March 20, 2008
Day One Play-by-Play in PDF Format 
ST. LOUIS - Northern Illinois wrestlers picked-up four victories on day one of the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships at The Scottrade Center, Thursday, including two from three-time national qualifier Pat Castillo.
"We had a couple of wins today, and some very close losses," head coach Dave Grant said.
Castillo (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township), a senior 133-pounder, opened the day with a convincing preliminary round win over Borislav Novachkov of Cal Poly. An early takedown, followed by a reversal to open the second period put Castillo in control 4-0, and he executed two more takedowns en route to a 9-2 win. In his second match, Castillo wrangled Liberty's Christian Smith for a 12-4 major decision, Castillo's nation-leading 16th of the season.
After splitting a pair of bouts during the season at 174 pounds, redshirt sophomore Duke Burk (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame) and 12th-seeded Nick Hayes of Northwestern met for a rubber match at 174 pounds in session one. After a scoreless first period, a Burk takedown followed by a Hayes escape left the score 2-1 heading into the third. Burk dominated the final period, executing a pair of takedowns and an escape to upend Hayes 7-3.
"That was a revenge match," Grant said. "We lost that match at Midlands, and Hayes was seeded, so it was a big upset win."
At 141 pounds, redshirt freshman Pat McLemore (Hinckley, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) highlighted session two for the Huskies, capturing a 3-1 victory over C.J. Ettelson of Northern Iowa. McLemore executed a first round takedown and rode Ettelson for 1:20 of the first period. After Ettelson chose bottom to start the second, McLemore held him in that position for the entire period, racking-up over three minutes of riding time, and holding on for a 3-1 win.
"(McLemore) beat the Northern Iowa kid, who had pinned him last year, so we know we're making some ground on these guys," Grant said.
In his premier at the NCAA Championships, McLemore lost on a technical fall to two-time All-American Nathan Morgan of Oklahoma State.
For Burk and Castillo, session two was less kind than the first.
"We had some real close matches in the championship round, and in this game here, the small things really make the difference," Grant said.
In one of the closest of the 340 matches wrestled on day one, Burk fell 4-3 in double-overtime to fourth-seeded Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan. Sinnott held a 10 second advantage in riding time after two overtime periods, giving him the slightest of victories over Burk.
"Duke wrestled Sinnott as close as he has ever wrestled him," Grant said. "The last couple of times, Sinnott has won by one or two points, and today he won by ten seconds."
Castillo, who had gone undefeated for 18 matches, lost a narrow decision to seventh seed Mike Grey of Cornell. Castillo opened the match on the offensive, but a first-round single-leg was bogged down into a stalemate, and Grey pulled Castillo out-of-bounds after a double-leg in the second. In the final stanza, Grey executed the match's only takedown to edge Castillo, 4-1.
"We were the aggressor at 133, and that's the way you want it," Grant said.
All three wrestlers will compete in the consolation bracket, Friday, with competition starting at 10 a.m.
"We have a big day tomorrow," Grant said. "If we can get them through the third day, they're All-Americans."
Preliminary Round
133: Castillo (NIU) dec. Novachkov (Cal Poly) 9-2
Round One
133: Castillo (NIU) maj. dec. Smith (Liberty) 12-4
141: Morgan (OSU) tech. fall McLemore (NIU) 15-0 (5:04)
174: Burk (NIU) dec. #12 Hayes (NU) 7-3
Round Two (Championship Bracket)
133: #7 Grey (Cornell) dec. #10 Castillo (NIU) 4-1
174: #4 Sinnott (CMU) dec. Burk (NIU) 4-3 (2OT)
Round Two (Consolation Bracket)
141: McLemore (NIU) dec. Ettelson (UNI) 3-1
