Northwestern
NCAA Championships
Sudden Victory Takedown Gives Dustin Fox NCAA Championship
3/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 22, 2008
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ST. LOUIS -- For the second-straight year, a Northwestern Wildcat will be bringing championship hardware back to Evanston. Senior heavyweight Dustin Fox survived a cut head and bloody nose to top second-seeded J.D. Bergman of Ohio State in second sudden victory, 4-2.
"It's a dream come true," Fox said. "My nose is probably broken, my face is all beat up, but I did it. I achieved all my goals."
Fox gives NU NCAA champions in back-to-back seasons. He is the eighth champion in program history and first heavyweight champion since 1932. As a team, NU finished 13th, 1.5 points ahead of Illinois.
For the third time this season, and the second time in as many postseason championships, Fox and Bergman took to the mat in the last match of the session to decide a heavyweight title. This time, it was a national championship at stake.
Bergman was the one pushing a quick pace early, using several fakes and attempted headlocks. Bergman got his arms around Fox's head with just under a minute, but the pair slid out of bounds to go back to neutral.
The first period ended scoreless once again between the nation's top two heavyweights and Bergman chose bottom for the second period.
Bergman escaped almost exactly on the whistle to start the second and took a 1-0 lead as the wrestlers went back to neutral. Low scores are the standard in heavyweight bouts and this one was no exception. The second period ended with Bergman up 1-0 and Fox on bottom.
Fox escaped in the first 15 seconds to tie the score at 1-1 and put both wrestlers back to neutral. Fox countered Bergman's best shot of the night with just under 40 seconds to go. Fox tried to reach for a leg in the closing seconds, but the match went to overtime.
Wrestlers started neutral in the first sudden victory period. Bergman got in and Fox appeared to counter. In the most action-packed part of the match, Fox looked to be in position for the takedown, but Bergman escaped.
Fox was fighting a bleeding cut on his forehead the entire match, and the sudden victory period was stopped with 23 seconds left. The sudden victory period ended and the match went to tiebreakers. Riding time is cleared from regulation, but starts fresh and counts in the tiebreaker periods.
Bergman went on bottom for the first tiebreaker. Bergman's first attempt to get out resulted in Fox throwing to the mat and out of bounds to cause a restart.
Bergman got his escape, but Fox accumulated 15 seconds of riding time. With the wrestlers back at neutral, the posturing began again, but the first tiebreaker ended with no more action.
Fox escaped quickly from bottom in the tiebreaker and the wrestlers again went back to neutral. With no more scoring in the period, the match went to sudden victory period number two.
Fox had a riding time advantage and Bergman needed to take a chance with a takedown attempt. Fox countered and scored a single-leg takedown of his own to win the match in the second sudden victory period, 4-2. As the match ended, Fox celebrated on the mat and head coach Tim Cysewski and assistant coach Drew Pariano embraced in the coaches' corner.
#1 Fox (NU) def. #2 Bergman (Ohio State)
1: No Score
2: 1 ESC (OSU)
3: 1 ESC (NU)
SV: No Score
TB1: 1 ESC (OSU)
TB1: 1 ESC (NU)
SV2: 2 TD (NU)
Players Mentioned
