Rivera, Poznanski keep title hopes alive; three others in wrestlebacks
Sebastian Rivera was the first Rutgers wrestler to kick off their NCAA tournament, as he took on the thirtieth seed, Dylan D’Emillio. Rivera defeated D’Emillio earlier this year in Rutgers’ dual meet against Ohio State, where Rivera defeated D’Emillio 11 – 2.
In the opening seconds of the match, D’Emillio caught Rivera with a finger poke to the eye, which stopped action immediately. Rivera was able to continue, but took quite a bit of time to gather himself. Throughout the match, Rivera was noticeably rubbing his eye, which appeared to be a constant bother throughout the bout.
When action continued, Rivera struck first with a takedown off a D’Emillio shot attempt. That would be the lone points of the first period, and Rivera chose to start the second period on defense.
Rivera escaped quickly after the whistle, and took D’Emillio down once again. Rivera cut D’Emillio with the hopes of getting another score before the end of the period, but Rivera was unsuccessful, as the period ended 5 – 1 in favor of Rivera.
D’Emillio took bottom to start the third period, which proved to be a costly move for D’Emillio. Rivera rode out D’Emillio, and picked up two near-fall points along the way. The final, after riding time, was 8 – 1. Rivera moves on to face Dylan Duncan of Illinois this evening.
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Mike Van Brill was unable to prevent an upset in his opening round match, as he was defeated 12 – 7 by Triston Lara of Northern Iowa. Van Brill was seeded tenth at 149-lbs, where Lara was seeded twenty-third.
Van Brill started strong with a fairly easy takedown early in the first period. Lara escaped, however, with the period ending 2 – 1, with Van Brill in front.
The second period is where things went south for Van Brill. After escaping to increase his lead to two-points, Lara threw Van Brill to his back for a takedown and four near-fall points. Lara went up 7 – 4, and maintained control the rest of the way for a 12 – 7 victory.
Van Brill will have some work to do if he wants to reach the podium, as he now sits in the consolation bracket, needing four consecutive wins to reach All-American status. In his first wrestle-back match, Van Brill will face Anthony Cheloni of Northern Illinois, with the winner seeing the loser of Legend Lamar verse Yahya Thomas.
Billy Janzer got his first NCAA tournament started with a win, where he wrestled Logan Andrew of Chattanooga in a pig-tail bout.
Janzer, who struggled with his offense this regular season, took Andrew down twice in the first period to go ahead 4 -1 heading into the second period. Janzer was able to maintain a three-point lead thanks to a pair of escapes in the second period, leading 6 – 3.
Andrew gave Janzer a bit of a scare late in the match, as he started the third period with an escape and a takedown. Andrew cut Janzer loose, with Janzer having riding time locked up and a point looming at the end of the match. Janzer was able to fend off Andrew down the stretch, winning 8 – 6 and advancing to the round of thirty-two.
Janzer’s prize for winning his pigtail match was the top seed, Myles Amine. Amine, who started the year at 184-lbs, made the jump to 197-lbs as he prepares for the Tokyo Olympics where he will wrestle 86KG for San Marino.
It was Amine who struck first, with an opening period takedown and a ride out. Amine then followed up with a second period escape to make his lead 3 – 0 heading into the third period.
Billy Janzer chose neutral to start the third period, which was not a bad move after being rode out for most of the first period. Unfortunately for Janzer, that strategy did not pan out, as Amine capitalized with a third period take down, then a two-point nearfall. Amine walked away with an 8 – 0 major decision over Janzer.
Janzer’s next opponent will be JT Brown of Army, with the winner facing either Michael Beard or Owen Pentz in the following round of the consolation bracket.
Jackson Turley had a tough draw for his opening round match, where he was paired up with Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero. Turley had not yet won the starting job when Rutgers took on Ohio State in the regular season, making this Turley’s first time squaring off with Romero.
Romero took Turley down twice in the second period, and once in the third period, giving Romero a 6 – 2 advantage heading into the third period. Romero chose neutral in an attempt to preserve the riding time he had accumulated within the first two periods. Turley, despite giving Romero a tough battle, was unable to get any offense going, and fell 7 – 2.
Turley is going to take on Anthony Mantanona in the wrestlebacks this evening. The winner of that match will see the loser of Donnell Washington and Daniel Bullard, the ninth and eighth seeds in the bracket.
True freshman John Poznanski certainly did not have any jitters heading into his first national tournament bout, taking on Army’s Taylor Brown. In usual fashion, Poznanski lit up the scoreboard with a ruthless attack, securing a major decision victory.
Poznanski went up early in the first period, leading 4 – 1, but broke the flood gates open with a nearside cradle in the second period, which gave him an 11 – 1 lead after two periods of action.
After a Taylor Brown escape, Poznanski tacked on another takedown to secure the win. With riding time, Poznanski walked away with the 14 – 2 major decision. He faces Dakota Geer, a former All-American, in the pre-quarterfinals this evening.
Again, the action this evening will be done in split session, with session 2A beginning at 6:00 PM ET, followed by session 2B at 9:00 PM ET. The pre-quarterfinals, along with wrestlebacks, will be done during these two rounds. Fans can watch the action on ESPN 2 and ESPN 3, and follow along on trackwrestling.com
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