Galloway and Davis upset seeded wrestlers in first round
St. Louis, Mo., March 17, 2005 – Penn State opened the 2005 NCAA Wrestling Tournament in St. Louis, Mo., Thursday morning going 5-2 in the opening session and pulling off upsets of two seeded wrestlers as four of six Nittany Lions advanced into second round action in the championship bracket.
Penn State jumped right into action in the tournament as three Nittany Lions took the mat in the space of five minutes to open the day. Freshman Bryan Heller (133) and sophomore Nate Galloway (157) each had pigtail matches and took the mat simultaneously while senior Adam Smith followed almost immediately in a first round match at 125 pounds.
Galloway provided the first highlight of the day. After getting off to a strong start in his second NCAA Tournament appearance with a 5-3 win over Virginia’s Paul Bjorlo in his pigtail match, the State College High graduate pulled Penn State’s first upset of the tournament as he knocked off No. 7 seed Matt Lebe in the first round. It was the fourth time Galloway faced Lebe on the year as the West Virginia wrestler held a 2-1 edge on the season. But, Galloway had upset him 7-3 earlier on the year in a match he called “the biggest win of my career “and used the confidence from that match to pull off the upset again.
This time, Galloway broke open a tight match by turning Lebe to his back after the Mounaineer took down to start the third period. The three-point near-fall gave Galloway a 4-0 lead. Lebe reversed Galloway, but the Nittany Lion escaped and immediately countered a Lebe takedown attempt with a takedown of his own for a 7-2 lead. Lebe escaped and earned a stalling call against Galloway, but the Nittany Lion left with a 7-4 win. He will face No. 10 seed Brian Stith in the second round.
Freshman Phil Davis (197) also capitalized on the experience of previously defeating his first round opponent as he cruised to a 7-1 upset of No. 10 seed Jerry Rinaldi. Davis upset Rinaldi 8-5 early this year at the National Duals. This time, he countered a Rinaldi shot in the first period for his own takedown and added an escape in the second for a 3-0 lead. The pair started neutral in the third and Davis extended his lead to 5-0 with a takedown. After a second injury time by Rinaldi, Davis had a choice of starting position and took down. He quickly reversed Rinaldi and let him out late for the final score. Davis will take on No. 7 seed Ryan Bader in the second round.
Two-time Big Ten champion Eric Bradley, the No. 4 seed at 184 in his second NCAA appearance, used a second period escape and a third period stalling penalty on his opening round opponent T.J. Morrison to squeeze out a 2-1 win and move to the second round.
Smith, making his third straight NCAA appearance, posted an opening round NCAA win for the first time on his career as he was never threatened in a 6-2 win over West Virginia’s Shawn Cordell, a wrestler he had beaten twice earlier on the year. The win moved Smith into a second round match with No. 1 seed Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma. Smith posted a big 7-5 upset of Hazewinkel at last year’s National Duals.
Heller’s tournament started with a tough overtime defeat to Bloomsburg’s Tony Curto. Heller held a 7-6 lead in the closing seconds of the match when Curto bulled his way in and overpowered the Nittany Lion freshman for a go ahead takedown.
Heller earned a point for more than one minute of riding time advantage as regulation expired and the two went into overtime tied at 8-8. Curto again went right after Heller and scored the winning takedown just nine seconds into the overtime period. Heller will face T.J. Enright, a wrestler he lost a pair of close matches to this season, in the consolation round.
Junior Joel Edwards (hwt.) started strong in his opening match with Peter Ziminski of Eastern Illinios. After posting an opening takedown and turning Ziminksi for a two-point near-fall Edwards had an early 4-0 lead. Ziminski escaped and then got a takedown of his own, but Edwards reversed him for a 6-3 lead in the first. With Edwards riding him, Ziminski rolled Edwards back towards the mat and then leaned back in and got a defensive pin at 1:52.
Edwards will face Chris Cowen of Drexel in the consolation bracket. Action continues at 7:30 (ET) Thursday evening and can be heard on WBLF (970 AM).
Penn State NCAA Tournament Scores
Tournament Overall: 5-2
Pigtails: 1-1
First Round: 4-1
125 – Adam Smith
W, 6-2 vs. Shawn Cordell, W. Va.
Vs. (1) Sam Hazewinkel, Oklahoma
Season Record: 24-12 Tournament Record: 1-0
133 – Bryan Heller
L, 10-8;sv to Tony Curto, Bloomsburg
Vs. T.J. Enright, Ohio State
Season Record: 22-16 Tournament Record: 0-1
157 – Nathan Galloway
W, 5-3 vs. Paul Bjorlo, Virginia
W, 7-4 vs. (7) Matt Lebe, West Virginia
Vs. (10) Brian Stith, Arizona St.
Season Record: 30-14 Tournament Record: 2-0
184 – (4) Eric Bradley
W, 2-1 vs. T.J. Morrison, Rider
Season Record: 27-3 Tournament Record: 1-0
197 – Phil Davis
W, 7-1 vs. (10) Jerry Rinaldi, Cornell
Vs. (7) Ryan Bader, Arizona St.
Season Record: 34-8 Tournament Record: 1-0
Hwt. – Joel Edwards
L, F;1:52 to Peter Ziminski, Eastern Illinois
Vs. Chris Cowen, Drexel
Season Record: 22-15 Tournament Record: 0-1
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