Boston University
NCAA Championships
Santaite Stuns Defending National Champion at NCAA Wrestling Championships
March 18, 2010 | Men's Wrestling
March 18, 2010
OMAHA, Neb. - The Terriers may only have one wrestler at the NCAA Championships, but he certainly is making some noise. Sophomore Fred Santaite posted a pair of one-point victories, including a thrilling 2-1 victory over defending national champion Troy Nickerson of Cornell, to advance to the quarterfinals of the 125-pound bracket on Thursday at the Qwest Center.
Santaite, who is making his NCAA debut, opened the day with an 8-7 victory over Ohio State's Nikko Triggas and then stunned the crowd in the evening session with the biggest upset of the day, earning a takedown with two seconds left in his match with second-seeded Nickerson to come away with a 2-1 victory.
In Friday's quarterfinals, Santaite will face Purdue's Cashe Quiroga with the winner guaranteed to earn All-America status.
Santaite entered the tournament with a season record of 18-9 and looked to make the most out of his NCAA debut against Triggas. A tight battle throughout, Santaite emerged with a late takedown to pull off the 8-7 victory, setting up the match against Nickerson.
The result against Triggas was protested by Ohio State's coaches, as they thought the referee awarded back points in the second period that were never counted. Both the referee and the table referee agreed that no near fall was awarded or took place, and after a video review, Santaite's victory was upheld.
Neither Nickerson nor Santaite scored in the opening period before Nickerson escaped in the second to take a 1-0 lead. Nickerson needed injury time later in the middle period and the two started out neutral to start off the third. Santaite waited Nickerson out before shooting in an securing the decisive takedown just before time expired.
