NCAA SESSION II NOTES: 12 transfers reach quarterfinals, making big impact at 2019 NCAA Championships
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by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
Iowa's Pat Lugo, who transferred from Edinboro, is one of 12 transfers to reach the NCAA quarterfinals. Photo by Mark Lundy, LutteLens.com
Like never before in college wrestling history, transfers are making a huge impact on the sport, changing the compositions of teams, and giving many athletes a new opportunity to pursue their dreams in another setting. While this is a factor across all sports, it seems very common in wrestling.
“Transfers, you're probably going to see more and more transfers. That's more on the NCAA and them trying to kind of bend to accommodate student-athletes. We'll see. I think it will probably be a problem. It's probably not in the best interests of what sports are supposed to kind of teach you a little bit about commitment and when you give your word or something or you sign a contract, usually -- it's just tricky. Right? So you can look at it from a lot of different perspectives and obviously I'm going to see from my perspective. But I think it will be a challenge. I think you're seeing that with other sports already,” said Penn State coach Cael Sanderson.
In the second round of the NCAA Championships, there were 23 athletes on the championship side of the bracket who were transfers. A total of 12 transfers won in round two and have qualified for the quarterfinals.
The No. 1 seed at 285, Derek White of Oklahoma State, is one of those transfers in the quarterfinals, after beating Chase Singletary of Ohio State, 5-2 in round two. He offered his thoughts about the decision that more and more wrestlers are making.
“As a competitor, you've got to do whatever is best for you. I actually transferred from Nebraska to Oklahoma State. And that was probably the best thing I could have done,” said White.
Five of the second round matches featured both wrestlers who were transfers. One of the prominent matchups was at 165 pounds, when No. 5 seed Chance Marsteller of Lock Haven, a transfer from Oklahoma State, battled No. 21 seed Te’Shan Campbell of Ohio State, who transferred from Pitt. Marsteller secured a 4-2 win to reach the quarterfinals. Both of these athletes were Pennsylvania AAA state champions at 170 pounds, Marsteller in 2014 and Campbell in 2015. Of course, Marsteller had four high school state titles in his career.
There were two transfer vs. transfer battles at 149 pounds. No 8 seed Jarrett Degen of Iowa State, who started his career at Virginia Tech, beat No. 9 Justin Oliver of NC State, who transferred from Central Michigan, by an 11-8 margin. No. 10 Pat Lugo of Iowa, an Edinboro transfer, stopped Ryan Blees of Virginia Tech, who left Oklahoma State, 4-2 in sudden victory.
The other transfer battles were No. 3 Nick Suriano of Rutgers, who left Penn State, beating Korbin Myers of Virginia Tech, an Edinboro transfer at 133 by a 7-2 score. Larry Early of Old Dominion, a Minnesota transfer, advanced at 157 with a 3-2 win over Steve Bleise of Minnesota, who started his career at Northern Illinois.
One of the big battles in the quarterfinals will be at 133, where No. 2 seed Stevan Micic of Michigan, a transfer from Northwestern, will battle No. 7 seed Austin DeSanto of Iowa, who left Drexel.
Iowa has two transfers in the quarterfinals, DeSanto and Lugo.
The list of transfers in the quarterfinals is:
No. 6 at 125 - Sean Russell of Minnesota (from Edinboro)
No. 2 at 133 – Stevan Micic of Michigan (from Northwestern)
No. 3 at 133 – Nick Suriano of Rutgers (from Penn State)
No. 7 at 133 – Austin DeSanto of Iowa (from Drexel)
No. 2 at 141 – Joey McKenna of Ohio State (from Stanford)
No. 4 at 141 – Micky Phillippi of Pitt (from Virginia)
No. 8 at 149 – Jarrett Degan of Iowa State (from Virginia Tech)
No. 10 at 149 – Pat Lugo of Iowa (from Edinboro)
No. 5 at 157 – Larry Early of Old Dominion (from Minnesota)
No 5 at 165 – Chance Marsteller of Lock Haven (from Oklahoma State)
No. 10 at 197 – Tom Sleigh of Virginia Tech (from Bucknell)
No. 1 at 285 – Derek White of Oklahoma State (from Nebraska)
Alternate Jacob Aven reaches day two at NCAAs – There were two wrestlers who were pulled into the tournament at the last moment here in Pittsburgh, when NCAA qualifiers in their weight class scratched and did not compete. Jacob Aven of Purdue, the alternate at 285, was added to the tournament yesterday when Buffalo big man Jake Gunning was a scratch. Seeded No. 33, Aven lost his pigtail match this morning to Brandon Ngati of West Virginia, 6-1, but came back with two consolation wins to keep himself in the draw. He beat No. 30 Zack Parker of Ohio, 10-6, then stopped No. 14 AJ Nevills of Fresno State, 9-5. His next opponent is No. X Elam of Missouri.
The other alternate, Trey Chalifoux of Army West Point at 125, is out of the tournament, but did win his pigtail match over Willy Gerard of Bloomsburg, before losing to No. 1 Sebastian Rivera of Northwestern and No. X Devin Schroeder of Purdue.
How host Pitt did in Round Two – We have been tracking the local team in the tournament, the Pitt Panthers, who had five qualifiers. Two have reached the quarterfinals, Micky Phillippi at 133 and Nino Bonaccorsi at 184, with two still in the consolations and one eliminated.
Round Two at 133 – No. 4 Micky Phillippi – dec. Austin Gomez (Iowa State), 1-0
Consolation at 157 – No. 12 Taleb Rahmani – maj. dec. Hunter Willits (Oregon State)
Round Two at 184 – No. 13 Nino Bonaccorsi – dec. Emery Parker (Illinois), 9-7
Consolation at 197 – No. 23 Kellan Stout – lost dec. to Anthony McLaughlin (Air Force), 4-2 (eliminate)
Round Two at 285 – No. 8 Demetrius Thomas – lost to Matt Stencel (Central Michigan), 17-9
Lower seeds beating higher seeds in the second round – Each championship round, we are tracking the lower seeds who beat a higher seed. There were three lower seeds at 141 who advanced to the quarterfinals, No. 9 Dom Demas of Oklahoma, No. 13 Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven and No. 22 Max Murin of Iowa.
Here are the lower seeds who won in round two on Thursday night.
141 - No. 9 Dom Demas (Oklahoma) DEC No. 8 Kanen Storr (Michigan), 3-1
141 – No. 13 Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven) MD No. 4 Josh Alber (Northern Iowa), 19-10
141 – No. 22 Max Murin (Iowa) DEC No. 6 Michael Carr (Illinois), 4-3
157 – No. 9 Christian Pagdilao (Arizona State) DEC No. 8 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh), 11-7
165 - No. 11 Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa) DEC No. 6 Logan Massa (Michigan), 2-1
174 - No. 22 Ben Harvey (Army) DEC No. 6 David Mcfadden (Virginia Tech), 5-3 SV
174 - No. 10 Michael Labriola (Nebraska) DEC No. 7 Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State), 8-4
184 – No. 13 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) DEC No. 4 Emery Parker (Illinois), 9-7
184 - No. 15 Chip Ness (North Carolina) DEC No. 2 Shakur Rasheed (Penn State), 8-6
197 – No. 21 Thomas Lane (California Poly) DEC No. 5 Jacob Warner (Iowa), 4-2 SV
197 - No. 11 Christian Brunner (Purdue) DEC No. 6 William Miklus (Iowa State), 6-2
197 – No. 10 Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) DEC No. 7 Jay Aiello (Virginia), 9-8 SV
285 - No. 9 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) MD No. 8 Demetrius Thomas (Pittsburgh), 17-9
285 – No. 28 Sam Stoll (Iowa) DEC No. 12 Conan Jennings (Northwestern), 1-0
Thursday Attendance – The attendance for the NCAA Wrestling Championships for the two sessions on Thursday was 35,906, with 17,949 in the first session and 17,957 in the second session.
Like never before in college wrestling history, transfers are making a huge impact on the sport, changing the compositions of teams, and giving many athletes a new opportunity to pursue their dreams in another setting. While this is a factor across all sports, it seems very common in wrestling.
“Transfers, you're probably going to see more and more transfers. That's more on the NCAA and them trying to kind of bend to accommodate student-athletes. We'll see. I think it will probably be a problem. It's probably not in the best interests of what sports are supposed to kind of teach you a little bit about commitment and when you give your word or something or you sign a contract, usually -- it's just tricky. Right? So you can look at it from a lot of different perspectives and obviously I'm going to see from my perspective. But I think it will be a challenge. I think you're seeing that with other sports already,” said Penn State coach Cael Sanderson.
In the second round of the NCAA Championships, there were 23 athletes on the championship side of the bracket who were transfers. A total of 12 transfers won in round two and have qualified for the quarterfinals.
The No. 1 seed at 285, Derek White of Oklahoma State, is one of those transfers in the quarterfinals, after beating Chase Singletary of Ohio State, 5-2 in round two. He offered his thoughts about the decision that more and more wrestlers are making.
“As a competitor, you've got to do whatever is best for you. I actually transferred from Nebraska to Oklahoma State. And that was probably the best thing I could have done,” said White.
Five of the second round matches featured both wrestlers who were transfers. One of the prominent matchups was at 165 pounds, when No. 5 seed Chance Marsteller of Lock Haven, a transfer from Oklahoma State, battled No. 21 seed Te’Shan Campbell of Ohio State, who transferred from Pitt. Marsteller secured a 4-2 win to reach the quarterfinals. Both of these athletes were Pennsylvania AAA state champions at 170 pounds, Marsteller in 2014 and Campbell in 2015. Of course, Marsteller had four high school state titles in his career.
There were two transfer vs. transfer battles at 149 pounds. No 8 seed Jarrett Degen of Iowa State, who started his career at Virginia Tech, beat No. 9 Justin Oliver of NC State, who transferred from Central Michigan, by an 11-8 margin. No. 10 Pat Lugo of Iowa, an Edinboro transfer, stopped Ryan Blees of Virginia Tech, who left Oklahoma State, 4-2 in sudden victory.
The other transfer battles were No. 3 Nick Suriano of Rutgers, who left Penn State, beating Korbin Myers of Virginia Tech, an Edinboro transfer at 133 by a 7-2 score. Larry Early of Old Dominion, a Minnesota transfer, advanced at 157 with a 3-2 win over Steve Bleise of Minnesota, who started his career at Northern Illinois.
One of the big battles in the quarterfinals will be at 133, where No. 2 seed Stevan Micic of Michigan, a transfer from Northwestern, will battle No. 7 seed Austin DeSanto of Iowa, who left Drexel.
Iowa has two transfers in the quarterfinals, DeSanto and Lugo.
The list of transfers in the quarterfinals is:
No. 6 at 125 - Sean Russell of Minnesota (from Edinboro)
No. 2 at 133 – Stevan Micic of Michigan (from Northwestern)
No. 3 at 133 – Nick Suriano of Rutgers (from Penn State)
No. 7 at 133 – Austin DeSanto of Iowa (from Drexel)
No. 2 at 141 – Joey McKenna of Ohio State (from Stanford)
No. 4 at 141 – Micky Phillippi of Pitt (from Virginia)
No. 8 at 149 – Jarrett Degan of Iowa State (from Virginia Tech)
No. 10 at 149 – Pat Lugo of Iowa (from Edinboro)
No. 5 at 157 – Larry Early of Old Dominion (from Minnesota)
No 5 at 165 – Chance Marsteller of Lock Haven (from Oklahoma State)
No. 10 at 197 – Tom Sleigh of Virginia Tech (from Bucknell)
No. 1 at 285 – Derek White of Oklahoma State (from Nebraska)
Alternate Jacob Aven reaches day two at NCAAs – There were two wrestlers who were pulled into the tournament at the last moment here in Pittsburgh, when NCAA qualifiers in their weight class scratched and did not compete. Jacob Aven of Purdue, the alternate at 285, was added to the tournament yesterday when Buffalo big man Jake Gunning was a scratch. Seeded No. 33, Aven lost his pigtail match this morning to Brandon Ngati of West Virginia, 6-1, but came back with two consolation wins to keep himself in the draw. He beat No. 30 Zack Parker of Ohio, 10-6, then stopped No. 14 AJ Nevills of Fresno State, 9-5. His next opponent is No. X Elam of Missouri.
The other alternate, Trey Chalifoux of Army West Point at 125, is out of the tournament, but did win his pigtail match over Willy Gerard of Bloomsburg, before losing to No. 1 Sebastian Rivera of Northwestern and No. X Devin Schroeder of Purdue.
How host Pitt did in Round Two – We have been tracking the local team in the tournament, the Pitt Panthers, who had five qualifiers. Two have reached the quarterfinals, Micky Phillippi at 133 and Nino Bonaccorsi at 184, with two still in the consolations and one eliminated.
Round Two at 133 – No. 4 Micky Phillippi – dec. Austin Gomez (Iowa State), 1-0
Consolation at 157 – No. 12 Taleb Rahmani – maj. dec. Hunter Willits (Oregon State)
Round Two at 184 – No. 13 Nino Bonaccorsi – dec. Emery Parker (Illinois), 9-7
Consolation at 197 – No. 23 Kellan Stout – lost dec. to Anthony McLaughlin (Air Force), 4-2 (eliminate)
Round Two at 285 – No. 8 Demetrius Thomas – lost to Matt Stencel (Central Michigan), 17-9
Lower seeds beating higher seeds in the second round – Each championship round, we are tracking the lower seeds who beat a higher seed. There were three lower seeds at 141 who advanced to the quarterfinals, No. 9 Dom Demas of Oklahoma, No. 13 Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven and No. 22 Max Murin of Iowa.
Here are the lower seeds who won in round two on Thursday night.
141 - No. 9 Dom Demas (Oklahoma) DEC No. 8 Kanen Storr (Michigan), 3-1
141 – No. 13 Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven) MD No. 4 Josh Alber (Northern Iowa), 19-10
141 – No. 22 Max Murin (Iowa) DEC No. 6 Michael Carr (Illinois), 4-3
157 – No. 9 Christian Pagdilao (Arizona State) DEC No. 8 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh), 11-7
165 - No. 11 Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa) DEC No. 6 Logan Massa (Michigan), 2-1
174 - No. 22 Ben Harvey (Army) DEC No. 6 David Mcfadden (Virginia Tech), 5-3 SV
174 - No. 10 Michael Labriola (Nebraska) DEC No. 7 Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State), 8-4
184 – No. 13 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) DEC No. 4 Emery Parker (Illinois), 9-7
184 - No. 15 Chip Ness (North Carolina) DEC No. 2 Shakur Rasheed (Penn State), 8-6
197 – No. 21 Thomas Lane (California Poly) DEC No. 5 Jacob Warner (Iowa), 4-2 SV
197 - No. 11 Christian Brunner (Purdue) DEC No. 6 William Miklus (Iowa State), 6-2
197 – No. 10 Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) DEC No. 7 Jay Aiello (Virginia), 9-8 SV
285 - No. 9 Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) MD No. 8 Demetrius Thomas (Pittsburgh), 17-9
285 – No. 28 Sam Stoll (Iowa) DEC No. 12 Conan Jennings (Northwestern), 1-0
Thursday Attendance – The attendance for the NCAA Wrestling Championships for the two sessions on Thursday was 35,906, with 17,949 in the first session and 17,957 in the second session.
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