Mike Sees Advances at NCAA D-I Championships

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK—Bloomsburg University wrestler Mike Sees (Northumberland/Shikellamy) advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I wrestling championships with a pair of wins on the opening day of the tournament. Sees was the only Bloomsburg wrestler to earn a win in the first round of competition.

Sees, a 125-pounder, started the day with an 8-5 win over fourth-seeded Kyle Ott of Illinois. Ott started the match with a takedown just 45 seconds into the match, but quickly escaped to make it 2-1. Later in the first, Ott scored his second takedown with Sees again getting an escape to trail 4-2 at the end of the first period. In the second period Sees escaped after starting out on bottom to make it 4-3 at the end of two periods. In the third period, Ott escaped after starting the period on the bottom to lead 5-3. Then, with time running out in the match, Sees scored a takedown and then a near fall to rally and pull out an 8-5 win.

In his second match of the day, Sees defeated Ricky Deubel of Edinboro, 4-1. Sees got a first period takedown for a 2-0 lead followed by an escape for Deubel for a 2-1 lead after one period. In the second period, Sees escapes the control of Deubel to make it 3-1 heading to the third period. Sees held control for most of the third period and ended with point for riding time to gain a 4-1 win and move to quarterfinal action Friday morning.

At 141 pounds, the Huskies' Brad Forbes (Downingtown/Downingtown) lost to Big 10 champion Andy Simmons of Michigan State, 8-0, while at 157-pounds Aric Furhman (Spring Grove/Delone Catholic) was pinned by Nathan Galloway of Penn State in 26 seconds.

At 174 pounds, the Huskies' Jim Bertulis (Aston/Garnett Valley) lost a hard fought match to Jacob Klein of Nebraska, 7-5. Bertulis almost rallied for the win in the closing minute, but could not pull off the comeback.

At heavyweight, EWL champion Mike Spaid (Perkiomenville/Boyertown) lost a 3-2 match to Michael Faust of Virginia Tech. Spaid started the third period with an escape to close the gap to 3-2, but could not score the rest of the way.

For Bloomsburg, Forbes, Furhman, Bertulis and Spaid will also wrestle late Friday night in opening round consolation action.