March 17, 2011

Session I Brackets

PHILADELPHIA - Utah Valley University seniors Benjamin Kjar (125 pounds) and Flint Ray (133 pounds) picked up first round victories at Thursday morning's opening session of the 2011 Division I Wrestling Championships at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

The two will now wrestle second round matches this evening at 6:30 p.m. ET. Kjar will take on the No. 4 seed from Old Dominion James Nicholson, while Ray will lock heads with the No. 7 seed from Illinois Bernard Futrell. Fellow UVU senior Justin Morrill (141 pounds) will also be in action but will find himself in the wrestleback brackets after he lost his opener on Thursday. Morrill will take on either Cornell's Hicks Manson or Millersville's Mike Greck.

Kjar got off to a good start on day number one of the NCAA Championships as he defeated the 15th ranked Steve Bonanno from Hofstra 5-2 in the first round. Kjar quickly took an early lead in the bout as he scored two takedowns in the first period to lead 4-1 after one. Kjar then added to his score in the third period with an escape to cruise to his 5-2 win.

Ray continued the hot start for the Wolverines as he pulled out a 7-5 upset over the No. 10 seed from Penn Rollie Peterkin. Peterkin controlled the match in the first two periods as he led 5-0 in the second. Ray then got his first points on a takedown late in the second period to trail 5-2 entering the third. With the score remaining the same with under a minute left in the bout, Ray made his move and put Peterkin in a cradle. Ray picked up two points from the takedown and three more from a nearfall to get the win. Ray managed to hold Peterkin on his back for the final 30 plus seconds of the match.

In Morrill's first bout of the day he dropped a 9-3 decision to the two-time All-American and No. 4 seed Jimmy Kennedy from Illinois. In the match, Morrill was down just 6-2 late in the third but Kennedy managed to take Morrill down and he also picked up a riding time point to win 9-3.

Live video of all sessions of the championships will be streamed at ESPN3.com. Sessions III-V will be broadcast live on ESPNU and Saturday night's finals (session VI) will be broadcast live on ESPN. Live results from this weekend's championships can also be found online by visiting www.NWCAOnline.com