The Buckeye wrestling team may have suffered a disappointing loss in the NWCA Dual Championship Series to Cornell, but they bounced back in a big way in Session I of the Big Ten Championships. Seven Buckeyes advanced to Saturday afternoon's semifinals, led by strong performances from Micah Jordan and Myles Martin. Joining Micah and Myles in the semifinals are Nathan Tomasello, Luke Pletcher, Bo Jordan, Kollin Moore, and Kyle Snyder.
Jose Rodriguez opened the tournament with a 5-3 decision over Logan Griffin of Michigan State, but ran into the top-seeded Thomas Gilman of Iowa in the quarterfinals. Rodriguez looked abysmal in the dual with Iowa against Gilman, but looked far more prepared for the undefeated Hawkeye until Gilman was able to secure a pin in the third period. Rodriguez dropped down to the consolation bracket, where he will face Michael Beck of Maryland. Rodriguez will need at least two more wins if he is going to earn one of the seven automatic qualifier spots at 125 to the NCAA tournament.
Top-seeded Nathan Tomasello advanced to the semifinals thanks to a first round bye and 6-4 decision over Rutgers' Scott Delvecchio. Tomasello defeated Delvecchio 15-5 in the regular season dual meet, but looked almost sluggish in his first match at the Big Ten tournament. Tomasello will face Michigan's fifth-seeded Stevan Micic, who upset No. 4 Zane Richards of Illinois 12-4 in their quarterfinal match.
Luke Pletcher advanced to the semifinals at his first Big Ten tournament after accepting an opening round medical forfeit from Kyle Ayersman of Purdue and taking a 6-4 decision over No. 4 Colton McCrystal of Nebraska. Pletcher fought back from an early deficit to earn the decision victory and move into the semifinals. In tonight's semifinals, the Buckeye true freshman will face defending Big Ten champion Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers. In the other semifinal, Minnesota's No. 3 Tommy Thorn will face Michigan State's No. 7 Javier Gasca, who upset No. 2 Jimmy Gulibon of Penn State by pin. With nine automatic qualifier spots at 149, Pletcher has earned himself a trip to the NCAA tournament as he can finish no lower than sixth place.
Micah Jordan set up a big rematch with Iowa's No. 2 Brandon Sorensen in tonight's semifinals with a pair of morning victories. The No. 3 seeded Jordan opened with a 19-7 major decision over Minnesota's Carson Brolsma before grinding out a 3-1 decision over a tough No. 6 Andrew Crone of Wisconsin. In the other half of the bracket, No. 1 Zain Retherford of Penn State will face No. 4 Alfred Bannister of Maryland as all four of the top seeds advanced to the semis.
Jake Ryan injury-defaulted out of the first round, but scored a pin over Northwestern's Ben Sullivan at 157 in the consolation bracket to stay alive for one of the nine automatic qualifier spots for the NCAA tournament. Ryan, with a heavily-wrapped elbow, came out on fire against Sullivan and jumped out to a 6-0 lead before another takedown and pin ended the match. Ryan will face Illinois' No. 5 Kyle Langenderfer in Session II tonight.
Cody Burcher suffered an opening round loss to No. 6 Nick Wanzek of Minnesota by the score of 5-1, but battled back in the consolations to stave off elimination. Burcher scored an 8-0 major decision over Dylan Lydy of Purdue to advance to the second round of the consolation bracket. Burcher will face Iowa's No. 5 Joey Gunther in Session II. Burcher will need two straight victories if he is going to earn one of the six NCAA automatic qualifiers at 165.
Top-seeded Bo Jordan advanced to the semifinals at 174 thanks to a bye and a wild 10-8 decision over Indiana's No. 8 Devin Skatzka. Skatzka struck first with a takedown and later reversed Jordan before Bo got the feel of the match. In the semifinals, Bo will face No. 4 Myles Amine of Michigan, who defeated No. 5 Alex Meyer of Iowa. In the other half of the bracket, No. 2 Mark Hall of Penn State will face No. 3 Zac Brunson of Illinois.
Myles Martin set up another match with No. 1 Bo Nickal of Penn State in tonight's semifinals with a nice 12-7 decision over No. 5 TJ Dudley of Nebraska. Dudley was the NCAA runner-up at 184 last year and Martin was the NCAA champion at 174, so the fact that they met in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament was outrageous. Martin was able to take Dudley down a number of times, but caught Dudley on his back in a scramble late in the match, which put the match out of reach. The top four seeds advanced to the semifinals at 184 as No. 1 Nickal and No. 4 Martin face off and No. 3 Nate Jackson of Indiana and No. 2 Sammy Brooks of Iowa will meet this evening.
Kollin Moore punched his ticket to the NCAA tournament as he advanced to the Big Ten semifinals. Moore opened his tournament with a 19-2 tech fall over Jake Hinz of Indiana before a 10-5 victory over Cash Wilcke of Iowa in the quarters. Moore will face No. 3 Aaron Studebaker of Nebraska in the semifinals. The top half of the bracket will see top-seeded Brett Pfarr and No. 4 Matt McCutcheon squaring off.
Kyle Snyder advanced to the semifinals thanks to a bye in the opening round and quarterfinal tech fall over Rutgers' No. 8 Razohnn Gross. Snyder will face No. 4 Michael Kroells of Minnesota in the semifinals. No. 2 Connor Medbery of Wisconsin and No. 3 Nick Nevills of Penn State will face off in the other semifinal.
Interestingly enough, the bracket makers did a great job as six weight classes feature all four of the top seeds in the semifinals.
In the team race, Penn State leads the field with 70 points, while the Buckeyes are in second with 68. Iowa is a distant third with 55.5 points. Minnesota and Michigan round out the top five with 52 and 47 points, respectively.
Session II will start on Saturday night at 6 p.m. and will feature the championship semifinals and two rounds of consolations. Session II can be streamed live on BTN Plus (subscription required), and updates can be found on Twitter through @WrestlingBucks and @CurtHeinrichs. The updated results can be found at TrackWrestling.com.
