Cyclones Stick NCAA Opponents

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. ? Iowa State's Nick Gallick emerged from the shadows as an unseeded wrestler at 133 pounds by pinning his two first session opponents, including a stunning upset over third-seeded Adam Frey of Cornell to help the Cyclones stand in third place after the first round of the NCAA Wrestling Championships in The Palace at Auburn Hills. Two-time ISU All-Americans Trent and Travis Paulson also registered falls for Iowa State at 157- and 165-pounds, respectively. Kurt Backes added Iowa State bonus points with a 16-5 major decision at 197 pounds.

Iowa State has seven grapplers alive in the championship bracket, three in consolation action and sits in third place with 20 points. Minnesota, which won all of its first-round matches, leads the pack with 22 points. Missouri, which suffered a huge blow when top-seeded 197-pounder Max Askren was upset in the first round, is second with 20.5 points. Penn State (18) and Iowa (13.5) round out the top five. Northern Iowa is tied for 21st with six points.

Gallick trailed 5-0 but was going to receive three back points when he stuck Frey at the 3:22 mark. Gallick recovered from being on his back for a three-point near fall by pulling his head out of Frey's grasp and turned the table on his foe. On his second attempt to stick a frantically flopping Frey, Gallick worked his opponent to his shoulders to tally his 10th win by fall this season. In his previous pig-tail bout, the Tucson, Ariz., native pinned Rob Tate of Gardner-Webb in 4:22. In tonight's evening session, Gallick will face Penn State's Jake Strayer.

Trent Paulson, the top-seed at 157 pounds, registered the third ISU pin with a 3:22 victory by fall against Penn's Matt Dragon. Paulson has pinned seven opponents in his senior season and the stick of Dragon was his first in a NCAA Championship match. The two-time All-American holds a career mark of 111-20 and a season record of 25-4. Paulson is looking to improve upon his fourth-place showing at last year's NCAA Championships. He will face Ryan Hluschak of Drexel in tonight's session.

“Our senior All-American's came through for us, opening the meet with strong performances,” Iowa State head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson said. “Nick's victory demonstrates to all our wrestlers that you never give up in a match and keep wrestling. Tonight's round will be crucial.”

Travis Paulson pinned Pittsburgh's Sean Richmond for an opening 165-pound victory in a quick 1:56. Paulson is a two-time All-American and is the fourth seed at 165 pounds. In his final season as a Cyclone, Paulson has stuck three opponents and the pin is his first in an NCAA Championship match. Overall the Council Bluffs, Iowa, native is 103-30 and 25-5 in his senior season. Paulson will match up against unseeded Roger Smith-Bergsrud of Illinois in the second round.

Kurt Backes registered an opening round 16-4 major decision over Jacob Bryce of North Dakota State at 197 pounds. Backes dominated Bryce throughout the match and closed out the bout with a three-point nearfall. The All-American did not surrender an offensive point to Bryce, only allowing points via escape. The major decision was his sixth of his senior season and his third in NCAA appearances. Backes will collide with Big 12 foe, Joel Flaggert of Oklahoma in tonight's session. It will be the third meeting between Backes, the ninth seed and Flaggert, the eighth seed. The Sooner has won both prior meetings.

Mitch Mueller scored a 4-3 decision over Central Michigan's Eric Kruger at 141 pounds. Mueller registered a takedown at the 1:48 mark in the second period to take an early 2-0 advantage and added another takedown that would seal the victory. In tonight's second round, the redshirt freshman will meet top-seeded Ryan Lang of Northwestern.

At 149 pounds, No. 11 seed Cyler Sanderson opened the tournament with a 3-1 decision over Boston University's Michael Roberts. Sanderson scored first with an escape, only to have Roberts answer with an escape of his own to even the score at 1-1. With only seven seconds remaining in the match, Sanderson took down Roberts to ice the match and advance within the championship bracket. Sanderson's record is now 27-9 and he will next meet the sixth-seed, J.P. O'Connor of Harvard.

Sixth-seeded Jake Varner handed Lior Zamir of Penn a 5-0 decision at 184 pounds. After a scoreless first period, Varner put the first points on the board at the 1:26 mark in the second period with a takedown to take a 2-0 lead. The Bakersfield, Calif., native added an escape and a point awarded for Zamir's stalling to take the win. With the victory, Varner improves to 26-6 in his redshirt freshman season and will square off against Ryan Burk of Northern Illinois tonight.

Nick Fanthorpe (125), Grant Turner (174) and David Zabriskie (HWT) suffered first-round losses. Fanthorpe was unable to overcome a steep 5-0 lead built by Bloomsburg's Michael Sees, falling 7-4. Fanthorpe is seeded 10th and will begin to work through the consolation brackets, wrestling Luke Smith of Central Michigan tonight. In a collision of intra-state rivals, Turner lost to Iowa's fifth-seeded Eric Ludke in a 3-2 decision. Turner, who is in his first-ever NCAA Championships, will take on West Virginia's Kurt Brenner in the consolation round. Zabriskie's 12-match win-streak was snapped by No. 6 Ed Prendergast of Navy who pinned the Cyclone in 2:20. Zabriskie will face another seeded wrestler, No. 11 Spencer Nadolsky of North Carolina in the consolation round tonight.

The second session of the first round is slated to get under way at 5:30 CST.

Players Mentioned

Kurt Backes

Nick Fanthorpe

Nick Gallick

Mitch Mueller

Travis Paulson

Trent Paulson

Cyler Sanderson

Grant Turner

Jake Varner

David Zabriskie

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics