Michigan State University
NCAA Championships
Wrestling Remains In 11th Place At NCAA Championships
3/17/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 17, 2000
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State wrestling team is in 11th place with 32 points after Friday's semifinal round of the NCAA Championships at the Kiel Center in St. Louis. Iowa State leads the team race with 98 points, followed by Iowa (80.5) and Minnesota (65).
Junior 133-pounder Pat McNamara (Jordan, Minn.) was defeated, 5-2, in the semifinals by second-seeded Cody Sanderson of Iowa State. McNamara, the third seed at 133, will wrestle in the consolation bracket semifinals Saturday morning.
Senior Nick Muzashvili (Unadilla, N.Y./Republic of Georgia) will also wrestle in the consolation semifinals Saturday morning after losing a 5-2 decision to Nebraska's Brad Vering in the 197-pound championship semifinals.
Both McNamara and Muzashvili will now finish in at least eighth place, assuring that they will reach All-America status. It will be the second All-America performance for both wrestlers, as McNamara finished fifth at 133 in 1998 and Muzashvili finished third at 197 in 1999.
The six remaining MSU wrestlers were eliminated from the consolation bracket Friday evening. Junior Mike Castillo (141, Rochester, Mich.), freshman Karl Nadolsky (149, Holland, Mich.), freshman Gray Maynard (157, Las Vegas, Nev.), seniors Greg DeGrand (165, Saline, Mich.) and Will Hill (174, Indianapolis, Ind.), and junior Matt Lamb (HWT, East Lansing, Mich.) were all put out of contention in the consolation bracket.
The consolation bracket will continue with fourth and fifth-round matches Friday evening, while the consolation semifinals and seventh through third-place matches will take place Saturday morning . The championship final matches will be contested Saturday at 7 p.m.
