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Release URL: http://www.nusports.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/031312aaa.html 

NU Sends Six to St. Louis for NCAA Championships 

Competition begins inside Scottrade Center Thursday, March 15 at 11 a.m. CT

March 13, 2012

Watch NCAA Championships Preview Video on Wildcats All Access!

2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships
Thurs., March 15 - Sat., March 17• All Day
Site:  Scottrade Center (St. Louis, Mo.)
Webstream: Sessions 1-6: ESPN3.com
TV: Sessions 3-5 ESPNU / Session 6 - ESPN
Twitter Updates: @NU_SportsLIVE / #d1wrestle

2012 NCAA Championships Notes

2012 B1G Championships Bracket

EVANSTON, Ill. – It all comes down to the final week of the season for Northwestern as the ’Cats send six wrestlers to compete with the best in the nation at the 2012 NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo. Six sessions of competition take place from Thursday, March 15-Saturday, March 17 inside the Scottrade Center.

This yearÂ’s group of six NU NCAA qualifiers has a variety of experience as three are returning qualifiers and three others will be competing in their first NCAA championship. Redshirt junior Jason Welch (157) has the most experience of the group, wrestling in his third championship, while junior Levi Mele (125) and sophomore Kaleb Friedley (149) are both two-time qualifiers. Redshirt freshmen Pierce Harger (165), Lee Munster (174) and Mike McMullan (Hwt) are all first-time qualifiers.
 
Fans can watch complete coverage of the NCAA championships via the ESPN family of networks and a complete schedule is as follows.
 
Thursday, March 15
11 a.m. - Session I - First Round
ESPN3.com (Shawn Kenney, Jim Gibbons)
6:30 p.m. - Session II - Second Round, Wrestlebacks
ESPN3.com (Shawn Kenney, Jim Gibbons)
 
Friday, March 16
10 a.m. - Session III - Quarterfinals, Two Rounds of Wrestlebacks
ESPNU/ESPN3.com (Anthony Robles, Tim Johnson, Adam Amin)
6 p.m. - Session IV - Semifinals, Two Rounds of Wrestlebacks
ESPNU/ESPN3.com (Anthony Robles, Tim Johnson, Adam Amin)
 
Saturday, March 17
10 a.m. - Session V - Championship Medal Round (3rd, 5th, 7th place)
ESPNU/ESPN3.com (Anthony Robles, Tim Johnson)
6:30 p.m. - Session VI - Championship Final
ESPN/ESPN3.com - (Anthony Robles, Tim Johnson, Adam Amin)
 
*All times are Central time
 
NU NCAA Qualifiers

Weight	Name	Overall Record	vs. Field	B1G Finish	NCAA Appearances	CP/RPI
125	#9 Levi Mele	30-6	7-5	4th (AQ)	2nd	9/10
149	Kaleb Friedley	20-11	4-7	7th (AQ)	2nd	26/25
157	#3 Jason Welch	23-1	7-1	2nd (AQ)	3rd	2/4
165	Pierce Harger	21-12	3-11	6th (AQ)	1st	28/24
174	#8 Lee Munster	23-10	6-10	4th (AQ)	1st	13/15
Hwt.	#10 Mike McMullan	23-10	8-9	4th (AQ)	1st	13/13

Ranking indicates seed; CP indicates NCAA coaches poll ranking

Notes on NUÂ’s Group of SixÂ…

Breakout Season – Levi Mele - 125
Junior Levi Mele is having the best season of his NU wrestling career with a 30-6 record and fourth place finish at Big TenÂ’s. After starting the season 16-0 and going 19-2 through Midlands, he hit a bit of a roadblock in mid-January, losing back-to-back bouts, but Mele got back on track, winning eight-straight matches. Included in that winning streak was a 13-7 win over then-No. 5 Jesse Delgado from Illinois. Mele has five wins over ranked opponents this year and has far surpassed last yearÂ’s win total of 18 with a team-leading 30 victories this year. He also leads NU with 12 pins and is second on the team, scoring 57 dual points.
 
Power Pinner – Kaleb Friedley – 149
Kaleb Friedley is tied for second on the NU squad with eight falls this year. As a freshman, Friedley won 13 of his 25 bouts, or 52.0 percent, by fall. In total, Friedley has 21 pins in his NU career, meaning 46.7 percent of his 45 wins have been by fall. Friedley also makes quick work of his opponents as six of his falls this year came in the first period, while he had five falls in the first three minutes last year.
 
Winning Welch – Jason Welch – 157
Jason Welch concluded the regular season a perfect 21-0 and his 23-match winning streak was the longest for any NU wrestler this year. Welch has won a majority of his matches in dominating fashion as 16 of his 23 wins (69.6 percent; seven major decisions, four tech falls and five pins) have come with bonus points. He has outscored his opponents 188-37 so far this year (doesnÂ’t include point totals in his five bouts won by fall). In fact, the most any opponent has scored on Welch this year is four points, but the three times an opponent scored four on Welch, he won those bouts by major decision.
 
Battle Tested – Pierce Harger – 165
Pierce Harger has had one of the more grueling schedules on this yearÂ’s Northwestern squad, facing nine ranked opponents in his redshirt freshman season. Harger has weathered the storm, and while he has one win over those ranked opponents, three of those losses were by four points or less. Harger rattled off a five-match winning streak to close the regular season and wrestled above his seed at his first Big Ten championships, placing sixth as the No. 8 seed.
 
Coming on Strong – Lee Munster – 174
Lee Munster is peaking at the right time, heading into the NCAA championships. After dropping four-straight matches in January against four other NCAA qualifiers from the Big Ten, Munster is 8-2. Two wins over ranked opponents, including a 9-1 major decision over No. 18 Curran Jacobs of MSU, who beat Munster during the losing streak, and a fourth-place finish as the No. 9 seed at Big TenÂ’s are included in that stretch. Munster has been in a number of close matches this year as four losses were decided by three points or less.
 
Big Wins – Mike McMullan – Hwt
Mike McMullan has had some of the bigger wins for Northwestern this year as he has victories over four heavyweights (CMUÂ’s Peter Sturgeon, IowaÂ’s Bobby Telford, MSUÂ’s Mike McClure, NebraskaÂ’s Tucker Lane) that were ranked in the top-10 at the time of the match. In total, McMullan has seven matches against top-10 heavyweights and was close in the three losses, losing by no more than two points. McMullan is 2-1 against Iowa heavyweights this year as he defeated the HawkeyesÂ’ 2011 Big Ten champion Blake Rasing, 4-3 at Midlands and edged 2012 Big Ten runner-up Bobby Telford, 7-5 in sudden victory during the dual season. McMullanÂ’s lone loss to Telford, also came in sudden victory by a 4-2 decision at Midlands. He also was within one point against MinnesotaÂ’s No. 3 Tony Nelson in the Big Ten semifinals and one point of No. 5 Cameron Wade of PSU in the third-place match as both were 4-3 decisions.
 
A Look Back...
Last year, three NU wrestlers stood on the podium as All-Americans and the Wildcats tied for 12th with 72.0 points. Then-sophomore Jason Welch had a noteworthy tournament, upsetting No. 1 seed Adam Hall of Boise State in the quarterfinals and was three points away from edging eventual NCAA champion Bubba Jenkins of ASU in the semifinals. Welch, the No. 8 seed, finished sixth at 157 lbs., his first All-America honor. Then-senior and No. 3 seed Brandon Precin capped off his NU career as a three-time All-American, finishing third at 125 lbs. After being pinned in his first match, then-senior and No. 11 seed Andrew Nadhir wrestled all the way back (seven matches) for a sixth place finish at 149 to end his NU career as a first-time All-American.
 
With the exception of 2009-10 when Northwestern had one NCAA qualifier, the Â’Cats have placed in the top 15 and have had at least one All-American in six of the last seven seasons. NUÂ’s best finish during that run came during the 2006-07 season when NU had four All-Americans and finished fourth in the team race.
 
March (Back) to the Arch
After a two-year hiatus, the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships return to the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo. Last yearÂ’s edition was in Philadelphia, Pa., while the 2010 championships were in Omaha, Neb. Northwestern has fond memories of St. Louis since the last time NCAAÂ’s were at the Scottrade Center (2009), Northwestern had just four qualifiers, but finished 13th thanks to a second national title for Jake Herbert at 184 lbs. and All-America honors for Brandon Precin as he placed third at 125 lbs.
 
Northwestern has six NCAA qualifiers competing in St. Louis this year, which ties for the second-highest total in school history. NU had a school-record seven qualifiers in 2006, placing 13th with three All-Americans (Jake Herbert, Ryan Lang and John Velez).

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