Eustice Advances to NCAA Championship Bout

March 17, 2006

OKLAHOMA CITY – Hawkeye senior Ty Eustice advanced to the 149-pound finals of the 2006 NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City, OK. As a team, the Hawkeyes are in fourth place with 61.5 points.

Joe Johnston (157) and Mark Perry (174) both lost their semifinal bouts and moved to the consolations. Alex Tsirtsis (141) and Eric Luedke (165) each went 1-1 Friday evening and will wrestle for seventh place tomorrow

Eustice advanced to the finals with a 7-4 win over third-seeded Zach Esposito of Oklahoma State. With the bout tied at 1-1 early in the third, Eustice exploded for three takedowns in the final frame, including the clincher with 23 seconds left in the match. It was Eustice’s second win over Esposito this season. He will face top-seeded freshman Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota in the finals. Schlatter won their only meeting, 4-1, earlier this year.

Johnston was knocked to the wrestlebacks by fifth-seeded Ben Cherrington, who toppled the Hawkeye 8-3. He will face seventh-seeded Dustin Manotti of Cornell tomorrow, with the winner moving to the third-place match and the loser wrestling for fifth.

Perry was beaten by No. 2 seed Jake Herbert for the third time this season in the semifinals, 9-3. Herbert got four takedowns to get the win and put Perry in the wrestlebacks.

Tsirtsis bounced back from his quarterfinal defeat with a controlling win over West Virginia’s Kevin Artis in the wrestlebacks, 8-2. The Hawkeye sophomore rode Artis the entire second period, putting him on his back twice. In his second bout of the day, Tsirtsis was on the wrong end of a 7-1 decision against Northwestern’s sixth-seeded Ryan Lang. Tsirtsis will wrestle for seventh place tomorrow morning.

Luedke assured himself of all-American status with a 3-1 win over Johnny Galloway of Northern Illinois, then lost to No. 8 Travis Paulson of Iowa State, 8-3. Luedke will wrestle for seventh place tomorrow.

Senior Paul Bradley’s collegiate career ended with a 2-1 loss at the hands of C.B. Dolloway. Each wrestler traded escapes to tie the bout at 1-1, but Dolloway accumulated over a minute of riding time to give him the win.


SESSION III RESULTSTeam Standings1. Oklahoma State - 106 pts2. Minnesota - 72.53. Oklahoma - 64.54. IOWA - 61.55. Arizona State - 56
Semifinals149 - No. 2 Ty Eustice (IA) dec. No. 3 Zach Esposito (OSU), 7-4157 -No. 5 Ben Cherrington (BSU) dec. No. 9 Joe Johnston (IA), 8-3174 - No. 2 Jake Herbert (NU) dec. No. 3 Mark Perry (IA), 9-3
Wrestlebacks141 - No. 7 Alex Tsirtsis (IA) dec. Kevin Artis (WV), 8-2141 - No. 6 Ryan Lang (NU) dec. Tsirtsis, 7-1165 - Eric Luedke (IA) dec. Johnny Galloway (NIU), 3-1165 - No. 8 Travis Paulson (ISU) dec. Luedke (IA), 8-3184 - No. 10 C.B. Dolloway (ASU) dec. Paul Bradley (IA), 2-1 (eliminated)="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>