March 18, 2004

NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Live Brackets

St. Louis, Mo. - With four of Missouri's five qualifiers wrestling in Thursday's first round competition at the Savvis Center, the Tigers were 4-5 with redshirt freshman Matt Pell wrestling twice on the day. Closing out the first round, Illinois leads with 22 team points followed by Oklahoma State with 18 and Iowa with 15. Missouri is tied for 22nd with 6.5 points.

Redshirt freshman Matt Pell scored Missouri's first win on the day. Wrestling at 184 pounds, Pell paired with John Davis of Tennessee-Chattanooga in the pigtail round, winning 4-1. Scoring a takedown in the first period, Pell managed an escape in the second to enter the third period with a 3-0 lead. Totaling 2:45 of riding time, Pell allowed Davis one escape in the third period, and held onto a 4-1 decision to advance to the next round of competition.

Next up on mat one for Missouri was seventh-seeded Jeremy Spates at 149 pounds. Spates met with Deonte Penn of Edinboro, in their third pairing of the season, scoring bonus points for MU with his 17-0 technical fall in a time of 5:54. Putting Penn on his back once in each period, Spates took a total of 10 back points, landing a takedown in the first period and reversal in the second. With 2:57 of riding time, the match came to and end, with Spates advancing to the second round. NEXT FOR SPATES: Jeff Ecklof of Oklahoma

Seeded highest for Missouri entering the Championships (fifth), two-time NCAA qualifier Kenny Burleson wrestled with Matt Nagel of Minnesota at 157 pounds. Earning an 8-3 decision, Burleson advanced to session two, taking his 10th consecutive win of the season and sixth with a decision. Scoring points in each period, Burleson held Nagel to two escapes and a reversal and held on for 1:53 of riding time. (In the end, Nagel was deducted one point for mat misconduct.) NEXT FOR BURLESON: Brad Harper of Purdue

Pell took to the mat for the second time of the session, defeating Army's Luke Calvert in a 6-3 decision. Starting the first period with a takedown followed by an escape, with Calvert scoring a reversal for two points. Adding to his lead, Pell had an escape at 1:42 and takedown to total six points. Calvert only managed an escape in the third period and with riding time not a factor in the match, Pell won 6-3. NEXT FOR PELL: Travis Frick of Lehigh

Entering the match unseeded, sophomore Jeff Foust fell to fourth-seeded Ryan Bader of Arizona State, 7-0. Unable to score any points throughout the seven-minute competition, Bader took five in the first period in the form of a takedown and three-point nearfall. Neither wrestler scored points in the second period, but the two-time Pac-10 champion scored an escape and one point for 2:20 of riding time. Foust will find his next competition in the wrestle-backs set to begin tonight at 6:30 p.m. (CT). NEXT FOR FOUST: Reggie Lee of Harvard

Session two will begin at 6:30 p.m. with redshirt freshman Ben Askren (six seed) making his NCAA Championship debut against Pennsylvania's 11th-seeded Matt Herrington.

Missouri Results:
149: Jeremy Spates (MU) technical fall Deonte Penn (Edinboro): 17-0, 5:54
157: Kenny Burleson (MU) decision Matt Nagel (Minnesota): 8-3
184: Matt Pell (MU) decision John Davis (UTC): 4-1
184: Matt Pell (MU) decision Luke Calvert (Army): 6-3
197: Ryan Bader (Arizona State) major decision Jeff Foust (MU): 7-0