Wrestling: Grapplers Eye National Titles
March 15, 2011 05:30 PM | General
2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships WVU NCAA Championships GuideMORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Following a successful season in which the Mountaineer wrestling team placed third in the Eastern Wrestling League and second at the conference tournament, five wrestlers will look for similar success at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia beginning Thursday.
The three-day tournament at the Wells Fargo Center begins at 11 a.m. Thursday with the championship matches culminating the event on Saturday. 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 tournament based on their finishes at the league tournament.
“To be successful at nationals, the guys will need to take it one match at a time and compete no matter who the opponent is,” says WVU coach Craig Turnbull. “If you lose, you have to put it on the shelf and recover quickly or you’ll be out of the tournament with another loss in the next match."
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.
“I do believe that the guys are ready to compete," Turnbull says. "It’s been a strong schedule and we’ve seen a lot of the guys before In Las Vegas or Reno or from our dual matches. That benefits us both technically and emotionally; so we have a high level of confidence and a winning attitude as the tournament gets closer.”
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.
“(Brandon) Rader has placed twice in nationals earlier in his career and his goal is to be on the podium again this time around,” Turnbull says. “He’s stepping on that mat to win, even if he faces the No. 1 guy in the semifinals. Brandon has taken the right approach heading into the tournament.”
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.
“Donnie will also be fearless heading into each match,” Turnbull says. “He doesn’t look at the opponent’s ranking or seed or uniform. Donnie’s dangerous enough that if he is mentally ready for each match, he can beat anybody.”
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.
“(Matt) Ryan has not seen this opponent from Nebraska before, but that’s part of the fun,” Turnbull says. “You see the story unfold in each match – he should be a tough opponent, but at nationals, it can go either way.”
The complete brackets of the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships can be seen at the PDF link provided above.
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