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Cerminara Gets Second Seed For NCAA Championship

Kyle Cerminara

Cerminara faces North Carolina's David Dashiell in the first round on the side of the bracket that also features seventh-seed Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell, whom Cerminara beat 5-3 to win the Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 3. The two New York wrestlers could meet in the quarterfinals. Nebraska's B.J. Padden, seeded third, is another roadblock that Cerminara could have to face en route to the finals, as the Cornhusker upstart won the Big 12, which features three of the top five wrestlers in the nation. Padden beat 2005 national champion Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State twice during the regular season.

The No. 1-seed, Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan, is the lone wrestler that has gotten the best of Cerminara this year, beating him narrowly both times, with a 3-2 decision on Feb. 4 and a 7-5 decision in the MAC Championships on Mar. 4. Michalak's route to the title could go through the defending champion, Rosholt.

Junior Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville), has drawn a pigtail and is not seeded, despite being consistently ranked in the top 12 in most national polls at 133 pounds. He faces Oregon State's Bobby Pfennings in the pigtail round of the 34-man bracket to open the tournament. His next opponent is then Mack Reiter of Minnesota, the No. 4-seed. Budd is one of InterMat's bad draws, meaning wrestlers will have trouble getting around the Bull, who already upset No. 1-seed, Shawn Bunch of Edinboro, earlier this year.

Senior Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) has an equally tough draw in the 30-man heavyweight bracket. He faces UNC-Greensboro's Tyler Shovlin in the first round, a competitor that Sherrell beat 5-2 on Jan. 15 in dual meet action. His next opponent, though, could be No. 1-seed Cole Konrad of Minnesota, a 2005 national runner-up who turned the wrestling world on its ear after pinning two-time national champion Steve Mocco of Oklahoma State, earlier this year.

Budd, Cerminara and Sherrell will hit the mats for the first session of the NCAA Championships at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, OK on Thursday at 12:00 pm.