WR: ISU Third; Nine Cyclones Alive

[Jeremy]

WR: ISU Third; Nine Cyclones Alive
Media Relations

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Four Iowa State wrestlers, Trent (157) and Travis (165) Paulson, Jake Varner (184) and Kurt Backes (197) advanced into Friday’s quarterfinals with impressive victories Thursday night at the NCAA Championships at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Their efforts kept Iowa State in third place with 27.5 points. Minnesota, which has seven wrestlers still in the championship bracket, leads the field with 34 points. Missouri is second with 29.5 points and three wrestlers in the championship bracket. Penn State is fourth with 24 points and three wrestlers in the winners’ bracket. Iowa is fifth with 20 points and three wrestlers still alive in the championship pairings. Five Cyclone grapplers will work their way through the consolation bracket in Friday’s session. Quarterfinal bouts start at 10 a.m. CDT Friday.

“We had a good day,” head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson said. “We lost a couple of close matches, but we won some close ones too. It was no secret going in that our All-Americans had to lead us for us to have a good tournament. They certainly did that today. Now we have talked with our guys who are in the consolation rounds about how much we are counting on them.”

Trent Paulson was the first Cyclone to advance into Friday’s quarterfinals with an exciting 13-7 decision over unseeded Ryan Hluschak of Drexel at 157 pounds. Paulson took Hluschak down in the opening seconds of the match for an early lead, but after the first period the score was even at 5-5. With an escape, Paulson took a 6-5 lead to begin the second period, but Hluschak responded with a takedown to take a 7-6 advantage. Another Paulson escape tied the bout at 7-7 with three minutes remaining. With less than 50 seconds to go, Paulson, a two-time All-American, exploded with a five- point move on a takedown and a three-point nearfall to clinch an ISU victory. For his Friday morning quarterfinal match-up, Paulson will take on unseeded Josh Zupancic of Stanford.

“He (Hluschak) was really funky,” Paulson said. “He could use my own momentum against me. At the end of the match it was just a scramble and I squeezed him as hard as I could. It was a 50/50 situation.”

Travis Paulson pushed forward into the quarterfinals and contributed bonus points with a 10-2 major decision over unseeded Roger Smith-Bergsrud of Illinois. Paulson, the fourth-seed at 165 pounds, scored a takedown midway through the first period to take a 2-0 lead and never looked back. He scored an escape to begin the second period and continued to pour it on against Smith-Bergsrud with two takedowns and accumulated 2:32 worth of riding time. With the win, the Cyclone’s record improves to 26-5 this season. Paulson will meet familiar foe, Nick Baima of Northern Iowa in tomorrow’s quarterfinal match-up. It will be their fourth meeting this year and ninth all-time. Paulson has handled Baima this year, beating the Panther three times, including an 11-3 major decision in their last meeting at the Midlands Championships in December.

“(Smith-Bergsrud) is real strong,” said Paulson, a two-time All-American. “I knew that going in because I watched his semi-final match at Midlands. He also beat (ISU true freshman Jonathan) Reader at Midlands. I worked to keep him down low and keep him on the block.”

The sixth-seeded Varner defeated Northern Illinois’ Ryan Burk 6-0 at 184-pounds to advance into the quarterfinals. Varner attacked early with a takedown for the lead. He added an escape in the second period for a 3-0 advantage. With another escape and a takedown in the closing seconds, Varner improved his record to 27-6 this season. The native of Bakersfield, Calif., will meet unseeded Joshua Arnone of Cornell in his quarterfinal.

Backes, seeded-ninth, was the fourth Iowa State grappler to advance to the quarterfinals registering a dramatic 3-1 sudden victory over eighth-seeded conference rival Joel Flaggert of Oklahoma at 197 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Flaggert escaped to begin the second period. His lead stood until the 1:36 mark in the final period when Backes tied up the bout with an escape of his own. In their second overtime match in three meetings this season, Backes unleashed a forward bull rush on the whistle, taking the Sooner down for the victory to avenge a pair of losses this season. In the quarterfinals, Backes will collide with unseeded Nick Roy of Michigan.

“I actually felt better in overtime than I did in regulation because it just comes down to one takedown,” the Neshanic Station, N.J., native said. “I exploded on him (Flaggert) and I don’t think he was ready for it. He is a very tough wrestler because he always has good position and can really get you with his explosive double-legs. Right now, you focus on what you have to do and let the team race take care of itself. We each have to clean our own yard.”

Falling into consolation bracket action were Nick Gallick (133), Mitch Mueller (141) and Cyler Sanderson (149). Gallick suffered a 4-2 loss at the hands of Penn State’s Jake Strayer. Gallick scored first with a takedown, only to have the Nittany Lion answer with an escape and a takedown. Gallick nearly had what would have been a match-tying reversal, but time expired before he could make the move. The redshirt freshman’s record stands at 28-9. Mueller wan unable to muster much of an attack, against Northwestern’s top-seeded and undefeated Ryan Lang as the Wildcat pinned Mueller in 2:17. For Sanderson it came down to overtime against the sixth-seed, J.P. O’Connor of Harvard, but No. 11 Sanderson was dealt a 4-2 decision. Sanderson carries a 27-10 record in his initial season as a Cyclone.

In consolation bracket action, No. 10 Nick Fanthorpe stayed alive with a 9-1 decision over Central Michigan’s Luke Smith at 125 pounds. Fanthorpe fell behind with a Smith escape to open the second period, but responded with a takedown and a three-point nearfall to take the lead for good. The Naperville, Ill., native added an escape and a final takedown for his 25th win. David Zabriskie got back on the winning track with a 7-5 upset of 11th seeded Spencer Nadolsky of North Carolina. Zabriskie fought back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the match at 4-4 and take a 5-4 lead with an escape. The match was pushed into sudden victory where both wrestlers got into a furious scramble with Zabriskie emerging victorious with a takedown.

Cyclone Grant Turner bowed out of the tournament, falling by decision 8-4 to Kurt Brenner of West Virginia. A walk-on from Johnston, Iowa, Turner concludes his Iowa State career with a record of 24-28 and a 14-16 mark for his final season.

Friday morning’s quarterfinals will be streaming live on espn360.com. Check out cyclones.com for live updates throughout the tournament.