March 16, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -
2009 NCAA Bracket in .pdf form!
The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team will head to the 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championships with 50 percent of its six qualifiers seeded in the three-day event. Three of head coach Troy Sunderland's team is seeded, led by junior All-American Bubba Jenkins (Virginia Beach, Va.), who is No. 2 at 149. The official brackets have also been announced and Penn State now knows its first round opponents.
By weight, here's a look at Penn State's seeds and first round match-ups.
At 125, sophomore Brad Pataky (Clearfield, Pa.) is unseeded at 125. Pataky enters the tournament with a 28-9 overall record and placed fourth at the 2009 Big Ten Championships. He will face Bloomsburg's Ian Moser in a pigtail with the winner of that bout taking on No. 6 seed James Nicholson of Old Dominion in the first round.
At 133, senior All-American Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) is the No. 10 seed. Strayer carries a 16-8 record with him to St. Louis after a sixth place showing at Big Tens. He will face Edinboro's Ricky Deubel in the first round.
At 141, wild card Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.) is unseeded. The red-shirt freshman is 19-16 overall and placed eighth at Big Tens. He will face No. 8 seed Ryan Williams of Old Dominion in the first round.
At 149, defending national runner-up Jenkins is the No. 2 seed. Jenkins has a 24-1 overall record after suffering his lone loss of the season to No. 1 seed Brent Metcalf of Iowa in the finals of the Big Ten Championships. He will face Lock Haven's Matt Fittery in the first round.
At 165, All-American Dan Vallimont (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) is unseeded. Vallimont is 21-10 as he heads to St. Louis and is coming off a strong third place finish at Big Tens. He will face No. 9 seed Brandon Mason of Oklahoma State in the first round.
At 174, true freshman Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) is the No. 11 seed. Wright is 29-10 overall and advanced to the Big Ten finals in his first season at the event. He will face Byron Sigmon of UNC-Greensboro in the first round.
The 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held in St. Louis' Scottrade Center on Thursday through Saturday, March 19-21. Action begins at 12 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday, 11 a.m. on Friday and 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. Penn State, which went 8-12-2 in its 22 duals this year with a line-up comprised of 50 percent freshman, faced 17 ranked opponents in its 22-dual schedule. The Nittany Lions will look to turn the rigors of one of the nation's toughest schedules into success at Nationals.