#1 Flores and #5 Sanjaa Drop Semifinal Matches at NCAA Wrestling Championships;

Mar 16, 2012 by FloWrestling Staff

#1 Flores and #5 Sanjaa Drop Semifinal Matches at NCAA Wrestling Championships; Watch Moore's Interview

Release, Brackets, Photos, and Video Interview with Head Coach Teague Moore: http://aueagles.com/sports/m-wrestl/2011-12/releases/20120316b

No. 1 Ryan Flores and No. 5 Ganbayar Sanjaa each lost in the semifinal round at the 2012 NCAA Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Flores dropped a 6-2 decision to No. 4 Zachery Rey of Lehigh in a rematch of last year's NCAA heavyweight final. The two wrestlers met seven total times in their careers with Rey winning four and each of Flores' three victories coming in the EIWA Championship Match.

Sanjaa, meanwhile, came up on the short end of a 4-0 decision to No. 1 Kyle Dake of Cornell. Dake is undefeated this season and is a two-time defending national champion.

Both wrestlers have already clinched spots at All-Americans for the second straight year and can finish as high as third on Saturday morning.

In addition to Flores and Sanjaa in action on Friday night, AU's Daniel Mitchell was presented with the NCAA's Elite 89 award, given to the Division I wrestling student-athlete with the highest grade-point average who qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Through Session 4, American now sits in 17th place with 31 points. Penn State continues to lead the team race with 124 points.

The action from St. Louis will continue on Saturday morning with wrestlebacks and place matches. AUeagles.com's live blog will resume on Saturday at 11 a.m. EST. Be sure to visit the NCAA Wrestling Homepage on AUeagles.com for all the latest from St. Louis.

No. 5 Ganbayar Sanjaa Â– 157
Sanjaa dropped a 4-0 decision to two-time NCAA Champion and No. 1 Kyle Dake of Cornell in the semifinals. After a scoreless opening period, Sanjaa started the second period on top. After riding Dake for about 25 seconds, Dake was able to earn the reversal to take a 2-0 lead. Sanjaa was then whistled for stalling twice throughout the remainder of the period and trailed 4-0 through two. The wrestlers began the third period in a neutral position and Sanjaa was unable to get anything going as Dake moved on to the finals. Sanjaa will face No. 7 Dylan Alton of Penn State in the wrestlebacks on Saturday morning with a chance to finish as high as third with two wins.

No. 1 Ryan Flores Â– HWT
Flores lost to defending national champion Zachery Rey, the No. 4 seed from Lehigh. The bout was scoreless for the majority of the first period before Rey registered a late takedown to make it 2-0 through one. Flores started the second period on top and rode Rey for over a minute before Rey earned the escape to take a 3-0 advantage. Rey then started the third period on bottom once again and recorded a quick escape to make it 4-0. A Rey takedown extended the lead to 6-0 before Flores got the escape to set the final score at 6-2. Flores draws No. 10 Michael McMullan of Northwestern in the wrestlebacks on Saturday.