Sita Concludes Freshman Season With a Victory at NCAA Championships; Finishes 1-2 in Tournament
March 9, 2018
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- On Friday at the 2018 NCAA Division II Championships , Gino Sita became the first wrestler in Alderson Broaddus school history to win a match at nationals as the Battler freshman finished 1-2 to conclude competition for the 2017-18 season.
"In the first round we were just overwhelmed," said head coach Sam Gardner. "The kid from Cal Baptist, Kistler, is really good on top and he made us pay. Gino probably hasn't been in that position, flat on his belly with a guy cranking on him with a leg in, all season. A hole in our game got exposed, but we now know what we need to do to attack it."
After dropping a match to the No.2 seeded Nolan Kistler from California Baptist in the first round on a technical foul, Sita came back and wrestled in the opening round of consolations against Nathan Vandermeer from the University of Findlay.
Sita jumped out to a quick lead and stretched his lead to six, 8-2, early in third period. Down the stretch, Vandermeer added three points in the third but Sita held on to win his first match at the National Tournament.
"In the first consolation match Gino looked great on his feet," Gardner said. "In retrospect we probably should have taken neutral when it was our choice and continued to score points on our feet. That was my fault. I let him choose, and he chose bottom where he'd had success all year. That allowed the kid from Findlay to keep the match closer than it needed to be. Still, he showed guts and came away with the win, the first NCAA wrestling championships win in school history."
Later on Friday, Sita competed against Zach Stooden from Nebraska-Kearney. After Stooden jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a takedown in the first, Sita recorded a pair of escapes to even the match at 2-2. In the third, Stooden opened with the escape and eventually held on with a narrow 3-2 victory.
"In the blood round match to make All-American we just got caught 'relaxing' for a moment and the guy shot a really nice high crotch and took Gino down," said Gardner. "Those were the deciding points in a 3-2 match. That was a tough one, one point matches hurt the most."
Sita joined Cody Spinks as the second wrestler in Alderson Broaddus school history to compete a the National Tournament. Following Friday's action, Sita concluded his freshman season with an overall record of 35-7.
"Gino won 38 matches as a freshman, which blows away the single season record for wins," said Gardner. "He's the first guy to win a match at the NCAA's in our short history, he's the first guy to qualify for the NCAA's as a freshman. The future is incredibly bright for him. He's a smart kid, he works really hard, and he learns from the few failures he has and becomes a better student-athlete because of that. He proves that if your goal is to compete at a high level right from the start you can do that at Alderson Broaddus."
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