Conference and regional tournaments are, in essence, just qualifying events for the NCAA Tournament.
But we’ll bet there aren’t any wrestlers out there who want to earn a trip to the St. Louis tournament as a runner-up, consolation champion, or wild card. They all want to be champions.
Defending 157-pound national champion Matt Gentry of Stanford will be arriving in St. Louis as a runner-up. He fell 3-1 to Arizona’s Brian Stith in the finals of the PAC-10 tournament Sunday and Monday at Cal Poly.
With 10 teams, the PAC 10 qualifies a total of 40 wrestlers.
Here are the tournament winners: Cal Poly’s Vic Moreno at 125; Boise State’s Scott Jorgensen at 133; Cal State Fullerton’s Juan Mora at 149; Boise State’s Ben Cherrington at 157; Stith; Oregon’s Joey Bracamonte at 165; Cal State Fullerton’s Lionel Sanchez at 184; Oregon’s Shane Webster at 184 and Scott Barker at 197; and Arizona State’s Cain Velasquez at 185.
Arizona State led the way with seven qualifiers while Boise State and Cal Poly each have five.
Too many qualifiers?
In the past couple of years, there’s been a bit of complaining from the Big 12 about its 36 qualifiers. The conference says, because of its showing in the national tournament, the league should get more tickets to the national tournament.
But there’s only five wrestling schools in the Big 12. That means that 36 of the league’s 50 wrestlers earn the trip.
The Big 12 might have a point.
The Eastern Wrestling League, with seven teams, also gets 36 qualifiers.
There’s really not much of an dispute about which league is the toughest. And we’ve got some numbers to prove it.
In the 2004 NCAA tournament, the Big 12 had 23 placewinners (through eighth place) while the EWL had three. The Big 12 crowned three champions and had four runners-up. The EWL had a champion (West Virginia’s Greg Jones) and two other placewinners.
Looking at the latest rankings (Feb. 23 from NWCA/Intermat) it appears as though that margin might be maintained again this year.
A quick review of the rankings (we’ll go only 10 deep for this story) shows the Big 12 with 22 ranked in the first 10. The EWL has six ranked wrestlers.
Let’s face it, the EWL is a good wrestling league. But it hasn’t had the same luster since Penn State left for the Big Ten.
Hopefully, the NCAA will look to make a qualifier adjustment.
Mark your calendars
Here are the dates and sites for conference and regional tournaments. ACC, Greensboro, N.C., Saturday, six teams, 15 qualifiers; Big Ten, Iowa City, Iowa, Saturday-Sunday, 11 teams, 72 qualifiers; Big 12, Omaha, Neb., Saturday, five teams, 36 qualifiers; Colonial Athletic Association, Boston, Mass., Friday-Saturday, 11 teams, 24 qualifiers; and East Regional, Pittsburgh, Saturday, five teams, 11 qualifiers.
Also, EIWA, Annapolis, Md., Friday-Saturday, 13 teams, 42 qualifiers; EWL, Clarion, Saturday-Sunday, seven teams, 36 qualifiers; Mid-American, Kent, Ohio, Friday-Saturday, six teams, 19 qualifiers; Southern Conference, Greensboro, N.C., Saturday, six teams, 13 qualifiers; and West Regional, Fresno, Calif., Saturday, five teams, 22 qualifiers.
The Division III championships are Friday and Saturday at Northfield, Minn. and the Division II championships are March 11-12 in Omaha.
Big Ten Tournament on TV
For the second consecutive year, College Sports TV will televise the Big Ten Wrestling Championships on tape delay at 10:30 p.m. Monday. CSTV is available on DirecTV (channel 610) and some cable systems.
Jason Knapp, who also works for Channel 28 in Wilkes-Barre-Scranton will host and Dan Gable and Ken Chertow will provide analysis.
John Huckaby writes a weekly college wrestling column for the Times. He can be reached at [email protected].
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