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WVU Sixth After Two Sessions at Big 12s
March 05, 2016 10:27 PM | Wrestling
Photo by Mike Smith/MatShots
KANSAS CITY – After a rocky first session, the West Virginia University wrestling team used a pair of pins in the consolation bracket to move up to sixth place after day one of action at the 2016 Big 12 Wrestling Championship at Sprint Center in Kansas City on Saturday.
The Mountaineers found themselves in ninth place after the preliminary and quarterfinal matches, but scored 31.5 points in Session II to move into sixth place. Oklahoma State sits atop the leaderboard with 140.5 points, followed by Iowa State in second with 72 and Oklahoma in third with 70.5.
No. 4 seed Connor Flynn won a 4-2 decision over South Dakota State’s Luke Zilverburg, the No. 5 seed, to in the 165-pound quarterfinals to advance to the evening semifinals. He dropped a 16-1 tech. fall to No. 1 Alex Dieringer in the semis to move to the consolation semifinals where he will face No. 9 Michael Billingsley of Air Force.
Bubba Scheffel, the No. 3 seed at 184 pounds, won a 3-2 decision over No. 6 Andrew Dixon of Oklahoma to move to the semifinals. He dropped a 10-1 decision to No. 2 Nolan Boyd of Oklahoma State and will wrestle in Sunday’s consolation semifinals against No. 8 seed Benjamin Stroh of Wyoming.
No. 8 Keegan Moore won a 13-2 major decision over Wyoming’s No. 9 Drake Foster in the 133-pound preliminaries before dropping a 14-5 major to defending National Champion and No. 1 seed Cody Brewer of Oklahoma. In the consolation bracket, he pinned No. 10 seed Nico Colunga of North Dakota State in 3:53 before winning a 3-2 decision over No. 5 seed Brance Simms of South Dakota State to earn his spot in the consolation semifinals. He will face Oklahoma State’s Gary Wayne Harding, the No. 6 seed.
Tony DeAngelo entered as the No. 8 seed at 141 and started with a 16-0 first-period tech. fall of No. 9 Ben Polkowske of Northern Colorado before dropping a 7-2 decision to No. 1 Dean Heil of OSU. DeAngelo bounced back with a 4-3 decision against No. 7 Nathan Boston of Iowa State before a thrilling pin of No. 5 Jarod Maynes of Utah Valley in 4:43. He will take on No. 2 Bryce Meredith of Wyoming in the consolation semifinals.
After dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 6 Eleazer DeLuca in the 157-pound quarterfinals, No. 3 Dylan Cottrell bounced back with a 15-6 major decision of No. 8 Raider Lofthouse of UVU. He is set to square off with No. 4 Archie Colgan of Wyoming Sunday morning.
No. 6 seed Ross Renzi dropped his quarterfinal bout, 5-3, to No. 3 Lelund Weatherspoon at 165 before winning an 11-3 major decision over No. 7 Andrew Jackson of Air Force. He will meet No. 4 David Kocer of South Dakota State in the consolation semifinals.
After a shocking loss to No. 9 Pat Downey of Iowa State in the 197-pound quarterfinals in a 4-1 decision, No. 1 seed Jacob A. Smith won a 4-1 decision over NDSU’s Logan Paxton, the No. 10 seed, and took a 7-4 decision from No. 4 Parker Hines of Air Force. He will face UNC’s No. 3 Trent Noon in Sunday’s session.
Session II starts at 10 a.m. ET Sunday morning at Sprint Center. Wrestlers who advance in from the consolation semifinals will wrestle in the third-place match, while wrestlers who drop their semifinal bouts will compete in the fifth-place match Sunday morning.
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