NCAA Wrestling Championships 2011 Results: Penn State Soars, Anthony Robles On Cusp Of Greatness

If you've been following me on Twitter, you know I've done most of my work there (@MMANation) covering this event. Between this and tonight's UFC 128, it's just too much to keep up with. But I have been watching the wrestling matches, so I'm up on who is doing well, which team is in the lead and who competes tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET for the national title on ESPN.

First, let's go over the semi-final results. The two winners in each of these divisions will wrestle for a national title tonight:

125
No. 1 Anthony Robles (Arizona State) dec. unseeded Ben Kjar (Utah Valley), 4-2
No. 2 Matt McDonough (Iowa) dec. No. 3 Brandon Precin (Northwestern), 3-1

133
No. 1 Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) dec. Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 5-2
No. 2 Andrew Hochstrasser (Boise State) dec. No 3 Andrew Long (Penn State), 6-4

141
No. 1 Kellen Russell (Michigan) dec. No. 5 Montell Marion (Iowa), 3-3, TB (riding time)
No. 3 Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly) dec. No. 2 Mike Thorn (Minnesota), 9-3

149
No. 2 Frank Molinaro (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Jason Chamberlain (Boise State), 4-1
No. 4 Kyle Dake (Cornell) dec. No. 8 Ganbayar Sanjaa (American), 4-0

157
No. 3 David Taylor (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Steve Fittery (American), 7-1
No. 4 Bubba Jenkins (Arizona State) dec. No. 8 Jason Welch (Northwestern), 8-5

165
No. 1 Jordan Burroughs (Nebraska) maj. dec. No. 5 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State), 14-6
No. 3 Tyler Caldwell (Oklahoma) dec. No. 2 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin), 2-2, TB (riding time)

174
No. 1 Jon Reader (Iowa State) dec. No. 5 Chris Henrich (Virginia), 4-3
No. 7 Nick Amuchastegui (Stanford) dec. No. 3 Mack Lewnes (Cornell), 5-2

184
No. 2 Robert Hamlin (Lehigh) dec. No. 3 Steve Bosak (Cornell), 4-3, SV
No. 9 Quentin Wright (Penn State) pinned No. 12 Grant Gambrall (Iowa), 2:52

197
No. 2 Clayton Foster (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 3 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin), 4-3
No. 4 Dustin Kilgore (Kent State) dec. No. 1 Cam Simaz (Cornell), 10-9

Hwt.
No. 1 Zach Rey (Lehigh) dec. No. 5 Dom Bradley (Missouri), 2-1
No. 3 Ryan Flores (American) dec. No. 2 Jarod Trice (Central Michigan), 4-0

Here are the standouts for me:

At 125lbs, I am not sure about Robles' chances, but I don't think they're low. A win for him would be huge not only for him, but wrestling as well. Robles' story is the only one making the rounds on ESPN's programming. It's an easy, but important media hook.

Jordan Oliver at 133lbs is a monster. I like him to win easily.

141lbs is up in the air. Kellen Russell had a hard time with Iowa's Montell Marion and Cal Poly's Borislav Novachkov is very hard to score on. I think an upset of Russell is very possible.

Kyle Dake overcame being dismissed at 149lbs as well as an up and down season to get to tonight's point. I like him to rise to the occasion yet again tonight.

At 157lbs, David Taylor seems unstoppable. The redshirt freshman for Penn State is ready to make history tonight. Some are already comparing him to his coach Cael Sanderson and while it's still too early, the comparison doesn't feel out of bounds.

Jordan Burroughs win easily at 165lbs, although I don't like his willingness to let opponents acrue points with escapes.

Jon Reader continues his roll at 174lbs.

I don't know who to pick at 184lbs. That remains wide open for me.

I like the strength of Dustin Kilgore at 197lbs to beat Jordan Foster.

While I want Flores to win at heavyweight, Lehigh's Zach Rey seems too much for the undersized American University standout.

As of the time of this wrestling (including consolation rounds) Penn State is in first, but strong performances by Bosak and Lewnes put Cornell back in second. We'll have results of the national tourney later tonight.