Sophomore Pat McNamara Reaches Big Ten Wrestling Final
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 6, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State wrestling team qualified four individuals for the NCAA tournament Saturday at the Big Ten Championships at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor. The Spartans collected 43.5 team points to place them eighth after the first day of wrestling, only seven points behind seventh-place Northwestern. Minnesota leads the tem race with 120 points, followed by Iowa (106) and Penn State (93).
Sophomore Pat McNamara (Jordan, Minn.) went 2-0 on the day to advance to the 133-pound final. McNamara, the No. 1 seed, scored a 5-4 victory over eighth-seeded David Stoltz of Illinois and a 6-4 win over fifth-seeded Robert Sessley to reach the championship match. He will face third seeded Joe Warren of Michigan Sunday afternoon for the 133-pound crown. McNamara defeated Warren in three previous meeting this season.
"Pat's in a tough weight class," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "Everyone is gunning for him, trying to keep the match close, but he just finds a way to get it done. That's why he's such a great wrestler."
Three other Michigan State grapplers also guaranteed themselves a spot in the NCAA Championships: sophomore Matt Lamb (Pensacola, Fla.) at heavyweight and juniors Will Hill (Indianapolis, Ind.) at 174 and Nick Muzashvili (Unadilla, NY) at 197.
The sixth-seeded Lamb and fourth-seeded Muzashvili each went 2-1 on the day to reach the finals of the consolation bracket and a chance at third place, while the sixth-seeded Hill went 1-2 and will wrestle for fifth place Sunday afternoon.
Senior Issac Miller (Flint, Mich.) at 141 and sophomores Mike Castillo (Ada, Mich.) at 149 and Corey Posey (Westfield, NJ) at 157 are also still alive for MSU. Each was 1-2 Saturday and will wrestle for seventh place and the final qualifying spot in his weight class.
Also competing but not advancing for MSU were freshmen Chris Williams (Fowlerville, Mich.) at 125, Kevin Speiss at 165 (Ovid, Mich.) and Nik Fekete (Cranford, NJ) at 184.
"Every kid wrestled absolutely as hard as he could," said Minkel, "but the Big Ten is so tough and the margin for error is none. We wrestled as hard as we could. We've got four in the NCAA's for sure, and hopefully we can get three more in tomorrow and finish strong."
The Big Ten Championships resume Sunday at noon with the finals of the consolation brackets. The championship matches get underway at 3 p.m.