In one of the best second round matches of the second round, Nebraska's Justin Ruiz (197 pounds) defeated Big 12 rival Tom Grossman 5-4 in the sudden death tiebreaker.
Ruiz scored an escape with 15 seconds left in the tiebreaker to win. It was Ruiz's second straight win against a seeded wrestler and keeps alive the possibility that Cael Sanderrson's last match may be against a fellow Utah wrestler.
Ruiz scored the first down and that would profit him later as in the sudden death tiebreaker Ruiz got his choice of position and chose bottom. However, Ruiz didn't even know he had the choice if the match proceeded to that level.
"I didn't even know I had the choice" said Ruiz. I was glad it was my choice, but I wanted to get the takedown in the sudden death period."
Ruiz definitely pushed the action staying on the offense though a conservative approach would been a sound one to take. But a good offense is sometimes the best defense and the Sooner could not muster much offense.
Buffalo wrestler Kyle Cerminara was Cael Sanderson's 156th straight victim as Sanderson rolled to a 23-9 lead before mercifully pinning Cerminara.
It seemed that Cerminara's game was to go the distance with Sanderson as he ran to the edge on his feet and literally laid in a ball on bottom. All his points came via Sanderson's decision to let him go to work a wide array of takedowns. Ankle picks and single leg attacks were scored seemingly at will by Sanderson who also added some tilts. Finally, he caught Cerminara in a near-side cradle and the match was concluded with the fall.
Aaron Holker (Iowa State) and Ryan Lewis (Minnesota) are the two other undefeated Utah wrestlers.
Holker is on fire with a technical fall victory followed up with a 9-0 win. So far Holker has scored 26 points without yielding a single point.
Lewis on the other hand opens up the offense with a 23-9 win in match one and a 6-3 decision in his second match.
Collin Robertson and Gabe Vigil (both Boise State) both fell in the second round after posting first round wins. Rocky Smart (Arizona State) won his second match to stay alive in the tournament, a solid 3-1 win over John Simeon (Hofstra).
Three Utah wrestlers were eliminated. Mitch Morgan (Boise State) unfortunately drew into seeded Joe Carr of West Virginia in the wrestle-backs. Rad Martinez (Clarion)lost to heart breaking matches by a total of three points and Wayne Watts (The Citadel) put up a game performance but the freshman was elimated as well.
Second Round Match Results:
133 Pounds: Ryan Lewis (Minnesota) defeats Jordan Webster (Central Michigan) 6-3, now faces Zach Roberson Iowa State
133 Pounds: Rad Martinez (Clarion) lost to David Hoffman (Virginia Tech) 5-3 and was eliminated from the tournament.
141 Pounds: Aaron Holker (Iowa State) defeats Coyote Cooper (Indiana) 9-0, now faces Dylan Long (Northern Iowa)
141 Pounds: Gabe Vigil (Boise State) lost to Eric Larkin (Arizona State) by pin, now faces Scott Moore (Penn State)
149 Pounds: Collin Robertson (Boise State) lost to Jared Frayer (Oklahoma) 6-2, now faces Jason DeBruin (Hofstra)
149 Pounds: Wayne Watts (The Citadel) lost to Matt Gentry (Stanford) 9-3 and was eliminated from the tournament
157 Pounds: Mitch Morgan (Boise State) was pinned by Joe Carr (West Virginia) and was eliminated from the tournament
157 Pounds: Rocky Smart (Arizona State) defeats John Simeon (Hofstra), now faces Jeremy Reitz (Clarion)
197 Pounds: Cael Sanderson wins by pin over Kyle Cerminara (Buffalo), now faces Jason Payne (Northern Iowa)
197 Pounds: Justin Ruiz (Nebraska) defeats Tom Grossman (Oklahoma 5-4 (tie breaker), now faces Jon Trenge (Lehigh)
Team Scores:
Oklahoma 37.5, Minnesota 35.5, Iowa 31.0, Michigan 25.5, Iowa State 25.0
First Round Highlights:
Cael Sanderson pins Eric Mausser of Clarion in the second round to win his 155th consecutive match. The Iowa State Cyclone was near perfect racking up bunches of takedowns and tilts to seize control of the match.
His only little mistake was letting Mausser go with just two seconds left on the clock in the first round. Sanderson secured the pin reversing Mausser as he got high then catching Mausser in a bottom leg cradle for pin.
Also at 197 pounds Justin Ruiz (Nebraska) pulled of an upset by downing Chris Skretkowicz (Hofstra) 11-2. The Hofstra grappler scored a first round takedown but Ruiz rolled off 10 straight points via a bear-hug toss and two turk tilts plus one more point for riding time.
Other victorious wrestlers were Collin Robertson (Boise State) who held off Penn States's Nate Wachter 3-2. His teammate Gabe Vigil was dominant on his feet and beat Eastern Michigans Darnell Ruffin 19-8.
Also scoring impressive wins were Ryan Lewis (Minnesota) who was a bit sloppy in the early going but then rolled in the second and third stanzas with relentless offense to win 23-9 over Joe Cristaldi.
Aaron Holker was in complete control and scored 15 unanswered points to crush Scott Moore of Penn State.
Unfortunately four Utah wrestlers fell short as Wayne Watts, Rocky Smart, Rad Martinez and Mitch Morgan fell victim in the first round. Martinez (Clarion) was the 12th seed and hi s loss to Penn State's Marat Tomaev was a mild upset.
We will update these results after the second round with scores and match highlights. We will put them on top of these results so the new rounds will be read first. Thanks and keep checking us out for results!!!
