Wrestling: Rader Repeats as All-American
March 16, 2007 11:26 PM | General
March 16, 2007
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Sophomore West Virginia University wrestler Brandon Rader became just the sixth Mountaineer wrestler in school history to earn multiple All-America honors when he did so during the third session of the NCAA Championships at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Friday, March 16.
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| Brandon Rader became West Virginia's 17th All-American on Friday at the NCAA Wrestling championships.
Danielle Hobeika photo |
The 141-pounder from Parkersburg, W.Va., will continue his tournament run tomorrow morning when he competes in the consolation semifinals during Session V against No. 3-seeded Nathan Morgan of Oklahoma State. Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. and can be watched live on ESPN U.
Rader won four bouts on Friday to earn the right to wrestle on Saturday.
“Brandon started out slow in this year’s tournament but really kept building as the tournament went on,” said head coach Craig Turnbull. “To earn back-to-back All-America honors is a great accomplishment for him”
With All-America honors up for grabs in his match versus Minnesota’s Manuel Rivera, Rader advanced in impressive fashion with a 9-5 decision. He allowed no offensive points to be scored by Rivera who entered the week seeded fourth in the 141-pound weight class. Rader supplied three takedowns, a reversal and tacked on a riding time point with a 2:35-minute advantage in the category.
“It feels really good,” said Rader. “It was a hard fought battle through the consolations but I happy with the way it has turned out. Hopefully, I’m not done yet.”
Rader joins an elite group of West Virginia wrestlers to earn All-America honors multiple times. He is accompanied in that category by Mark Banks (1990-01), Mike Mason (1997-98), Whitey Clebove (1998-99), Vertus Jones (1998-99-2000) and Greg Jones (2002-04-05).
Turnbull’s program now boasts 17 All-Americans since 1997 and nine since 2000. At least one Mountaineer has earned a spot on the NCAA podium the last six years and 10 of the last 11.
In his final bout of the night Rader scored an 8-6 decision over Ohio State’s Jeff Jaggers. He exploded to an 8-2 lead in the first period on three takedowns and a reversal and then held on for the next two periods for the win.
Rader rebounded from a loss in the second round last night by dominating Cal Poly’s David Roberts in a 19-3 technical fall. Rader jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first period on three takedowns and a two-point near fall. Two reversals and a pair of three-point near falls over the next two periods ended the bout at the 5:32 mark.
The 141-pounder followed that performance with a 15-6 major decision against Lehigh’s Matt Ciasulli. Rader took a 6-2 lead into the second period and never looked back on his way to his 13th win in his last 14 matches.
Junior heavyweight Dustin Rogers came one win shy of becoming an All-American as he was pinned by No. 12-seeded Wade Sauer of Cal State Fullerton in 6:10. Rogers was the last to fall in the championship round as he dropped a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to No. 3-seeded Bubba Gritter of Central Michigan in the quarterfinals in sudden victory. After both grapplers could only muster an escape in regulation Gritter pulled off a takedown early in the overtime period to sneak away with the win.
The Corning, Calif., resident finished his tournament run with a record of 2-2, both wins coming over seeded wrestlers. Rogers is 19-9 on the season.
“I thought that Dustin had an outstanding tournament,” said Turnbull. “To beat the sixth and 11th seed yesterday was fantastic. It was just unfortunate we couldn’t get him one more win to become an All-American.”
West Virginia’s David Jauregui (149), Kurt Brenner (174) and Jared Villers were each eliminated from the tournament after losing their second bout of the week in Session III. Both Brenner and Villers ended their tourney run with 2-2 records, while Jauregui went 1-2.
A crowd of 14,745 poured into The Palace of Auburn Hills for Friday’s afternoon session for a grand total of 56,806 through two days of competition.
Session V in Auburn Hills gets underway at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. Live coverage of Saturday’s morning session can be watched on ESPNU and ESPN360.com. The championship bouts can be watched live in high definition on ESPN at 8 p.m. Live updates and results can also be tracked on InterMatWrestle.com or on NCAAsports.com.
Thursday’s Results
Session III
Consolation Bracket
141: No. 7 Brandon Rader (WVU) TECH David Roberts (CPI), 19-3 (5:32)
141: No. 7 Brandon Rader (WVU) MAJOR Matt Ciasulli (LU), 15-6
149: Matt Moley (BU) DEC David Jauregui (WVU), 3-2
174: Kurt Brenner (WVU) MAJOR Matt Maciag (UW), 14-6
174: Josh Weitzel (OU) DEC Kurt Brenner (WVU), 3-2
197: Jared Villers (WVU) DEC Eric Laposky (BU), 7-3
197: Hudson Taylor (UM) FALL Jared Villers (WVU), 3:29
Championship Bracket
HWT: No. 3 Bubba Gritter (CMU) DEC Dustin Rogers (WVU), 3-1 sv
Session IV
Consolation Bracket
141: No. 7 Brandon Rader (WVU) DEC No. 4 Manuel Rivera (UM), 9-5
141: No. 7 Brandon Rader (WVU) DEC Jeff Jaggers (OSU), 8-6 (Consolation Quarterfinals)
HWT: No. 12 Wade Sauer (CSF) FALL Dustin Rogers (WVU), 6:10
