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major decision over No. 3 seed Nick Amuchastegui of Stanford in a battle of unbeaten wrestlers in the 174 finals. Ruth lost to Amuchastegui in the NCAA quar- terfinals in 2011. “It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Ruth said. “When you are on the mat and you have the title within your grasp, it’s amazing.” Cornell junior Kyle Dake captured his third NCAA title with a 4-1 win over Derek St. John of Iowa in the 157 finals. The top-seeded Dake scored a takedown on a leg attack in the match’s first minute and then rode the second-seeded St. John the rest of the period to take control early. Dake became the first wrestler to win


NCAA titles in three different weight classes. Dake won an NCAA title at 141 in 2010 before winning at 149 last year. “It’s a really good feeling, doing some- thing that no one’s done before,” Dake said. “It was a tough match. He went hard like any Iowa guy would. He’s a good hand-fighter, and you have to give him credit for the fact that he gave it his all.” Dake’s teammate, senior Steve Bosak, followed suit by knocking off returning national champion Quentin Wright of Penn State 4-2 in overtime in the 184 finals. Bosak, from State College, Pa., shot in on Wright’s legs and eventually finished for the match-ending takedown. “It’s the best feeling in the world,” Bosak said. “It feels awesome. Our coaches had us ready to peak at the right time.”


Cornell’s third champion came when top-seeded Cam Simaz outlasted No. 2 Chris Honeycutt of Edinboro 7-5 in the 197 finals. Simaz scored a takedown early in the third period that proved to be the difference.


“The game plan was to go out and wrestle hard for seven minutes,” Simaz said. “That’s my game plan every single time. I don’t always tech guys, but I try.” Michigan senior Kellen Russell cap- tured his second straight national title at 141 after earning a dramatic 6-4 overtime over Iowa senior Montell Marion in the 141 finals.


The match was tied 4-4 after regulation before the top-seeded Russell countered a Marion shot and spun behind him for the winning takedown with 37 seconds left in the one-minute overtime. The third- seeded Marion finished second in 2010. “I think I wrestled a lot better this whole tournament,” said Russell when asked to compare this title to his first. “The whole tournament I felt more comfortable and confident in my shots. I think I controlled the match pretty well.” Ohio State freshman Logan Stieber


Cornell junior Kyle Dake (right) defeated Iowa’s Derek St. John in the 157-pound finals to become the first wrestler to win three NCAA titles in three different weight classes. He previously won titles at 141 and 149. Tony Rotundo photo.


broke a 2-2 tie by scoring a takedown late in the second period en route to knocking off returning national champion Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State 4-3 in the 133 finals. “Jordan’s an awesome wrestler,” said


Stieber, who becomes the first freshman to win a national title for the Buckeyes. “I knew he was going to be a handful because last time he whipped my butt. My coaches trained me to be the best. I work out two or three times a day, and try to be the best. This didn’t surprise me, but beating someone of Jordan’s caliber it’s really amazing.” Top-seeded Iowa junior Matt


McDonough captured his second national title after downing Penn State’s Nico Megaludis 4-1 in the 125 finals. McDonough won this event in 2010 and was second last year.


“It was a tough match,” McDonough said. “It was a seven-minute battle. You try to make improvements and widen the


gap, and perform better than you did the time before.” Minnesota heavyweight Tony Nelson countered a leg attack by returning cham- pion Zach Rey of Lehigh late in the match and won a scramble to gain the winning takedown with seven seconds left. “I trained hard all year,” said Nelson, who placed seventh last year. “This is what you work for. I just went out there and didn’t change anything, and just tried to act like it was any other match. I wres- tled my style and tried to get after him. He’s a strong guy. It was hard to get to his legs, but in the end it all worked out.” Nelson’s coach, J Robinson, was named Coach of the Year. A new all-session attendance record was set with 112,393 total fans for the six sessions. That broke the previous record of 104,260, set last year in Philadelphia. The 2013 NCAA Championships are scheduled to be held in Des Moines, Iowa.


USA Wrestler 7


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