March 16, 2012

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Stanford senior Nick Amuchastegui moves on to the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships semifinals, Friday, after defeating Cal Poly's Ryan DesRoches in the quarterfinals at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Amuchastegui, the three seed at 174 pounds, registered a 6-1 decision over DesRoches, the six seed. He held a 2-1 advantage after the first period. Choosing bottom to start the second, Amuchastegui tallied an escape and takedown to increase his lead to 5-1. DesRoches chose bottom to begin the third, where Amuchastegui rode him out and finished with 2:42 of riding time.

It is the third time this season Amuchastegui has defeated DesRoches. He improves to 23-0 overall, tying Tod Surmon for the second-best consecutive wins streak in school history. The win also guarantees All-America honors for the senior. He joins former Cardinal Tanner Gardner as the only three-time All-Americans in Stanford history.

Amuchastegui will take on the two seed, Oklahoma State's Chris Perry, in the semifinals Friday night. Perry defeated seventh-seeded Jordan Blanton of Illinois, 3-2 in overtime, in the quarterfinals. Perry is also undefeated on the year at 31-0.

Junior Ryan Mango dropped his 125 pound quarterfinal match to top-seeded Matt McDonough of Iowa, 13-3. He scored the first takedown of the match, but was unable to recover once McDonough was on top. It marks the sixth loss of the season for the junior, but just his first at 125 pounds.

Mango will now drop down to the consolation bracket and will wrestle in the Round of 12 for a chance to capture his second All-America honors. He will await the winner of the Jonathon Morrison (Oklahoma State)-(7) Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma ) match.

The fourth session of the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships will take place Friday evening, beginning at 4 p.m. PT. The semifinals will air on ESPNU.

125 pounds
(8) Ryan Mango (2-1): dec. Shane Young (West Virginia) 10-8; maj. dec. (9) Levi Mele (Northwestern) 15-6; lost to (1) Matt McDonough (Iowa) 13-3.

174 pounds
(3) Nick Amuchastegui (3-0): fall Peter Huntley (Navy) 2:01; maj. dec. Tyler Koehn (Nebraska) 8-0; dec. (6) Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly) 6-1.