Saturday, March 19
New York, N.Y.
11:00 AM
Lehigh University
at
NCAA Championships
Brown wins to finish seventh as three Lehigh All-Americans finish up at MSG
3/19/2016 3:11:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
Final Brackets | Final Team Scores
NEW YORK – Lehigh's three All-Americans wrapped up action at the NCAA Championships in the medal round Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. Senior Nathaniel Brown won his match at 184 to finish in seventh place while junior Randy Cruz and senior Max Wessell dropped close decisions to finish eighth at 141 and 285, respectively.
Â
The Mountain Hawks finished the 2016 NCAA Championships with 31 points to finish in 14th place. Lehigh crowned three All-Americans for the third straight season and Lehigh wrestlers have now won 145 All-America medals all-time.
Â
"It was a rollercoaster," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. "We put ourselves in such a hole Thursday night, but they rallied behind each other last night and yesterday and came back strong. To get three All-Americans after that start says a lot about the character of this team."
Â(3/19/2016) Wrestling at NCAA Championships, 3/19/16
Brown claimed a victory in his final bout in the brown and white, posting a 9-3 decision over Iowa's second-seeded Sammy Brooks in the seventh place match. After a scoreless first period, Brown rode out the second and added a four point turn to go up 4-0 after two periods. Brooks cut Brown's lead to 5-2 with a third period takedown, but Brown countered a Brooks throw attempt for an insurance takedown and with riding time advantage collected the 9-3 victory.
Â
A two-time All-American and 2015 finalist, Brown finishes his Lehigh career at 93-25.
Â
"What Nate accomplished was really tough," Santoro said. "A lot of guys who have the goal of being a national champ, when they lose, they're out. You see it every year and you saw it from a lot of guys in this tournament. Nate trained too hard and if he couldn't win he wanted the next highest place and if that didn't happen he wanted the next highest place.
Â
In the seventh place match at 141, Cruz dropped a 3-1 sudden-victory decision to North Carolina's Joey Ward. Cruz chose down to begin the second period and Ward accumulated 1:19 of advantage time before Cruz was able to escape. Ward chose neutral in the third and with no further scoring, the match went to overtime tied 1-1. Ward scored 23 seconds into the sudden victory period to take third. Cruz finishes his junior season at 26-10 and has one more season of eligibility.
Â
Wessell was unable to replicate the success of Thursday night when he majored Kroells 15-7 in the round of 16. In the fourth meeting of the year between the two grapplers, Wessell scored the first takedown, but Kroells answered late in the first to lead 3-2 after one. Kroells used a strong ride to ride out the second period and escaped in the third while thwarting several Wessell shot attempts to win 5-2.
Â
The sixth-year senior Wessell finishes his career at 52-21.
Â
"The important thing about today was the way we fought," Santoro said. "We weren't standing around. Max took seven or eight shots in his match. The guy scored on one of his shots but he out-fought the guy. He didn't get his hand raised, but that's the way you want to wrestle.
Â
"Everybody came to wrestle this morning," Santoro said. "You do want to finish in odd numbers. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but the effort was there and that's all you can ask for."
Â
Penn State clinched its fifth team title in the last six seasons during Saturday's afternoon session. The Nittany Lions crowned two national champions and scored 123 points. Oklahoma State finished second with 97.5 points while Ohio State took third with 86 points and Virginia Tech fourth with 82.
Â
"There's been a culture change every year and this year took a new shift," Santoro said of his four senior NCAA qualifiers. "It's been a positive one. With the young crew we have now, they saw what these guys did and things will keep moving more in a positive direction."
Â
The Mountain Hawks return three All-Americans (Darian Cruz, Randy Cruz and Mitch Minotti) and eight previous NCAA qualifiers for the 2016-17 season.
Â
Â
Â
141 – No. 16 Randy Cruz – Eighth place
Rd. of 32: dec. Jordan Laster (Princeton) 3-0
Rd. of 16: L by dec. No. 1 Dean Heil (Oklahoma St.) 4-1
Second round consolation: Fall Tyler Smith (Bucknell) 2:31
Third round consolation: dec. No. 9 Ricky Durso (F&M) 4-0
Fourth round consolation: dec. No. 6 Micah Jordan (Ohio State) 6-2
Consolation quarterfinal: L by dec. No. 7 Solomon Chishko (Virginia Tech) 7-0
Seventh place match: L by dec. No. 8 Joey Ward (North Carolina) 3-1 sv
Â
184 – No. 10 Nathaniel Brown – Seventh place
Rd. of 32: dec. Ryan Christensen (Wisconsin) 7-4
Rd. of 16: L by dec. No. 7 TJ Dudley (Nebraska) 7-3
Second round consolation: major dec. Alex Utley (North Carolina) 15-4
Third round consolation: dec. Jack Dechow (ODU) 2-1
Fourth round consolation: dec. No. 5 Zach Zavatsky (Virginia Tech) 2-1
Consolation quarterfinal: L by dec. No. 8 Nolan Boyd (Oklahoma State) 6-4
Seventh place match: dec. No. 2 Sammy Brooks (Iowa) 9-3
Â
285 – No. 8 Max Wessell – Eighth place
Rd. of 32: dec. Mike Hughes (Hofstra) 6-3
Rd. of 16: major dec. No. 9 Michael Kroells (Minnesota) 15-7
Quarterfinals: L by major dec. No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NC State) 9-1
Fourth round consolation: dec. No. 12 Billy Smith (Rutgers) 3-2
Consolation quarterfinal: L by dec. No. 4 Austin Marsden (Oklahoma State) 8-2
Seventh place match: L by dec. No. 9 Michael Kroells (Minnesota) 5-2
Â
NEW YORK – Lehigh's three All-Americans wrapped up action at the NCAA Championships in the medal round Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. Senior Nathaniel Brown won his match at 184 to finish in seventh place while junior Randy Cruz and senior Max Wessell dropped close decisions to finish eighth at 141 and 285, respectively.
Â
The Mountain Hawks finished the 2016 NCAA Championships with 31 points to finish in 14th place. Lehigh crowned three All-Americans for the third straight season and Lehigh wrestlers have now won 145 All-America medals all-time.
Â
"It was a rollercoaster," Lehigh head coach Pat Santoro said. "We put ourselves in such a hole Thursday night, but they rallied behind each other last night and yesterday and came back strong. To get three All-Americans after that start says a lot about the character of this team."
Â
Brown claimed a victory in his final bout in the brown and white, posting a 9-3 decision over Iowa's second-seeded Sammy Brooks in the seventh place match. After a scoreless first period, Brown rode out the second and added a four point turn to go up 4-0 after two periods. Brooks cut Brown's lead to 5-2 with a third period takedown, but Brown countered a Brooks throw attempt for an insurance takedown and with riding time advantage collected the 9-3 victory.
Â
A two-time All-American and 2015 finalist, Brown finishes his Lehigh career at 93-25.
Â
"What Nate accomplished was really tough," Santoro said. "A lot of guys who have the goal of being a national champ, when they lose, they're out. You see it every year and you saw it from a lot of guys in this tournament. Nate trained too hard and if he couldn't win he wanted the next highest place and if that didn't happen he wanted the next highest place.
Â
In the seventh place match at 141, Cruz dropped a 3-1 sudden-victory decision to North Carolina's Joey Ward. Cruz chose down to begin the second period and Ward accumulated 1:19 of advantage time before Cruz was able to escape. Ward chose neutral in the third and with no further scoring, the match went to overtime tied 1-1. Ward scored 23 seconds into the sudden victory period to take third. Cruz finishes his junior season at 26-10 and has one more season of eligibility.
Â
Wessell was unable to replicate the success of Thursday night when he majored Kroells 15-7 in the round of 16. In the fourth meeting of the year between the two grapplers, Wessell scored the first takedown, but Kroells answered late in the first to lead 3-2 after one. Kroells used a strong ride to ride out the second period and escaped in the third while thwarting several Wessell shot attempts to win 5-2.
Â
The sixth-year senior Wessell finishes his career at 52-21.
Â
"The important thing about today was the way we fought," Santoro said. "We weren't standing around. Max took seven or eight shots in his match. The guy scored on one of his shots but he out-fought the guy. He didn't get his hand raised, but that's the way you want to wrestle.
Â
"Everybody came to wrestle this morning," Santoro said. "You do want to finish in odd numbers. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but the effort was there and that's all you can ask for."
Â
Penn State clinched its fifth team title in the last six seasons during Saturday's afternoon session. The Nittany Lions crowned two national champions and scored 123 points. Oklahoma State finished second with 97.5 points while Ohio State took third with 86 points and Virginia Tech fourth with 82.
Â
"There's been a culture change every year and this year took a new shift," Santoro said of his four senior NCAA qualifiers. "It's been a positive one. With the young crew we have now, they saw what these guys did and things will keep moving more in a positive direction."
Â
The Mountain Hawks return three All-Americans (Darian Cruz, Randy Cruz and Mitch Minotti) and eight previous NCAA qualifiers for the 2016-17 season.
Â
Â
Â
141 – No. 16 Randy Cruz – Eighth place
Rd. of 32: dec. Jordan Laster (Princeton) 3-0
Rd. of 16: L by dec. No. 1 Dean Heil (Oklahoma St.) 4-1
Second round consolation: Fall Tyler Smith (Bucknell) 2:31
Third round consolation: dec. No. 9 Ricky Durso (F&M) 4-0
Fourth round consolation: dec. No. 6 Micah Jordan (Ohio State) 6-2
Consolation quarterfinal: L by dec. No. 7 Solomon Chishko (Virginia Tech) 7-0
Seventh place match: L by dec. No. 8 Joey Ward (North Carolina) 3-1 sv
Â
184 – No. 10 Nathaniel Brown – Seventh place
Rd. of 32: dec. Ryan Christensen (Wisconsin) 7-4
Rd. of 16: L by dec. No. 7 TJ Dudley (Nebraska) 7-3
Second round consolation: major dec. Alex Utley (North Carolina) 15-4
Third round consolation: dec. Jack Dechow (ODU) 2-1
Fourth round consolation: dec. No. 5 Zach Zavatsky (Virginia Tech) 2-1
Consolation quarterfinal: L by dec. No. 8 Nolan Boyd (Oklahoma State) 6-4
Seventh place match: dec. No. 2 Sammy Brooks (Iowa) 9-3
Â
285 – No. 8 Max Wessell – Eighth place
Rd. of 32: dec. Mike Hughes (Hofstra) 6-3
Rd. of 16: major dec. No. 9 Michael Kroells (Minnesota) 15-7
Quarterfinals: L by major dec. No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NC State) 9-1
Fourth round consolation: dec. No. 12 Billy Smith (Rutgers) 3-2
Consolation quarterfinal: L by dec. No. 4 Austin Marsden (Oklahoma State) 8-2
Seventh place match: L by dec. No. 9 Michael Kroells (Minnesota) 5-2
Â
Players Mentioned
184
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's WrestlingLehigh Sports Central: Wrestling
Wednesday, March 12
Lehigh Sports Central: Wrestling
Thursday, February 20
Lehigh Sports Central: Wrestling
Wednesday, December 04
Season Preview: Wrestling
Wednesday, October 30
