March 15, 2012
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Stanford wrestlers Nick Amuchastegui and Ryan Mango remain undefeated at the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships, Thursday, after both recorded major decision wins in the second round at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.
Mango, the eight seed at 125 pounds, remains in the championship bracket after taking out Northwestern's Levi Mele, the nine seed, with a 15-6 major decision. He tallied five takedowns, a reversal, two points for an illegal move by Mele and registered 1:19 of riding time in the win without giving up a takedown. He now stands at 27-5 overall on the year and has won a season-high 10 matches in a row.
Mango will face top-seeded Matt McDonough of Iowa on Friday in the championship bracket. McDonough pinned Eastern Michigan's Jared Germaine in 3:24 in the first round and North Dakota State's Trent Sprenkle in 2:56 in the second round. He is 34-1 overall this season.
Amuchastegui, the third seed at 174 pounds, shut out Nebraska's Tyler Koehn with an 8-0 major decision in the second round. He scored a takedown in the first and then rode Koehn out for the remainder of the period to secure riding time. He chose bottom to start the second, tallying an escape and a takedown for a 5-0 lead going into the final period. Koehn chose to start the third in the neutral position, allowing Amuchastegui to extend his lead with another takedown. He finished with 3:55 of riding time.
Amuchastegui is now 22-0 overall in his final season with the Cardinal. His 22 consecutive wins ties Scott Wiggen and Doug Perkins for the third-most consecutive wins in school history.
Amuchastegui will take on a familiar foe in the third quarterfinals on Friday in Cal Poly's Ryan DesRoches (seeded sixth). Amuchastegui defeated DesRoches 8-0 in January and 5-4 at the Pac-12 Championships in February. DesRoches reaches the quarterfinals with a 7-6 decision over Phillip Joseph of Eastern Michigan in the first round and a 5-4 overtime win against Michigan's Justin Zeerip in the second round.
Action at the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships will continue on Friday, March 16 at 8 a.m. PT from the Scottrade Center. Fans can watch select matches live on ESPN3.
Stanford's Tournament Results:
125 pounds
(8) Ryan Mango (2-0): dec. Shane Young (West Virginia) 10-8; maj. dec. (9) Levi Mele (Northwestern) 15-6.
174 pounds
(3) Nick Amuchastegui (2-0): fall Peter Huntley (Navy) 2:01; maj. dec. Tyler Koehn (Nebraska) 8-0.