Gomez advances to finals at Big Ten Championships

Franklin Gomez will compete for his second Big Ten title in a row tomorrow

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Michigan State junior Franklin Gomez will compete for the Big Ten Championship at 133 pounds for the second year in a row after defeating Penn State's Jake Strayer in the semifinals Saturday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. Gomez, the defending Big Ten champion, will face Ohio State's fourth-ranked Reece Humphrey Sunday afternoon in the final bout for the title. All of the finals will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network beginning at 2 p.m.

The Spartans head into the final rounds of competition tied for 10th place with 36.5 points.

"(The chance to win another Big Ten Championship) feels great," Gomez said. "I feel like I've wrestled better and better as the year has gone by and that's what I've wanted."

After two tight periods, the Gomez-Strayer contest entered the third period deadlocked at 4-4. Gomez scored a takedown early in the period to give him a 6-4 lead. Strayer escaped from Gomez's hold, narrowing the lead to 6-5. Gomez then notched a takedown with under 20 seconds remaining and added a point from riding advantage to seal the 9-5 victory and punch his ticket to the finals.

"Franklin kind of epitomizes what you want your athletes to do," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. He's really where our team aspires to be and he's certainly a leader in that area. He's a great wrestler and he certainly has a terrific challenge tomorrow. One thing you can be sure of is that he will give you a 100 percent effort."

This will be the second meeting between Gomez and Humphrey. Gomez defeated then-No. 17 Humphrey in the round of 16 in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, 6-5. Humphrey advanced to tomorrow's finals after upsetting top-ranked Daniel Dennis of Iowa, 5-2, in the other semifinal match.

MSU redshirt freshman Ian Hinton defeated Wisconsin's Travis Rutt in the first round of wrestlebacks, but suffered a tough 4-2 loss at the hands of No. 4 seed David Rella of Ohio State. He will wrestle for seventh place tomorrow against Matthew Everson of Minnesota.

Joining Hinton in their respective seventh-place matches are redshirt freshman Eric Olanowski (125), redshirt freshman David Cheza (149) and sophomore Anthony Jones Jr. (157). The top-seven wrestlers in each weight class will gain an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships.

Redshirt freshman Collin Dozier (141), senior Rex Kendle (165), junior Nick Palmieri (184), redshirt freshman Tyler Dickenson (197) and junior Alan O'Donnell (heavyweight) each lost their second match of the day and were eliminated from contention. Five of the Spartans' losses in the second session, four of which were elimination bouts, were decided by two points or less.

"I was fairly pleased with how we wrestled," said Minkel. "I don't think the results speak at all for the type of effort we got from our kids. As young as this team is, they're all very committed to improving and working harder. We have a lot of wrestling yet to do tomorrow."

The final session of the 2009 Big Ten Championships will begin at 12 p.m. tomorrow, March 8. The finals are slated for 2 p.m.