Ruschell, Starks qualify for Division I Nationals!

[Zeus 117]

It seems that Kyle Ruschell and Richard Starks are starting a trend for Kentucky wrestlers on the Division I college level.  Both qualified for the National Tournament this past weekend at their respective conference tournaments.  Ruschell wrestles 141 for Wisconsin and placed sixth at the Big Ten Conference Championships.  Starks wrestles 197 for the US Military Academy and placed fourth at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA).

Ruschell apparently was winning his first round match pretty comfortably versus Jeff Wimberley of Michigan State when he was caught and pinned.  He then won two straight matches against Ryan Prater from Illinois (fall) and Garret Scott of Penn State (default).  He was then supposed to wrestle Keith Sulzer from Northwestern but chose to default (don't know if it was because of medical reasons or not) both that match and the fifth/sixth place match versus Dan LeClere from Iowa.

Richard Starks lost his first round match as well to Thomas Shovlin of the University of Pennsylvania (3-2).  He then reeled off three straight victories to punch his ticket to St. Louis.  His victories came against Brandon Steams from Brown University (11-0), Matt Parsons of the US Naval Academy (4-0), and Justin Kerber of Cornell University (4-2).  In the third place match he fell victim again to Shovlin from Penn (6-4).

These two make me proud to say that I wrestled in Kentucky.  I want to congratulate them on qualifying and I look forward to seeing them win matches in two weeks!!

[kywrfan 0]

I believe that Ruschell has a torn MCL but wrestled through it for most of the tournament

[Dutch1873 0]

I believe that Ruschell has a torn MCL but wrestled through it for most of the tournament

if that's true, he's going to have a tough time at nationals. I hope he can rehab it fast so he'll be close to 100%

[ˢʰᵃʷⁿ¹¹² 0]

Whats the date for Nationals and what time is it going to start?

Well basically when can i watch it on tv?

[Zeus 117]

Division I Nationals will be on March 20-22 in St. Louis.  I'm not sure when you can watch it on tv.  I would check either ESPNU or CSTV for the listings though.  It seems one or both of those channels have broadcast the tournament in the past.  I'm pretty sure the finals are on ESPN2 that Saturday night though.  Don't hold me to any of these times though, I haven't checked on any of them.