No. 5 Trevor Brandvold was shut out, 10-0, in the consolation semifinals by No. 3 Hudson Taylor of Maryland. Brandvold now will wrestle for fifth place.
Taylor started with a takedown two minutes into the match and then added three nearfall points to lead 5-0 after the first period.
The second period started in neutral, but Taylor took down Brandvold with 55 seconds left in the period to lead 7-0 after two.
Taylor started down in the third period but reversed Brandvold to lead 9-0. Riding time made it 10-0.
Brandvold will now wrestle for fifth place against No. 6 Eric Lapotsky of Oklahoma.
No. 4 seed Kyle Ruschell defeated Big Ten foe and No. 5 seed Frank Molinaro of Penn State, 7-1, to advance to the third place match for the second year in a row.
Ruschell, who entered the match 1-1 against Molinaro this year, got a takedown 29 seconds into the match to lead 2-0. He then rode him for the rest of the first period to establish riding time.
In the second period, Ruschell started down but scored a reversal four seconds into the frame to move ahead 4-0. Like in the first, Ruschell was able to ride out Molinaro for the rest of the period.
The wrestlers started in neutral for the third period, but Ruschell earned his third takedown of the match with 33 seconds to go. Molinaro got his lone point with an escape with seven seconds left, but an impressive riding time of 4:45 for Ruschell gave him the 7-1 win.
Ruschell will wrestle No. 3 Kyle Terry of Oklahoma for third place.
No. 8 seed Tyler Graff will wrestle for fifth place at 133 lbs., after being pinned by No. 3 Franklin Gomez at the 3:36 mark in the consolation semifinals.
Gomez got the early lead with a takedown with 1:48 left in the first period. Graff scored a reversal though with 59 seconds remaining to tie the match at 2-2.
Graff chose to start down in the second period, but got rolled onto his back and Gomez got the shoulders down at the 3:36 mark.
Graff now wrestles for fifth place against No. 6 Dan Mitcheff of Kent State. The two have not met this year.
No. 5 seed Trevor Brandvold topped Big Ten rival and No. 8 seed Sonny Yohn of Minnesota, 13-7, to move on to the consolation semifinals. The win guarantees Brandvold no worse than sixth place, while he can also still attain third place.
Trailing 3-2, Brandvold scored a reversal with 20 seconds left in the first period to take a 4-3 lead that he would not give up. Two nearfall points plus an escape by Yohn made it 6-4 after the first period.
Brandvold started down in the second period but escaped to go ahead 7-4. A takedown with 39 seconds left in the stanza gave him a 9-4 lead. The third period featured two more takedowns for Brandvold and three escapes by Yohn to make the final score 13-7.
Brandvold now faces No. 3 Hudson Taylor of Maryland in the consolation semifinals.
No. 4 seed Kyle Ruschell moved on to the consolation semifinals with a 3-1, sudden victory win over No. 9 Kevin LeValley of Bucknell. Ruschell can now finish as high as third and no worse than sixth.
After a scoreless first period, Ruschell escaped three seconds into the second period to lead 1-0. The score stayed that way until LeValley escaped seven seconds into the third period.
The 1-1 match then moved to sudden victory where, with five seconds left, Ruschell earned a takedown to win 3-1 and move on to a bout against Frank Molinaro of Penn State.
No. 8 seed Tyler Graff earned a spot in the consolation semifinals with a 2-1, tiebreaker win over No. 5 Borislav Novachkov of Cal Poly.
Graff, who can finish no worse than sixth and as high as third now, escaped in the second period to go up 1-0. Graff then let Novachkov escape at the beginning of the third period to tie things up.
The matched moved to overtime and neither wrestler scored in sudden victory. Novahckov was unable to escape in his 30 seconds, but Graff took just three seconds to escape for the 2-1 win.
He now faces Franklin Gomez of Michigan State in the consolation semifinals.
Junior Trevor Brandvold, the No. 5 seed, became a first-time All-American thanks to a 7-4 victory over conference foe and No. 9 seed, Chad Beatty of Iowa.
Brandvold jumped ahead 2-0 after the first period thanks to a takedown with 13 seconds left in the frame. He then chose down in the second period and escaped six seconds in to move up 3-0. With 1:31 left, he got another takedown to lead 5-0.
With the score 5-1 in favor of Brandvold going into the third period, Beatty escaped to make it 5-2 with 37 seconds left. He got a takedown with 17 seconds left, but Brandvold escaped to lead 6-4. Riding time made it 7-4.
Top seed Andrew Howe has become a two-time finalist at 165 lbs. after winning his semifinal match on Friday night. Howe bested Tyler Caldwell of Oklahoma, 4-1, to advance to the title match for the second year in a row.
Howe, who was runner-up a year ago, took a 2-0 lead 1:23 into match with a takedown.
The score stayed that way until Caldwell escaped four seconds into the second period.
Howe took control again though in the third period with a takedown with 1:47 to go. He added riding time for a 4-1 victory.
Howe now moves on to face a familiar foe, Dan Vallimont of Penn State. They have already met twice this year, with Howe winning 7-2 in the dual matchup and 3-1 in the Big Ten Championship semifinals. Howe also beat Vallimont last season, 3-2.
Senior and No. 4 seed Kyle Ruschell survived a thriller in the wrestlebacks to become a two-time All-American at 149 lbs. He defeated No. 6 Matthew Kyler of Army, 4-3, in the second tiebreaker.
Neither wrestler scored in the first period, while Kyler was able to escape in second period. Ruschell did the same in the third period to force overtime.
The first overtime passed scoreless, while Kyler earned an escape with 21 seconds left in the first tiebreaker. Ruschell matched him though and earned an escape in the waning seconds of the second tiebreaker.
After another sudden victory period went scoreless, Ruschell was awarded a point after Kyler was called for locked hands. Ruschell escaped a second later to take a 4-2 lead.
Kyler escaped in the fourth overtime, but it was too late as Ruschell advanced 4-3. Ruschell will now match up against No. 9 Kevin LeValley of Bucknell.
