| Senior All-American James Yonushonis is the No. 4 seed at 174 |
AUBURN HILLS, Mich.; March 13, 2007 ?C Senior heavyweight Aaron Anspach (Columbia, Pa.) is the No. 2 seed at heavyweight in the 2007 NCAA Wrestling Championships, leading four seeded Penn State wrestlers. Head coach Troy Sunderland has a total of seven grapplers making the quest for All-American in the three day event held at the Palace at Auburn Hills beginning Thursday.
Anspach, who went 18-3 this year, is seeded second only to defending national champion and Big Ten titlist Cole Konrad of Minnesota. Anspach went 11-3 vs. the NCAA field this year, with two of those losses coming to Konrad (including one in the Big Ten title bout). Anspach??s first round opponent will be Levon Mock of Brown. Mock was the fourth place finisher in the EIWA and brings a 20-12 record with him into nationals.
Senior All-American James Yonushonis (Philipsburg, Pa.), who became an All-American last year after being unseeded, is the No. 4 seed at 174. Yonushonis has a 29-4 record this year, including a 7-4 mark vs. the NCAA field. Missouri senior Ben Askren is the No. 1 seed. Yonushonis will face Neal Martin of Appalachian State in the first round. Martin went 28-14 this year and is a wild card selection out of the Southern Conference.
| Two-time All-American Phil Davis is the No. 4 seed at 174 |
Two-time All-American and defending national runner-up Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) is the No. 4 seed at 197. Missouri freshman Ben Askren is the No. 1 seed. Davis, a junior, went 24-3 this year with two of those losses coming in the Big Ten tournament. Ranked No. 1 for much of the regular season, Davis went 10-3 vs. the NCAA field. He will face North Carolina State??s Ryan Goodman in round one. Goodman is the ACC Champion after going 21-2 this year.
Red-shirt freshman Dan Vallimont (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) enters his first NCAA tournament as the No. 12 seed at 149. Minnesota??s Dustin Schlatter is the top seed at this weight. Vallimont went 19-10 this year with a 5-9 mark against the NCAA field. His first round opponent will be North Dakota State??s Ryan Adams. Adams went 12-5 this season and is the third place finisher out of the West Region. Vallimont owns a 13-4 major decision over Adams in the Nittany Lions?? dual meet win over NDSU at the Virginia Duals.
Sophomore Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) is unseeded at 133 and is making his second trip to nationals. Michigan State??s Nick Simmons is the top seed in this weight class. Strayer went 23-6 this year and is 7-6 vs. the field. His first round foe will be Hofstra??s Lou Ruggirello. Ruggirello enters the tournament with a 31-7 record and is the Colonial Athletic Association champion. Strayer beat Ruggirello 6-0 in a dual between the two teams back in December.
| Freshman Dan Vallimont is the No. 12 seed at 149 |
Junior Mark McKnight (McDonald, Pa.) is unseeded at 125 and is making his third straight trip to nationals (his first with Penn State). Oklahoma??s Sam Hazewinkel is the tournament??s top seed at this weight. McKnight enters the tournament with a 21-9 mark, including an 8-8 record vs. the field. He will meet Lehigh??s Matthew Fisk in the opening round. Fisk went 25-9 this year and was a wild card selection by the EIWA. Fisk did not wrestle in Penn State??s dual meet win over LU earlier this year.
True freshman Bubba Jenkins (Virginia Beach, Va.) is unseeded at 157 for Penn State. Iowa State??s Trent Paulson is the top seed for the tournament. Jenkins is 22-10 in his rookie campaign and went 1-9 vs. the field. He will take on the winner of a ??pig-tail??, or opening round, bout between Missouri??s Michael Chandler and Kurt Gross of Kent State. Chandler is 21-8 and finished third at the Big 12 Championships. Gross is 18-11 and is the MAC titlist.
The three day event begins Thursday at 11 a.m. and runs through the championship finals on Saturday night at 8 p.m. The tournament can be heard live on WBLF 970 AM, GoPSUsports.com and seen live extensively via the ESPN family of networks.