KEARNEY, Ne. (March 11, 2011) – John Paukovits (Northampton, PA/Northampton) split his two matches during the second session and will move onto Saturday's third round of the 2011 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships at the University of Nebraska Kearney. With his victories on Friday, he also earned the honor of becoming an All-American. (Session One Recap) (Updated Brackets)
Austin Williams (Pen Argyl, PA/Pen Argyl) and Seth Csaszar (Northampton, PA/Northampton) also represented the Golden Bears at this year's national tournament. Unfortunately, both wrestlers dropped matches in the second session of the day, eliminating them from competition.
Paukovits (22-6) opened the second session against fellow 149-pounder Mitchell Means from Fort Hays State. After leading 6-4 after the first period, Paukovits stretched the lead to 9-4 with an escape followed by a takedown. Means was able to counter with an escape-takedown combo of his own and was able to score four points in the final period to earn an 11-9 victory over the Super Region One champion. Paukovits entered the match on a 14-match winning streak.
“That was a real tough loss for John,” said head wrestling coach Robert Fisher. “He really seemed to have control over the match but just had it get away from him. I was real proud with the way he rebounded though and how he didn't lose his confidence.”
Moving into the consolation bracket, every match is a 'win or go home' mindset in the double-elimination tournament. Paukovits went up against Nathan Link from Pitt-Johnstown. This was the third time these two wrestlers have met this season. Paukovits took down Link both times earlier this year as he won a 10-5 decision on Jan. 8 and won by fall at regionals. Friday night's match would be no different as Paukovits earned a 6-1 victory, sending him to the second day of competition and elevating him to All-American status.
“I had a little different strategy when I went up against him,” said Paukovits. “He took me to the mat twice at regionals so I was a little more cautious by not attacking him right away. It was interesting because he seemed to change his style too. I still stuck with my strategy though and it paid off for me.”
Williams (25-7) entered the second session coming off a 6-3 win in the opening session. The 133-pounder went up against Jason Jeremiason from Augustana in the championship quarterfinals which proved to be both a mentally and physically demanding match for the sophomore. After a scoreless first two periods, Jeremiason chose to start on the bottom which proved to be his recipe for success. Jeremiason used an opening escape to takedown Williams, earning him a point's worth of riding time and a 4-0 decision over Williams. The loss broke an 18-match winning streak for Williams.
With one loss, Williams went up against Cody Zimmerman from Wisconsin-Parkside. After being down 5-1in the second period, Williams took time-out for an injury which he simply could not rebound from. Williams ended up on the wrong side of a 6-1 decision, ending his hunt for a national championship.
“Today just wasn't my day,” said Williams. “I don't know why but for some reason I just kept getting off to a bad start and I just wasn't able to turn it around. I had high expectations for myself coming out here and I will definitely use this experience as motivation next year.”
After losing by fall in the first session, Csaszar (9-7) went up against Mary's Brady Anderson in a must-win match. In just his sophomore season, Csaszar found himself in a battle at 184 pounds. After neither wrestler scored a point through the first two periods, Anderson chose to start on the bottom and quickly turned it into points. Anderson used an early escape-takedown combo to earn him a 6-0 decision over Csaszar with riding time. Csaszar only wrestled half the season this year and quickly made a name for himself on the national level. The experience of competing at nationals is certainly one that will help Csaszar continue to improve during his career at KU.
“In my second match, I felt I wrestled tough but was just undersized,” said Csaszar. “This was a great experience for me and I've learned a lot of things I can improve upon looking ahead to next year. I still have two more years at KU and I'm excited for next season to get here.”
All three wrestlers competed in their first trip to nationals.
Paukovits moves onto Session Three tomorrow to face Kenneth Jordan from Adams State University beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Live webstreaming of the Division II Wrestling Championships, as well as live statistics and match updates from each individual match throughout the entirety of the Division II Wrestling Championships can be accessed via the NCAA's Division II Wrestling page at the following links:
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/wrestling/d2.
Video –
http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule
--KU--
