Flashes Sit in Second Following Day One of MAC Championships
3/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
DeKALB, Ill. - Eight Kent State wrestlers guaranteed themselves a top four spot, while five Golden Flashes advanced to the finals of the 2011 Mid-American Conference Championships Saturday at Northern Illinois' Convocation Center. Central Michigan leads the team standings after day one with 50 points, while KSU sits in a second place tie with Buffalo at 43.5 points.
"I think we're going to need four champs tomorrow," Head Coach Jim Andrassy said. "And we're going to need to wrestle well in the consolation matches. There's a couple weight classes where we should get a chance at a true second."
Seven Golden Flashes drew opening round byes, while the remaining three each won quarterfinal bouts, putting all 10 KSU grapplers in the semifinals.
The big semifinal victory for the Flashes came at 133 when freshman Tyler Small needed four extra sessions to put away second seeded Kevin Smith 6-4 in tiebreaker two. With the score tied 3-3 after regulation, neither wrestler scored a point in the first sudden victory, the first tiebreaker or the second sudden victory. Smith then managed an escape in the final seconds of his turn from the bottom. Small responded with an escape early in the final period and a takedown in the final seconds. Small's win all but locked up an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
"Tyler really did a good job of wrestling his own match," Andrassy said. "He kept his composure and wrestled smart. He lost to him earlier in the year, but today he was the better guy."
The Flashes went 2-0 in overtime bouts as junior Brendan Barlow outlasted Ohio's Jeremy Johnson in the first tiebreaker. Barlow earned escapes in regulation and overtime and rode out Johnson for 30 seconds in sudden victory.
Junior Nic Bedelyon (125) started the semifinal round, by grabbing an extra team point in a 16-7 major decision over Nick Smith of Northern Illinois. Bedelyon knocked off Buffalo's Sean Walton 6-3 in his quarterfinal bout. He trailed 2-0 after the opening period, but scored takedowns in the second and third to secure the win.
Dustin Kilgore (197) also earned the Flashes an extra team point with a 22-9 dismantling of Central Michigan's Chad Friend. Kilgore will be wrestling for his third straight MAC title Sunday.
"Dustin and Nic go out and score points throughout their matches," Andrassy said. "If the rest of our guys wrestled as hard as they do, we'd be in first right now."
Sophomore Casey Newburg (184) will also be competing for a conference crown Sunday. Newburg stayed in control throughout his semifinal bout, scoring a 6-2 victory over Eastern Michigan's Khodar Hoballah.
Redshirt freshman Brandonn Johnson gave the Flashes helpful bonus points with a first period pin of Caleb Busson (Northern Illinois) in the quarterfinals. Central Michigan's Ben Bennett, ranked No. 6 in the nation, knocked off Johnson 4-1 in the semifinals. Johnson bounced back with a 6-1 victory over Buffalo's Ron Majerus 6-1 for a spot in the consolation finals.
Sophomore Ross Tice (165) had little trouble with Ohio's Steve Wilson in the quarterfinals. In a 5-2 decision, Tice scored an opening period and a two-point tilt to jump out to an early 4-0 lead. Tice then dropped a 4-1 semifinal bout to Buffalo's John-Martin Cannon. Tice rebounded with a 12-5 win over EMU's Nick Hendrick. Despite recording all four of the matches' takedowns and a two-point tilt, Tice was unable to seal a major decision.
Junior Marcel Clopton fell to top-seeded Desi Green (149) 3-0 in the semifinals. Clotpon then grabbed three takedowns in an 8-5 decision over EMU's Corey Phillips.
The 157 and 141-pound weight classes turned out to be the disappointing ones on the day for Kent State. In a back-and-forth semifinal battle, NIU's Bryan Deutsch used a late reversal and near fall to top senior Matt Cathell 11-9. Cathell jumped out to a 6-0 lead early in the second, before Deutsch scored a reversal and three-point near fall. Deutsch scored a reversal to take a 7-6 lead in the third, but Cathell took the lead back with a reversal of his own. The lead changed hands once again with 10 seconds remaining as Cathell got caught riding too high. EMU's Aaron Sulzer then made it an especially rough day for Cathell with a 7-2 decision in the consolation bracket.
Junior Chase Skonieczny dropped a 5-2 decision to Buffalo's Andrew Schutt in the semifinals. Skonieczny scored an opening takedown against EMU's Seth Schaner, but also got caught riding too high and was pinned later in the first.
"You can talk about situations in their matches," Andrassy said of Cathell and Skonieczny. "But the bottom line is you've got to want it more than the other guy."
Sunday's championship and consolation finals will begin at noon Central time.
