Results

NCAA Division I Wrestling Brackets

NCAA Division I Wrestling Team Standings

 

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - University of Northern Iowa junior Moza Fay (Anamosa, Iowa) ended the Panthers' two-year drought of All-Americans as he clinched a top-eight finish at the 2008 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center.

 

UNI is in 19th place in the team standings following session IV with 26.0 team points.

 

Fay, seeded No. 8 at 165 lbs., knocked off Arizona State's Patrick Pitsch in the Round of 12 and then proceeded to record a fall (2:39) over No. 5-ranked Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska in the following match. Fay is now guaranteed to place no worse than sixth and will continue wrestling Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in the medal round.

 

"It feels great (to be an All-American)," Fay said. "I was so nervous going into my All-America match. I kept my nose to the grindstone and made stuff happen."

 

UNI head coach Brad Penrith said he was proud of Fay's effort but allowed his thoughts to wander when he realized Fay had earned All-America status.

 

"When Moza won, my thoughts went directly to Nick Baima and to all the hard work he put in and didn't get it," Penrith said. "Besides being proud of Moza and how good a guy he is, I got overwhelmed and had tears in my eyes."

 

Penrith said he was happy with how his guys responded after a tough first round.

 

"I though we wrestled well," Penrith said. "We won a lot of matches we weren't supposed to win. Our guys competed. Our guys came in and didn't have a good first round, but after the initial round our guys wrestled great."

 

Prior to tonight, UNI's last All-Americans on the wrestling mat came in 2005 when Eric Hauan (6th - 174 lbs.) and Sean Stender (2nd - 197 lbs.) earned top-eight finishes.

 

UNI's Alex Dolly saw his march toward All-America status end when he dropped a Round of 12 match to No. 5-seeded Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan at 174 pounds, 7-3..

 

The championships continue Saturday at 10 a.m. with medal-round matches.

 

Wrestlebacks - Friday Night

Fay secured his initial All-America status with a 10-2 major decision over Arizona State's Patrick Pitsch. Fay laid early claim in this 165-pound wrestleback by scoring the first six points of the match. Fay scored a takedown in each of the first two periods. He then took the steam out of Pitsch with a reversal to start the third period.

 

Pitsch got on the board with a reversal of his own, but Fay countered with an escape and another takedown. Fay then added a riding time point for the 10-2 victory.

 

Fay then kept his momentum going strong with a fall over No. 5-seeded Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska at the 2:39 mark of the first period.

 

"I got smacked in the head and was a little lackadaisical," Fay said following his pin of Dwyer. "I stuck to my game plan and things went my way."

 

Fay will take on No. 3-seeded Nick Marable of Missouri in Saturday morning's medal round. If Fay wins, he will wrestle for 3rd/4th. If he loses, he will wrestle for 5th/6th.

 

"I'm going to keep my focus and wrestle my heart out tomorrow," Fay said.

 

Senior Alex Dolly saw his collegiate wrestling career come to a halt when he dropped a 7-3 decision to No. 5-seeded Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan in a Round of 12 match at 174 pounds.

 

Sinnott scored two takedowns, but Dolly responded with a trio of escapes to only trail 4-3 with a minute to go in the third period. Dolly was in deep with a single leg but could not convert, then Sinnott responded with a takedown with only 35 seconds left in the bout to decide it.

 

"Dolly went out and competed, even against (Pittsburgh's Keith) Gavin he competed," Penrith said. "All we ever ask is that our guys compete. The biggest thing here is not being scared. Hopefully our guys watched how we went out and competed."

 

A trio of Panthers saw their seasons end in the morning wrestlebacks as Josh Baldridge (133 lbs.), Tyson Reiner (157 lbs.) and Andrew Anderson (197 lbs.) suffered setbacks.

 

Quarterfinals

Junior Moza Fay, the No. 8 seed at 165 pounds, dropped a 7-4 decision to No. 1-seeded Eric Tannenbaum of Michigan in the quarterfinals. Fay will now wrestle tonight in the Round of 12 and with a win would clinch his first All-America honor.

 

Tannenbaum scored first with a takedown at the 1:46 mark of the first period. Fay was able to escape at the end of the period and faced a 2-1 deficit. Fay tied the score at 2-2 with an escape at the 1:43 mark of the second period.

 

However, Tannenbaum earned his second takedown of the match with 1:12 to go in the second. Fay escaped again at the close of the period and entered the third trailing, 4-3.

 

Tannenbaum chose neutral to start the third and neither wrestle gained the upperhand until the Wolverine grappler notched a takedown in the closing seconds. Tannenbaum added a riding time point for the 7-4 decision.

 

Wrestlebacks - Friday Morning

Friday morning's wrestlebacks did not get off to a good start for the Panthers as 133-pounder Josh Baldridge was pinned 41 seconds into his match with Hofstra's Lou Ruggirello. No. 6-seeded Ruggirello scored an early takedown and quickly registered the fall to knock Baldridge out of the tournament.

 

UNI's Tyson Reiner also ran into the No. 6 seed in a 157-pound wrestleback in the form of Pittsburgh's Matt Kocher. Kocher scored a takedown just over a minute into the match and then added a two-point nearfall to close out the first period. However, the 4-0 deficit turned into a 15-1 deficit after the second period which saw Kocher get an escape, a takedown and then a pair of three-point nearfalls. Kocher closed out the match with a takedown to start the third period, 18-1.

 

Senior Alex Dolly moved two steps closer to All-America honors with a pair of victories in Friday's morning session.

 

First Dolly moved on with a third-period fall over Stanford's Luke Feist in a 174-pound wrestleback. The match was scoreless entering the third until Feist tallied an escape. But Dolly countered with a takedown and the fall at the 5:53 mark of the match.

 

Dolly then knocked off No. 8-seeded Gabriel Dretsch of Minnesota with a 10-6 decision. Dolly trailed 5-1 in the second period but used a five-point move to take control of the match with a 7-5 lead. Then in the third period Dolly tacked on another takedown to solidify the victory and move on to Friday's night session where he will take on No. 5-seeded Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan.

 

Junior Andrew Anderson battled UNC-Greensboro's Daren Burns in a 197-pound wrestleback in Friday's morning session. The match was scoreless after one period. Burns escaped and got a takedown early in the second to take a 3-0 lead against Anderson. The Panther wrestler scored his first point of the match on an escape at the 1:30 mark of the second period. Anderson got an escape with 20 seconds left in the match to pull within 3-2. But after a scramble on the edge of the mat, Burns was able to withstand Anderson's late shot and added a riding time point for the 4-2 win.

 

 

UNI's BOUT-BY-BOUT RESULTS (from Friday)

133 lbs. - Josh Baldridge

L, Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra) - Fall 0:41

 

157 lbs. - Tyson Reiner

L, #6 Matt Kocher (Pittsburgh) - 18-1

 

165 lbs. - #8 Moza Fay

L, #1 Eric Tannenbaum (Michigan) - 7-4

W, Patrick Pitsch (Arizona State) - 10-2
W, #5 Patrick Dwyer (Nebraska) - Fall 2:39

 

174 lbs. - Alex Dolly

W, Luke Feist (Stanford) - Fall 5:53
W, #8 Gabriel Dretsch (Minnesota) - 10-6

L, #5 Brandon Sinnott (Central Michigan) - 7-3

 

197 lbs. - Andrew Anderson

L, Daren Burns (UNC-Greensboro) - 4-2

 

TEAM STANDINGS (through Session IV)

1. Iowa                        102.0

2. Ohio State    71.0

3. Iowa State    68.0

4. Penn State    63.0

5. Central Michigan      61.5

6. Michigan      61.0

7. Nebraska     58.0

7. Oklahoma State        58.0

9. Cornell         57.5

10. Minnesota  56.5

11. Missouri     42.0

12. Illinois         37.0

13. Northwestern         36.0

14. Indiana       35.5

15. Hofstra       33.5

16. Wisconsin   31.0

17. Pittsburgh   29.5

18. Stanford     28.0

19. UNI           26.0

20. Navy          24.0

21. Edinboro    22.5

22. American    21.0

22. Boise State 21.0

24. Maryland    19.5

25. Bloomsburg            18.0

25. Cal Poly     18.0