Tournament Website
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Redshirt freshman Hudson Taylor lost by a point, 4-3, against fifth-seeded Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell and fell just short of All-America honors at the Division I Wrestling Championships at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan. The winner of the match would have been guaranteed an eighth-place finish or better as the top eight placers earn All-America accolades.
Taylor and Rinaldi went scoreless through the first period and Taylor started down in the second. After a quick escape to score the match's first point, Rinaldi recorded a takedown that Taylor escaped from to make it 2-2. With Rinaldi starting down to start the final period, Taylor had both legs but went too high and allowed a reversal. Taylor escaped Rinaldi's grasp but time ran out and the match ended, 4-3.
Taylor's bid came up just short as he was looking to become the first Terrapin All-American since Jim Guzzio who finished fifth at 134 pounds in 1997.
Taylor won his first match of the day in the wrestlebacks to remain in the tournament as he knocked off Purdue's Nathan Moore, 7-2. Moore scored the first takedown of the match but that is all the offense he could muster. Taylor recorded two reversals, a takedown, and got the riding time bonus point for the win.
In Taylor's second match of the day against Jared Villers of West Virginia, he notched his 16th pin of the season for the win. He turned a Villers takedown into a reversal and the eventual pin in the first period.
Senior Jason Kiessling and freshman Mike Letts were both eliminated from the tournament earlier in the day in their first match of the day in the wrestlebacks.
An All-American bid for Kiessling ended in his first wrestleback as he lost to UC Davis' Dustin Noack, 4-2, in overtime. The two battled in the first period but neither wrestler could score and the only scoring heading into the third was an escape by Kiessling as he started down in the second.
In the third, Noack scored a reversal to take a 2-1 lead against Kiessling but he was able to escape to deadlock the match and force overtime. Noack came up with the first takedown of the extra session to grab the win.
Letts suffered a very similar to fate to Kiessling as he lost in the third round of the wrestleback, 4-2 in overtime, to Minnesota's Gabriel Dretsch. Letts got the match going in the first period as he scored the first takedown in the opening period.
Dretsch was able to escape with five seconds left to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into the second. Dretsch racked up three points in the second, including a takedown, to take the 4-2 lead after two. In the final period, Letts recorded another takedown to force overtime, but Dretsch scored first in the extra period to take the 4-2 victory.
Individual Results
Jason Kiessling (165)
