State College High School graduate Steve Bosak’s quest for NCAA All-America status ended five points and one win short. Bosak, a freshman 184- pounder for Cornell, fell to Illinois No. 2 seed John Dergo 9-5 and saw his entry in the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships draw to a close Friday night. Before Bosak’s journey ended, he made one heck of an impression, going 3-2 with two falls. After falling to No. 3 seed Dustin Kilgore of Kent State 6-5 on Thursday morning, Bosak seemed like a changed man. He bounced back Thursday night with a 3-1 win over Hofstra’s Ben Clymer. Then Friday morning, the Big Red sophomore was absolutely electric. Bosak avenged a 5-0 dual meet loss to Harvard’s Louis Caputo, a two-time All- American. Bosak caught the Crimson senior and pinned him in 3:29. In the next round of consolations, Bosak was in an even bigger hurry. He needed just 31 seconds to deck Stanford’s Zack Giesen and earn his All-America round matchup with Dergo. His luck ran out, however, against Dergo, the No. 2 seed who had been upset in the quarterfinals. Bosak ended his first season with a 29-15 record.

Upsets scatter seeds in semifinals

In any national tournament a close examination of the semifinalists reveals what kind of tournament it’s been. By totaling the numbers of the wrestlers’ seeds, and assigning 13 points to an unseeded wrestler (since the top 12 wrestlers are seeded), you get a picture of how many upsets have occurred at each weight. A score of 10 (1 vs. 4 and 3 vs. 2) means the top four seeded wrestlers survived to the semifinals. This year, four weights (133, 174, 197 and 285) scored perfect 10s. Another, 149, scored an 11 (1 vs. 5 and 2 vs. 3). After that, the numbers start soaring. At 184, the score is 18 (1 vs. 4 and 6 vs. 7). At 141, the score is higher — 21 (1 vs. 4 and 6 vs. 10). Two weights scored 22: 125 (1 vs. 5 and 3 vs. unseeded) and 165 (1 vs. unseeded and 6 vs. 2). The final weight, 157, went completely kaplooey, scoring a 26 (1 vs. 5 and unseeded vs. 7). Here’s some other pertinent facts about the semifinalists: The Big Ten leads with 14, followed by the Big XII 9, EIWA 7, Pac-10 and ACC 3 each, EWL 2 and CAA and Western Regional 1 each. Among the 40 semifinalists, 19 are seniors, seven are sophomores, eight are sophomores and six are freshmen. Finally, there were 10 No. 1 seeds, six Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds, three Nos. 5s and 6s, two No. 7s, one No. 10s and three unseeded wrestlers.

Big Two dominate in finalists

The Big Ten, with nine, and Big XII, with six, constitute 75 percent of tonight’s finalists. Only two other conferences have some — the EIWA, with three, and the Western Region, with two.

Thanks to Andy Elder and the "Centre Daily Times" (State College, Pa.) for the article