NCAA Wrestling Championships 2012 Results, Brackets And Schedule

Watch more video of NCAA Wrestling Championships 2012 on flowrestling.org

Edinboro’s Chris Honeycutt - who will wrestle Cornell’s Cam Simaz for the national title tonight at 197lbs - spoke to the first-rate site Flowrestling after his semifinal win over Wilps. Honeycutt explains what the gameplan was headed into that match and how he’ll prepare for Simaz. Honeycutt seems relaxed in this short interview and very much at peace with what he has to do tonight to win against the heavily-favored Simaz.

Of all the rounds, the semi-finals of today’s championships had to be the most exciting. For others, namely top heavyweight seed Ryan Flores of American University, they had to be intensely disappointing. In the course of executing a takedown, Flores seemed to absorb a bad headbutt that clearly rocked him. Able to keep participating, but unable to do much of anything, foe Zach Rey had his way with him. In a tournament where Flores pinned all four previous opponents, this loss has to be particularly upsetting.

Top seeds such as Cornell’s Kyle Dake and Penn State’s David Taylor rolled. Taylor, like Flores, has now pinned all four opponents (Flores pinned four as a result of first winning the pigtail round). Also of note, Penn State is sending five finalists in ten weight classes into the finals.

What a quarterfinals. Three pins alone at 133lbs, major upsets and continued dominance from top seeds like Cornell’s Kyle Dake, Penn State’s David St. Martin and despite not competing as much this year as many others, American University’s Ryan Flores.

As of the end of the quarterfinals, Penn State is still in the leadwith 78.5 points. Cornell is in second with 61.5. Iowa is running third at 58.5 while Minnesota drops two spots to fourth with 56 points. Oklahoma State currently sits fifth with 50 points.

Perhaps it’ll happen after today’s first or second session, but so far all of the number one seeds are still in place. And top seeds like Cornell’s Kyle Dake or Penn State’s David Taylor managed to advanced strictly by pinning opposition. American University’s Ryan Flores, who entered the tournament first off the pigtail rounds, pinned all three opponents yesterday.

To note: Virginia Tech’s Devin Carter at 133 was upset by Steve Keith, which is absolutely a monster upset. And it should be noted outside of Kellen Russell’s expected dominance at 141, the entire weight class has been savaged by a host of upsets over seeded wrestlers.

As many expected, the Penn State Nittany Lions lead by head coach and Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson were off to a roaring start in St. Louis after the first session for the 2012 NCAA Division I national wrestling championships. Strong performances by David Taylor, Quentin Wright and Frank Molinaro (as well as a host of bonus points) helped the team out to an early if narrow lead. Full bracket updates can be viewed here.

The team standings after the first round have Penn State in front, but not with a commanding lead, at least not yet:

While everyone is preparing for basketball’s March Madness - and who can blame them? - it’s worth noting tomorrow kicks off the 2012 NCAA Division I national championships in wrestling. The event takes place at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis, Missouri and up until the finals, the matches will air on ESPN 3. The finals will air live on ESPN this Saturday evening.

I wanted to get the right person for the job to do a preview and maybe even look ahead to see what the graduating seniors would do post-graduation. I think I found the right man for the job. Get all of the info you need with me 42-minute preview with wrestling coach Mike Riordan. Who is Riordan? He’s an incredible guy who I found after sending me hate mail. True story.