March 18, 2011

Session IV Brackets

PHILADELPHIA - Utah Valley University senior Benjamin Kjar gave the No. 1 seed and two-time All-American Anthony Robles from Arizona State a run for his money Friday in the semifinals of the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships but in the end the undefeated Robles survived with a 4-2 decision. Kjar is still assured an All-America finish Saturday as that was his first loss at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia this weekend.

Kjar will finish his All-American run Saturday with two bouts beginning at 11 a.m. ET/9 a.m. MT. The action will be aired live on ESPNU. He will start off against the No. 7 seed from Stanford Ryan Mango. The winner of the match will wrestle for third place, while the loser will wrestle for fifth.

"It's very appropriate that Ben (Kjar) will be the first All-American for our wrestling program," UVU head coach Greg Williams said. "He made so many sacrifices to come here and help us build this program. It means a lot to us and to Ben, as he is our first. I'm really proud of him and he is wrestling the best he ever has right now."

"He's beat some good kids that he's lost to before here and he had a great match tonight with Robles. He gave him everything he had. I'm really, really proud of him."

Kjar and Robles wrestled to a scoreless first period as Kjar matched the 35-0 Robles move-for-move. In the second, Kjar chose bottom and Robles rode him out to give him a point of riding time at the conclusion of the match. Action picked up in the third as Robles picked up an escape point and a takedown to take a 3-0 lead. Kjar countered with an escape of his own and a late stall call on Robles gave Kjar another point but the No. 1 125-pounder managed to hold on for the 4-2 win after an added riding time point.

Kjar gave Robles his closest match of the season, as the two-point win for Robles was his tightest margin of victory on the year. Out of his 35 matches on the season Robles won 24 by technical fall, five by major decision, two by fall and just four by decision.

Kjar became Utah Valley's first-ever wrestler to compete in the semifinals at the NCAA Championships. Kjar was also the only unseeded wrestler in the entire tournament to reach the semis.

Earlier in the day, Kjar picked up an impressive 5-3 win over the No. 5 seed and two-time All-American from Minnesota Zachary Sanders in the quarterfinals. More than 17,000 fans at the Wells Fargo Center erupted when Kjar picked up the upset and even more cheered him on when they announced that Kjar will become UVU's first-ever wrestling All-American.

In the wrestleback brackets at 133 pounds, fellow UVU senior Flint Ray finished his final NCAA tournament run just one win shy of reaching All-American status.

After two decisive wins earlier in the day over Nebraska's Ridge Kiley (7-0) and Michigan's Zac Stevens (fall, 4:40), Ray took on the No. 8 seed and one-time All-American from Cornell Mike Grey Friday evening.

The 11-0 -- in 2010-11 -- Grey took control of the match early as he led 4-1 after one by scoring two takedowns. Grey then picked up three more points in the second period to lead 7-2. In the third, Ray battled back as he was awarded a stall point and he followed it up with a late takedown to trail by just two points at 7-5. Ray's comeback came up just short as he ran out of time and after riding time Grey ended up with an 8-5 win.

Ray finished his senior season with a 25-4 overall record and will go down in the UVU record books as the second most winningest wrestler in school history, with an 86-36 career mark. Only Kjar has more wins in his career as he currently sits at 128-34. Ray is also UVU's only conference champion as he won back-to-back Western Wrestling Conference championships in 2010 and 2011.

"Flint (Ray) is the perfect example of what we want our Utah Valley wrestlers to be," Williams added. "He is a great student and a great leader. Each year he continually got better and I am very proud of him in everything that he has done to get to this level."

In the team race Utah Valley is currently in 34th place out of 73 teams. Even with just three wrestlers competing at nationals the Wolverines have 15 team points. Penn State currently leads with 92.5 points, while Cornell and Iowa are sitting in second and third place with 75 and 74 respective points.

The medal round (Session V) will begin Saturday at 11 a.m. ET/9 a.m. MT and can be seen live on ESPNU. The finals (Session VI) will take place Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET/5:30 MT on ESPN.