Two Monarchs Advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Two Old Dominion wrestlers are still alive in the championship bracket, while three others have a chance to place, as they are wrestling in the consolation bracket. After day one of competition in front of 18,414 people in the Scottrade Center, Old Dominion sits in 20th place as a team with 8.0 points on the board.

Chris Mecate and Lenny Richardson punched their ticket to the quarterfinals after winning their two opening bouts.

"The highlight of day one was Mecate beating No. 4 seed Dardanes. He came very close to earning bonus points against him in the round of 16, which was great to see from him,” said Head Coach Steve Martin. “He has been wrestling very solid on his feet and on top. Richardson beat a tough opponent he has wrestled multiple times this year and looked very solid today. It was Heffernan, who was actually my roommate when I was in college!"

Mecate was on the mat for a total of 1:16 in his first match, as he pinned Tyler Smith from Bucknell. He also beat Smith at the Virginia Duals by a 12-3 major decision on January 9. He faced the No. 6 seed Nick Dardanes in the second round and picked up the first big upset of the night with a 9-4 decision. After a scoreless first period, Mecate rolled in the second, earning a two-point and three-point nearfall to hold a 5-0 lead going into the final period. He also notched a takedown in the third, while Dardanes had an escape and a takedown of his own, but it wasn’t enough as the bout ended in favor of Mecate. He will take on the No. 14 seed Dean Heil from Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals tomorrow morning.

Richardson followed suit and was the second Monarch to make it to the quarterfinals, as he took down Chris Perez from Princeton by an 8-6 decision in the first round. Richardson took on Colin Heffernan in round two from Central Michigan, who he beat in the regular season by a 5-2 decision. The match was low scoring, as Heffernan held a 1-0 lead at the end of the second after he escaped from the starting bottom position, but not before Richardson racked up over one minute of riding time. Richardson chose down to start the third period and escaped in the opening seconds. Neither grappler would score the rest of the match, as Richardson advanced to the quarterfinals with the 3-1 decision. Richardson will face off with Drake Houdashelt from Missouri for the third time this season in the quarterfinal round tomorrow morning. He is 0-2 against Houdashelt this season, losing both bouts by a combined four points.

Returning All-American Jack Dechow beat Jacob Kasper from Duke by a 5-1 decision in the first round and faced Victor Avery from Edinboro in the second round. Dechow gave it all he had, but lost a heartbreaking loss in tie-breaker two due to 21 seconds of Avery riding time. Dechow is not out of placing in the All-American category and will face the winner of John Rizqallah (MSU) vs. Nick Fiedener tomorrow morning in the second round of wrestlebacks.

"Jack lost a heartbreaker in double-ride outs; it ended up being an 11 minute match," noted Martin. You can't leave the match in other people hands, but he has a very good outlook and he is looking forward to competing tomorrow and coming back and placing third."

Brandon Jeske and Jake Henderson lost their first round matches, but bounced back to win their consolation match to stay alive. Jeske fought hard against No. 1 seed Alan Waters in the first round, eventually falling by a 6-1 decision. He faced Dominic Parisi (App. State in the wrestleback round and kept his tournament run alive with a 6-4 decision. He will now face the No. 2 seed Nahshon Garrett from Cornell tomorrow morning. Henderson fell to No. 15 Abram Ayala by an 8-0 major decision and faced Tanner Harms from Wyoming in the consolation round. Harms defeated Henderson during the regular season by a 2-0 decision, but he avenged the loss with a 3-0 shutout to advance to the Friday rounds.

"I thought Jeske wrestled well in both of his matches," added Martin. "He had the No. 1 seed to start and only lost to him by a couple of points. He had positions he could have won and he did well against Parisi from Appalachian State."

"Despite Henderson falling the in the first round, He looked really good in his backside match and is ready to get after it tomorrow."

Tristan Warner faced Mike England from No. 1 Missouri and fell by a 6-2 decision in the first round. Warner saw his incredible career come to and end, as he fell to Dakota Friesth from Wyoming by a narrow 3-2 decision in the consolation round. During his time with the program, he notched a 93-56 overall record and qualified for the NCAA Championships three times. He took home the most prestigious academic award last year and has a chance to repeat, as he was the 2014 Elite 89 winner.

Kevin Beazley’s season also came to an end, as he fell in barnburners in his two matches of the day. He faced No. 7 seed Abram Ayala from Princeton and gave him all he had before falling by a narrow 3-1 decision. He wrestled in the consolation round against Canaan Bethea from Penn and fought until the end, but suffered the close 3-1 loss.

“Unfortunately, Warner and Beazley were eliminated today," said Martin. "Warner is a great kid, but just didn’t have the tournament he normally has. He has become a staple for the ODU program and has a very bright future ahead of him.

"Beazley lost in two barnburners today, but wrestled very hard today. He is young and will only get better as he gets older. We expect to see big things from him in the near future.”

Action will start again on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. with the start of session three for the remaining six ODU wrestlers. You can watch all the action on ESPN3 or follow live stats on trackwrestling.com. Fans can also follow ODU Wrestling on twitter (@ODUWrestling) for live tweets.

"We told the guys to focus on themselves and not worry about what is happening to their teammates; this is an individual tournament," noted Martin. "We have a lot of wrestling left and we are looking forward to tomorrow. We have five in it and our goal is to push through each match when we are out there. We want our guys to wrestle hard for seven minutes.

"Obviously, we would have liked to get one more guy in the quarterfinals all seven guys to still in it, but this tournament is crazy. Just in the first round, around eight All-Americans lost! We are looking forward to competing tomorrow!"

Results:
125 - Brandon Jeske (14-12)
Champ. Round 1 - Alan Waters (Missouri) over Brandon Jeske (ODU) (Dec 6-1)
Cons. Round 1 - Brandon Jeske (ODU) over Dominic Parisi (Appalachian St.) (Dec 6-4)

141 - Chris Mecate (23-8)
Champ. Round 1 - Chris Mecate (ODU) over Tyler Smith (Bucknell) (Fall 1:16)
Champ. Round 2 - Chris Mecate (ODU) over Nick Dardanes (Minnesota)(Dec 9-4)

149 - Alexander Richardson (27-7)
Champ. Round 1 - Alexander Richardson (ODU) over Chris Perez (Princeton) (Dec 8-6)
Champ. Round 2 - Alexander Richardson (ODU) over Colin Heffernan (Central Mich.) (Dec 2-1)

165 - Tristan Warner (29-5)
Champ. Round 1 - Mike England (Missouri) over Tristan Warner (ODU) (Dec 6-2)
Cons. Round 1 - Dakota Friesth (Wyoming) over Tristan Warner (ODU) (Dec 3-2)

184 - Jack Dechow (30-2)
Champ. Round 1 - Jack Dechow (ODU) over Jacob Kasper (Duke) (Dec 5-1)
Champ. Round 2 - Victor Avery (Edinboro) over Jack Dechow (ODU) (TB-2 (RT) 3-3)

197 - Kevin Beazley (27-17)
Champ. Round 1 - Abram Ayala (Princeton) over Kevin Beazley (ODU) (Dec 3-2)
Cons. Round 1 - Canaan Bethea (Penn) over Kevin Beazley (ODU) (Dec 3-1)

285 - Jacob Henderson (24-12)
Champ. Round 1 - Ross Larson (OU) over Jacob Henderson (ODU) (MD 8-0)
Cons. Round 1 - Jacob Henderson (ODU) over Tanner Harms (Wyoming) (Dec 3-0)

Team Scores: