March 17, 2011

PHILADELPHIA - Juniors Fred Santaite (133) and John Hall (197) and sophomore Hunter Meys (174) all split their two matches on day one of the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday to stay alive in their respective brackets.

Santatie and Hall got off to successful starts with first-round victories late in regulation against Pac-10 opponents, but both fell in the second round. Meys, on the other hand, rebounded from a first-round loss with a victory in the evening wrestlebacks to advance to Friday. The victories for Hall and Meys were their first in the national tournament.

Hall pinned Chad Hanke of Oregon State with 10 seconds left in regulation in their match after Santaite used a late reversal to secure a 4-3 victory over Justin Paulsen of Stanford.

Meys wrestled tough against third-seeded Mack Lewnes of Cornell at 174, but dropped a 7-2 decision after allowing a pair of first-period takedowns to fall to the wrestlebacks.

Santaite opened the day on a good note for the Terriers, as he broke 2-2 tie late in the third with a decisive reversal to give him the victory over Paulsen. He never trailed in the match, as he secured a late takedown in the first and started the third on bottom before posting the win.

In the second round, fourth-seeded Tyler Graff proved to be too much for Santaite to handle, as the Wisconsin grappler recorded six takedowns in a 14-5 major decision. Santaite will take on 10th-seeded Rollie Peterkin of Penn in Friday morning's wrestlebacks.

Hall never trailed in his match with Hanke and was not scored on, as he registered a first-period takedown and then rode out the Oregon State wrestler for the first half of the second stanza to gain over a minute of riding time.

After third-period escape gave Hall a 3-2 edge, Hanke went on the offensive with just under a minute left. Hall came through with a counter and then stuck him to the mat to extend his win streak to 17 matches, including eight straight bonus victories.

The winning streak came to an end, however, in the evening session, as third-seeded Trevor Branvold secured a 2-0 decision in a match that did not feature any takedowns. Branvold earned a second-period escape and then rode out Hall for the entire third period. Hall will face Michigan's Anthony Biondo on Friday morning.

Meys closed out the day on the mats for the Terriers and used a dominant first period to roll to a 10-4 triumph against fellow CAA wrestler Ryan McGarity of Binghamton in an elimination match.

The sophomore recorded a takedown and two back points before coming back with a five-point move late in the opening frame to jump out to a huge 9-1 advantage. On Friday, Meys will return to the mat in the consolation bracket against ninth-seeded Ethen Lofthouse of Iowa.