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    Heskett and Rowlands win U.S. Nationals titles

    COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Joe Heskett and Tommy Rowlands, assistant coaches for the Ohio State wrestling team, put their coaching duties on hold for four days to compete in the 2007 U.S. Senior National Championships and walked away with titles in their respective weight classes. Heskett, a volunteer assistant coach for the Buckeyes, wrestled at 74 kg/163 pounds and Rowlands competed at 120 kg/264.5 pounds in the event held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas April 4-7. It is the first U.S. Senior National championship titles for both wrestlers.

    Heskett and Rowlands will return to Las Vegas, June 9-10 for the U.S. World Team Trials, as the Top 7 placewinners from the U.S. senior national championships qualify for the world team trials.

    After losing the first period, 6-1, to Casey Cunningham, Heskett rallied in the second period with a 4-0 win. He then followed that performance with a 2-1 victory in the third period. En route to the finals, Heskett pinned Ryan Churella (:41) and beat Travis Paulson, 2-1, 1-0, and two-time NCAA champion Ben Askren, 2-3, 5-2, 1-1.

    Although he dropped the first period, Heskett was prepared to battle on and now has his sights set on the world team trials.

    "It is 26 years of experience," Heskett said. "You can't lose composure. You have to be thinking when the period is over, it's over. You can't look back on it. This is a short-term goal. It feels great to win, but really I have the world team trials on my mind. That is the real test."

    It was a battle between two-time NCAA champions Rowlands and Cole Konrad in the finals. Rowlands was able to halt the former Minnesota Golden Gopher's run, 3-2, 1-0. On his way to the championship finals, Rowlands beat his first two opponents via a technical fall. Rowlands defeated Bubba Gritter, 6-0, 6-0, and David Zabriskie, 6-0, 7-1. In the semifinals, Rowlands encountered another former two-time NCAA champion in Steve Mocco and handed him a 1-0, 3-0 loss before matching-up against Konrad.

    Rowlands moved up a weight class, but was not concerned about the effects.

    "I think I was a tweener," Rowlands said. "It isn't a concern because these guys are big. I weigh in about 240 pounds. I have worked a lot on my strength training. I try to stay faster than them and be highly technical. As long as I can maintain the level of conditioning I have, I don't mind gaining weight."

    Log on to www.themat.com for complete brackets and information on the 2007 U.S. Senior National Championships.
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