March 20, 2008
St. Louis, Mo. - Competition has begun at the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Mo., and defending 197 lbs. NCAA National Champion Josh Glenn and 165-pounder Mike Cannon are in the championship hunt after session I. Glenn and Cannon both earned decisions in their first match of the championships and will return to action tonight in session II hoping to advance to Friday's championship quarterfinals.
Glenn began his title defense with a 2-0 decision over Ben Hepburn from Lock Haven. Neither wrestler made an attempt to mount an offensive attack in the first period and both were warned for stalling before time expired with the score tied at zero a piece. Glenn differed his decision to start the second and began the period on top, where he rode Hepburn out for the full two minutes. Glenn scored the match's first point three seconds into the third with an escape from his down starting position to take a 1-0 lead. Hepburn made several attempts throughout the period to score on Glenn but the returning national champions' defense was too sound and with riding time Glenn took the decision, 2-0.
Glenn will now face Oregon State's Kyle Bressler who defeated Gardner-Webb's Dustin Porter 3-1 in sudden victory overtime.
Cannon, the 10th seed at 165 lbs., advanced in the winners bracket with a 6-2 decision over North Carolina's Keegan Mueller. Cannon first got on the board with a takedown in the first and rode Mueller for 1:03 before giving up an escape point to make the score 2-1. Cannon began the second period on top and gave up a second escape point to Mueller early in the round to even the score at two. Cannon then began the third down and escaped early to regain his lead, 3-2, before scoring a takedown at 6:28 to go ahead 5-2. With riding time advantage, Cannon took the decision over Mueller, 6-2.
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Cannon's next opponent is Zach Shanaman from Penn who upset seventh seed Jacob Dieffenbach from Oklahoma State, 5-4. Cannon and Shanaman squared off a week and a half ago at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Tournament where Shanaman took a 5-1 decision over Cannon in the semifinals.
Jasen Borshoff was ousted from the championship bracket early on Day One as he fell to Anthony Mustari from Northern Colorado in his first match at 125 lbs., 5-1. Mustari took an early 0-2 lead on a first period takedown but Borshoff escaped after giving up only 18 seconds of riding time to cut the lead to 1-2. Borshoff began the second period on top and rode Mustari out the entire period but an illegal hold call on Borshoff moved the score to 1-3. In the third, Borshoff was unable to escape from his down starting position and after two near fall points scored by Mustari the match ended with a final score of 1-5.
Borshoff will now face Drexel's Steve Mytych in the wrestlebacks. Mytych lost his first match of the day to fourth seed Tanner Gardner from Stanford, 3-0. Borshoff and Mytych also met on Dec. 7 in a dual meet. Mytych, ranked 19th at the time, defeated Borshoff, 14-1 MD.
157-pounder Christopher Stout was also bumped from the championship bracket after an 8-5 first round loss to 11th seed Tyler Sherfey from Boise State. Sherfey scored the first points of the match with a first period takedown but a reversal by Stout tied the score at two a piece. Stout began the second period down and scored a second reversal at 3:28 to take a 4-2 lead. An escape and takedown by Sherfey later in the period put the Bronco back on top, 4-5, with riding time advantage. Sherfey's third takedown in the third period all but sealed up the victory as he took the decision over Stout, 8-5.
Stout's next opponent is Iowa's Ryan Morningstar who lost to sixth seed Matt Kocher from Pittsburgh in the first round, 4-2.
After session I American is tied for 34th place with three team points. Iowa is currently leading the team competition with 19 points. Session II is scheduled to begin this evening at 6:30 p.m.