Five Spartans Ready for NCAA Wrestling Championships
3/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 15, 2011
| 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships | |
| Location | Philadelphia, Pa. | Wells Fargo Center |
| Dates | Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19 |
| Brackets | Official NCAA Championships Brackets |
| Session 1 | Thursday, 11 a.m. ET (First round) |
| Session 2 | Thursday, 6:30 p.m. (Second round, consolation rounds) |
| Session 3 | Friday, 10:30 a.m. (Quarterfinals, consolation rounds) |
| Session 4 | Friday, 7 p.m. (Semifinals) |
| Session 5 | Saturday, 11 a.m. (Medal Rounds) |
| Session 6 | Saturday, 7:30 p.m. (Finals) |
| Coverage | Sessions 1-5 on ESPN3.com; Sessions 2-5 on ESPNU; Session 6 on ESPN | Live Results (NWCA Scorebook) |
| Social Media | Twitter updates @wrestlingmsu  | @ncaawrestling |
| Tournament Information | NCAA Wrestling Championships Website |
| Notes & Statistics | Michigan State NCAA Notes |
| Multimedia |  NCAA Championships Preview | Coach Minkel Podcast | Tyler |
SPARTANS SEND FIVE TO NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Five Spartan wrestlers - Tyler Dickenson (197 pounds), Curran Jacobs (174), Sean McMurray (157), Dan Osterman (149) and Joe Rizqallah (heavyweight) - will represent Michigan State in this week's NCAA Wrestling Championships held Thursday-Saturday (March 17-19) at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
All five Spartans automatically qualified with their placing at the Big Ten Championships and will be making their first career appearance at the national meet. A total of 330 wrestlers will compete (33 per weight class) at the NCAA Championships, which start Thursday morning at 11 a.m. and conclude with the finals Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
QUICK LOOK AT MSU'S NCAA QUALIFIERS
• Tyler Dickenson placed fourth at the Big Ten Championships at 197 pounds and enters the NCAA Championships with a 22-15 NCAA record. He went 4-2 at the Big Ten Championships, including upsets over eighth-ranked Logan Brown of Purdue and 10th-ranked Matt Powless of Indiana. His impressive performance launched him into the national rankings at No. 18 by InterMat.
• A product of Owosso, Mich., 174-pounder Curran Jacobs qualified for his first NCAAs by taking seventh-place at the Big Ten Championships. Jacobs' 24 wins are tied for first on the team, and he compiled an 11-6 mark in duals.
• Sean McMurray accomplished a rare feat for a true freshman by qualifying for the NCAA Championships with his sixth-place Big Ten finish at 157 pounds. McMurray won two of his first three matches at the Big Ten Championships to automatically qualify, as the top-six in the 157-pound weight class earned bids to nationals. The Portage, Ind., native is 16-13 overall and was 5-5 in duals this season.
• Dan Osterman (149 pounds) is tied for the team lead with 24 wins against only nine losses. The sophomore from Carson City, Mich., led the team with 15 dual meet wins (15-3 record) and 53 dual meet points. In one of the most competitive weight classes (149) in the Big Ten where the top-eight finishers received automatic bids, Osterman took seventh.
• At heavyweight, Joe Rizqallah placed fourth in his first career appearance at the Big Ten Championships. The sophomore went 3-2 overall at the Big Ten meet, including victories over nationally ranked wrestlers Ricardo Alcala of Indiana and Ben Apland of Michigan. Rizqallah, ranked 15th by InterMat, compiled a 20-12 NCAA record and produced a 7-3 dual record as the starter at heavyweight in the second half of the season.
| Michigan State Qualifiers for NCAA Championships | |
| 149 | Dan Osterman (So., 24-9) |
| 157 | Sean McMurray (Fr., 16-13) |
| 174 | Curran Jacobs (Jr., 24-11) |
| 197 | No. 18 Tyler Dickenson (Jr., 22-15) |
| Hwt. | No. 15 Joe Rizqallah (So., 20-12) |
MICHIGAN STATE: NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
• Spartan wrestlers have won 25 individual NCAA titles.
• MSU's last National Champion was Franklin Gomez, who won the 133-pound title in 2009.
• Michigan State won the 1967 National Championship and has placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships 24 times in program history.
• Michigan State tied for 18th at last year's NCAA Championships in Omaha.
• Coach Minkel's highest finish at the NCAA Championships was third in 1995; Minkel has placed in the top 25 at the NCAA Championships 13 times during his career at MSU.
NCAA QUALIFIER INFORMATION
The NCAA announced the qualifier allocations for the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships on Feb. 23. Each qualifying tournament was awarded spots per weight class based on current year data. Each wrestler was measured on the following: Division I winning percentage; rating percentage index (RPI); and coaches ranking.
This year, the following allocation numbers per weight class for the Big Ten were: 125 (5), 133 (8), 141 (6), 149 (8), 157 (6), 165 (8), 174 (8), 184 (6), 197 (6), and heavyweight (6).
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee announced the remaining 50 at-large berths on March 9 to complete the brackets. All weight classes consist of 33 wrestlers (total of 330).
OSTERMAN HITTING HIS STRIDE IN HIS SECOND SEASON
Wrestling in the starting lineup last season as a true freshman, Dan Osterman compiled a respectable 21-14 record at 141 pounds.
This season, Osterman is showing his All-America potential with an impressive 24-9 record at 149 pounds. The sophomore from Carson City, Mich., led the team with 15 dual meet wins (15-3) and 53 dual meet points.He's also tied for the team lead with 24 wins and has a team-best six major decisions. He started the year by winning his second straight Eastern Michigan Open title Nov. 6, then followed with a fourth-place showing at the MSU Open Nov. 13.
In one of the most competitive weight classes in the Big Ten (149) where the top-eight finishers received automatic bids, Osterman took seventh place. He pinned fifth-seeded Cole Schmitt of Wisconsin in just one minute in the seventh-place match and went 2-2 overall at the tournament.
Osterman will wrestle Virginia's 19th-ranked Derek Valenti in the first round, with the possibility of facing second-seeded Frank Molinari of Penn State in the second round. Valenti took second at the ACC Championships, with his only loss (6-3) coming to defending NCAA Champion and top-ranked Darrion Caldwell of North Carolina State.
DICKENSON HAVING HIS BEST SEASON YET AT 197 POUNDS
Now in his third year as the starter at 197 pounds, junior Tyler Dickenson is having his best season yet as a Spartan.
The Pewamo, Mich., product has steadily improved since his arrival on campus. After going 8-20 as a red-shirt freshman and 16-18 as a sophomore, Dickenson is now 22-15 and enters the NCAA Championships with the highest ranking of his career at 18th.
Dickenson went 4-2 to place fourth at the Big Ten Championships at 197 pounds. He defeated three seeded wrestlers at the Big Ten meet, including upsets over eighth-ranked Logan Brown of Purdue and 10th-ranked Matt Powless of Indiana.
In addition to his 22 wins, he finished eighth in the prestigious Midlands Championships, and also placed second at the EMU Open and fourth at the MSU Open. He went 11-7 in dual meets this season.
Dickenson will open the NCAA Championships against Joseph Kennedy of Lehigh in Thursday morning's first round. Kennedy placed fifth at the EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association) Championships.
ANCHOR AT HEAVYWEIGHT
Sophomore heavyweight Joe Rizqallah entered the starting lineup in the second half of the season and has made the most out of his opportunity.
In his first career appearance at the Big Ten Championships, the Allegan, Mich., native went 3-2 to place fourth, including victories over nationally ranked wrestlers Ricardo Alcala of Indiana and Ben Apland of Michigan. His performance vaulted him to 15th in the latest InterMat rankings heading into the NCAA Championships.
He has compiled a 20-12 NCAA record and produced a 7-3 dual record as the starter at heavyweight. He also placed fourth at the Nittany Lion Open Dec. 5.
Rizqallah has some of the most notable wins for the Spartans this season. He upset then-No. 5 Cameron Wade of Penn State, 8-2, on Feb. 4, and made an immediate impact in the lineup as his pin in the last match of the West Virginia dual secured the 21-18 comeback win for the Spartans. Wrestling against his former team, Rizqallah, an Illinois transfer, beat the Fighting Illini's Pat Walker in the Jan. 30 dual to help propel the Spartans to a 21-15 victory.
In the first round of the NCAA Championships on Thursday, Rizqallah will match up against Eastern Michigan's David Wade. Wade defeated Rizqallah in the third-place match at the Nittany Lion Open on Dec. 5, 3-2.
 Junior Curran Jacobs, who is tied for the team lead with 24 wins, opens his first NCAA Wrestling Championships against 11th-seeded Austin Meys of Lehigh.  | |
ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE
The wrestling mat is not the only stage that junior Curran Jacobs performs on. Last semester, he played a leading role in the Michigan State Theater Department's production of the Shakespearean comedy, As You Like It. Jacobs starred as Orlando, the lead male character, and also choreographed a number of scenes. One of those scenes pitted Orlando against Charles The Wrestler - played by none other than Michigan State men's basketball starting forward Delvon Roe.
In competition, Jacobs has been equally successful in his 174-pound weight class. In his first full year in the starting lineup, Jacobs is tied for the team lead with 24 wins and he also compiled an 11-6 mark in dual meets. He took first in the Cleveland State Open Dec. 11 and placed fourth in the Eastern Michigan Open Nov. 6.
A product of Owosso, Mich., Jacobs qualified for his first NCAAs by taking seventh-place at the Big Ten Championships. The junior defeated Justin Zeerip of Michigan, 6-5 in the first tiebreaker, in the seventh-place match; the top eight in the 174-weight class garnered automatic berths to nationals.
In his first match at the NCAA Championships, Jacobs will go against 11th-seeded Austin Meys of Lehigh. Meys, who is also ranked 13th by InterMat, placed fourth at the EIWA Championships.
McMURRAY HANGING TOUGH FOR TRUE FRESHMAN
Sean McMurray accomplished a rare feat for a true freshman by qualifying for the NCAA Championships with his sixth-place Big Ten finish at 157 pounds. McMurray won two of his first three matches at the Big Ten Championships to automatically qualify, as the top-six in the 157-pound weight class earned bids to nationals.
McMurray finished the dual season strong, claiming wins over No. 20 Brandon Zeerip of Michigan and Wisconsin's Shawn Perry on the last weekend of the regular season. The Portage, Ind., native is 16-13 overall and was 5-5 in duals this season after entering the lineup Jan. 14 with a win against West Virginia's Ryan Goodman, 5-2. He pinned Jackson Morse of Illinois in 4:40 to help MSU upset No. 14 Illinois, 21-15, on Jan. 30.
Last year, McMurray became just the 24th wrestler in Indiana state history to win three state titles (2008 at 135, 2009 at 152, 2010 at 160). He collected an overall record of 159-12 during his high school career.
McMurray begins his quest for All-America honors against ninth-seeded James Fleming of Clarion in the first round.
Players Mentioned
