Spartans in seventh after day one of Big Ten Championships

Gomez, Jones and Hinton all reach semifinals.

ANN ARBOR, Mich., 3/06/10 - The Michigan State wrestling team sent three wrestlers to the semifinals of the Big Ten Championships on Saturday and ended the day in sixth place. Franklin Gomez (133), Anthony Jones Jr. (157) and Ian Hinton (174) all advanced to the semifinals but all three fell in hard-fought matches. Jones and Hinton defeated the second and third seeds, respectively, to reach the semifinals.

"This is a brutally tough tournament, and for us to be in sixth place after day one is certainly respectable," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "We had some heartbreaking losses, but we had a really solid team effort and I'm really proud of the guys. There is a lot of wrestling to go and I think everyone is doing their part."

Two-time defending Big Ten Champion Gomez won his quarterfinal match over sixth-seed Zac Stevens of Michigan with a 10-2 major decision. Gomez's win set up a one of the most anticipated semifinal duals of the tournament - a matchup with Iowa's second-seeded Daniel Dennis.

Gomez got the first takedown of the match with just under 30 seconds remaining in the second period. Dennis then tied the score at two with an escape with 10 seconds left in the period, setting up a thrilling final period. The two wrestled evenly through the final period until Dennis got what looked to be the winning takedown with 14 seconds left. Gomez, however, escaped and with eight seconds left, got a reversal to tie the score at four. After the restart, the two went to mat in the final seconds and Gomez was called for locked hands, giving Dennis a point and the win.

Jones scored the Spartans' first upset of the preliminary rounds when he defeated the No. 3 seed Kurt Kinser of Indiana, 3-1, in overtime. Kinser led 1-0 after the second period and Jones tied it with an escape in the third. Less than 30 seconds into the overtime session, Jones took Kinser to the mat for a 3-1 upset win.
Later on, Jones earned a spot in the semifinals when defeated another seeded wrestler, No. 6 David Johnson of Michigan, with a 9-3 decision. Jones scored takedowns in the first and second periods and led 4-2 after the second. Jones started the third period with a reversal and later got another takedown to seal the win.

In the semifinals, Jones took on No. 2 seed Cyler Sanderson of Penn State where ended up getting a 6-0 decision. Jones will take on Kinser again on Sunday for the right to move on to the third-place match.

At 174 pounds, the Spartans' Hinton took his opening round match over Penn State's Justin Ortega, 6-1, which led to a quarterfinals showdown with Purdue's second-seeded Luke Manuel. In the quarterfinal dual, Manuel took a 1-0 lead into the third and then Hinton went to work. Hinton tied the score with an early escape and then got the first takedown of the match to grab a 3-1 lead. Manuel cut the deficit to one point with an escape, but the No. 7 seed Hinton registered one more takedown late in the match to secure the win, 5-3.

In the semifinal match, the No. 3 seed Scott Glasser of Minnesota got the first points of the dual in the second period with an escape. After a takedown, Glasser took a 3-0 lead into the final period and ended up winning, 3-1.

Hinton will wrestle No. 8 Justin Zeerip of Michigan in the consolation semifinals tomorrow.

A pair of Spartan freshmen got off to good starts in Saturday's second session as Brenan Lyon (125) and Dan Osterman (141) each recorded falls. Wrestling in the consolation bracket, Lyon was down 3-0 in the second period before getting a reversal and then getting UM's Sean Boyle on his back, and eventually pinning him at the 4:59 mark.

Lyon then fell to No. 5 seed Cashe Quiroga, 24-6, in the consolation semifinal and will wrestle No. 7 John Deenan of Illinois for seventh place on Sunday.

Also wrestling in the consolation bracket was fellow freshman Dan Osterman (141), who pinned Northwestern's Levi Mele just 1:49 in the first round. Osterman, the seventh seed, then fell to Purdue's No. 6 Juan Archuleta, 11-2, in the consolation semifinal. Osterman will face Mark Weber of Michigan for seventh place on Sunday.

"It was wonderful to see those two get falls like that," Minkel said. "Brenan really stepped up for us today and Danny's been giving us his best all year." At 149 pounds, fifth-seeded David Cheza fell in the quarterfinals, 9-6, No. 4 Frank Molinaro of Penn State. Cheza then went on to pick up two convincing victories, 8-0, over Indiana's Matt Coughlin, and, 8-5, over No. 8 Nick Bertucci of Purdue.

Cheza will face No. 3 Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin the consolation semifinal tomorrow.

Senior 184-pounder Nick Palmieri fell to No. 5 Travis Rutt of Wisconsin, 4-2, in the opening round, but like Cheza, picked up two more impressive victories on the day to move on to Sunday's consolation semifinals. Palmieri defeated Kaleb Young of Minnesota, 3-2, and then upset seventh-seeded Hunter Montoya, 7-3.

In the heavyweight bracket, MSU's Alan O'Donnell fell to No. 1 Nate Everhart, 7-0, in the quarterfinal but then picked up an 8-6 win over David Pisarcik in the consolation bracket. O'Donnell ended the day with a 5-1 loss to No. 5 Eric Bugenhagen of Wisconsin.

O'Donnell will wrestle for seventh place on Sunday.

Both Kyle Bounds (No. 6, 165) and Tyler Dickenson (197) each went 0-2 on the day. Bounds will take on No. 8 Conrad Polz of Illinois for seventh place on Sunday.

Sunday's consolation semifinal matches will begin at 12 p.m. with championship and medal matches afterrwards.