Gomez, Hinton move on to day two of NCAA Wrestling Championships

Gomez to compete in quarterfinals

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Franklin Gomez advanced to the quarterfinal round and Ian Hinton moved on to the second round of consolations in the second session of the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Thursday night (March 19) at the Scottrade Center.

Gomez earned his second victory of the day, an 8-3 decision, against Cal Poly's 15th-ranked Filip Novachkov. With the win, the top-seeded 133-pounder advances to the quarterfinals, where he will take on No. 9 seed Lou Ruggirello of Hofstra in Friday's first session. Hinton advances to the second round of wrestlebacks after defeating Franklin and Marshall's Justin Herbert, 6-2, at 174.

Eric Olanowski, Anthony Jones Jr. and Rex Kendle lost their respective second matches of the day, eliminating them from competition. All three wrestlers finished the season with at least 20 wins and were competing in their first career NCAA Championships.

Gomez was the first to strike against Novachkov, recording a takedown 30 seconds into the bout. After a Novachkov escape, Gomez tallied another takedown with under a minute left to close out the first period at 4-1. Gomez accumulated close to two minutes of riding advantage time in the second, but a Novachkov escape narrowed his lead to 4-2 entering the third.

Gomez picked up another point with an escape 20 seconds into the third. The two stayed neutral until Gomez notched a takedown with 15 seconds left in the match. An escape with five seconds remaining and a point awarded to Gomez for riding advantage left the final score at 8-3.

Hinton attacked early against Hebert, recording his first takedown 15 seconds into the bout. Herbert recorded an escape and Hinton followed with a takedown to close out the first at 4-1. The two wrestlers exchanged escape points and Hinton earned a point for riding advantage to give Hinton the 6-2 win. Hinton will face No. 6 seed Steve Anceravage of Cornell in tomorrow's first session.

Olanowski lost a heartbreaker at 125, surrendering three near fall points with under 20 seconds remaining in the match to Navy's Prescott Garner, giving Garner the 9-7 victory. Olanowski finishes the season with 21 wins in his first year of dual meet competition.

At 157, Jones was pinned in 1:11 by Bryan Deutsch of Northern Illinois. Jones rounds out the season with 24 wins, which ties Gomez for the most on the team. The loss was Jones' first by fall this season.

Kendle gave No. 5 seed Nick Marable of Missouri all he could handle, but two Marable takedowns would be enough to push him past Kendle by a score of 6-1. Kendle finishes the season with 22 wins, good for third on the team.

The Spartans resume competition tomorrow (March 20) at 11 a.m. The first session will be broadcast live on ESPNU and ESPN360.com, while the second session (7 p.m.) will be aired on ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360.com.
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