Cornell freshman Kyle Dake takes 141 lb title at 2010 NCAA Div I Wrestling Championships

Kyle Dake, a true freshman at Cornell University, won the 141-pound title at the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Qwest Center in Omaha Saturday night.

The top-seeded Dake defeated Montell Marion of Iowa, 7-3, in the 141 finals.

Labeled a "freshman phenom" his first year at the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, Dake brought a 33 wins, 2 losses record to the national collegiate mat championships. Marion, the sixth seed, is a redshirt sophomore with a 27-5 record this season.

How Dake got to the finals: 1st Rd: dec. unseeded Todd Schavrien (Missouri), 4-1... 2d Rd: pinned unseeded Elijah Nacita (Cal State Bakersfield), 3:48... Qtrfinals: maj. dec. No. 9 seed Levi Jones (Boise State), 11-0... Semifinals: dec. No. 4 Reece Humphrey (Ohio State), 3-2 TB1.

How Marion got to the finals: 1st Rd: dec. unseeded Cole VanOhlen (Air Force), 11-8... 2d Rd: dec. unseeded Conor Beebe (Central Michigan), 10-5... Qtrfinals: dec. unseeded Germane Lindsey (Ohio), 7-5 SV1... Semifinals: dec. No. 10 Tyler Nauman (Pitt), 7-6.

Finals Action:

• First period: Dake scored a takedown with 44 seconds left. (Score: 2-0 Dake)
• First period: Marion scored an escape with about ten seconds to go. (Score: 2-1 Dake)
• Second period: Marion chose down. Dake scored two nearfall points. No other scoring. (Score: 4-1 Dake)
• Third period: Dake started in down position, scored an escape. (Score: 5-1 Dake)
• Third period: Marion got a takedown. (Score: 5-3 Dake)
• Third period: Dake escaped.  (Score: 6-3 Dake)

With an additional point for riding time, Kyle Dake defeated Montell Marion, 7-3, winning the 141 title... and becoming the first true freshman to win an NCAA championship since Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota in 2005.

Quotes:

• On the finals match: “He (Montell Marion) is a great wrestler. He’s an Iowa wrestler, so you know they’re going to go hard. It was expected for him to go as hard as he could and I just had to match it. If you watched the first 30 seconds, we were just basically punching each other in the face and we didn’t care. We were just wrestling. That’s how they go and that’s how I matched it.”
• On the first period: “I was a little disappointed I didn’t score, and whenever you don’t score points when you have a great opportunity to, you can be a little disappointed. You just have to let it go. You’re going to wrestle a match for however many minutes and you’ve got to be ready to go and score those takedowns when you need them. First period, 0-0, you don’t need a takedown right away. I felt fine.”
• On if gets tired of people talking about the fact that he’s a freshman: “Yes. Just because people think it’s such a big deal that I’m a freshman, and it probably is to the common folk. To me, I’m just another wrestler going out there to wrestle someone else. So it’s not that big a deal to me. I don’t know. It’s just not that huge of a deal for me at least.”

All in the family:  Kyle Dake is a third-generation wrestler. His father Doug Dake wrestled for Kent State University in Ohio, where he placed seventh at 177 pounds at the 1985 NCAAs, earning All-American honors. 

Close to home: Dake's family lives about five miles from the Cornell campus, yet he lives in a dorm.

2010 NCAA All-Americans -- 141 pounds:
1st: Kyle Dake (Cornell)
2d: Montell Marion (Iowa)
3d: Reece Humphrey (Ohio State)
4th: Zach Bailey (Oklahoma)
5th: Tyler Nauman (Pitt)
6th: Germane Lindsey (Ohio)
7th: Mike Thorn (Minnesota)
8th: Christopher Diaz (Virginia Tech)

NOTE: In the coming days, College Wrestling Examiner will provide additional information from the 2010 NCAAs, including more detailed analysis of the finals bouts... fun facts about NCAA All-Americans... and more.

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Resources

Cornell wrestling: Wrestling takes second, Dake takes NCAA title

InterMat: Audio interviews with the individual champs

College Wrestling Examiner: March Matness -- Your guide to the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships (including Mat Bracketology series)

TheMat.com Special Coverage Section

TheOpenMat.com: Special Coverage Section

InterMat: Day Three recap (including finals)

TheMat.com: Video interviews with finalists (after semifinals wins), other video clips

2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships: Official website... List of seeds/qualifiers by weight... Brackets

TheMat.com: College postseason tournament schedule and scores

College Wrestling 101: Links to articles answering basic questions about wrestling, including rules, scoring, uniforms, more

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