Waiting game begins for at-large bids

Kurt Gibson’s legendary walk-off home run for the Dodgers in game one of the 1988 World Series spent about 1/1000th of a second on his bat. Trent Tucker heaved his game-winning three-pointer — one that prompted an NBA rule change — for the Knicks in 1990 after an inbound with just three tenths of a second remaining on the game clock.
That’s how quickly things can change in the sports world. If the tide swings one’s way, euphoria ensues. If it doesn’t, devastation.
Gordon Bierschenk is all too aware.
His 197-pound match against Iowa’s Chad Beatty in the consolation semifinals of the Big Ten wrestling championships was knotted 3-3 late in the final period, but in the closing moments, everything fell apart .
“I wrestled really well until the last 10 seconds,” Bierschenk said.
With four seconds remaining, Beatty notched a takedown and two-point near-fall in quick succession for a 6-3 win and a berth in the consolation finals . In a flash, Bierschenk found himself in the fifth-place match; his hopes of an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament dashed; his chances for an at-large berth slim.
Under new NCAA qualifying guidelines, automatic berths are allocated to each conference based on its wrestlers’ Division I winning percentage, rating percentage index (RPI) and coaches ranking. The NCAA announced on Thurs, Feb. 26 that for each wrestler meeting two of three thresholds — .725 winning percentage, top 28 in the RPI and top 28 in the coaches poll — his conference was allotted an automatic qualifier for the national tournament .
Based on the criteria, the Big Ten, which was awarded 61 of the 278 automatic qualifying spots, received four spots at Bierschenk’s weight class (197) . That means the top four finishers from the Big Ten tournament will be competing in St. Louis on March 19-21 .
That also means a win over Beatty would have put Bierschenk in the national tournament. Instead, he awaits the decision of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee, which hands down his weight class’ six at-large bids today .
“It really burns you to be that close and let it slip out of your fingers,” Bierschenk said. “I’m really not expecting to get it. I’ve pretty much convinced myself — I’m 95 percent sure that I’m not going to get it … If I’d gotten fifth, it would be a little bit different of a situation.”
But Bierschenk was a defeated man in the fifth-place match. Purdue’s Logan Brown dominated and handed him a 10-4 loss.
“I just wasn’t even up to the next match,” Bierschenk said, “kind of got my [butt] handed to me there.”
Bierschenk will be evaluated by the selection committee based on the NCAA’s new Bronze Standard qualifications, which include a .700 Division I winning percentage, a top 33 RPI ranking, a top 33 coaches ranking (as of 2/23/09), a .700 winning percentage against all competition, one win against a wrestler receiving automatic qualification, and a qualifying event placement one below automatic qualification.
Junior Matt Everson and redshirt freshman Sonny Yohn await news of the at-large bids as well. Both men took seventh at the Big Ten tournament, Everson at 174 and Yohn at 184. But Bierschenk reiterates that chances are slim.
“We have a lot of stuff stacked against us, a lot more than we have going for us,” he said. “Our records are iffy and we haven’t beaten a lot of top guys.”
Still, the Gophers will send at least five men to the NCAA tournament. Redshirt freshman Zach Sanders (125), sophomore Mike Thorn (141) and Ben Berhow (Hwt), junior Jayson Ness (133), and senior Tyler Safratowich (157) all earned automatic berths with their finishes at last weekend’s championships.
Though Safratowich is excited for the national tournament, he empathizes with Bierschenk, Everson and Yohn. A year ago, he was up for an at-large bid and wasn’t chosen.
“It sucks,” he said. “You’re waiting on other people to make a choice for you … they went out and wrestled hard and hopefully they get a chance. It’s never good when you leave it up to someone else but they did all they could and now it’s up to a higher power.”