March 21, 2008
St. Louis, Mo. - Sophomore 165-pounder Mike Cannon has become American University's sixth Wrestling All-American, winning a 3-1 sudden victory overtime decision and a 7-6 regulation decision at the 2008 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Cannon and teammate Josh Glenn, who lost a 7-5 decision Friday night to end his national championship defense, have assured themselves no lower than a sixth-place finish.
Cannon became just the sixth American University wrestler to earn All-America with a 3-1 sudden victory overtime win over Purdue's Luke Manuel. Cannon and Manuel were locked in a scramble near the end of the first period but no points were awarded and they took a scoreless tie into the second. Cannon began the second on bottom and escaped quickly, taking a 1-0 lead six seconds in. Neither wrestler connected on a shot after that point and the third period began with Cannon on top, leading 1-0. Manuel tied the score with an early escape in the third and with the clock stopped at 6:28 for blood the two were still tied at one a piece. A shot by Cannon in the period's final seconds looked to have landed him the victory but the official ruled that he never had control and the match went to sudden victory overtime. Early in the overtime Cannon again looked to have scored a takedown but the official waved the wrestlers out of bounds. Off the restart, Cannon and Manuel circled the mat before Cannon dove in on Manuel's leg, finished the shot and had his hand raised in the air as an All-American with a 3-1 decision.
With the victory, Cannon joined an elite list at American as only the fourth wrestler to achieve what is now a total of six All-America honors. Cannon is now on the same list as AU greats Daniel Waters (eighth place in 2005), Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov (third place in 2006) and current teammate Glenn (fourth place in 2006, first place in 2007, assured at least sixth place in 2008) as the only All-American wrestlers in school history.
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Cannon's night was not over though, as he returned to the mat a short time later and won a 7-6 decision against sixth seed Jonathan Reader from Iowa St. Cannon took control of the match early and scored a takedown 35 seconds in for the lead. An illegal hold call against Cannon cut his lead in half before Reader tied the score with an escape, 2-2. The second period began with the same score and Cannon holding 1:43 of riding time. Cannon began the second on top but fell behind for the first time when Reader scored a reversal to take the lead, 2-4. An escape by Cannon cut his deficit to just one and kept intact 1:41 of riding time. Cannon began the third on bottom and with his advantage time counting down, scored an escape to tie the score at four with 1:01 remaining on his riding time. Cannon went back ahead in the match, 6-4, with a takedown at 6:00. A reversal by Reader at 6:44 re-tied the score at six but with the riding time advantage, Cannon took the decision 7-6.
Cannon will now wrestle in the championships medal round of six which will begin Saturday morning at 10 a.m. central time. Cannon's first opponent Saturday will be fourth seed Mack Lewnes from Cornell.
Glenn, who entered the NCAA Championships as the defending national champion at 197 lbs., was cut short in his title defense, losing a 7-5 decision to Wynn Michalak from Central Michigan. Glenn took an early lead in the match off a single leg takedown at 0:27 but an escape by Michalak shortly after moved the score to 2-1. Michalak then scored a takedown of his own to go ahead 2-3 but Glenn quickly escaped to tie the score again at three a piece. Glenn began the second on top but fell behind again with a reversal by Michalak, 3-5. An escape by Glenn closed the deficit to 4-5 where the third period would start. In the third, Glenn started on bottom and escaped at 5:33 to even the match at five. The score remained tied until the final moments of the period when off a restart with under 20 seconds left Glenn took a shot and was caught underneath Michalak. Michalak used his position to gain a hold on Glenn's leg and as time expired the referee signaled a two-point takedown, giving the match to Michalak, 7-5.
Glenn will now face local rival and seventh seed Hudson Taylor from Maryland in Saturday morning's round of six.
After session IV, American is tied for 22nd place in the team standings with Boise State. Both teams have 21 total points. Iowa holds a comfortable lead in the team standings with 102 points.
