Four Still Alive
March 21, 2003 03:03 PM | General
March 21, 2003
KANSAS CITY – West Virginia picked up five wins in the second round of the wrestle-backs, but just four wrestlers still remain alive and Greg Jones was eliminated after the third session of the NCAA championships. Following the session, West Virginia is in a tie for 10th with 29 points. Oklahoma State leads the competition with 76 points.
 |
||
| West Virginia's Seth Lisa in today's first session of the wrestlebacks. (AP photo) |
A win by either Billy Smith (149), Brent Miller (HWT) or Brandon Lauer (133), will automatically earn them All-American honors. Shane Cunanan has already qualified for All-American status by advancing to the championship semifinals.
Smith registered six takedowns on his way to a 13-4 major decision over Ed Gutnik of Wisconsin. Smith then advanced to the round of 12 with an 8-2 win over Ryan Churella of Michigan. He scored two takedowns, a reversal and received two penalty points courtesy of stalling calls on Churella.
Miller picked up two wins by dismissing Lehigh’s Joe Sahl and Purdue’s Israel Blevins with 7-4 decisions. Miller scored three takedowns in each match and allowed no offensive points to advance to the round of 12 for the second consecutive season.
Jones dismissed Northern Iowa’s 6-3 on three takedowns in the second round wrestle-backs before facing Michigan State’s Rashad Evans. With the match scoreless, Jones shot in but Evans started a scramble and came out with the takedown as the first period buzzer sounded. The two traded escapes in the second and third, and Evans was penalized for stalling, but Jones was unable to register a takedown in the waning seconds to end his season.
McMath squandered a few offensive opportunities in his first consolation match with Central Michigan’s 12th-seeded Kevin Carr, but was able to come out with a tiebreaker victory. McMath nearly scored on a counter at the end of the first and on a double-leg in the second but Carr was able to fight him off. After finishing regulation 1-1 and with no score in the overtime period, McMath won the coin toss and chose to start the tiebreaker down. After a restart due to a stall warning on Carr, McMath was able to escape with six seconds remaining.
McMath was unable to advance, however, as he dropped a narrow 8-7 decision to Doc Vecchio of Penn State. Trailing 6-4 heading into the final period, McMath started the third period down and promptly scored the escape. Vecchio countered a McMath shot to register a takedown before McMath escaped again to make the score 8-6. Vecchio was penalized a point for stalling, but McMath was unable to get a late takedown.
Lisa stayed alive with a dominating 7-1 performance over Penn State’s Adam Smith in round two of the wrestle-backs. Lisa was able to record two takedowns, two near fall points and an escape en route to the victory.
However, he was not able to muster any offense in a 2-0 loss to Penn’s Matt Valenti. Valenti rode him the entire second period and scored the escape to start the third to take the victory.
Matt Lebe was eliminated after his 4-3 loss to Iowa’s Joe Johnston. Lebe scored a takedown to start the match, but Johnston was able to get the escape. Lebe went up 3-1 after his escape to start the second but was penalized a point for a technical violation. Johnston ended the period with the match-winning takedown as neither wrestler was able to manage any points in the third.
Session Three Recap
Championship Quarterfinals
133 – Rad Martinez (Clarion) dec. Brandon Lauer (WV), 8-3
141 – Shane Cunanan (WV) dec. #7 Dana Holland (Arizona State), 5-3 sv
Consolation Round Two
125 – Seth Lisa (WV) dec. Adam Smith (Penn State), 7-1
149 – Billy Smith (WV) maj. dec. Ed Gutnick (Wisconsin), 13-4
157 – #8 Joe Johnston (Iowa) dec. Matt Lebe (WV), 4-3
165 – Tom McMath (WV) dec. #12 Kevin Carr (Central Michigan), 2-1 TB
174 – #1 Greg Jones (WV) dec. #6 Eric Hauan (Northern Iowa), 6-3
HWT – #12 Brent Miller (WV) dec. Joe Sahl, (Lehigh), 7-4
Consolation Round Three
125 – Matt Valenti (Penn) dec. Seth Lisa (WV), 2-0
149 – Billy Smith (WV) dec. Ryan Churella (Michigan), 8-2
165 – Doc Vecchio (Penn State) dec. Tom McMath (WV), 8-7
174 – Rashad Evans (Michigan State) dec. #1 Greg Jones (WV), 3-2
HWT – Brent Miller (WV) dec. Israel Blevins (Purdue), 7-4
