Fans and wrestlers fill Madison Square Garden in New York for the 2016 NCAA Division I national championships.
NEW YORK, March 17 – The NCAA Division I wrestling tournament is always full of surprises. In the first round, 28 seeded wrestlers lost.
Danbury’s Kevin Jack, the No. 3 seed from North Carolina State at 141 pounds, was upset Thursday night in the second round, falling to former Wolfpack teammate Bryce Meredith of Wyoming, 5-4 on riding time. The win pushes Jack (25-4) into the consolation round beginning on Friday.
Jack will be one of two Connecticut wrestlers competing in the consolation round on Friday morning at Madison Square Garden. Brookfield senior Jack McKeever (174) of Binghamton dropped his opening round match only to win his first consolation round matches and survived.
Granby native Dominick Malone (133) of Northwestern lost his opener, dominated his initial consolation round bout but was eliminated in a third match. Shelton senior Patrick Gillen (285) of Virginia lost his two matches and was eliminated.
Over 17,800 fans filled MSG for both sessions on Thursday to watch the action. The evening session was sold out.
In his tournament opener, Jack won his 18th consecutive match with a 5-0 win over unseeded Danny Sabatello of Purdue. A takedown with eight seconds left in the second period gave Jack an early 2-0 lead. Sabatello hesitated for a second and Jack pounced on him for the takedown.
Jack extended his lead to 3-0 with an early third period escape and when Sabatello again hesitated on the edge of the mat, Jack again pounced on him for a takedown with 25 seconds left and a 5-0 lead.
In the second round, Jack ran into trouble against Meredith, a former Wolfpack teammate. Meredith got the first takedown to take a 2-0 lead with 30 seconds left in the first period before Jack got a reversal with 11 seconds left in the period.
In the second period, Meredith took the lead with a reversal 12 seconds into the period for a 4-2 lead. Jack escaped 40 seconds later to cut the lead to one, 4-3.
In the third period, Jack escaped with 1:11 remaining to tie the match at 4-4 but Meredith amassed 1:30 in riding time (worth an extra point) so Jack strove for the takedown. In a scramble, Jack had one of Meredith’s shoulders on the mat but he wasn’t in control and Meredith advanced with a 5-4 decision thanks to the riding time point.
Jack will face Jamel Hudson (22-10) of Hofstra in his first match on Friday morning.
Malone (23-13) was pinned in his opening match of the tournament to No. 11 Dom Fory of Pittsburgh. But Malone came back with a vengeance in his first consolation round match with a dominating 14-1 win over Caleb Richardson of Pennsylvania.
Malone had a takedown and four-point near fall in the first period to take command. An early second period escape and another takedown gave him a 9-0 lead.
In his second consolation match of the evening, Malone was eliminated when he was pinned by Arizona State’s Dalton Brady in 6:35. Malone trailed 2-1 after one period but took a 3-2 with 1:13 left in the second period with a two-point near fall. Brady tied the match with an escape with 1:05 to go and took a 5-3 lead with a takedown with 10 seconds left in the period.
In the third period, Malone escaped six seconds into the period to cut the lead to one. Brady got a takedown with 27 seconds left to take control of the match and won by a pin shortly afterward to end the season for Malone.
McKeever (28-11) had a tough opening match with No. 16 Micah Barnes of Nebraska in a 4-0 loss. In the consolation round, McKeever faced Harvard’s Josef Johnson who beat McKeever at the recent EIWA Tournament. Johnson took a 2-0 lead with a first period takedown.
McKeever tied the match with an escape in the first period and a second escape with 1:44 left in the second period. But Johnson had 1:05 in riding time and potentially, a game-winning point.
With about 1:20 left in the third period, McKeever quickly got inside and secured a double leg takedown. He was able to get Johnson off his feet and took him to the mat for a takedown and a 4-2 lead. McKeever was able to tie up Johnson’s legs and use strong half nelsons to ride out the match and earn the win.
McKeever will face Army’s No. 15 Brian Harvey in the consolation round on Friday morning.
Gillen (17-16) was dominated by No. 5 seed Adam Coon of Michigan, who had six takedowns before he won by pin in 4:22. Coon (19-2) had an 8-3 lead after one period.
In the consolation bracket, Gillen gave up four takedowns in a 9-4 loss to No. 12 Billy Smith of Rutgers in the consolation round and was eliminated. Twice, Gillen made the attempt to get the takedown but Smith was able to come away with the two points including one takedown with two seconds left in the first period to extend his lead to 4-1.
This was Gillen’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
2016 NCAA Division I national championships
At New York
Full brackets
You must be logged in to post a comment Login