Second round of NCAAs features plenty of upsets

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Upsets became the rule in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Division nationals Thursday evening in the Chesapeake Energy Arena as 25 wrestlers, seeded ninth or lower, will advance to the Friday morning’s quarterfinal round.

And among those unheralded wrestlers who remained undefeated after two rounds were five unseeded wrestlers and five wrestlers) seeded No. 13-16 (which would have made them unseeded in past NCAA tournaments.

The unseeded quarterfinalists include:

• Iowa State’s 125-pound Earl Hall, who defeated No. 4 Josh Martinez of Air Force, 8-1;

• Bloomsburg’s 165-pound Josh Veltre, who followed a first-round win over Iowa’s No. 5 Nick Moore with a 5-2 win over Indiana’s Ryan Leblanc;

• Arizona State’s 184-pound Blake Stauffer who defeated Nebraska’s T.J. Dudley, 7-2;

• Binghamton’s 197-pound Cody Reed, who upset No. 8 Phil Wellington of Ohio U., 4-0;

• Duke’s 197-pound Connor Hartmann, who defeated Oklahoma’s No. 7 Travis Rutt, 6-0.

Those victorious wrestlers, seeded between No. 13 and 16 were:

• Oklahoma’s No. 13 Cody Brewer, who pinned Oklahoma State’s No. 4 Jon Morrison in 2:43 at 133 pounds;

• Old Dominion’s No. 13 Jack Dechow, who edged No. 4 Max Thomusseit of Pittsburgh, 3-1, in sudden victory

• Oregon State’s No. 14 Scott Sakaguchi, who pinned Cornell’s No. 3 Chris Villalonga in 4:43;

• Virginia Tech’s No. 14 Chris Penny, who upset Penn State’s No. 3 Morgan McIntosh, 3-2, at 197 pounds;

• No. 15 Mitch Minotti of Lehigh also advanced to the quarterfinals, but his victory came against unseeded Matt Frisch of The Citadel, who upset No. 2 seed Nick Dardanes of Minnesota in the first round.

With these upsets, three-time defending champion Penn State leads the field with 26.5 points, but only five Nittany Lions advanced to the quarterfinals: 125-pound Nico Megaludis, 141-pound Zain Retherford, 165-pound David Taylor, 174-pound Matt Brown and 184-pound Ed Ruth. Taylor recorded his second fall in as many matches while rule scored a 15-0 technical fall.

Minnesota and Oklahoma State are in a two-way tie for second place with 21.5 points.

The Gophers advance five to the quarterfinals: 133-pound David Thorn, 157-pound Dylan Ness (who scored his second fall of the tournament), 174-pound Logan Storley, 184-pound Kevin Steinhaus, 197-pound Scott Schiller and heavyweight Anthony Nelson (who also earned a fall).

Oklahoma State’s quarterfinalists will include 149-pound Josh Kindig (who upset Nebraska’s Jake Sueflohn), 157-pound Alex Dieringer (who pinned Missouri’s Joey LaVallee), 165-pound Tyler Caldwell, 174-pound Chris Perry and heavyweight Alex Marsden.

Iowa and Oklahoma are tied for fourth place with 20.5 points.

The Hawkeyes will send six wrestlers to the quarterfinals: 125-pound Cory Clark, 133-pound Tony Ramos (who scored a deciding takedown with 14 seconds left to beat Zane Richards of Illinois), 157-pound Derek St. John, 174-pound Mike Evans, 197-pound Nathan Burak and heavyweight Bobby Telford.

Oklahoma, the tournament host, will feature four in the quarters: 125-pound Jarrod Patterson, 133-pound Cody Brewer, 149-pound Kendric Maple and 174-pound Andrew Howe.

The quarterfinals start at 10 a.m. on Friday.