St. Cloud State holds slight lead over Notre Dame College after first day at NCAA DII Championships

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – By the time the carnage was through of a grind-it-out first day of wrestling at the 2016 NCAA Division II Championships, St. Cloud State, the champions last March, held a narrow 2-point lead over Notre Dame College.


Each and all of the contenders took hits on Friday.


Maryville, the preseason No. 1 and top-ranked squad in the latest Division II Coaches Poll, had a disastrous first day, pushing just 285-pounder Donnell Walker into the semifinals. SCSU, Nebraska-Kearney, and Notre Dame College each pushed four into the final four. California Baptist, Pittsburgh-Johnstown, and Wisconsin-Parkside each kept three in the championship bracket.


“Everyone took some hits today,” said SCSU head coach Steve Costanzo after a day that saw 23 schools push a man to the semifinals. “Division II is as deep as it’s been. In this kind of tournament, it is so important to bounce back after a loss; the guys on the backside, they are so important to how this tournament is going to play out.”


The Huskies got a major lift from 141-pound senior Matt Nelson, who, trailing 12-0 to Pittsburgh-Johnstown’s Sam Hanau, mounted a massive rally to win 19-15. A takedown and 4-point near-fall in the final 10 seconds brought the Husky contingent to a fever pitch.


“You just have to keep wrestling for seven minutes. That is what we teach our kids,” Costanzo said. “We brain-wash these kids throughout the year to believe that regardless of what that score is, whether you are up by 12 or down by 12, you have to keep wrestling.


“Guys can get on rolls and score a lot of points. If you are down by six, the 4-point near-fall can get you back into the match in a hurry.”


“Down 12-0 to start the match … I was on my way out,” said Nelson, a native of Big Lake, Minn. “The coaches kept telling me going into the third that I could do this, it is still in sight. With the four back points you can do things like this.


“Hearing that crowd roar when I got that first takedown got me going. And there at the end, it was an awesome feeling.”


Brent Velasquez, who beat teammate Tim Prescott, the 2015 NCAA champ in a late-season ranking match, advanced to the 125-pound semifinals, joining 157-pounder Jay Hildreth, an overtime winner in the quarterfinals, and heavyweight Austin Goergen, who improved to 34-1 with a technical fall and a pin on Friday. Senior Clint Poster entered the weekend 35-1, but lost a Friday night bout to UPJ’s Tyler Reinhart.


Notre Dame College’s four semifinalists include Jacob Goodwin (125), rookie Isaac Dulgarian (149) and national champions Joey Davis (184) and Garrett Lineberger (197). Davis, now 128-0, had a major decision and an 8-2 win to keep his quest for four unbeaten national championships seasons alive. No wrestler in Division II has won four NCAA titles without taking a loss.


The Falcons, NCAA kings in 2014, took two tough losses in a matter of moments Friday night, 133-pounder David Bavery falling to Indianapolis’ Nick Crume, and Region champ Cobey Fehr, who entered the weekend at 18-1, falling in overtime to Ouachita Baptist’s Blake Clevinger at 141 pounds. Soon thereafter, 2014 NCAA champ Jon Rivera fell 3-1 to Upper Iowa’s Jordan Rinken in a 157-pound quarterfinal.


“We are hanging in there,” said NDC co-head coach Frank Romano. “A pretty good day for us, a lot of ups and downs. There is still a lot of wrestling left. This is not easy on a coach. (Saturday) everybody is important. The guys going for third, fifth, seventh, tomorrow … those are very important points. Every point in this thing is big from here on out.”


Nebraska-Kearney, back-to-back champions in 2012 and 2013, pushed two-time champions Daniel DeShazer (133) and Romero Cotton (197), All-American Destin McCauley (149), and 174-pounder Calvin Ochs through. Ochs knocked off Mercyhurst’s August Mizia, while Cotton (22-2) had a first-period pin in his quarterfinal match. Cotton, a three-time NCAA finalist, faces 2014 184-pound NCAA champion Lineberger in the semifinals. The other side of the 197-pound bracket has the well-supported Joe Gomez (29-3) of Northern State in North Dakota, and Tiffin’s Jake Cramer (19-5).


Despite the tough loss at 141 pounds and Evan Link’s setback at 125 pounds, Pittsburgh-Johnstown hung around with Nick Roberts (133), Reinhart (165), and now four-time All-American Travis McKillop (184) all staying in the championship bracket. McKillop takes a 33-1 mark into Saturday where he will face Fort Hays State’s Jon Inman.


CBU’s undersized, Lennie Zalesky-coached Joe Fagiano beat Southwest Minnesota State’s Cole Wilson at 285 pounds and 157-pounder Brady Bersano hammered Shippensburg’s Adam Martz and Minnesota State-Mankato’s Matt Mincey in two matches on the first day. All-American Jacob Waste had two wins on the first day and will face off with NDC’s Davis in a 184-pound semifinal.


UW-P’s Ronzel Darling (28-3) beat Link, while Nick Fishback (33-4) and Nick Becker (40-0) each stayed in the championship bracket.


Maryville, St. Cloud State, and Notre Dame College were 1-2-3 in the standings after the first session, each taking a hit or two along the way.


The Saints won 7 of 10 first round matches, including Nick Burghardt’s pin of 2015 NCAA finalist Huston Evans of Newberry at 184 pounds.


SCSU lost just one of seven matches in the opening salvo. NDC methodically pushed eight into the quarterfinals. Lineberger edged Limestone College’s Matthew Rudy, 3-2, in a tiebreaker at 197 pounds.


Wisconsin-Parkside opened strong, getting a 7-6 win by Darling over Nebraska-Kearney’s Connor Bolling at 125 pounds and a big third-period pin from Joseph Her at 133 pounds. Becker had a pin and Fishback edged NDC’s Juwan Edmond, 8-6.

Day 2 hits the mats at 10 a.m. (CST) with the finals set for 7.