NEW YORK -- Chris Mecate flattened Nebraska's Anthony Abidin in just 1:34 in the consolation blood round Friday evening before a sold-out 17,899 fans at Madison Square Garden to secure his second-straight All-American finish at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. With the fall, Mecate became ODU's first two-time All-American since James Nicholson recorded top-eight finishes in 2008 and 2011.
In the quarterfinals on Friday morning, Rutgers' No. 4 Anthony Ashnault broke a 3-3 deadlock in the final thirty seconds by securing a takedown to defeat Mecate, 5-4. After pinning Abidin of Nebraska in the consolation round of 12, the redshirt senior from Highland, California went on to secure a 4-2 OT victory over No. 8 Joey Ward of UNC in the next round and can now do no worse than sixth place.
Brandon Jeske got off to a strong start Friday morning by knocking off Virginia Tech's second-seeded Joey Dance, 4-3, in the third round of consolations. Jeske used a second period takedown and two escapes to complete the upset over the former All-American. In the following round, despite a valiant effort, Jeske was upended by Lehigh's No. 7 Darian Cruz, 2-1 tiebreaker. Cruz was able to manage an escape in the second set of 30-second tiebreakers to advance.
Jack Dechow avenged his MAC Championship finals loss to Jordan Ellingwood of Central Michigan during Friday morning's third consolation round, securing a takedown in sudden victory to win, 3-1 OT. In the following round, Lehigh's No. 10 Nate Brown earned a riding time point in the final period to defeat Dechow, 2-1.
Mecate will wrestle in Saturday morning's consolation semis against Stanford's No. 2 Joey McKenna. The winner will go for third place later that session, while the loser will compete for fifth.
As a team, ODU is in 25th place with 16.5 points.
Full brackets are available on TrackWrestling or on NCAA.com.
ODU Results -- Day 2
Cons. Round 2 - Brandon Jeske (Old Dominion) 21-13 won by decision over Joey Dance (Virginia Tech) 29-3 (Dec 4-3)
Cons. Round 3 - Darian Cruz (Lehigh) 31-6 won in tie breaker - 1 over Brandon Jeske (Old Dominion) 21-13 (TB-1 2-1)
Quarterfinal - Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) 32-3 won by decision over Chris Mecate (Old Dominion) 23-7 (Dec 5-4)
Cons. Round 4 - Chris Mecate (Old Dominion) 25-7 won by fall over Anthony Abidin (Nebraska) 21-15 (Fall 1:35)
Cons. Round 5 - Chris Mecate (Old Dominion) 25-7 won in sudden victory - 1 over Joseph Ward (North Carolina) 22-6 (SV-1 4-2)
Cons. Round 2 - Jack Dechow (Old Dominion) 21-5 won in sudden victory - 1 over Jordan Ellingwood (Central Michigan) 29-14 (SV-1 3-1)
Cons. Round 3 - Nate Brown (Lehigh) 24-5 won by decision over Jack Dechow (Old Dominion) 21-5 (Dec 2-1)