NCAA Session III Notes: Burroughs doing ESPN commentary, Borrelli’s final NCAA wrestler, semifinals data

Burroughs takes time from training for Olympic Trials to do ESPN commentary

What’s the next big event in wrestling after the NCAA Div. I Championships end on Saturday? Clearly, it is the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling, set for Penn State, April 19-20. There are 10 athletes competing this weekend who are already qualified for the Trials. Any of the champions who win Saturday night and are not already qualified will punch their ticket to State College. Some of the other qualifiers are attached with college programs as coaches. Two-time World medalists Nick Gwiazdowski (with Cornell) and James Green (coaching Nebraska), Tyler Berger (with Penn), and Evan Wick (with Cal Poly), are among the qualifiers seen on the NCAA floor with their programs

One of the other Olympic Trials qualifiers is here doing something entirely different. 2012 Olympic champion and six-time World champion Jordan Burroughs is part of the world-class commentary crew covering the event for ESPN. Burroughs will be part of the TV coverage on Friday and Saturday. An alumni of Nebraska, Burroughs will be able to comment on the Huskers, which pushed seven athletes into the quarterfinals and is fighting for a team trophy. He also has a connection with the Penn and Drexel programs as part of the Pennsylvania RTC. Burroughs, who seems to draw a crowd, noted prior to the NCAA quarterfinals that the Olympic Trials is coming up quickly. He will wrestle at 74 kg, and says he is ready to go in his attempt to make a third Olympic Team.

One of the other stars on the ESPN broadcast crew is two-time Olympian, World medalist and UFC champion Daniel Cormier, who has become a very active announcer for MMA and on numerous networks. Fans may remember that when Cormier made the NCAA finals for Oklahoma State, he wrestled Iowa State superstar Cael Sanderson, now the coach at the powerhouse Penn State program. Cormier is super active in wrestling, serving as coach at nationally ranked California team at Gilroy High School.

Lovett keeps retiring CMU coach Tom Borrelli on the mat for Session 1V

One of the most successful and respected coaches in the game is retiring after this NCAA Championships, Central Michigan’s Tom Borrelli, who is retiring after this weekend. He is tied with John Smith with 33 years at the helm, joining the Chippewa staff back in 1991. The Chippewas gave Coach Borrelli his 15^th career MAC Championships title this year, and there is still a chance he can add one more All-American to his ledger, after securing 45 during his time at CMU.

At 157 pounds, Johnny Lovett is wrestling in the Session IV consolation rounds, and needs one more win to give Borrelli a 46^th All-American. Lovett, seeded No. 26 opened up with a loss to No. 7 Peyton Kellar of Ohio, then ran off three straight consolation wins. He beat No. 23 Joey Blaze of Purdue, No. 9 Will Lewan of Michigan and No. 16 Teague Travis of Oklahoma State. In the blood round, he draws No. 3 Meyer Shapiro of Cornell. Win or lose, it has been a great run for Lovett at the NCAAs, and an amazing run for Borrelli at Central Michigan.

Previous match results from this season between the 2024 NCAA semifinals

125 pounds

No. 8 Richard Figueroa (Arizona State) vs. No. 12 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) – no matches

No. 3 Drake Ayala (Iowa) vs. No. 10 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) – Ayala leads 1-0 this year

Ayala dec. Barnett, 8-1, Big Ten Championships

133 pounds

No. 1 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 5 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) – no matches

No. 2 Ryan Crookham (Lehigh) vs. No. 6 Vito Arujau (Cornell) – Crookham leads 2-0 this year

Crookham dec. Arujau, 8-4 in Journeymen Classic

Crookham dec. Arujau, 10-6 in EIWA finals

141 pounds

No. 1 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. No. 5 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) – no matches

No. 2 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) vs. No. 6 Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina) – no matches

149 pounds

No. 1 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) vs. No. 4 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) – Lovett leads 1-0 this year

Lovett dec. Henson, 4-2 at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational

No. 2 Kyle Parco (Arizona State) vs. No. 6 Austin Gomez (Michigan) – no matches

157 pounds

No. 1 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. No. 12 Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech) – no matches

No. 2 Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) vs. No. 6 Daniel Cardenas (Stanford) – Teemer leads 3-0 this year

Teemer dec. Cardenas, 14-6 at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational

Teemer dec. Cardenas, 7-4 in dual meet

Teemer dec. Cardenas, 5-4 at Pac-1 Championships

165 pounds

No. 1 Keegan O`Toole (Missouri) vs. No. 4 David Carr (Iowa State) – O’Toole leads 1-0 this year

O’Toole dec. Carr, 8-2 in Big 12 Championships

No. 2 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. No. 6 Mike Caliendo (Iowa) – Messenbrink leads 2-0 this year

Mesenbrink dec. Caliendo, 12-6 in dual meet

Mesenbrink tech fall Caliendo, 23-7 in Big Ten Championships

174 pounds

No. 4 Shane Griffith (Michigan) vs. No. 9 Carter Starocci (Penn State) – no matches

No. 6 Rocco Welsh (Ohio State) vs. No. 7 Lennox Wolak (Columbia) – no matches

184 pounds

No. 1 Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) vs. No. 4 Trey Munoz (Oregon State) – no matches

No. 2 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) vs. No. 3 Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) – no matches

197 pounds

No. 1 Aaron Brooks (Penn State) vs. No. 12 Rocky Elam (Missouri) – no matches

No. 2 Trent Hidlay (NC State) vs. No. 3 Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) – no matches

285 pounds

No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) vs. No. 4 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) – no matches

No. 3 Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) vs. No. 10 Lucas Davison (Michigan) -no matches

Semifinalists by conference

Big Ten – 17

Big 12 – 9

Pac-12 – 6

ACC – 4

EIWA – 3

EWL - 1

Who’s Better, No. 4 seeds or No. 5 seeds? This year, it was No. 4

In the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships, it is common for the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds to meet, barring an upset along the way. It is a pretty good test of how well the tournament was seeded. This year, No. 4 beat No. 5 four times, while No. 5 beat No. 4 two times.

No. 4 winners

149 - No. 4 Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) dec. No. 5 Ty Watters (West Virginia), 8-3

165 - No. 4 David Carr (Iowa State) dec. No. 5 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin), 5-0

184 - No. 4 Trey Munoz (Oregon State) dec. No. 5 Lenny Pinto (Nebraska), 5-3

285 - No. 4 Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) dec. No. 5 Nathan Taylor (Lehigh), 4-1, SV-1

No. 5 winners

133 - No. 5 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) dec. No. 4 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers), 9-3

141 - No. 5 Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) dec. No. 4 Ryan Jack (NC State), 5-3