Overtime wins propel Lehigh's Cruz to NCAA finals, Parker to All-America honors
Brackets/Team Scores |
Friday morning recap
ST. LOUIS – Friday's evening session opened with a bang for the Lehigh wrestling team as junior
Darian Cruz knocked off top seed and previously undefeated Thomas Gilman of Iowa 4-2 in sudden victory in the 125-pound semifinals of the NCAA Championships. In a late flurry, Cruz scored the go-ahead takedown in the final 10 seconds of regulation, only to see Gilman escape to force overtime. Cruz got on Gilman's legs from behind in the sudden victory to earn a 4-2 decision, sending Scottrade Center into a frenzy.
Â
"I had to get him leaning in one direction and fire off that shot to get him from behind," Cruz said. "I knew I had to get him leaning one way so I could beat him around the corner.
Â
With the victory, Cruz, the No. 4 seed, advanced to Saturday night's finals where he will face No. 6 seed and fellow Lehigh Valley and District XI product Ethan Lizak of Minnesota.
Â
"He's talked about winning a national title since he's been here," Lehigh head coach
Pat Santoro said of Cruz. "He's been really consistent this year. That's the biggest difference. He's a little bigger and stronger. He's enjoying the moment, just being out there wrestling and being free. When you wrestle like that, you give yourself opportunities to win a lot of matches."
Â
Moments after Cruz's semifinal win, sophomore
Scott Parker also found a winning takedown in sudden victory, earning his first career All-America honor with a 6-4 sudden victory decision over Buffalo's Bryan Lantry.
Â
The two early overtime wins were the highlight of session four for the Mountain Hawks, who went just 1-3 in the All-America round of 12 and lost their final four bouts of the session.
Â
Lehigh crowned two All-Americans in the 2017 NCAA Championships and now has 147 All-America medals all-time.
Â
The Mountain Hawks sit in a tie for 11th place with Wisconsin after day two of the tournament with 36 points.
Â
Cruz's late magic helped offset the fact that he was ridden out in the second period and Gilman chose neutral in the third, keeping the riding time advantage in his favor. Cruz's takedown in the final seconds put him up 2-1 but he was unable to ride out Gilman as a late escape sent the match to sudden victory, setting up the overtime heroics.
Â
"I felt like I wrestled a tough season," Cruz said. "I felt like I beat a lot of kids but I wanted to win a national title. My coaches have been telling me that since my freshman year. I wanted to believe in myself and that's something they preach. I'm excited to wrestle and compete and go out and have fun. That's what it's all about."
Â
Cruz is now 30-2 on the season and has won 20 straight bouts, with the last loss coming to Lizak 8-0 in the quarterfinals of the Southern Scuffle.
Â
With an escape and takedown in the second period, Parker led his round of 12 match 3-1 after two, but Lantry fought back to get a takedown of his own in the third and after a Parker escape the match went to overtime tied 4-4. Parker's winning takedown came with 20 seconds left in the sudden victory period.
Â
"It was really good for him," Santoro said of Parker. "He took the year off last year to move up to 133. He's not a huge 133. He's a big kid but he's not heavy. He's really grown into the weight class and wrestled hard and made adjustments. He's setting himself up to do some great things in the next couple of years."
Â
Parker went on to drop his consolation quarterfinal to Nebraska's Eric Montoya 7-1 and will wrestle for seventh place against Zane Richards of Illinois in a rematch of Thursday's round of 16 match won by Richards 7-6 in sudden victory on a Parker stalling call.
Â
Lehigh was unable to keep the momentum going into its three remaining round of 12 bouts. At 149, senior
Laike Gardner dropped a 9-6 decision to Micah Jordan of Ohio State, with Jordan racking up four takedowns. A team captain and three-time NCAA qualifier, Gardner wraps up his career at 69-37.
Â
Sophomore
Ryan Preisch owned a victory over his blood round opponent Myles Amine earlier this season, but Amine took control of the rematch, scoring two early first period takedowns to take Preisch out of his rhythm on the way to a 9-4 decision. Preisch, who was seeded sixth at 174, finishes his sophomore season at 25-6.
Â
Senior heavyweight
Doug Vollaro's impressive run through the tournament came to an end with a 4-1 loss to Minnesota's Michael Kroells. Leading 1-0 entering the third period, Kroells built up more than a minute of riding time advantage and then capitalized on a desperation shot from Vollaro in the waning seconds.
Â
"You feel for those guys," Santoro said. "They've put so much time in. There's a lot of great wrestlers who don't get on the podium. That's just the way it is. I'm proud of all of them. Doug had a phenomenal tournament. He drew a pigtail early and really battled. He was right there at the end. It's really a great, great group and I'm blessed to be able to coach them."
Â
Penn State placed five wrestlers in the finals to take a commanding lead in the team race with 121 points. Ohio State sits in second place with 89.5 points, followed by Oklahoma State (86), Missouri (81.5) and Iowa (74).
Â
"Overall, we wrestled really well today," Santoro said. "Last night was a rough round. Today the guys came back and wrestled hard and did what they were supposed to do. We have two All-Americans. We were hoping to get a few more through but they competed hard. In this tournament, anything can happen. I'm proud of this team. These guys have a lot of character. They showed a lot of grit today. Scotty has a match tomorrow and Darian's in the national championship match and that's the ultimate goal."
Â
Scott Parker will wrestle for seventh place in session five, the medal rounds, at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT on Saturday. Session five will be televised on ESPNU and Watch ESPN. The final session of the NCAA Championships, featuring the Cruz-Lizak title bout at 125, will begin at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT with television coverage on ESPN and WatchESPN. Audio coverage of both of Lehigh's Saturday matches at the NCAA Championships will be available at Lehighsports.com/watch.
Â
125 – No. 4
Darian Cruz
Quarterfinals: dec. No. 12 Sean Fausz (NC State) 5-2
Semifinals: dec. No. 1 Thomas Gilman (Iowa) 4-2, sv
Finals: No. 6 Ethan Lizak (Minnesota)
Â
133 – No. 9
Scott Parker
Second round consolation: dec. Mark Grey (Cornell) 6-3
Third round consolation: dec. No. 15 Jamal Morris (NC State) 7-3
Fourth round consolation: dec. No. 11 Bryan Landry (Buffalo) 6-4, sv
Consolation quarterfinals: L by dec. No. 7 Eric Montoya (Nebraska) 7-1
Seventh place match: No. 8 Zane Richards (Illinois)
Â
149 – No. 10
Laike Gardner - Eliminated
Second round consolation: dec. No. 8 Patricio Lugo (Edinboro) 12-6
Third round consolation: dec. Josh Maruca (Arizona St.) 3-2
Fourth round consolation: L by dec. No. 4 Micah Jordan (Ohio St.) 9-6
Â
174 – No. 6
Ryan Preisch - Eliminated
Second round consolation: dec. No. 10 Casey Kent (Penn) 10-6
Third round consolation: dec. Ryan Christensen (Wisconsin) 7-2
Fourth round consolation: L by dec. No. 9 Myles Amine (Michigan) 9-4
Â
285 –
Doug Vollaro - Eliminated
Second round consolation: dec. No. 6 Austin Schafer (Okla. St.) 5-1
Third round consolation: dec. No. 14 Thomas Haines (Lock Haven) 7-3
Fourth round consolation: L by dec. No. 8 Michael Kroells (Minnesota) 4-1
Â