March 20, 2009
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Senior Ryan Williams is headed to the 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championship Finals tomorrow night after a semi-final victory against Alex Krom from Maryland. Williams becomes just the second Division I finalist in school history with the win and will wrestle for the national championship at 141 lbs tomorrow night on ESPNHD and ESPN360.com. The championship round begins at 6:30 pm (EST) and Williams will face Ohio State's #3 seeded J Jaggers.
Williams has won all four of his matches in this years NCAA Tournament and is currently riding a 27-match winning streak dating back to December 29. With tonight's win, he is 39-3 overall on the season and now has 137 career victories. He becomes just the second NCAA Finalist in school history, after Jody Staylor finished second in 1994.
The ODU senior led the whole way in the semi-final matchup, scoring a takedown with less than a minute in the first period. He escaped Krom's hold in the second to go up 3-0, but Krom would add an escape in the third to cut it back to two. Then Williams just battled on his feet the rest of the way and added the riding time advantage point for the final, 4-1.
Jaggers will come into the finals after wrestling a dominant tournament thus far. The Ohio State senior is coming off a pair of pins against seeded wrestlers, and had a major decision earlier in the tournament. He was also forced into overtime by an unseeded wrestler in the second round.
Williams and Jaggers will face off in tomorrow night's championship round set for 6:30 pm. The entire match will be broadcast via ESPNHD/ESPN360.com and live stats of the match are available here.