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Cyclones in Third Heading into Finals
03.21.2009 | Men's Wrestling
ST. LOUIS, Mo. ? Iowa State is in third place heading into Saturday's NCAA Championships final round. In Saturday morning's medal round, ISU's Nick Gallick (141) placed third; Jon Reader (165) took fourth; and David Zabriskie (HWT) finished fifth. After the session, Iowa leads with 97.5 points, followed by Ohio State (88), ISU (79.5) and Nebraska (74.5).
Iowa State's Jake Varner will seek his first NCAA title at tonight's finals session after making the NCAA Championships finals at 184 pounds the last two seasons. The finals begin at 5:30 p.m. and are being broadcast live on ESPN.
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“We did all right this morning,” Iowa State head coach Cael Sanderson said. “Gallick wrestled well and you can see that he is on top of his game. Zabriskie never gives up and came back to get a good takedown with two seconds left.”
Reminiscent of the Midlands Championships, ISU's Nick Gallick battled through the 141-pound consolation bracket to take third place Saturday. The sixth-seeded Gallick settled the score with Wisconsin's Zach Tanelli in the third-place match, winning by decision, 5-3. Tanelli, seeded second, had edged Gallick earlier this season at Wisconsin, 7-4 (TB1). The third-place finish is Gallick's highest All-America accolade after placing fifth a season ago.
“I wrestled well today,” Gallick said. “The fact that you beat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds gives me confidence for the future but I wanted to win a national championship. I need to keep listening to our coaches and I'm looking forward to next year.”
Gallick topped the number one and two seeds of the 141-pound bracket in tournament, going 6-1. He finishes with a record of 34-5. Gallick will take a record of 90-28 into next season.
Gallick won 5-1 over Alex Krom of Maryland in the consolation semifinals to advance to the third-place match.
Iowa State's Reader fell in the third-place match to Iowa's Ryan Morningstar in overtime, 7-5 (SV). The two-time All-American Cyclone was unable to hold off his opponent despite a 5-3 lead with 20 seconds left in regulation. The loss was Reader's third of the season to the Hawkeye, by a total of five points. Reader's fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships is his highest after finishing seventh as a freshman last year.
Reader notched a 4-2 record over his second NCAA Championships outing and finishes his sophomore season with a 30-8 record.
Reader advanced to the third-place match with a decision of Bucknell's Andrew Rendos, 7-4. Reader built up a dominating 4:28 of riding time in the match.
Zabriskie hit a buzzer-beating takedown to take fifth-place in the heavyweight division at the NCAA Championships against Kent State's gargantuan third-seeded heavyweight Jermail Porter. The two-time All-American Cyclone scored the deciding takedown with 0:02 left in the third period to win. Zabriskie betters his previous All-American finish of sixth place from a year ago. Zabriskie tallied a 4-2 tournament mark in his third NCAA Championships appearance and finishes his junior year at 34-4. He stands at 91-20 on his career.
“He's about as big of a guy as I have wrestled,” Zabriskie said. “But, I was still in position to score.”
Iowa State's David Zabriskie couldn't overcome an early takedown by Iowa's Dan Erekson in the consolation semifinals and was turned to his back for the pin in 1:31. Zabriskie fell to the fifth-place match with the loss.
3RD PLACE MATCHES
141 pounds ? No. 6 Nick Gallick dec. No. 2 Zach Tanelli (Wisconsin), 5-3
165 pounds ? No. 3 Ryan Morningstar (Iowa) dec. No. 8 Jon Reader, 7-5 (SV)
5TH PLACE MATCH
HWT ? No. 1 David Zabriskie dec. No. 3 Jermail Porter (Kent State), 4-2
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS
141 pounds ? No. 6 Nick Gallick dec. Alex Krom (Maryland), 5-1
165 pounds ? No. 8 Jon Reader dec. Andrew Rendos (Bucknell), 7-4
HWT ? No. 7 Dan Erekson (Iowa) pinned No. 1 David Zabriskie, 1:31
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