Five Session I Developments From The NCAA Championships

Upsets and averted upsets turned into top storylines during the opening session of the NCAA Championships in Detroit.

Mar 17, 2022 by Andy Hamilton

Five Session I Developments From The NCAA Championships

The first 20 minutes of Thursday’s opening session at the NCAA Championships turned into a battering of the Big Ten with five of the conference’s higher-seeded 125-pounders getting knocked off in rapid-fire succession.

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Penn State All-American Drew Hildebrandt was the first domino to fall. Lock Haven’s Anthony Noto ran down Hildebrandt for an overtime takedown on the edge to post a 4-2

Moments later, Chattanooga’s Fabian Gutierrez seized control against #13 seed Drake Ayala, turning the Iowa freshman for four backpoints midway through the second period on his way to a 12-9 win.

While that was happening, Virginia Tech’s Sam Latona, Utah Valley’s Taylor LaMont and Appalachian State’s were bouncing Big Ten opponents into the backside of the 125-pound bracket.

Latona, the #24 seed, scored a reversal just before time expired in the second period and a takedown in the final minute to beat ninth-seeded Devin Schroder of Purdue 4-1.

LaMont, the #21 seed, notched a takedown with one second left in the first period and tacked on takedowns in the second and third periods on his way to a 7-2 win against #12 seed Malik Heinselman of Ohio State.

Smith reversed #8 seed Patrick McKee of Minnesota in the closing seconds of the first period and never trailed after that as the #25 seed scored an 8-5 victory.

In all, the Big Ten’s 10 qualifiers at 125 went 3-7 in the opening round. Top-seeded Nick Suriano of Michigan rolled to a 16-3 major decision against Stanford’s Logan Ashton, while Wisconsin’s Eric Barnett and Northwestern’s Michael DeAugustino won battles against fellow Big Ten opponents.

The Biggest Of Upsets

Thursday’s opening round featured 24 upsets. The Big Ten was involved on one end in 15 of them.

The biggest occurred at 133, 141 and 174, where #26 seeds notched wins over the #7 seeds.

At 133, Purdue’s Matt Ramos decked Illinois’ Lucas Byrd late in the first period. Byrd was in on a single-leg shot when Ramos took him to his back with a bundle-arm step across — the same move he used for a fall four years ago in the Cadet World finals.

Northwestern’s Frankie Tal-Shahar converted a single-leg shot with 23 seconds remaining to beat South Dakota State’s Clay Carlson 4-3 at 141.

Stanford’s Tyler Eischens stunned Ohio State’s Ethan Smith 13-12 at 174. A four-point first-period sequence, a takedown in the closing seconds of the second period and an escape with seven seconds left proved to be pivotal for Eischens.

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Teemer Survives

Undefeated Arizona State 157-pounder Jacori Teemer dodged the opening-round upset epidemic — barely.

Teemer led 3-1 in the closing seconds and wiggled out of a shot by Cornell’s Hunter Richard on the edge of the mat. Richard picked up a stall point with seven seconds left to cut the deficit to 3-2. He continued to chase Teemer and got to the third-seeded Sun Devil’s legs on a last-gasp shot but couldn’t finish.

Lewan’s Magic Act

The most dramatic finish of the round occurred at 157, where Michigan’s Will Lewan prevailed 4-2 against Missouri’s Jarrett Jacques in a rare second sudden-victory period. The circumstances for how the match got past its 10th minute were even more unusual.

Jacques took a 2-1 lead on an escape with five seconds left in the first tiebreaker session. He appeared to be on his way to victory when he rode Lewan for the first 24 seconds of the second session before getting warned for stalling on a dropdown. Needing a one-second escape to extend the match, Lewan exploded off the restart and got away, tying the score and negating the advantage time to send the match into a second sudden-victory period.

With the clock winding down, Lewan fired off a shot that Jacques dodged, but the eighth-seeded Wolverine came out on top of a flurry to score on the edge with one second left.

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Extra Geer

Oklahoma State All-American Dakota Geer dug himself a six-point hole in the opening minute at 184 when he got taken down and put on his back by Missouri’s Jeremiah Kent. Geer gradually worked his way back into the match with an escape later in the first, followed by second-period takedown and a stall point to pull within 7-4. He escaped again to start the third before taking Kent to his back for a fall.