| Junior 157-pounder Nathan Galloway celebrates his first round pin of Bloomsburg's Aric Fuhrman in the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships. |
Oklahoma City, Okla. - March 16, 2006 - The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestlers, under the guidance of head coach Troy Sunderland, had a solid first round with five of Penn State's eight qualifiers grabbing wins. Each of Penn State's four seeded wrestlers won easily and one other Lion got a victory to stay in the championship bracket. Three Nittany Lions lost their opening bouts, but will look to stay alive in tonight's consolation bracket. Penn State finds itself alone in eighth place of the team race with 12 points, just one point shy of a four-way tie for fourth with 13.
Senior DeWitt Driscoll (Connellsville, Pa.) got the action started with a pigtail bout at 141 against Chattanooga's Michael Keefe. Keefe started the scoring early with a takedown to go up 2-1. Driscoll, who had two chances to score in the first, could not finish any of his offensive attempts and them, with just :07 left in the period, Keefe added another takedown to carry a 4-1 lead into the second period. Keefe, who chose down to start the second, added the period's only point with an escape. Trailing 5-1 with two minutes to wrestle, Driscoll chose down to start the third period and escaped to a 5-2 deficit. But Keefe's defense was too strong and the Nittany Lion senior was sent to the consolation bracket with a 5-2 loss. Driscoll will face Cesar Grajeles of Penn in consolations this evening.
| Redshirt freshman Jake Strayer, the No. 7 seed at 133, got an impressive 4-0 win over Tommy Vargas of CS-Bakersfield in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships. |
Red-shirt freshman Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.), Penn State's second-highest seeded individual with the No. 7 spot at 133, faced Cal State-Bakersfield's Tommy Vargas in the first round. After a scoreless first round that saw each grappler fight any scoring attempts, Strayer got on the board first in the second period with an escape (after starting the period in the down position). As time wound down in the second, Strayer added a takedown on the edge of the mat to carry a 3-0 lead into the final period. Vargas chose down to begin the third period only to spend the entire period on his stomach as Strayer rode him out for an impressive 4-0 win. Strayer moves on to the second round where he will face Central Michigan's Jason Borrelli in the second round. Borrelli upset No. 10 seed Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly in round one.
Senior James Woodall (Dupont, Pa.) met No. 4 seed Matthew Storniolo of Oklahoma State in the opening round at 149. Storniolo got the match's first takedown at the 2:20 mark and proceeded to ride Woodall out, building up a substantial riding time edge to go along with a 2-0 lead entering the second. Woodall chose neutral to begin the second period. The senior got his takedown at the 0:56 mark to knot the score, but Storniolo quickly answered with a takedown of his own after a quick escape. Leading 5-2 entering the final period, Storniolo chose down and added another takedown in the final moments to grab a hard-fought 9-2 win over Woodall. Woodall will now face David Jauregui of West Virginia in consolations this evening.
Nittany Lion junior Nathan Galloway (State College, Pa.) met Bloomsburg's Aric Fuhrman in the opening round at 157. Wasting no time, Galloway quickly took Fuhrman down and spun him to his back just :20 into the bout. Six seconds later, the State College native got the pin at the :26 mark, earning the first round win and the right to face No. 1 seed Trent Paulson of Iowa State in the second round this evening.
| Junior James Yonoshonis, the No. 9 seed at 174, notched an impressive 8-4 decision over Brian Bernal of Wyoming in his first round bout at nationals. |
Junior James Yonushonis (Philipsburg, Pa.), the No. 9 seed at 174, faced Wyoming's Brian Bernal in round one. Dominant from the starting whistle, Yonushonis got his first takedown at the 1:58 mark of the first period and followed it up with a second takedown at the 1:06 mark. Bernal did escape both times to send the bout into the second with Yonushonis carrying a 4-2 lead with 1:11 in riding time. Yonushonis chose down to begin the second and did escape to a 5-2 lead, but not until his riding time edge was down to 0:36. The Nittany Lion junior had two more chances to score in the second, but Bernal did a nice job of fighting off the efforts. Trailing 5-2 entering the third, Bernal chose down, only to have Yonushonis build his riding time edge back above a minute. Bernal escaped to a 5-3 deficit. Yonushonis continued to be the aggressor in the match and picked up one more takedown as the period wound down to post an impressive 8-4 win. The victory moved the Nittany Lion junior on for a second round match-up with No. 8 seed Travis Frick of Lehigh. He and Frick have already split two meetings this year.
Senior All-American Eric Bradley (Plaistow, N.H.), the No. 8 seed at 184, tangled with Greg Perz of Eastern Illinois in his first bout. Returning to the form that had him ranked No. 1 for much of the season, Bradley was in control throughout the bout. He notched his first takedown at the 2:00 mark and added one more as time wound down to lead 4-1 heading to the middle stanza. Bradley chose down to start the second and quickly reversed Perz to go up 6-1. One more takedown before the second ended had Bradley carrying a solid 8-2 lead into the final period. Perz chose neutral to start the third, but never came close to taking Bradley down. A penalty point and a riding time point later and Bradley posted an impressive 10-2 major decision. Bradley now meets Iowa's Paul Bradley in the second round tonight.
| Senior All-American Eric Bradley, the No. 8 seed at 184, posted a 10-2 major decision over Greg Perz of Eastern Illinois in his first bout of the tournament. |
Sophomore All-American Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.), Penn State's highest seed with the No. 6 spot at 197, met Drexel's Jon Oplinger in the first round. Davis countered an early Oplinger shot to get his first takedown at the 1:28 mark. Davis would dominate from the top position and ride Oplinger out to lead 2-0 with a 1:32 riding time edge to start the second. Oplinger chose neutral to start the second and once again, Davis countered a shot and scored another takedown. Once again, Davis would not relent in the top position and rode the Drexel wrestler out. Leading 4-0 with 3:11 in riding time, Davis chose down to begin the final period and escaped easily to a 5-0 lead. Oplinger would turn up the heat offensively, but Davis' defense was much too strong as the reigning Big Ten Champion fought off each scoring attempt. With just seconds left, Davis put forth a quick five-point move (take down and three near fall points) to post an impressive 11-0 major decision. Davis will meet No. 11 seed Ryan Goodman of North Carolina State in the second round.
Senior heavyweight Joel Edwards (Upper Darby, Pa.) met No. 4 seed Cain Velasquez of Arizona State in his first bout of the day. Velasquez showcased his strength with an early takedown that he turned into a pin at the 1:56 mark of the first period. Edwards now moves to the consolations where he will meet Northern Iowa's Tyler Rhodes.
In all, Penn State went 5-3 in session one, getting two decisions, two majors and a pin. Penn State's 12 points have it just five points back of early team leader Oklahoma State, which has 17. Action continues this evening at 6:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Eastern) with the first round of consolations and round two in the championship bracket. The entire tournament can be heard on WBLF 970 AM and is being streamed to a worldwide audience at www.GoPSUsports.com.