March 16, 2007

Auburn Hills, MI - Cal State Fullerton sophomore heavyweight Wade Sauer won a pair of consolation bracket bouts Friday night at the NCAA Wrestling Championships to earn himself All-American status and at least a sixth-place finish in the competition at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

No. 12-seeded Sauer defeated Dustin Rogers of West Virginia, 9-2, in the fifth round and Payam Zarrupour of Sacred Heart, 7-4, in the sixth round to gain the final field of six. Next up on Saturday morning is his season-long nemesis, No. 5-seeded Ty Watterson of Oregon State, who has beaten Sauer four times this year including Thursday in the second round of the winners' bracket. Watterson lost earlier today in the championship semfinals to No. 1-seeded Cole Konrad of Minnesota.

Sauer's efforts have lifted the Titans into 29th place in the team standings with 16.5 points. It's a tight battle for Pac-10 supremacy with UC Davis in 25th place with 23.5 points, Cal Poly in 27th with 20.5 points, Oregon State in 28th with 18.5 points and Arizona State in 33rd with 12.5 points. All but ASU (none) have one wrestler still in competition. Iowa State is in first place with 83.5 points with Minnesota in second with 80 points.

Sauer spotted Rogers an early takedown which ended with him in the scorer's table. He responded immediately with a pair of takedowns and a near fall to take a commanding lead and control the rest of the match.

Against Zarrupour, Sauer dominated the final period to pull away from a 4-4 tie.

The Sauer-Watterson winner will gain the consolation finals and need one more win for third place. The loser will drop into the fifth-place match.