2018 NCAA Championships

NCAA Championships: Placement Matches Live Updates!

NCAA Championships: Placement Matches Live Updates!

Live updates of the placement round of the 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships! Then, after the session is over, they become match notes!

Mar 17, 2018 by Andrew Spey
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Top o' the Saturday morning to everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying some delicious green beverages on this Day of St. Patrick as we figure out the placements of our All-Americans from 3rd through 8th. Finals are this evening. Today, we have one round of consolation semifinals, and then matches for 7th, 5th and 3rd. 

Refresh early and often for live updates, and check out full brackets, team scores and more on the steady and reliable FloArena.


Consolation Semifinals

Winners of this round wrestle for 3rd, losers will be in the 5/6 match. 

125 Pounds

NaTo of Ohio State and Rivera of Northwestern in a Big Ten rivalry. NaTo has Rivera in a cradle. Bonus Points would be huge. NaTo gets the pin!

Minnesota's Lizak and Lehigh's Cruz in a rematch of last year's NCAA finals. Crazy scrambling but no score yet. Both wrestlers grew up in the Lehigh Valley and are very familiar with each other. They go to the second scoreless. Lizak chooses top, which seems wise. Cruz getting ridden and picks up a stall warning. No back points yet. Lizak picks up a point, I think stalling but am not sure. Cruz take neutral in the third. Cruz gets a takedown but RT is locked up so he cuts Lizak. Time running out, Lizak hit for stalling, Lizak counters for two and that ices it for Lizak. Lizak wins the rematch and will wrestle for third. 


133 Pounds

tOSU's Pletcher and OKSt's Brock with precious team points on the line for Ohio State. Pletcher right away with the takedown. Brock escapes and answers with a TD of his own. Another TD for Pletcher abut can't get the rideout. It's 6-5 going into the 2nd, Brock takes down. Escape Kaid, takedown and rideout for Pletch. Pletch starts the third underneath winning 8-6. Pletcher with some man strength, it's 11-6 deep in the third. Pletcher wins 12-8 and picks up big team points for the Buckeyes

DelVecchio of Rutgers and Wilson of NC State in a battle of unseeded surprise All-Americans. Del the 5th year senior, Wilson a redshirt freshman. Wilson attacks right off the whistle and scores first. 4-1 with another Wilson TD. Wilson living on DelVecchio's legs. Its 6-2 in the first. Some feet to back action from Wilson and it's 10-3 in the second. Wilson cruises to a 13-3 victory. 


141 Pounds

Jack of NC State by way of Connecticut and McKenna of Ohio State by way of New Jersey. McKenna draws first blood but Jack with a switch ties it up. McKenna escapes, 3-2. McKenna starts the second underneath up a point. McKenna escapes to make it 4-2. Jack escapes in the third to make it 4-3 in favor of McKenna. RT not a factor, 90 seconds remaining. Jack can't get to McKenna's legs, he defense to stout. McKenna survives and will wrestle for third with a 4-3 win.

True freshman Lee of PSU and Eierman of Mizzou, with crucial team points on the line for the Nittany Lions. Eierman picked up half an arena of Buckeye fans today. Eierman scores first but Lee escapes and gets a TD of his own to take the lead. Eierman escapes, Lee on a shot but can't finish. 3-3. Slide by from Eierman in short time makes it 5-3. Second period start in neutral. Lee deep on a shot but Eireman is too crafty. He scrambles for two of his own to make it 7-3. Now Eierman throws in boots and tries to stretch Lee out. In to the third in neutral, Eierman again gets a takedown and it's 9-3, RT creeping up over a minute. Lee sprinting back to the center on restarts but it's all Eierman so far. Time ticking away and Eierman will win with 12-4 major. 


149 Pounds

Sorensen from Iowa battling back from a stunning 2nd round upset. Kolodzik of Princeton is his opponent. Underway and locked in collar ties. Kolodzik winning 2-0 after 3 minutes. An escape for Kolo makes it 3-0 in the second. An escape and two stall calls makes it 3-2, still in Kolo's favor, 45 seconds to go. Sorensen working but Kolodzik with a clutch takedown to ice it. An escape and counter makes it a 7-3 victory for the the Princeton Tiger. 

Leeth and his neckbrace from Mizzou has Heilmann from UNC, both first time AAs. Lots of scrambles but no scores after 3 minutes. Leeth escapes in the second but Heilmann wins the ensuing scramble and takes the 2-1 lead. Now 2-2. Into the third they go, Heilmann take down, RT not a factor. Escape by Heilmann and a takedown makes it 5-2, now 5-3. Heilman wins 5-3 and will wrestle for third place. 


157 Pounds

Jordan of Ohio State has Berger of Nebraska. Jordan scorces first and the Buckeye partisans let out a cheer. An escape from Berger cuts the lead to one. In the second another escape ties it. They start the 3rd in neutral, RT not a factor, 2-2. Berger deep on a shot, Jordan on his butt and a body lock. No points as time expire. They review. Call upheld. Into sudden victory. Another scramble, Berger behind, Jordan holding a leg. Two is awarded and Berger gets the OT victory! He picks up quite a few Penn State fans as well.


Kermerer of Iowa will have Pantaleo of Michigan in another all Big Ten matchup. Lots of collar ties, then Kem goes low and picks up a single, converts and scores 2 in short time. Escape by Kem in the 2nd extends his lead over Pants by 3. Kem starts the third in top position. Pantaleo escapes but Kemerer takes him down again. In control 5-1 with RT. Kemerer will win and wrestle for third. 


165 Pounds

Wick of Wisconsin and Marinelli of Iowa, both freshman and both from the Big Ten. Marinelli scores first. I missed some action here but Wick got on his offense and its 5-3 in his favor. Now Wick has the Bull in a cradle and he's getting swipes. No fall but four big backpoints for Wick. Wick long, praying mantis like body has Marinelli in yet another cradle. Wick dominates, wins by 16-3 and will wrestle for 3rd. 

McFadden from VTech has Marsteller of Lock Haven, #2 vs #9 seed. No scoring after 2 minutes. McFadden with the escape in the second makes it 1-0. Very cautious match by both wrestlers. Marsteller starts the third on bottom, escapes and gets a takedown to take the lead for the first time in the match. McFadden escapes to cut the deficit to 2 with a minute left. McFadden in on a leg, Marsteller crazy funk roll, they're on the edge of the mat and Marsteller somehow finds McFadden's second leg for tow more. Time runs out and Chance Marsteller wins 5-3 and will wrestle for third. 


174 Pounds

Daniel Lewis of Missouri and Jordan Kutler of Lehigh. Lewis in on a single and converts for two. Lewis in on another shot in the second but Kutler gives it right up. They call for injury time and that's it. Lewis wins by default. Doubtful that Kutler wrestles back for 5th. 

BoJo from Ohio State and Myles Amine from Michigan. Amine in on a shot and they start scrambling. Amine comes out on top with the two. Amine with over two minutes of riding time. In the second Amine escapes to make it 3-0. Another takedown via cradle but no back points makes it 5-0 for Amine. A couple escapes for BoJo in the second and third make it 5-2. Myles Amine beats Jordan once again and will wrestle for third, Ohio State holding at 122.5 team points.


184 Pounds

Zavatsky of VTech, Venz of Nebraska. Some good shots by both but no scores after 3 minutes. In the second a granby and reversal for Venz. Zavatsky escapes to make it 2-1. Venz goes off in the third, getting two takedowns to finish a 7-4 win. The redshirt freshman will wrestle for third and keep Nebraska in the Top-10.

Emery Parker from Illinois has Dom Abounader of Michigan. Parker gets a quick takedown but Abounader needs injury time for his shoulder. Abounader is okay, or at least okay enough to keep wrestling, and Parker chooses neutral on the restart. Parker starts the second on top and Abounader escapes to make it 2-1. Parker in on a shot and Abounader counters with what looks like a head scissor with his legs. The Illinois coaches launch a challenge brick at the refs as the illegal hold wasn't called. They challenge is upheld, they reverse the no call and award 1 to Parker on the illegal hold. It's 3-1 in his favor. Parker gets another takedown and closes out the match with a 5-3 win to wrestle for third.


197 Pounds

1 vs 2 seed meeting in the consi semis. Kollin Moore takes a 2-0 lead over Ben Darmstadt. Escape and another takedown, plus one more and it's 6-2 late in the first. But Darmstadt uses his length and leverage to get the reversal and make it 6-4. That's how the first period will end. Just another escape for Moore and it's 7-4 going into the third. Boos on the stalemate call but it's still 7-4. A huge 3.5 team points for Moore closes out the consi semis and the sophomore will wrestle for third for the second year in a row.

Meanwhile on Mat 3, Jacob Holschlag appears to be this year's Drew Foster for UNI. He is facing Cinderella story Kyle Conel of Kent State. And Conel gets a lot of this crowd up on their feet as he gets a first period pin to wrestle for third.


285 Pounds

Jacob Kasper pins Sam Stoll to wrestle for third in his home state.

Amar Dhesi got a first period takedown, quickly to make it 2-1. The second period went scoreless. Dhesi wins 3-1 and will wrestle for third. Interestingly, he may also get a wrestle off for the Canadian world team spot later this or next month.


Placement Matches

We'll wrestle for 3rd, 5th, and 7th. Each win is worth one extra team point for placement. Normal bonus points apply. 


125 Pounds

3rd: Nato of Ohio State has Lizak of Minnesota. Lizak gets the first TD. This is a rematch of the Big Ten finals that NaTo won. NaTo with a big reversal after being ridden for almost a minute. But Lizak reverses him right back. Lizak winning 4-2 with over a minute of RT. NaTo wisely chooses neutral to start the third. Takedowni for NaTo makes it 4-4, RT now winding down. An escape from Lizak gives him the lead temporarily because NaTo is back in on a shot which converts to make it 6-5 in favor of the Buckeye. Crucial ride out for NaTo. In the third, Lizak chooses (wait for it)... top! No back points but Lizak has riding time over a minute. 80 seconds left in regulation. A locked hands call on Lizak, which would be huge. Officials will review. The call is reversed! No locking hands. NaTo back on bottom. Lizak with the rideout. The RT point sends it to sudden victory. Lizak has a stall warning keep in mind. NaTo close to a match winning TD but runs out of real estate. Lizak in on a shot, blocked by NaTo. Counter hi-c and NaTo finishes for the win! 1 team point for the Buckeyes and NaTo finishes his career 1, 3, 3, 3. 

5th: Cruz of Lehigh has Rivera of Northwestern. C-Bass Rivera gets a takedown. Cruz is up and out quickly. Rivera starts the second on bottom. Cruz with a cradle now. He takes Rivera over but no swipes. Tries again and now the swipes come. CRuz gets four to take a 5-2 lead. 2 nearfall for Cruz with a tilt makes it 7-2 with lots of RT. Cruz starts the third underneath. Stall call on Cruz, he's not doing much. Another stall makes it 7-4, but Cruz will still win. Three time All-American Darian Cruz places fifth. The end of a special career for a special wrestler for Lehigh. A round of applause as Cruz exits the arena. No one dislikes Darian Cruz, this is a fact. 

7th: Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State wins by medical forfeit over Zeke Moisey. Bresser ends his junior campaign an All-American. 


133 Pounds

3rd: Tariq Wilson of NC State never stops shooting. he gets a TD on Luke Pletcher of Ohio State in the first few seconds. Escape makes it 2-1. Slide by and mat return by Pletch gives him the lead with 30 seconds left in the 1st. Now 4-2. Parker with 91 seconds of RT. 2nd period starts in neutral. Wilson catches Pletcher in a scramble and throws him to his back. He'll get 6 big points and it's 8-3 in the Wolfpacker's favor. 8-5 now in the third but Wilson gets another TD. 10-6 with 1 minute to go. Back and forth, a headlock for Pletcher but Wilson rolls through. Pletcher going kitchen sink, trying everything. Wilson defends, and unseeded Tariq Wilson takes third place, delighting both NC State and Penn State fans alike. 

5th: Kaid Brock with a quick takedown on unseeded Scott DelVecchio of Rutgers. Brock rides out the period. He'll start the 2nd period on bottom, leading 2-0 with a mountain of RT. Brock escapes, 3-0. Snap down go behind for Brock runs it to 5-0. 3rd in neutral. Another TD makes it 7-0 and Brock is cruises to a headlock. Brock wins by major 10-1. 

7th: Scott Parker of Lehigh has Montorie Bridges of Wyoming. Parker with two TDs to nones makes it 4-1. Parker leading 5-3 now in the third. Parker wins and takes 7th for the Mountain Hawks. 


141 Pounds

3rd: Joey McKenna of Ohio State has Jaydin Eierman of Missouri. McKenna scores first. Now 4-1 McKenna. McKenna wins a workmanlike 7-2 match to take third. His team point countered by Lee's win. 

5th: Nick Lee of PSU has Kevin Jack of NCSU. Lee gets the first TD. Jack escapes, 2-1. Another TD and its 4-1. 2nd period starts in neutral. Lee riding Jack in the third. Locked hands on Lee makes it 4-2. It's 7-5 Lee now but RT not a factor. 30 seconds left. A stall and then a counter for two ties the score. Jack rides for 4 seconds to send it to sudden victory. A crazy scramble, both guys have their chances, but it's Lee on the edge of the mat to take 5th.

7th: Chad Red of Nebraska has the biggest surprise of the tournament Sa'Derian Perry of Eastern Michigan. Perry with a 2-1 lead. Red answers to make it 3-2. 5-2 now in Red's favor in the second. And Red caps it off with a pin to take 7th for the Cornhuskers. 


Attendance Alert

With less mats, more temporary seats and another sell out, attendance is up to 19,267. More empty seats than session 4 but this place is extremely full for a Saturday morning. 


149 Pounds

3rd: Matt Kolodzik of Princeton has Troy Heilmann of North Carolina. No scores after 3 minutes. Kolo escapes in the second to break the tie. Heilmann escapes to tie the score in the third but Kolo gets a clutch TD to make it 3-1, RT not a factor.  Heilmann escapes but that's all he can do. Kolodzik takes 3rd for the Tigers. 

5th: Iowa's Brandon Sorensen has Missouri's Grant Leeth. Sorensen muscles his way to the first takedown. Sorensen rides out the first and is still riding in the second, up 2-0. The third begins with Sorensen on bottom, but 2-0 with 3 minutes fo RT. Another escape for Sorensen, and he wins 4-0 to end his career as a four-time All American.

7th: Boo Lewallen from Oklahoma State wrestles Jason Tsirtsis of Arizona State. No score after 3 minutes. Tsirtsis riding Lewallen for over a minute in the 2nd period. Lewallen escapes. Tsirtsis underneath to start the third, he escapes with 1:09 of RT.  


157 Pounds

3rd: Blood time in the early goings of this one for Kemerer. The Hawkeye will take an injury default and Tyler Berger of Nebraska will finish third.

5th: Alec Pantaleo of Michigan with a quick takedown in what is a crucial match for both teams. Michigan is battling for a team trophy, while Micah Jordan and Ohio State are trying to win the team title. Out of bounds and Micah is out, Pantaleo with :48 of RT. Micah escapes in the second to tie the score, exactly 1 minute of RT for Pants. Micah starts the third on top. Pantaleo escapes but not before RT goes down under a minute. Pantaleo can't teleport so that is unsurprising. Pantaleo blast double makes it 5-2 and there goes the RT up over a minute again. 50 seconds to go. Pantaleo holds on to win 6-3 and finish 5th after a 6th place finish last year. 

7th: Good scramble between Zilverberg and Shields after Shields gets a takedown to make it 2-0. Shields starting to pull away in the 2nd, it's 5-1 now. In the 3rd Shieds runs the score up to 8-3. Shields wins 8-4 and Arizona State has a 7th place finisher. 


165 Pounds

3rd: Chance Marsteller of Lock Haven will try to control the lanky and deadly Evan Wick of Wisconsin. Chance gets the first TD after 1 minute of wrestling. Another takedown from Marsteller makes it 4-1. But there's the deadliness of Wick. He locks the much smaller framed Marsteller up in a cradle and gets the pinfall! Badger head coach Barry Davis finishes his career with a 3rd place All-American with Evan Wick. 

5th: David McFadden of Virginia Tech will tackle the Bull, Alex Marinelli of Iowa. Marinelli leads 2-1. McFadden shoots a single leg in short time, and converts just as time runs out. McFadden with a 3-2 lead in the second but Marinelli riding and racking up RT. McFadden escapes to make it 4-2, though 1:38 of RT for the Bull. Marinelli starts the 3rd underneath. Out of nowhere a modified spladle for McFadden and the ref calls the fall. McFadden takes 5th!

7th: Chandler Rogers of Oklahoma State has Cornell tournament surprise Jon Jay Chavez of Cornell. Chavez races out to an early 6-3 lead. Chavez leading 8-5 now in the second. 9-5 Chavez in the third. Rogers looking to go big. Chavez holds on to win 9-5 and places 7th.


174 Pounds

3rd: Daniel Lewis of Mizzou will try to stop the red hot Myles Amine of Michigan. Lewis in on a shot but Amine defends and almost counters but it remains 0-0. The go to the second and Amine will be in the bottom position. Lewis escapes to score the first point in a very cautious match. Amine has Lewis in danger but Amine scrambles out of it. At least for now. Finally Amine comes around on top. Lewis had riding time though so they'll go to sudden victory. Amine with the clutch takedown and Michigan gas a 3rd placer. 

5th: Bo Jordan of Ohio State claims victory via medical forfeit over Lehigh's Jordan Kutler. Jordan finishes an outstanding career as a four time All-American. 

7th: Jacobe Smith of Oklahoma State has David Kocer of South Dakota State. No scores after 3 minutes and Smith starts the 2nd underneath. He stands and escapes to break the tie. Zilverberg gets a takedown by fingertips and shoelaces to make it 2-1. In the third Zilverberg is winning 4-2, RT not a factor. They're in a scramble now. Zilverberg wins to finish his career as a 7th place All-American. 


184 Pounds

3rd: Taylor Venz of Nebraska and Emery Parker of Illinois square off in an battle of Big Ten rivals. Vens down early with injury time, no scores though. Venz decides to keep going and Parker takes down on the restart. Parker escapes and takes Venz down. Venz escapes but it's another TD for Parker and now Emery leads 5-1 in the first. Venz trails 7-1 in the third, Parker in command. Parker cruises to third place. He dropped his frist round match to Chip Ness and then went ultimate road warrior to win seven in a row and place 3rd. 

5th: Dom Abounader of Michigan has Zach Zavatsky of Virginia Tech. It's 2-2 after a TD from Abounader and reversal from ZZ. Abounader reverses ZZ right back and regains the lead 4-1. An escape a piece and it's 5-2, Abounader in the lead. The start the 3rd in neutral. Two more for Abounader makes it 7-2 with less than 30 to go. Abounader rides out to victory. The Michigan senior places 5th after three previous trips to the NCAAs without a podium placement. 

7th: Unseeded Chip Ness of North Carolina has Max Dean of Cornell. A takedown for Ness and two escapes from Dean is how we got to a 2-2 score in the 2nd period. An escape for Ness in the third gives him the lead 3-2, RT not a factor. A scramble and then a coaches challenge by UNC to see if Dean grabbed a singlet. The none call is reversed and Ness is awarded 1 point for a singlet grab. Ness leads 4-2. Two more for Ness and an escape before the buzzer makes it 6-3 for the unseeded Chip Ness. The Tar Heel places 7th.


197 Pounds

3rd: Kollin Moore of Ohio State has a rematch with Kyle Conel of Kent State, who pinned Moore in a Day 1 stunner. 0-0 after 1. Conel goes underneath to start the 2nd, escapes and has the lead. No scores and they go to the 3rd. Moore sits out and Conel has him in a suck back. Moore on his back. Moore avoid the pin but Conel gets four backs. Moore escapes to make it 5-1 with less than a minute to go. Two in short time for Moore but it's not enough. Kyle Conel had unfinished business, but it's finished now. The senior Golden Flash claims 3rd place and gets a standing ovation from the arena. 

5th: Ben Darmstadt of Cornell has Jacob Holschlag of Northern Iowa. Damstadt has Holschalg in trouble with his typical insane scrambling. But it comes back to bite him as Holshlag counters with a whip over and sticks Darmstadt. UNI has a 5th place finisher.

7th: Shakur Rasheed of Penn State will wrestle Willie Miklus of Missouri. Rasheed trying to get that extra team point and has a 6-1 lead already. Now it's 8-1. Another 2 for Rasheed in the 2nd and this Nittany Lion is thinking bonus. Rasheed up big still 10-2 with 40 seconds left. Rasheed with take it 11-3. No bonus but the Penn State fans will take it. 


285 Pounds

3rd: Oregon State's Amar Dehsi will battle with Duke's Jacob Kasper. Both are seniors. A takedown by Dhesi and then escape by Kasper and then it's over quickly. Amar Dhesi goes feet to back. Oregon State with the second win of the day, Dhesi closes out his career with a 3rd place finish. 

5th: Iowa's Sam Stoll already has a 2 point lead over Mike Hughes of Hofstra. Now Stoll has the pin and 5th place clinched for the Hawkeyes.

7th: Penn State's Nick Nevills has a 2-0 lead over Maryland's Youssif Hemida late in the 1st. Each has an escape but Nevills gets dinged twice with stalling and it's 3-2 in favor of the Nittany Lion. 90 second to go in the third. Nevills has riding time locked up with a minute left in regulation. Nevills still leads by 2. A shot by Nevills is countered for two by Hemida. Hemida lets Nevills up and is essentially trailing by 1. He's on the attack but Nevills counters this time. 2 more for Nevills will ice it after one more escape by Hemida. It's a 7-5 win for Nick Nevills who places 7th. 


That does it for the penultimate session of the awesome 2018 NCAA Championships. We'll be back for the finals at 8:00PM ET. Thanks so much as always for following along. And thank you for your patience and understanding regarding the typos. Enjoy St. Patrick's and see you tonight!