2014 NCAA Championships • 197 pounds
The following is a breakdown of the 197-pound weight class at the 2014 NCAA Division I 
Championships, March 20-22, in Oklahoma City. WIN Magazine will preview this weight class as well as update brackets and provide notes and quotes during the tournament.
All-American Placement Highlights
3rd Place — Scott Schiller (Minnesota) dec. Kyven Gadson (Iowa St.), 9-6 — The Gopher defeated the Cyclone for a second time in the tournament with three takedowns — two in the first period — and added a 2:52 riding time advantage. Gadson cut the margin to 7-6 on a big double leg takedown with 24 seconds left in the match.
5th Place — Conner Hartmann (Duke) won by medical forfeit over Chris Penny (Virginia Tech)
7th Place — Morgan McIntosh (Penn St.) dec. Nathan Burak (Iowa), 3-1 — The Nittany Lion scored the bout’s only takedown on a double at the edge of the mat with one second remaining in the first period.
Semifinal Notes
No. 1 Nick Heflin (Ohio State) vs. No. 4 Scott Schiller (Minnesota), 2-1 tb — The Buckeye earned his first NCAA final by first riding the Gopher for 30 seconds, then earning an overtime escape seven seconds into the final tiebreaker phase.
No. 2 J’den Cox (Missouri) vs. No. 14 Chris Penny (Virginia Tech), 4-1 — The Tiger true freshman clinched the victory by riding out the Hokie the final period, which gave him a 2:35 riding advantage to go with a second-period takedown.
Quarterfinal Notes
No. 1 Nick Heflin (Iowa State) dec. Cody Reed (Binghamton), 8-1 — The Buckeye scored a takedown in each frame and added a 1:23 riding time advantage.
No. 4 Scott Schiller (Minnesota) dec. No. 5 Kyven Gadson (Iowa State), 6-4 — The Gopher rallied from a 4-1 deficit and defeated the Cyclone for a third time this season but needed to fight off a deep takedown shot in the final 45 seconds to preserve the win. Gadson scored a takedown in the first and second periods before Schiller tied the bout on second-period takedown then took the lead for good on a third-period escape.
No. 14 Nick Penny (Virginia Tech) dec. No. 11 Nathan Burak (Iowa), 6-2 — The Hokie earned his first All-American honor by scoring three takedowns against the Hawkeye, then celebrated by pounding his chest.
No. 2 J’den Cox (Missouri) dec. Connor Hartmann (Duke), 5-1 — The Tiger scored a takedown in both the first and third periods, the first coming with just one second left in the first frame.
Second-round Notes
• Unseeded Cody Reed defeated his second straight seeded opponent when he used a first period takedown and 2:00 riding time to upset No. 8 Phil Wellington (Ohio U.) 4-0.
• Unseeded Conner Hartmann (Duke) also upset a second seeded foe when he blanked Oklahoma’s Travis Rutt, 6-0.
• Iowa’s No. 11 Nathan Burak scored a takedown with two seconds left in regulation to give the Hawkeye 4-3 win over No. 6 Richard Perry of Bloomsburg.
• Virginia Tech’s No. 14 Chris Penny used a second period takedown to edge Penn State’s No. 3 Morgan McIntosh, 3-2.
• Ohio State’s No. 1 Nick Heflin, who won his first-round match by injury default over Paul Rands of Navy, did not have to wrestle when Stanford’s Dan Scherer medically forfeited.
First round Notes
• Four unseeded wrestlers earned upsets: Binghamton’s Cody Reed defeated No. 9 Christian Boley of Maryland, 3-1 in sudden victory; Duke’s Conner Hartmann edged No. 10 Jace Bennett (Cornell), 2-1; Wisconsin’s Tim McCall decisioned No. 13 Dan Mitchell (American), 4-2 and Stanford’s Dan Scherer outscored No. 16 Alex Polizzi of Northwestern, 11-9.
• The first former All-American to lose a match was Oklahoma State’s Blake Rosholt — 8th in 2013 — who lost 10-7 to Illinois’ Mario Gonzales in a pigtail match.
Returning All-Americans
- Kyven Gadson, Iowa State — 6th (2013)
- Nick Heflin, Ohio State — 5th-174 (in both 2012 & 2013)
- Scott Schiller, Minnesota — 5th (2013)
- Travis Rutt, Oklahoma — 7th-184 (with Wisconsin, 2011)
- Taylor Meeks, Oregon State — 3rd (2013)
- Blake Rosholt, Oklahoma State — 8th (2013)
197-pound Preview
Nick Heflin won in sudden victory against Penn State’s Morgan McIntosh in the Big Ten championship.
No wrestler in this year’s NCAAs has made bigger gains than Ohio State’s Nick Heflin, who simply got bigger.
After earning a pair of All-American honors at 174 pounds (a pair of fifth-place finishes) the past two years, the Buckeye moved up two weight classes and enters the NCAAs red hot. Not only did Heflin win the recent Big Ten championship, the Buckeye defeated a pair of All-Americans in Scott Schiller of Minnesota and Oklahoma’s Travis Rutt at the National Duals.
Meanwhile, there are a pair of wrestlers who are nearly equally as hot. One is Iowa State’s Kyven Gadson, who closed out the regular season with a victory over Schiller — then ranked No. 1 — before winning the Big 12s. The other is Missouri’s true freshman J’den Cox, who claimed the MAC championship.
But one must not forget the efforts of Schiller, who defeated Gadson in last year’s fifth-place match, or Penn State’s Morgan McIntosh, a 2012 NCAA qualifier who redshirted last year before storming back in 2013 to reach the Big Ten finals.
Bloomsburg has had two former individual champions; the last one coming in 1987 when Rick Bonomo captured a third-straight championship. Eastern Wrestling League champion Richard Perry, who is 31-1, has the ability to add his name to that short list.
There are three other former All-Americans looking to re-ignite in the post-season. Oklahoma’s Rutt, who finished seventh in 2011 while competing for Wisconsin, lost in overtime to Iowa State’s Gadson. Oregon State’s Taylor Meeks, who finished third in the 2013 NCAAs, opened up the season with a win over Schiller in the NWCA All-Star Classic, but suffered six losses this winter and finished second in the Pac 12 tournament. The final returning AA is Oklahoma State’s Blake Rosholt, who fell to 12-8 this season.
