Many believed that Kyle Cerminara would once again have to wrestle Central Michigan's Wynn Michalak in Oklahoma City at the NCAA Tournament, but few thought it would be with both athletes facing elimination in the losers bracket.
Michalak, a sophomore, and Cerminara, a senior, were seeded No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, heading into the national tournament last Thursday in the 197-pound weight class. However, when Michalak was upset in the second round and Cerminara in the third, the two found themselves on the mat together for the third time this season in an unexpected situation.
Having already handed Cerminara two losses this year, Michalak once again defeated the standout Bull, ending Cerminara's career by a score of 7-5 on Friday. The loss was only Cerminara's fourth of the season.
Michalak's win made him an All-American for the second time in his career as he finished seventh in the weight class.
"I think he is just better than me," Cerminara said.
Prior to his loss to Michalak on Friday, Cerminara beat David Dashiell of North Carolina and Jared Villers of West Virginia on Thursday, both by the scores of 2-1.
In his first match on Friday, with Michalak already having lost to Chris Weidman of Hofstra by a score of 10-7, Cerminara faced Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell. Although Cerminara had beaten Rinaldi by a score of 5-3 in the finals of the Las Vegas Invitational earlier in the season, the seventh-seeded Big Red wrestler got his revenge, beating Cerminara, 3-1.
"We're obviously disappointed," said head coach Jim Beichner. "Kyle Cerminara certainly didn't wrestle to his ability but I'm proud of all three of our guys and I'm proud of their efforts."
Also competing for Buffalo in the three-day tournament were junior 133-pounder Mark Budd and senior heavyweight Harold Sherrell.
Budd went 2-2 in his first NCAA tournament. The junior won his first match in a pigtail over Oregon's Bobby Pfennnings, 8-4, before being pinned by the fourth-seeded Mark Reiter with 1:28 left in the first period.
Budd then bounced back with a 7-3 victory over Ohio State's Reece Humprey before losing his first and only match on Friday to Jake Strayer. The Penn State wrestler knocked Budd out of the tournament with a 7-0 win.
"I know I need to work harder," Budd said. "I learned from watching Kyle that you can't put too much pressure on yourself. I think he put too much pressure on himself instead of wrestling and having fun. When you do that you wrestle not to lose instead of wrestling to win."
Beichner said that he has high hopes for Budd to come back next season and make a run at an NCAA championship.
"Mark got his first trip here and got caught in a cradle," Beichner said. "He's got a lot of work left to do. Hopefully by next year he will be stronger smarter and be better prepared to be an NCAA champion."
Also making his first trip to the NCAA tournament, Sherrell lost his only two matches on Thursday. Although Sherrell lost first to Tyler Shovlin of UNC Greesnboro, 4-0, and then to Wyoming's Dusty Hoffschneider, 15-3, the walk-on said he was happy to end his career at the national level.
Sherrell said that he had never thought he would end his career at the NCAA Tournament.
"I didn't even expect to be in the starting line-up," he said.
Beichner said that Sherrell's success has surprised everyone.
"Harold is one of the best success stories I've ever had," Beichner said. "To win a (Mid-American Conference) title and come out here...I'm so proud of him. He has cared more about our team than himself over the years. He has been such a success story for me that I'm not going to hold this against him. He went out there and did his best."
Although the tournament proved to be a disappointment for the Buffalo grapplers, the 16,394 fans that packed the Ford Center for the tournament finals got their money's worth.
An overwhelming population of Oklahoma State die-hards saw their Cowboys win their fourth straight team title, which was highlighted by a third national championship for Jake Rosholt at 197 pounds and a second for Johny Hendricks at 164 pounds.
After going on his back at the end of the second period, Hendricks stole the show when he let up Michigan State's Ryan Churella and then took him down with four seconds left to win the match, 9-8.
Following the win, the sea of Oklahoma orange erupted as Hendricks sprinted off the mat over to a section of his fans and led them in an "O-S-U" chant.
"It was amazing," Hendricks said about winning in front of a home crowd. "This is pretty much my hometown. I had so many people up there cheering for me."
The Cowboys won their 34th team title with 122.5 points followed by Minnesota with 84 points and Oklahoma University with 80.5.
The Bulls finished 46th of 64 teams with five team points. Cerminara ended his career as a 2004 All-American with a record of 137-34. He holds the school record for most career dual meet takedowns with a 187 as well as the most wins in a season with 41 in his junior year.
