and defeating Andrew Crone of Wisconsin, 7-3, in the Blood Round. Crone upset #12 Sam Speno of North Carolina State in the opening round, 8-5.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 157 lbs., the Blood Round featured several close bouts with #14 Sal Mastriani of Virginia Tech edging returning All-American B.J. Clagon of Rider, 8-7, #5 Joe Smith of Oklahoma State snuck by #8 Jake Short of Minnesota, 3-2, and Unseeded Paul Fox of Stanford defeated #15 Archie Colgan of Wyoming in a tiebreaker, 5-4. Fox took down #6 Clayton Ream of North Dakota State in the opening round, 8-4, #11 Russell Parsons of Army, 7-5, in the second round prior to defeating Colgan; Fox then pinned Mastriani so he took out three seeded wrestlers on his journey to the podium. After #7Dylan Palacio surprised #2 Michael Kemerer of Iowa, with a pin he lost his final three bouts to finish 6th including the rematch to Kemerer, 10-1.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 165 lbs., #13 Brandon Womack of Cornell took out #7 Anthony Valencia of Arizona State, 8-7, in the Blood Round. #9 Chandler Rogers of Oklahoma State held off #5 Chad Walsh of Rider, 12-11, in another key consolation bout.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 174 lbs., Jake Residori was the second unseeded wrestler after Fox to earn a spot on the podium; he not only defeated tough Matt Reed of Oklahoma, 7-6, in the pigtail, but then stunned #7 Kyle Crutchmer of Oklahoma State, 6-5; after losing to #10 Zach Brunson of Illinois, 6-2, Residori won three in a row over Ty Schofstall of Edinboro, 4-1, pinned #15 Tracy Engelkes of Northern Illinois, and eliminated #4 Zach Epperly of Virginia Tech before losing to #9 Myles Amine of Michigan, 12-2. Crutcher won four in a row in consolation, and gained revenge in the 7th place bout, 9-4, over Residori. One of the big wins for Crutcher included a big 13-10 win that eliminated returning Iowa All-American #11 Alex Meyer. Meyer almost beat Bo Jordan in the quarters before losing, 4-3. Amine had a big tournament as well including a pin over #2 Brian Realbuto of Cornell, and gained revenge on a prior loss to #6 Ryan Preisch of Lehigh, 9-4, in addition to beating #8 returning All-American Ethan Ramos of North Carolina, 6-4.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 184 lbs., Returning NCAA Champion, #6 Myles Martin of Ohio State, edged returning All-American Jack Dechow of Old Dominion in tiebreaker, 3-2, in the Blood Round. In the other Blood round bouts, #7 Nate Jackson also edged #11 Emery Parker of Illinois in overtime, 3-1, #12 Drew Foster of Northern Iowa edged #10 Mike Macchiavello of North Carolina State, 3-1, and #7 T.J. Dudley controlled Nick Gravina of Rutgers, 4-1. There were a lot of overtime bouts as this division was probably the most balanced of any weight.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 197 lbs., two close bouts in the Blood Round were Kevin Beazley of Old Dominion eliminating Cash Wilke of Iowa, 7-6, and #8 Chad Wolfe of Rider eliminating #11 Shawn Scott of Northern Illinois, 10-7. #7 Aaron Studebaker of Nebraska won four in a row after being pinned by Beazley in the second round as he placed 5th; he beat #9 Nate Rotert of South Dakota State, 2-0, and #5 Matt McCutcheon of Penn State, 13-2. #3 Kollin Moore of Ohio State had three major decisions until losing to #2 Brett Pfarr, 13-9, and closed the tournament with a first period pin over tough #4 Jared Haught of Virginia Tech.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

At 285 lbs., 24 year old #7 Tanner Hall, a Sophomore at Arizona State, after a two year Morman mission to Uganda, beat Youssif Hemida of Maryland, 2-1, in the Blood Round, and won two more for 3rd place over #3 Ty Walz of Virginia Tech. #5 Nick Nevills of Penn State eliminated #15 Ryan Solomon of Pittsburgh, 2-0 also in the Blood Round. #8 Michael Kroells of Minnesota defeated #9 Denzel Dejournette of Appalachian State twice, once in a tiebreaker and next with a technical fall. Impressive Freshman Conan Jennnings of Northwestern was eliminated in the Blood Round by Dejournette, but not before taking out #11 Jared Johnson of Chattanooga, 4-0, and #6 Austin Schafer of Oklahoma State, 8-0. Schafer was defeated by two unseeded wrestlers, Jennings and Doug Vollaro of Lehigh, 5-1.

Predicted vs. Actual Placewinners

Session IV: It is interesting to note that in semifinals in five of the 10 weights, it will be the #1 through #4 seeds (133, 165, 184, 197 and 285) going at it. Also, in a 6th weight, it is the #1,2,3 and #5 seeds (174). There are zero unseeded guys in the semis tonight!Semifinals and Blood Round ready to start! I'm picking Gilman and Lizak for a Big Ten Final at 125! Tomasello and Gross at 133! Heil and DiCamillo at 141! Retherford and Mayes at 149! ESPN3 is on a bit of a time delay, TrackWrestling has an advantage with results before ESPN3 bout is complete. Wow! What an exciting final 15 seconds in the Cruz-Gilman bout. Now 2-2 overtime. Cruz outquicks Gilman for the sudden victory takedown; he advances with Lizak. Micic beats Palmer, 16-4, that's two All-Americans for Michigan. Michigander Freddie Rodriquez eliminated at 125 for Southern Illinois by Nathan Kraisser of Appalachian St., and Tim Lambert eliminated by #2 Joey Dance of VPI as well. Wow! Cory Clark gets two 3rd period takedowns with the funky front headlock to upset Tomasello. Gross advances as well. Iowa fans go from crying in their St. Patrick's Day beer after Gilman's loss to toasting again after Clark's win. Solomon Chishko of Virginia Tech eliminated Justin Oliver of CMU. Heil and DiCamillo advance to the finals at 141. Michigander Steve Bleise was eliminated by Alex Kocer of South Dakota St. As the Sorenson-Retherford bout is to begin, Iowa has closed to 4.5 points of Penn State, 74-69.5. Gotta love Paul Fox of Stanford, the unseeded 157 lbs. wrestler just won in overtime so he'll be on the podium as an All-American. Retherford with the pin! He'll be the top candidate for most outstanding wrestler for sure! Chad Walsh of Rider just eliminated Drew Hughes of MSU. Mayes is in the finals at 149. Amine is Michigan's 3rd All-American as he avenges dual loss to Ryan Preisch with a 9-4 win. Penn State with 83 points, Iowa 2nd with 69.5, Oklahoma State with 65, Ohio State with 62.5, Missouri with 59.5, Cornell with 50.5, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Lehigh, and Nebraska round out the Top 10. Michigan is 15th with 25 points, CMU is 19th with 19.5 points. I've got Nolf and Palacio at 157. I'm picking Joseph and Martinez at 165. Hope I'm wrong. #2 Logan Massa is up next against #3 Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State at 165. Nolf and Lavallee advance to the finals at 157. Lavallee with a takedown in the final 20 seconds to win it. I've got Realbuto and Hall winning at 174. Ryan Wolfe of Rider eliminated Michigander Shawn Scott at 197. Unseeded Jake Residori of Southern Illinois will be on the podium as an All-American; he is the first Saluki to do so since 1987. Amine will wrestle Residori next. Michigander Kevin Beazley also made All-American for Old Dominion. Joseph beats Massa, 5-4; Massa outshot Joseph, 12-0, but couldn't finish one takedown. Martinez advances on riding time, 2-1. Micic beats Richards of Illinois, 6-5, so he'll go for 3rd or 5th tomorrow. Mark Hall grew up at Davison, Michigan, but moved to Minnesota in high school. Hall gets the benefit of a controversial chin strap violation to go ahead, 2-1, and then gains a takedown to advance to the finals. Bo Jordan trailed the whole bout, but rallied late in the 3rd period for a takedown and 4 point near fall to win over Realbuto, 11-7. Penn State with an insurmountable lead, and 4 guys in the finals: Retherford, Nolf, Joseph and Hall. Nickal would be the fifth if he makes it at 184. I'm picking Dean and Nickal. Brooks will be ready for Nickal's spladle. Bo Nickal pins Brooks again. Myles Amine with a major over Residori so he'll go for 3rd or 5th tomorrow. Cox and Pfarr advance to the finals at 197 as expected. Pfarr and Moore scrambled around like a couple 125 lbs. guys in a 13-9 decision. Also picking Snyder and Medbery at 285. Penn State leads by 31.5 with 117.5. Oklahoma State in 2nd with 86. Missouri and Ohio State tied for 3rd with 81.5. Iowa with 74, Minnesota with 60, Cornell with 57.5, Virginia Tech, Nebraska and Illinois round out the Top 10. Michigan in 12th with 33. Medbery and Snyder make the finals.

Note on last night's semi-final session! Michigander and former CMU NCAA Champ, Casey Cunningham, now Cael Sanderson's assistant at Penn State, was the one who saw the headgear violation by Zahid Valencia of Arizona State on Mark Hall late in the 3rd period. He won the coach's challenge that reversed a 3-1 Valencia advantage following the takedown to a 2-1 Hall advantage. Hall went on to win. Kudos to Casey! Great coaching by Casey that led to the referee's review and score reversal. It also showed that the video review system can and does work for critical calls during important bouts.

Session III: Quarterfinals about to begin! I'm picking Gilman, Rodriquez, Dance, and Cruz to advance to the semis at 125. Tomasello, Micic, Brock, and Gross at 133. Heil, Ashnault, Jack, and DiCamillo at 141. Freddie Rodriquez, #14 seed, was a 3 Time State Champ from Lansing Everett HS. Freddie's magic ran out as Lizak teched him. Gilman, Cruz, and Mueller advance to the semis at 125. #10 Mueller won in overtime, 4-2, after Dance beat him twice earlier this season. Lizak moves the Gophers into 3rd place with the win, and the Hawkeyes take the team lead with 33.5. Clark over Micic, 6-4; he rode him 3:16. Gross, Brock, and Tomasello are the other semifinalists at 133. Iowa extends their lead to 7 points over Ohio State, Oklahoma State in 3rd and Penn State in 4th. Minnesota, Lehigh, Missouri, Cornell, Virginia Tech, and South Dakota State round out the current Top 10. Ashnault, DiCamillo, Heil, and Meredith advance to the semis at 141. Virginia now with two in the Semis (Mueller and DiCamillo) moved up to 6th, when was the last time the Cavaliers did that? NEVER, the highest finish for Virginia was in 1957 when they finished in a tie for 10th on the strength of a runner-up finish by their heavyweight, Henry Jordan. Jordan went on to a 13 year career in the NFL, and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1977 of a heart attack at the age of 42. Iowa now only leads by one as Oklahoma State has 39.5. I've got Retherford, Sorenson, Mayes, and Theobold at 149. Retherford wins by tech, Sorenson, Mayes, and Thomsen advance. Penn State now in 2nd with 40.5 points behind Iowa, Oklahoma State drops to 3rd, Ohio State in 4th and Missouri in 5th. After leading much of the bout, Anthony Collica was eliminated by Maruca of Arizona State, 8-5, so the Cowpokes won't have 10 placewinners. Nolf, Kemerer, Berger and Lavallee at 157. Wow, Palacio pins Kemerer! Nolf, Lavallee, and Berger advancing at 157. Oklahoma State's chances just took another hit. Penn State now in the lead over Iowa by 2 points, and they may not relinquish it again. Oklahoma State in 3rd, Missouri in 4th. Ohio State in 5th and Cornell in 6th, but The Big Red about to make a move up with Brian Realbuto and Gabe Dean. I've got Martinez, Joseph, Massa, and Jordan advancing at 165. Massa, Jordan, Martinez, and Joseph advance at 165 with a takedown by Vincenzo with 9 seconds to go to win 6-5. Still perfect on my 165 bracket with a perfect 28-0 so far. Penn State creates distance from Iowa by 9 points with 56.5 to 47.5. Oklahoma State at 39.5, Missouri has 35.5. Ohio State 33.5. Cornell and Minnesota are tied with 28 each. Nebraska, Virginia and Lehigh round out the Top 10. Michigan moved back up from 27th to 15th after Massa's win. My picks are Valencia, Realbuto, Bo Jordan, and Mark Hall at 174. Hope I'm wrong on Valencia as I want Myles Amine to pin him. Realbuto with a pin! Hall, Valencia, and Bo Jordan advance. Myles gave Valencia a real battle, 14-8. Penn State extends lead to 16.5 over Iowa. Ohio State in 3rd with 40.5. Gabe Dean, Bo Nickal, Sammy Brooks, and Nolan Boyd are my picks at 184. Nickal and Brooks gain falls. Boyd and Dean advance, Dean by tiebreaker. Penn State has 73.5, Iowa 57, Oklahoma State 46.5, Cornell 44.5, Ohio State 40.5, Missouri 35.5, Minnesota 29.5, Lehigh and Nebraska 23, Virginia at 22.5. McCutcheon, Weigel and Pfarr are my picks at 197. The Weigel-Moore bout should be one of the best in the session. Kevin Beazley is a Michigander. Cox, Moore, Pfarr, and Haught win easily. Ohio State now moves into 3rd ahead of Oklahoma State with 48.5 points. Virginia Tech now in 8th with 24.5 points. At 285, Snyder, Nevills, Walz, and Medbery. Snyder, Walz, Medberry, and Kasper advance to the semis. Ohio State and Iowa are tied for 2nd place 16 points behind Penn State. Wisconsin has moved into 9th place with 28.5 points. Central Michigan moves ahead of Michigan by a half point into 16th place with 17.5 points. The Chips have Jordan Oliver, Christian Brucki, and Jordan Ellingwood still alive in consolations. Michigan has one All-American in Massa, and can add two more tonight if Micic and Amine with their consolation bouts. Amine will most likely gain a rematch with Lehigh's Ryan Preisch. Micic will take on Joey Palmer of Oregon State. Oklahoma State's chances in the team title just may have expired as #6 Austin Schafer was eliminated by unseeded Doug Vallero of Lehigh. Other Michiganders who are still alive for All-American include Kevin Beazley, Freddie Rodriquez, Steve Bleise, and Tim Lambert. Of course, Gabe Dean is in the semis.

Session II: Evening session has had no real surprises until Tommy Thorn of Minnesota pinned #3 Joey McKenna of Stanford in overtime. Micic is in the quarters for Michigan. Unseeded Alex Kocer of South Dakota State upset #9 Justin Oliver of CMU, 5-4. Oklahoma State's #2 Anthony Collica was just upset by #15 Ken Theobold of Rutgers in overtime. Unseeded Paul Fox of Stanford just pulled his second upset of the event with a 7-5 verdict over #11 Russell Parsons of Army. B.J. Clagon of Rider with his second upset over #9 Josh Shields of Arizona State. Massa and Amine up next. Massa gets his second tech, and Amine beats North Carolina All-American Ethan Ramos, 6-4. The Buckeyes title hopes just took a hit as NCAA Champ #6 Myles Martin was upset by #11 Emery Parker of Illinois, 14-9. Still undefeated on my 165 picks after an 8-0 session. #12 Drew Foster took out #5 Zach Zavatsky of Virginia Tech. Penn State has extended their lead to 4.5, 30.5. Ohio State ended the session in 2nd with 26. Oklahoma State in 3rd with 24. Iowa in 4th with 22. Missouri in 5th with 20. Minnesota and Virginia Tech tied for 6th with 17 each. Cornell, Nebraska and Illinois round out the Top 10. Michigan now in 15th with 9 points, CMU in 18th with 8 points. Consolation round up next with Youtsey up! Oklahoma State's championship hopes took its 3rd major hit with another loss, this time by #6 Austin Schafer at 285 losing to unseeded Conan Jennings of Northwestern, 8-0. I ended up 65-15 for the round (81.25%); of course, I had to keep the losers from the first round without re-doing the bracket. 3 Chippewas currently on the mat: Fleetwood, Keener and Smith; Smith with a major over Profaci, 9-0. Keener gets a pin while behind on a roll through. Noah Gonser of EMU is eliminated. Fleetwood eliminated. CMU now in 12th place. Youtsey eliminated. Nick Barber of EMU eliminated. Severn eliminated for CMU. Michigan ends the day tied with South Dakota State for 21st with 9 points. Central Michigan ends the session in 9th place with 14.5 points.

Session I: Here are some 1st round results of note for Wolverine fans! Youtsey lost 4-3, Micic won 10-3, Profaci lost 8-5, both Hall and Murphy forfeited due to injuries. Major upsets so far included Unseeded Andrew Crone of Wisconsin upsetting #5 Sam Speno of NC St. Unseeded Joey Hathaway of Oregon State upset #4 Joey Ward of NC by pin. Jimmy Guilbon of Penn State avenged a Big Ten Tournament loss to Javier Gasca of MSU by 18-3 tech fall. Unseeded Paul Fox of Stanford upset #6 seed Clayton Ream of North Dakota St., 8-4. Massa won by tech fall, and Amine won 6-4. I had my first perfect prediction record in the first round at 165 with 17-0. Oklahoma State has now taken the team lead with 12 points over Iowa and Lehigh with 10 each while Penn State has 9.5. HUGE UPSET!!! Unseeded Jake Residori of Southern Illinois takes down #7 Kyle Crutchmer of Okie State, 6-5. Unseeded Dan Chaid of North Carolina took down #9 Nathan Rotert of South Dakota St., 10-5. Penn State has now taken the team lead, 15-13, over Oklahoma State. As the 285s finished, my record for the session was 144-26 in 170 bouts (85%). Penn State has 16 points, Oklahoma State has 15, Ohio State is 3rd with 14, Iowa, Lehigh, and Missouri are tied for 4th with 12 each. Minnesota has 11, Cornell 10.5, Virginia Tech 10, and Nebraska 9.5 to round out the Top 10. Central Michigan is 12th with 8 points, and Michigan as 4.5 points in 21st place.

NCAA Wrestling Rankings By Conference for 2017 

NCAA Wrestling Championships Summary for 2016

NCAA Wrestling Championships Summary for 2015

Flo By The Numbers 2017 NCAA Fall and Tech Fall Rates