Wrestling: Five Prepare for NCAAs
March 11, 2011 10:56 AM | General
2011 NCAA Wrestling ChampionshipsMORGANTOWN, W. Va. – After successful runs at the Eastern Wrestling League tournament last Sunday, five West Virginia wrestlers have been selected to compete at the NCAA Championships on March 17-19 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Of 330 participants, WVU sophomore Shane Young (125 pounds), redshirt freshman Nathan Pennesi (133), redshirt senior Brandon Rader (149), redshirt senior Donnie Jones (165) and redshirt junior Matt Ryan (184) qualified for the national tournament following their finishes at the league championships.
Young, who placed second at the EWL Championships, will face Harvard’s Steven Keith in the opening round. If he manages to get past Keith, he will likely face Arizona State’s No. 1-ranked Anthony Robles, who he lost to earlier this season at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational by a technical fall. Young leads WVU with 28 wins on the year and just eight losses, while Keith has a 22-15 record. Young also has a team-leading 73 takedowns this season.
Pennesi will match up with 11-seeded Scotti Sentes of Central Michigan in the first round of the 133-pound class. Sentes owns a 30-6 record while Pennesi is 24-6, second-highest number of wins for WVU. Pennesi also leads the team with 101 near-fall points for the year. The duo has never faced each other in competition; the victor will advance to compete against the winner of sixth-seeded Tony Ramos of Iowa versus Lehigh’s Frank Cagnina.
Rader, a Parkersburg, W. Va. native, has the opportunity to avenge an earlier loss to Michigan’s Eric Grajales as the two see each other again in next Thursday’s opening round. Grajales defeated
Rader in Las Vegas back in December by a fall in 2:29. Rader (14-9) has won eight of his last ten bouts heading into the match with the 16-12 Grajales. Rader advanced to nationals meritorious of his second-place mark at EWLs and is competing for his third time at the event.
Jones (19-4) is also coming off a second-place finish at the EWL Tournament and will challenge Kent State’s Ross Tice (28-12) in the opening round, their first-ever meeting. Jones is second on the team with 70 takedowns on the year and has the highest winning percentage at .826. With a win, the Slickville, Pa., native will advance to wrestle the winner of No. 3-seeded Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma and American’s Patrick Graham. His qualification marks the fourth time of his career he will travel to nationals.
At 184 pounds, Ryan (20-7) qualified for the tournament with a third-place finish at the EWL Tournament. He will grapple with Nebraska’s tenth-seeded Josh Ihnen, who has a 25-8 record for the year. Ryan has won nine of his last 13 matches, including a 3-1 mark at the EWL Championships. The winner of the match will advance to face the victor of No. 7-seeded Chris Perry of Oklahoma State and Illinois’ Tony Dallago, who Ryan has a 1-1 record against this season.
The complete brackets of the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships can be seen at the PDF link provided above.
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