Big Ten Wrestling Championships Update: Session 1
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Michigan State wrestling team began action at the Big Ten Championships with session one on Saturday at St. John Arena on the campus of Ohio State University. Session two will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday night; live brackets are available at TrackWrestling.com, and live streaming is available at BTN2Go.com.
Wrestling in his first Big Ten Championships, red-shirt freshman 125-pounder Mitch Rogaliner dropped a 23-10 major decision to top-seeded and fourth-ranked Thomas Gilman of Iowa in the first round, but bounced back with a convincing 17-6 major decision victory over Maryland's Josh Polack in the consolation round. Rogaliner will face Minnesota's seventh-seeded Ethan Lizak tonight in the consolation second round.
Garth Yenter lost both of his matches at 133 pounds. Fourth-seeded Johnni DiJulius of Ohio State pinned Yenter in 1:25 in the first round, and Geoffrey Alexander of Maryland recorded an 8-2 decision over Yenter in the consolation first round.
Sixth-seeded Josh Dziewa of Iowa notched an 11-3 major decision over sixth-seeded Javier Gasca in the opening round of the 141-pound bracket, but Gasca rallied for a 12-2 major against Indiana's Sean Brown in the consolation round. Gasca will match up against Wisconsin's Jesse Thielke when action resumes tonight.
Nick Trimble also advanced to the consolation second round at 149 pounds. Trimble was shut out by Wisconsin's eighth-seeded Rylan Lubeck, 4-0, in the first round, and advanced in the consolation bracket after Minnesota's Jake Short had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. Trimble will go against Nebraska's seventh-seeded Justin Arthur tonight.
Although Travis Curley was pinned by No. 3 seed and third-ranked James Green of Nebraska in 4:27 in the first round at 157 pounds, he came back to record his first career victory at the Big Ten Championships with a 4-3 decision over Luke Blanton of Indiana. Curley advances to wrestle Michigan's Brian Murphy.
Roger Wildmo lost both of his matches in the 165-pound bracket, falling to Pierce Harger of Northwestern in the first round, 11-4, and Garrett Sutton of Michigan in the consolation round, 10-4.
At 174 pounds, Nick Proctor dropped a 14-0 decision to Minnesota's fourth-seeded and fourth-ranked Logan Storley in the first round. Proctor also lost in the consolation bracket to Josh Snook of Maryland, 7-1.
In his only match of the first session, ninth-seeded 184-pounder John Rizqallah lost a 6-1 decision to Penn State's eighth-seeded Matt McCutcheon. Rizqallah received a bye in the first consolation round and will face Illinois' Nikko Reyes in the second consolation round later this evening.
Nick McDiarmid advanced to the quarterfinals at 197 pounds on a medical forfeit after Northwestern's Alex Polizzi was unable to wrestle in the first round. In the quarterfinals, McDiarmid lost to second-seeded and fourth-ranked Morgan McIntosh of Penn State by major decision, 13-3. McDiarmid will now face Purdue's Braden Atwood in the consolation second round, needing just one win to assure his first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships.
At heavyweight, Chris Nash lost both of his matches in his first appearance at the Big Ten Championships. Nash was pinned by Penn State's Jimmy Lawson in 4:36 in the first round, and fell by a 10-3 decision in the consolation round to Indiana's Garret Goldman.
Players Mentioned
