Hokie ClubDES MOINES, Iowa (hokiesports.com) - Five Virginia Tech wrestlers remain alive at the 2013 NCAA Wrestling Championships after three sessions being held inside Wells Fargo Arena. Senior Pete Yates won his quarterfinal match to advance to Friday’s semifinals and four other Tech wrestlers have a shot at All-America honors Friday evening.
The day started off wild a furious rally from fifth-seeded Jarrod Garnett at 125 pounds, who fell behind to Evan Silver of Stanford 5-0 in the first period. Trailing 6-2 going to the final period, Garnett escaped, took Silver down and then cut him before taking him down with 30 seconds left to tie it up. He rode Silver for the remaining time to send it to sudden victory where he took Silver down for the emotional victory. Later in the session Zach Neibert picked up a 7-3 win over Brandon Nelson of Purdue at 141 pounds before Nick Brascetta downed Josh Roosa of Bloomsburg 6-2 at 149 pounds. Jesse Dong picked up a 10-0 major decision over ninth-seeded Frank Hickman of Bloomsburg at 157 pounds to give Tech a 4-0 start to the day.
The most exciting match of the session featured Yates and Minnesota’s Cody Yohn in the quarterfinals at 165 pounds. Yates picked up a first period takedown, but Yohn turned him in the second period for two back points. Yates led 3-2 after two periods, but Yohn - the 11th seed - chose top and rode him for the third period to get the point for riding time. After a scoreless sudden victory and tiebreaker, they went to the second tiebreaker, where Yates got in deep on Yohn, but couldn’t covert … so it seemed. Associate head coach Tony Robie challenged the call, saying Yohn put a hand down on the mat with Yates applying weight and control, and after several minutes, the call was overturned and Yates was given the 5-3 sudden victory.
At 174 pounds, Austin Gabel had to take an injury default at 174 when he was down 2-0 in the first period to Northern Illinois’ Matt Mougin, eliminating him. Derrick Borlie controlled the action with a pair of takedowns of Eastern Michigan’s Nick Whitenburg to win 6-1. David Marone’s six-career came to an end with a 3-2 loss to eight-seeded Mike McClure of Michigan State. Marone finished his career with 91 wins, the 11th-most in school history, and won an ACC title to clinch Tech’s ACC title this year.
Moving to the second portion of the session, Garnett picked up an 8-3 win over Kent State’s Steve Mitcheff to advance to the round of 12. He will face Virginia’s Matt Snyder, the No. 8 seed, for All-America honors. The loser will be eliminated and have his career come to an end. Garnett is 2-0 against Snyder this year.
Neibert got back points in the second period and then got a takedown in sudden victory to beat Rutgers’ Trevor Melde to advance to the round of 12. He’ll face ninth-seed Richard Durson of Franklin & Marshall for All-America honors.
Brascetta controlled the pace against unseeded Josh Wilson of Utah Valley, picking up a 5-3 win to advance to the round of 12. He’ll take on unseeded Kevin Tao of American tonight for All-America honors.
Dong rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to Boston’s Nestor Taffur, but turned Taffur twice and picked up the 9-4 win to advance to the round of 12. He’ll face 12th-seeded Jedd Moore of Virginia tonight for All-America honors. Dong is 2-0 against Moore this year.
Borlie dropped a 4-2 decision to Illinois’ Mario Gonzalez in his second match of the day to get eliminated.
After the third session, Tech sits in a tie for 11th place with Northern Iowa with 23.0 points.
Action resumes Friday evening with Session IV starting at 6 p.m. local time (7 p.m. Eastern) on six mats with semifinal bouts and wrestlebacks. On Saturday, Session V features wrestleback semifinals and medal matches on three mats starting at 10 a.m. local (11 a.m. Eastern)and the final session will feature the 10 championship bouts live at 6:30 p.m. local (7:30 p.m. Eastern).
Below are the results for the Hokies participating.
125: #5 seed Jarrod Garnett (3-1)
First Round: lost to Dominic Parisi (Appalachian State), 7-6
Consolations: def. Nick Soto (Chattanooga), Fall 4:11
Consolations: def. Evan Silver (Stanford), 9-7 (SV)
Consolations: def. Steve Mitcheff (Kent State), 8-3
Consolations: vs. #8 seed Matt Snyder (Virginia) [SESSION IV]
133: Erik Spjut (0-2; ELIMINATED)
First Round: lost to #6 seed Nathan McCormick (Missouri), 3-0
Consolations: lost to #11 seed George DiCamillo (Virginia), 6-1
141: Zach Neibert (3-1)
First Round: def. #11 seed Michael Nevinger (Cornell), 3-1 (TB-1)
Second Round: lost to #6 seed Undrakhbayar Khishignyam (Citadel), 3-1
Consolations: def. Brandon Nelson (Purdue), 7-3
Consolations: def. Trevor Melde (Rutgers), 4-2 (SV)
Consolations: vs. #9 seed Richard Durson (Franklin & Marshall) [SESSION IV]
149: #8 seed Nick Brascetta (3-1)
First Round: def. Brandon Richardson (Wyoming), 7-4
Second Round: lost to #9 seed Jake Suefloehn (Nebraska), 4-2
Consolations: def. Josh Roosa (Bloomsburg), 6-2
Consolations: vs. Josh Wilson (UVU), 5-3
Consolations: vs. Kevin Tao (American) [SESSION IV]
157: #7 seed Jesse Dong (3-1)
First Round: def. Luke Smith (Central Michigan), MD 8-0
Second Round: lost to Josh Demas (Ohio State), 4-3
Consolations: def. #9 seed Frank Hickman (Bloomsburg), MD 10-0
Consolations: def. Nestor Taffur (Boston), 9-4
Consolations: vs. #12 seed Jedd Moore (Virginia) [SESSION IV]
165: #3 seed Pete Yates (3-0; ALL-AMERICAN)
First Round: def. Mark Lewandowski (Buffalo), 5-3
Second Round: def. Zach Toal (Missouri), 7-0
Quarterfinals: def. #11 seed Cody Yohn (Minnesota), 5-3 (SV-2)
Semifinals: vs. #2 seed David Taylor (Penn State) [SESSION IV]
174: Austin Gabel (2-2; ELIMINATED)
Pigtail: lost to Lee Helbig (Wyoming), 5-3 (SV)
Consolation Pigtails: def. Sam Wheeler (Kent State), 10-6
Consolations: def. #12 seed Matthew Miller (Navy), 5-1
Consolations: lost to Matt Mougin (NIU), Inj. Def. (1:21)
184: Nick Vetterlein (0-2; ELIMINATED)
First Round: lost to #5 seed Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota), MD 10-1
Consolations: lost to Boaz Beard (Iowa State), MD 9-0
197: Derrick Borlie (2-2; ELIMINATED)
First Round: lost to #3 seed Matt Wilps (Pitt), 4-1
Consolations: def. Bryce Barnes (Army), 8-6
Consolations: def. Nick Whitenburg (EMU), 6-1
Consolations: lost to Mario Gonzalez (Illinois), 4-2
285: David Marone (1-2; ELIMINATED)
First Round: lost to #7 seed Connor Medbery (Wisconsin), 5-2
Consolations: def. Daniel Miller (Navy), 5-4 (TB-1)
Consolations: lost to #8 seed Mike McClure (MSU), 3-2