Wrestling Closes Out 2006 Big Ten Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | General, Wrestling
March 5, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State wrestling team finished 11th with 40 points in the 2006 Big Ten Conference Wrestling Championships Sunday in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. With their Top 7 finishes in their respective weight classes, Buckeyes J Jaggers, Blake Maurer and Kirk Nail qualified for the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City. Minnesota won the conference event with 138 points, while Illinois (125) and Michigan (115) rounded out the Top 3. Complete results can be found on iuhoosiers.com or bigten.org.
No. 4 seed Jaggers (R-Fr., Northfield, Ohio/St. Peter Chanel) became the first Buckeye NCAA qualifier at 149 pounds with a sixth place finish despite defaulting his first match to No. 6 Tyler Turner of Wisconsin and medical forfeiting his second bout to No. 3 and Michigan’s Eric Tannenbaum. On day one of the championships, Jaggers received a first-round bye before dropping Doug Withstandley of Purdue, 6-5, in the quarterfinals. It was in the semifinals Jaggers lost a close 4-1 bout to No. 1 seed Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, who went on to claim the championship’s 149-pound bracket.
Maurer (R-Fr., Evansville, Ind./Mater Dei) won his seventh-place matchup vs. Purdue’s Nick Corpe, 7-4, at 174 pounds to advance to the national championships. En route to his seventh-place bout, No. 5 Maurer dropped Indiana’s Marc Bennett in 6:08, but suffered a 6-4 loss to No. 4 seed and Penn State’s James Yonushonis in the quarterfinals. After receiving a bye in the second wrestleback, Maurer lost to Minnesota’s Gabriel Dretsch, 8-6, who was a No. 8 seed.
Nail (So., Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson), who received a No. 6 seed, finished sixth after he was forced to medical forfeit his session three matches at heavyweight. Nail was set to face No. 8 seed Matt Weight of Illinois and Joel Edwards, a No. 4 seed from Penn State. In sessions one and two, Nail took advantage of a first round bye by defeating Northwestern’s and No. 3 seed Dustin Fox with the riding time edge in the second tiebreaker. However, Nail was forced to default his match vs. No. 2 seed Greg Wagner of Michigan.
Reece Humphrey (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) and Steve Sommer (Sr., West Carrollton, Ohio/Dayton Carroll), who wrestled at 133 and 157 pounds, respectively, lost their seventh-place match ups, but were named alternates to the national championships out of the eighth-place pool finishers.
As a true freshman, Humphrey advanced to the quarterfinals as a No. 8 seed after pinning Iowa’s Daniel Dennis in 6:51 Saturday. However, Humphrey then was downed by No. 1 seed Mack Reiter of Minnesota in 1:30. Dropping down to the consolation brackets, Humphrey scored an 8-5 victory over Michigan State’s Jeff Wimberley, before losing to No. 5 seed Jake Strayer of Penn State, 7-3, and Indiana’s and No. 6 seed Andrae Hernandez, 8-1, Sunday.
Sommer suffered a 5-1 loss to Nathan Galloway (No. 8) of Penn State in his final match. After a first-round bye on day one, Sommer dropped a 7-3 decision to No. 2 seed Craig Henning of Wisconsin, but answered with an 8-7 win over Northwestern’s Greg Hagel. However, Sommer then fell to No. 6 seed Steve Luke of Michigan in 3:35.
Nathan Costello (Sr., Maple Heights, Ohio/Maple Heights) also saw action in the seventh-place bout at 125 pounds, but fell to No. 6 seed Michael Watts of Michigan in 2:04.
Buckeyes T.J. Enright (So., Galloway, Ohio/Westland), Nathaniel Augustson (Sr., Rio Rancho, N.M/Rio Rancho), Alex Picazo (Jr., Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) and James Aston (Fr., Katy Texas/Katy) were eliminated from competition in session II. Enright competed in the 141 weight division, while Augustson was in the 165 pound lineup. Picazo wrestled at 184 and true freshman Aston saw action at 197 pounds.
Following the championships, Picazo was named a Big Ten Sportsmanship nominee. One wrestler from each Big Ten institution was selected by their head coach. The nominees must have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. The student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside the sports-competition setting. The nominees now are candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.
Up next for Ohio State is the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships March 16-18 in Oklahoma City. The championships, which will be held in Downtown Arena, will be hosted by the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma All Sports Association.
| 2006 Big Ten Conference Wrestling Championships Final Standings | ||
| Pl. | School | Score |
| 1. | Minnesota | 138 |
| 2. | Illinois | 125 |
| 3. | Michigan | 115 |
| 4. | Penn State | 91 |
| 5. | Northwestern | 87.5 |
| 6. | Iowa | 68.0 |
| 7. | Wisconsin | 76.5 |
| 8. | Michigan State | 68 |
| 9. | Purdue | 45.5 |
| 10. | Indiana | 43.5 |
| 11. | Ohio State | 40 |
