March 10, 2010
Full Tournament Bracket in .pdf form
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The NCAA has announced the brackets for the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships to be held on March 18-20 and the Penn State Nittany Lion wrestlers have received four seeds. Head coach Cael Sanderson's will send six wrestlers to the event, led by senior Cyler Sanderson (Heber City, Utah), who will be the No. 4 seed at 157.
Sanderson, a 2008 All-American, will be Penn State's top seed and will carry a 28-4 record into the event. All-American Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.) is close behind as the No. 5 seed at 149. Molinaro will take a 29-5 record into the national tournament. All-American Dan Vallimont (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) enters the tournament as the No. 6 seed at 165. Vallimont, who was a 2008 All-American at 157, is 26-7 heading to Omaha. Senior David Erwin (Urbana, Ohio) rounds out the seeded Nittany Lions with a No. 11 nod at 184. Erwin, who is making his first trip to nationals, has a 29-8 overall record.
Junior Brad Pataky (Clearfield, Pa.) is unseeded at 125 and carries a 26-8 record to nationals. Sophomore Cameron Wade (Twinsburg, Ohio) is unseeded at heavyweight with his 20-9 mark. Senior Adam Lynch (Mifflinburg, Pa.) did not receive an at-large bid and will not compete at nationals.
The following is a weight-by-weight breakdown of Penn State's opening round match-ups with seeds and overall records heading into the tournament.
125: #12 Brad Pataky, Jr. (Clearfield, Pa.), 26-8 overall
Pataky will take on No. 9 seed Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma in the first round. Pataky beat Patterson 8-6 back on Jan. 9 at the Virginia Duals. The winner of that match-up takes on the winner of the James Knox (Maryland)/No. 8 seed Matt Steintrager (Central Michigan) bout.
149: #4 Frank Molinaro, So. (Barnegat, N.J.), #5 seed, 29-5 overall
Molinaro will face off against Binghamton's Donald Vinson in the opening round. The winner will meet either Pitt's Eric Albright or Minnesota's No. 12 seed Mario Mason in the next round.
157: #6 Cyler Sanderson, Sr. (Heber City, Utah), #4 seed, 28-4 overall
2010 Big Ten Champion Sanderson will face Northern Illinois' Bryan Deutsch in the opening round with the winner facing off against either Tyson Reiner of Northern Iowa or Dan Gonsor of Virginia in round two.
165: #7 Dan Vallimont, Sr. (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.), #6 seed, 26-7 overall
Vallimont will meet take on Matt Epperly of Virginia Tech in the opening round. The Nittany Lion won a close bout with Epperly earlier in the year, winning a 4-3 decision. The winner of that bout will face off with either Paul Gillespie of Hofstra or No. 11 seed Rick Schmelyun of Bloomsburg.
184: #9 David Erwin, Sr. (Urbana, Ohio), #11 seed, 29-8 overall
Erwin will take on Oklahoma's Erich Schmidtke of Oklahoma in the opening round. Erin downed Schmidtke 9-3 back in January at the Virginia Duals. The winner of the Erwin/Schmidtke bout will face off with either Zack Giesen of Stanford or No. 6 seed Max Askren of Missouri.
HWT: #17 Cameron Wade, So. (Twinsburg, Ohio) 20-9 overall
Wade will take on No. 3 seed Zach Rey of Lehigh in the opening round. Wade lost a 5-2 bout to Rey back in November in Penn State's season-opening dual at Lehigh. The winner of the Wade/Rey match will face either Kurt Klimek of CS-Fullerton or David Wade of Eastern Michigan.
The 2010 NCAA Championships are on March 18-20 in Omaha, Neb. Action begins at the Qwest Center at 11 a.m. (Central) on Thursday, March 18. Penn State's action in the tourney will be aired live on Forever Broadcasting's WRSC (1390 AM) and on www.GoPSUsports.com as well. The Nittany Lions posted a 13-6-1 overall record during dual meets this season, 5-3 and in fourth place in the Big Ten standings. Penn State placed fifth at the 2010 Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., on March 6-7. The 2009-10 Penn State Wrestling season is presented by The Family Clothesline.