NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS

Official Store

    Two Wildcats Advance To Quarterfinals; All Six Alive After Day One Of NCAA Championships
    Fox and Precin advance to quarterfinals
    NUSPORTSDOTCOM Brandon Precin advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships.
    NUSPORTSDOTCOM
    Brandon Precin advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships.
     NUSPORTSDOTCOM

    March 20, 2008

    Team Standings Get Acrobat Reader

    Second Session Results Get Acrobat Reader

    First Session Results Get Acrobat Reader

    ST. LOUIS -- After one full day of competition, the Northwestern Wildcats have two wrestlers in the quarterfinals and the rest of their contingent alive in consolation brackets. Eighth-seeded 125-pounder Brandon Precin and top-seeded heavyweight Dustin Fox both advanced to the quarterfinals and are one win away from clinching All-American status.

    Seniors Ryan Lang and Mike Tamillow both fell in their second round matches and will wrestle in elimination matches Friday morning. After first round loses, both Keith Sulzer and Nick Hayes won matches Friday night to stay alive in the wrestleback bracket. All four Wildcats alive in the consolation bracket must win twice Friday morning to stay in the tournament.

    The quarterfinals will be televised by ESPNU beginning at 10 a.m. CT with coverage on ESPN360. As a team, Northwestern sits in 12th place overall. Iowa leads the team race.

    The eighth-seeded Precin gave NU its first win of the evening with a 8-3 decision over ninth-seeded Rollie Peterkin of Pennsylvania. Precin scored the first points in what turned out to be a very tense match with a first period takedown. The ninth-seeded Peterkin reversed to even the score at 2-2 heading into the second period.

    After a Penn escape in the second, Precin fired back with a takedown to take a 4-3 lead into the final frame. Precin started down in the third, and got a reversal and near fall points to take the 8-3 decision.

    Precin faces a familiar foe in top-seeded Angel Escobedo of Indiana in the quarterfinals. Escobedo edged Precin, 3-1, in sudden victory, when the two last met during the dual season. The pair of 125-pounders also met in the finals of the Midlands Championships where Escobedo topped the Wildcat as well.

    Fox, the nation's top-ranked heavyweight continued his high-scoring ways with a fall over VMI's Josh Wise. Wise scored first on Fox with a single-leg takedown, but the early deficit only angered the top-seeded Wildcat. Wise would not score for the rest of the match.

    After Fox collected his escape, he got a takedown of his own to go up 3-2 and then the Wildcat pounced for the pin. Fox turned wise three times -- twice for a three-point and once for a two-point nearfall -- before finally collecting the fall at 2:44.

    Fox faces a familiar foe in Central Michigan's eighth-seeded Bubba Gritter in the quarterfinals. Fox defeated Gritter in last year's tournament to advance to the third-place match.

    Despite having Penn State's sixth-seeded Bubba Jenkins on one leg as the match expired, the 11th-seeeded Lang could not pull off the upset at 149 lbs. and fell by 4-3 decision. Lang came out of a five-point first period trailing 3-2 after he reversed out of a Jenkins' takedown and the Lion escaped.

    Lang started down in the second and registered his escape to even the match at 3-3. Jenkins got out of Lang's grasp early in the third and after close to two minutes of posturing, Lang finally went in for his last chance shot. He had one of Jenkins' legs and had the Nittany Lion hopping on one foot, but could not complete the takedown before time expired.

    Lang faces Oklahoma's William Rowe in an elimination match Friday morning.

    At 197 lbs., the third-seeded Tamillow was upset by Iowa State's Dave Bertolino. Tamillow, who has been nursing an injury dating back to his Big Ten finals match against Penn State's Phil Davis, worked through the pain to score a late takedown and take a 4-3 lead.

    Bertolino escaped to even the score at 4-4 and force a sudden victory period. The Cyclone collected the upset with a takedown in the extra session.

    Tamillow trailed 2-0 early when Bertolino collected the first takedown of the match. After an escape in the first and another to start the second, Tamillow trailed 2-2 going into the third. He cut the Cyclone loose to start the third and was able to take a 4-3 lead, but could not hold on.

    Sulzer stayed alive in the consolation bracket with a 5-3 decision over Nexi Delgado of UC Davis at 141 lbs. Sulzer struck first with a takedown and three-point near fall combination to go up 5-0 early. The redshirt freshman stayed on top for the rest of the period and led by five heading into the second.

    After Delgado rode out the second, he was able to accumulate an escape and takedown to make the final score 5-3. The 11th-seeded Sulzer will face Penn State's 12th-seeded Garrett Scott in the wrestleback bracket Friday morning. It will be an elimination match.

    At 174, the 12th-seeded Hayes stayed alive in the tournament with a 3-2 decision over UC Davis' Tyler Bernacchi. Hayes surrendered an early takedown, but escaped late in the first to close to 2-1.

    The senior reversed after being down to start the second to take the lead for good at 3-2. He will face Hofstra's sixth-seeed Alton Lucas in an elimination match Friday morning.

    For complete results, brackets and updates, visit NCAA.com

    Northwestern Results and Play-by-Play
    Championship Second Round:
    125: #8 Precin (NU) dec. #9 Rollie Peterkin (Penn), 8-3
    1: Neutral, 2 TD (NU), 2 REV (Penn)
    2: Penn Down, 1 ESC (Penn), 2 TD (NU)
    3: NU Down, 2 REV (NU), 2 NF (NU)

    149: #6 Bubba Jenkins (PSU) dec. #11 Lang (NU), 4-3
    1: 2 TD (PSU), 2 REV (NU), 1 ESC (PSU)
    2: NU Down, 1 ESC (NU)
    3: PSU Down, 1 ESC (PSU)
    197: Dave Bertolino (Iowa State) dec. #3 Tamillow (NU), 6-4 (SV)
    1: 2 TD (ISU), 1 ESC (NU)
    2: NU Down, 1 ESC (NU)
    3: 1 ESC (ISU), 2 TD (NU), 1 ESC (ISU)
    SV: 2 TD (ISU)
    285: #1 Fox (NU) pinned Joshua Wine (VMI), 2:44
    1: 2 TD (VMI), 1 ESC (NU), 2 TD (NU), 3 NF (NU), 2 NF (NU), 3 NF (NU), PIN 2:44

    Consolation Bracket:
    141: #11 Sulzer (NU) dec. Nexi Delgado (UC Davis), 5-3
    1: 2 TD (NU), 3 NF (NU)
    2: No Score
    3: 1 ESC (UC Davis), 2 TD (UC Davis)

    174: #12 Hayes (NU) dec. Tyler Bernacchi (UC Davis), 3-2
    1: 2 TD (UCD), 1 ESC (NU)
    2: NU Down, 2 REV (NU)
    3: Neutral
    Session Three Matches
    Quarterfinals
    #8 Precin (NU) vs. #1 Angel Escobedo (IU)
    #1 Fox (NU) vs. #8 Bubba Gritter (Central Mich.)

    Consolation
    141: #11 Sulzer (NU) vs. #12 Garrett Scott (PSU)
    149: #11 Lang (NU) vs. William Rowe (Oklahoma)
    174: #12 Hayes (NU) vs. #6 Alton Lucas (Hofstra)
    197: #3 Tamillow (NU) vs. Richard Starks (Army)