March 17, 2012

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Stanford junior Ryan Mango finished fifth at the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships, Saturday, at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Mango, the eighth seed at 125 pounds, dropped his first match of the day, a 10-3 decision to sixth-seeded Frank Perrelli of Cornell. He trailed 6-1 after the first period and was unable to recover. With the loss, he fell into the fifth-place match against fifth-seeded Nicholas Bedelyon of Kent State.

In his second match against Bedelyon, Mango fell behind 3-0 after the first two periods. He chose neutral to start the third, scoring a takedown early on. After an escape by Bedelyon, Mango registered another takedown to force a sudden-death overtime. There, Mango recorded a takedown in just eight seconds to get the win and the fifth-place finish.

Mango won a season-best 30 matches this season, leading the team. He is just the fifth Cardinal wrestler to receive multiple All-America accolades, placing sixth at the NCAA Championships in 2011. Mango also won his first conference championship in 2012, taking home the Pac-12 title in February.

Senior Nick Amuchastegui will wrestle in the finals at 174 pounds Saturday night. He will face top-seeded Ed Ruth of Penn State. The finals will be aired live on ESPN at 4:30 p.m. PT.

Stanford's Tournament Results:

125 pounds
(8) Ryan Mango (5-2): dec. Shane Young (West Virginia) 10-8; maj. dec. (9) Levi Mele (Northwestern) 15-6; lost to (1) Matt McDonough (Iowa) 13-3; maj. dec. (7) Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma) 12-4; dec. (7) Jesse Delgado (Illinois) 4-3; lost to (6) Frank Perrelli (Cornell) 10-3; dec. (5) Nick Bedelyon (Kent State) 6-4 (OT).

174 pounds
(3) Nick Amuchastegui (4-0): fall Peter Huntley (Navy) 2:01; maj. dec. Tyler Koehn (Nebraska) 8-0; dec. (6) Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly) 6-1; dec. (2) Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) 6-3.