InterMat Staff

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov (Tashknet, Uzbekistan) took third-place at 165 and Josh Glenn (Johnson City, N.Y./Johnson City) placed fourth at 184 Saturday morning in the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships, capping the finest year in American University wrestling program history team-wise and individually. The pair's All-American honors and the team's tie for 16th place with 40 points are the best finishes at the NCAA Championships in school history, respectively. Aburakhmanov achieved the highest individual placing ever for an AU wrestler at the NCAA Championships as he was awarded third-place after his opponent Deonte Penn of Edinboro - who he had pinned earlier in the Championships - had to medically forfeit from the tournament. The AU senior had previously defeated Travis Paulson of Iowa State 7-2 to earn a spot in the third-place match. The Uzbekistan native's third-place finish culminates his run as one of the best wrestlers and athletes in American University athletics history. Abdurakhmanov is the wrestling program's sole two-time EIWA Champion and Most Outstanding Wrestler winner from the EIWA Tournaments. In addition, his resume includes a career record of 55-4, the highest win percentage of any AU grappler of all-time. Over the past two years Abdurakhmanov has gained wide notoriety across the country for being perhaps the best wrestler on his feet, taking bonus points in 31 of his 55 wins. Abdurakhmanov is also the only Eagle to go undefeated in duals in his career at AU, which is even more impressive considering he wrestled up a weight several times. "Muzaffar has done so much for this program," head coach Mark Cody said. "He's been a pioneer. In what he's done last year and this season, he's basically put us on the map. Everybody loves him and loves to watch him wrestle. It's really, again, unfortunate what happened last night [in reference to the stalling point call, which cost Abdurakhmanov the semifinal]. I got so many comments from people today that could not believe what had happened. If I had a dime for every coach that came up to me, I'd be able to pay for my flight home. There was not one person that agreed with that call." Sophomore Glenn pinned his first consolation opponent in 2:44, but fell behind early to Illinois' three-time All-American Pete Friedl and dropped a 13-2 major decision, relegating him to fourth-place. Glenn's 4-2 record in the NCAA Championships moves his season mark to 35-3 with 21 falls. He had the second most falls in the country, including three over All-Americans this year. In addition, he became the first underclassmen to win All-American honors in AU wrestling history. "Josh was very straight on today," Cody said in describing Glenn's mat style. "He may have needed to do something else to get by his opponent's arms. Anytime you get out of your game in a match like that, a guy can pull away from you. When Josh knew he was a little too far behind he started to get a little sloppy, trying to score." Of Glenn's year, Cody added, "Josh has had an incredible performance. He's a wonderful guy. He had a very substantial injury this year, but we did not hear one complaint out of him about it. We gave him about a month and a half off out of live practices. He dealt with a lot of adversity this year and did a very good job." The duo's All-American nominations cap a triumphant turnaround in all facets for the Eagles from previous years. In 2005-06, American shattered its previous high NCAA finish of 32nd, won its most dual meets since 1989 and had three wrestlers ranked in the top-10 at once for the first time in school history. "We're moving in the right direction," Cody said. "Our goal is to get to the top. We're going to put in the time we need, recruiting-wise because there's a lot of competition out there. There's a lot of parity out there and that keeps us on our toes. We're going to keep going and try to outwork everybody and do the right things."

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The 2006 NCAA Championships came to an end Saturday at Ford Center and Lehigh finished in a tie for ninth place with 53.5 team points. The Mountain Hawks crowned three All-Americans, with Cory Cooperman finishing third at 141, Derek Zinck taking fifth at 157 and Travis Frick finishing sixth at 174 as Lehigh finishes in the top ten in the team standings for the fifth straight season. Cooperman won both of his matches on Saturday by major decision to take third for the second straight year. He blew open a close match with a takedown and two near-falls in the third period to defeat West Virginia's Brandon Rader 12-4 in the consolation semifinals. In the third place match, Cooperman scored six points in the first period, a takedown and two two-point near falls, and went on to beat Northwestern's Ryan Lang in a rematch of yesterday's quarterfinal, in which Cooperman won by fall. A three-time All-American, Cooperman wraps up his illustrious career with a 99-12 record. After losing in the semifinals at 157, Zinck lost his consolation semifinal match-up against top seeded Trent Paulson of Iowa State 6-1. Wrestling for fifth place, Zinck outlasted Joe Johnston of Iowa 9-8, to end his career with a win as a two-time All-American. In the fifth place match, Zinck scored a first period takedown, then yielded one to Johnston and trailed 4-2 heading into the third period. In the final period, Zinck slapped a headlock on Johnston and threw him for a five-point move to take the lead, but the Hawkeye battled back benefiting from a stall call against Zinck before scoring a takedown late in the third to tie the match at eight. Zinck would not be held down, escaping with less than 20 seconds left to grab the victory. He finishes his career with a 95-23 record for the Brown and White. Frick was not as fortunate on Saturday, losing both his matches to place sixth earning his second career All-American medal. He faced another Iowa wrestler, Mark Perry in the consolation semifinals. The Hawkeye scored with an early takedown and added several cradles for near falls to build a big lead after the first period. In the second period Perry worked another cradle and scored a pin at 3:16, the first time Frick had been pinned in his career. In the fifth place match, Frick met Matt Herrington of Penn in a rematch of the EIWA finals. Frick scored a regulation takedown for the first time in three matches this year versus the Quaker. However, when a second controversial stalling call against Frick tied the match at three Frick tried to attack to avoid overtime, but got caught on his back and pinned with 16 remaining in regulation. Despite the two losses on Saturday, Frick's career ends with a 95-33 record. Following Saturday's afternoon session, Lehigh head coach Greg Strobel offered his thoughts on the Mountain Hawks' tournament. "We did all we could do to throughout this tournament to place in the top ten as a team," said Strobel. "To place in the top ten is really outstanding. To come in with five guys who have never been here before. Everyone contributed, even without Letters at full strength. It was a great team effort and our guys were able to get bonus points, which certainly helped. Oklahoma State crowned six All-Americans and two national champions to claim its fourth consecutive team championship and 34th overall with 120.5 points, 38.5 more than second place Minnesota. Lehigh finished tied for ninth with longtime rival Penn State. Missouri's 174 pound champion Ben Askren was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- The Edinboro University wrestling team completed action in the fifth session of the 2006 NCAA Division I Wrestling National Championships with another impressive showing. The Fighting Scots are in eighth place heading into the evening's championship round, and can finish no worse than ninth. That represents the top finish since the a sixth place finish in 1997. After having three wrestlers attain All-American status on Friday, those three went out on Saturday morning and picked up wins to give the Fighting Scots a third, fourth and seventh place. Shawn Bunch (Leavenworth, KS/Leavenworth) led the way with the third place finish at 133 lbs. The senior, who entered Nationals as the top seed before suffering a 9-2 loss to Purdue's Chris Fleeger in the semifinals, picked ups wins over the third and fourth seeds. Deonte Penn (Solon, OH/Solon), unseeded at 165 lbs. entering Nationals, made a name for himself heading into his senior season with a fourth place finish. And freshman Gregor Gillespie (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) laid claim to the mantle of next great Edinboro wrestler with a seventh place finish at 149 lbs. "This is huge," stated an elated head coach Tim Flynn in regards to the team's standing. "We haven't been up there in awhile. It's harder to get there. There are more programs (looking to do well) and more parity. It's just a fantastic job by the entire team." Bunch showed few ill effects from his loss to Fleeger on Friday night. He faced third-seeded Tom Clum of Wisconsin in the consolation semifinals, and picked up a convincing 9-5 win. The bout began with a Bunch takedown at 2:53, with Clum escaping. Clum took his lone lead with a takedown at 2:00, but Bunch followed an escape with a takedown at 1:39, then turned Clum for three back points at 1:25. The first period ended with Bunch ahead, 8-3. Bunch's escape seven seconds into the second period was the only scoring in that session. Clum registered a takedown at the 1:01 mark, and rode Bunch the rest of the way to wipe out riding time, but Bunch prevailed, 9-5. In a rematch of last year's semifinals, Bunch met Mack Reiter of Minnesota, the number four seed, in the third place match. Bunch jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period thanks to a takedown midway through the period. He upped the lead to 3-0 with the quick escape to start the second period, then went up 5-1 on a takedown at 1:19. Reiter made it 5-1 with an escape with a minute left. Bunch recorded his third takedown of the match at 1:33 of the third period. A Reiter escape was negated by 2:08 of riding time for Bunch, as he captured third place with an 8-2 decision. A two-time All-American, Bunch concludes the season with a 40-2 record, tied for sixth in season wins. He ends his career with a 132-24 record, tying Matt King for fourth place in career wins. In addition, Bunch and King are the only Edinboro wrestlers to win 40 matches in a season more than once. "What Shawn did was the hardest thing in sports," Flynn pointed out. "He had his dream shattered. He came back and beat two good kids. " Penn gained some revenge for Edinboro with a wild 15-10 win over Oregon's Joey Bracamonte in the consolation semifinals. A year ago Bracamonte won by fall over Nate Yetzer at Nationals. This time it was Penn jumping to an 11-0 lead and then hanging on against the tough Duck. Penn led 8-0 after one period, with a takedown at 2:36, followed by three near fall points at 1:00, and again at the 36-second mark. The lead went to 11-0 when Penn turned Bracamonte for three back points at 56 seconds. Almost immediately Bracamonte began his comeback with a reversal, ending the period at 11-2. Bracamonte registered a takedown at 1:29 of the third period to pull to within 11-4, then cut Penn loose. Another takedown resulted in two back points to make it 12-8, with a Penn escape bringing the score to 13-8 with a minute left. Penn gave up another takedown at 45 seconds to make it 13-10, and was also injured in the process. He escaped to make it 14-10, and had a 2:29 riding time advantage. The rib injury, however, forced Penn to injury default in the third place match against American's Muzaffar Abdurakmanov. Even still, Penn picked up a fourth place finish in his second trip to Nationals. He finishes the year with a 33-11 ledger. "I've always said Deonte can beat anybody, he just needed to eliminate mistakes," commented Flynn. "If you ask me if I'm shocked (at his performance), no. When he's consistent, he's tough and he was consistent all weekend." Gillespie, the seventh seed at 165 lbs., and Bunch became just the second tandem to win 40 matches in a season, joining Matt King and David Shunamon in 2002-03. In addition, Gillespie tied Bunch and several others in sixth place in season wins with 40. The 40th win capped an impressive freshman campaign, as he won by fall over Central Michigan's Mark Disalvo, the number five seed, at 6:22. It was his third fall at Nationals. After a scoreless first period, Gillespie gave up a reversal to go down 2-0 at the 1:29 mark of the second period. He answered with a reversal of his own with 46 seconds left in the period, along with two back points for a 4-2 lead after two periods. Starting on top to begin the third, he rolled Bracamonte on his back for his third fall at Nationals and his sixth of the season. Gillespie becomes the first true freshman at Edinboro to earn All-American honors, and set a freshman record for wins while going 40-4. "Gregor's been doing that all year," noted Flynn. "Hopefully he builds on this and can be in the finals next year. He came in as a freshman and slammed him today. You look, and he lost to (Ty) Eustice, who's a fifth-year senior, and (Jonathan) Masa, who I believe wrestled for the Puerto Rican Olympic team, and could also be a fifth-year senior. He lost to two older guys. He didn't want to end the season on a sour note."

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- University of Michigan fifth-year senior captain Ryan Churella (Northville, Mich./Novi HS) fell just short in his bid for an individual national title, falling 9-8 to Oklahoma State's Johny Hendricks in 165-pound championship match Saturday (March 18) at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at the Ford Center. Behind the performances of three All-Americans, the Wolverines took seventh place (57.5 points) in the team race -- their sixth consecutive top-10 finish at the national event. The Wolverine captain held a three-point advantage entering the final frame of the contest but lost on a couple close takedown calls in the third as Hendricks scored twice along the edge of the mat -- including the deciding blow with just three seconds remaining -- to claim his second straight NCAA crown. Churella himself had rallied from an early deficit after being taken down twice in the opening period. He countered a Hendricks single-leg shot late in the second to lock up a cradle and roll the Cowboy to his back as the buzzer sounded for two back points. Fifth-year senior captain Greg Wagner (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider HS) dominated the final match of his collegiate career, earning a 9-1 major decision against Arizona State's fourth-seeded Cain Velasquez to claim third place at heavyweight, his best career finish at the NCAA tournament. Wagner struck early, scoring on a quick single leg to take immediate control of the bout, and when Velasquez rose to his feet midway through the opening frame, the Wolverine returned him to the mat and quickly using a step-through turk to hold him in a pinning situation for the final minute of the period. Wagner added another takedown in the third and, after earning 1:18 in riding time, locked up the major decision to pick up the bonus point. Wagner also cruised through his consolation semifinal bout against Virginia Tech's eighth-seeded Michael Faust, dominating the Hokie wrestler to earn a 6-0 shutout. After several single-leg shots early in the first period, Wagner finally converted one late in the frame, driving Faust back inbounds and riding him for the rest of the period. The Wolverine picked up his escape in the second and held Faust on the mat for the entire third period, using a leg turk to add a pair of back points and earn 2:45 in riding time. Junior/sophomore Eric Tannenbaum (Naperville, Ill./North HS), seeded eighth, suffered a pair of consolation losses on the final day to finish sixth at the 149-pound weight bracket. The Wolverine fell to Oklahoma State's third-seeded Zack Esposito 9-1 in the consolation semifinal after the Cowboy wrestler tallied a big third period with a takedown and three back points. With that first defeat, Tannenbaum dropped into the fifth-place match, where he lost 9-0 to Hofstra's sixth-seeded Jon Masa. Masa scored takedowns in each frame and added a pair of near-fall points in the opening period.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Brian Stith, who was seeded 10th in the 157 pound bracket at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, advanced to the finals, but came up short as he ended his junior season as the national runner-up at the conclusion of the tournament being held inside the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. His finish, along with three others earning All-America honors along with Stith, helped the Sun Devils accumulate 61.5 points and a team finish of sixth place. Oklahoma State won their fourth crown in a row with 122.5 points while Oklahoma (84.5), Minnesota (80.5), Iowa (70.0) and Cornell (62.0) comprised the rest of the Top 5. In a rematch of the Pac-10 Championship final, Stith took on fifth-seeded Ben Cherrington of Boise State as he looked to avenge his earlier loss and win his first national crown. After falling behind 5-0 early in the bout, Stith tried to mount a come back, but it was too little, too late as Cherrington capped an undefeated season with the 7-43 decision and only the second title in BSU history. Stith, who is now a two-time All-American following his sixth-place finish one year ago, capped his season with a 31-4 record on the season. He joins C.B. Dollaway (184), Ryan Bader (197) and Cain Velasquez (285) as All-Americans on the year as the trio of seniors placed fifth, seventh and fourth, respectively, earlier in the day. Arizona State's season is now complete. The Sun Devils not only finished sixth in the nation after being selected to finish 14th in the tournament, but also turned an undefeated conference dual season (8-0) into another strong tournament performance and the program's 16th Pac-10 Championship crown and second in a row. The team's Top 6 finish was its second under Head Coach Thom Ortiz (five years) and marked the 19th time in 40 tournaments that ASU has placed in the Top 10.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Freshman Troy Nickerson had a bittersweet ending to his record-setting rookie year on Saturday evening at the 76th NCAA Division I wrestling championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. Nickerson fell to Indiana senior Joe Dubuque in the 125 pound final, 8-3. The Big Red finished in fifth-place, the second consecutive top-five finish for Cornell. Oklahoma State won the team title with Minnesota, Oklahoma and Iowa rounding out the rest of the top five. Dubuque picked up a takedown midway through the first period to grab an early 2-0 lead. Nickerson fought to escape and picked up the point less than 30 seconds later, cutting the deficit to 2-1. Dubuque won the toss at the beginning of the second period and chose the down position. He escaped 10 seconds in, getting a two point lead back. As time was winding down in the second, Dubuque executed a spin move from the neutral position and was able to control Nickerson for the takedown and the 5-1 lead. Dubuque got another takedown in the third and was able to fend off Nickerson's shots. Nickerson did record two escapes in the period. The riding time point gave Dubuque the 8-3 win. Nickerson advanced to the championship match with four wins, two over seeded wrestlers. In the opening round, he beat Missouri's Austin Devoe 10-5, in a match that was tightly contested and actually had Devoe in the lead early. His second round match was against 12th-seeded Tanner Gardner of Stanford. Nickerson was able to grind out a 3-2 win. Moving to the quarterfinals, Nickerson made quick work of Mike Sees of Edinboro, pinning him 33 seconds into the second period. The win was a sort of revenge for Nickerson, as his last high school loss came to Sees when Nickerson was a sophomore. In the semifinal match, Nickerson used a late reversal to upset the No. 1 seed, Nick Simmons of Michigan State. Helping the Big Red to its second top-10 finish was seniors Dustin Manotti and Joe Mazzurco and junior Jerry Rinaldi. Manotti had a thrilling run to third place in the 157 pound bracket. After dropping his first match of the tournament, Manotti took the long road back to his fourth All-America honor, winning his next seven matches to take third place. After falling to Oregon State's Tony Hook in the first round, Manotti beat Jacob Yost (Chattanooga), fourth-seeded Matthew Lebe (West Virginia), Christopher Bitetto (Northern Iowa), third-seeded Alex Tirapelle (Illinois), eighth-seeded Craig Henning (Wisconsin), ninth-seeded Joe Johnston (Iowa) and top-seeded Trent Paulson (Iowa State). After beating Paulson, the crowd of over 16,000 recognized Manotti's performance in this tournament and his outstanding career with a standing ovation. Mazzurco went 4-3 on the tournament, earning sixth-place and his second All-America honor. He is a three-time qualifier. Rinaldi achieved All-American status for the first time in his third NCAA appearance finished fourth, upsetting second-seeded Kyle Cerminara of Buffalo in the quarterfinals. Rinaldi will be a key returner for the Big Red next season.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The University of Iowa wrestling team finished fourth with 70 points at the 2006 NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma State Cowboys won the tournament with 122.5 points. Minnesota was second with 84 points. Sophomore Mark Perry (174) was awarded the Manuel Gorrarian Award for most pins in the least time. Perry picked up four falls in 15:33. Senior Ty Eustice (149) was Iowa's lone representative in the finals, and was defeated by Minnesota's top-seeded freshman Dustin Schlatter. With 1:18 left in the first period, Schlatter hit the only takedown of the match to take a 2-0 lead. Eustice chose neutral to start the second and got in deep on a single leg midway through the period, but Schlatter managed to fight his way out and keep the two-point lead. Eustice cut Schlatter loose to begin the third period, giving his opponent a 3-0 lead, and was unable to get in on a shot the rest of the way. The finals were held in front of 16,394 fans. The total attendance for the weekend was 95,501, the second-highest total in NCAA history.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma Sooner senior Teyon Ware was defeated by Iowa State's Nate Gallick in the 141-pound NCAA Final Saturday evening at the Ford Center. "It is frustrating to lose but the fact that it is my last year is more frustrating," said Teyon Ware. "It has been a career that has been fast but it has been exciting. No matter what I am still a national champion and I have been blessed to win it twice. I am also a four-time All-American, I feel honored and I have no reason to hang my head." Gallick and Ware engaged in another classic battle that has seen the two compete nine times over four years. Ware defeated Gallick by a decision of 3-2, a year ago in the finals in St. Louis, Mo. This time around Gallick got the better of Ware as he claimed the national championship by a decision of 3-2. "We are so proud of Teyon Ware and what he has accomplished in a Sooner uniform," said head coach Jack Spates. "When it is all said and done Teyon will go down as one of the greatest Sooner wrestlers of all time and he will go on to have a great international career." Ware finishes his Sooner career as one of the most decorated wrestlers in OU history. The Edmond, Okla., native recorded a career record of 112-15 with two national championships (2003,05) and one Big 12 Championship (2003), and a runner-up finish this year. The Sooners finished the championships winning the third place trophy, as they accumulated 80.5 team points. OU leaves with five All-America honors in Sam Hazewinkel, Ware, Matt Storniolo, Joel Flaggert and Jake Hager. Hazewinkel finished as the third place winner at 125-pounds. Storniolo captured fourth place at 149-pounds. Flaggert won by injury default to claim fifth place at 197-pounds and Hager won seventh place in the heavyweight division. Also competing for Oklahoma were Will Rowe, Wes Roberts and Justin Dyer all of which did not place. "We came to wrestle this weekend and it showed," continued Spates. "There were a lot of teams here with a lot of talent and we are lucky enough to be going home with one of the four trophies. This is the sixth time in the last four years that we are going home with a trophy and I am very proud of that." Following the conclusion of the championships head coach Jack Spates was awarded the N.W.C.A. Coach of the Year award. Team Scores: 1. Oklahoma State - 122.5 2. Minnesota - 84.0 3. Oklahoma - 80.5 4. Iowa - 70 5. Cornell - 62 Championship Finals Session Six 141: Nate Gallick (Iowa State) dec. 3-2 Teyon Ware (OU)

Oklahoma City, Okla. -- Junior Ben Askren (Hartland, Wis.) defeated No. 2 Jake Herbert of Northwestern by major decision, 14-2, to claim the first individual national title in the history of the Missouri wrestling program at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. For his efforts, Askren was awarded the 2006 NWCA Most Outstanding Wrestler award for the tournament, leading Missouri to a 15th-place finish with a school-record 45.0 points. Fighting off a quick shot by Herbert in the opening seconds, top-seeded Askren was able to force Herbert to his back for two nearfall points as well. Scrambling across the mat in the most unorthodox final of the NCAAs, Askren was able to come out on top of another scramble to open a 6-0 lead after the first period. After Herbert chose down to begin the second frame, Askren gave up a reversal to his opponent early in the period, then escaped to hold a 7-2 advantage. Countering another shot by Herbert with 17 seconds left in the frame, Askren was able to pin Herbert's legs to his back for another takedown, opening a 9-2 lead over his opponent. Having completed two takedowns already, Askren chose neutral to start the third period, then finished a single-leg shot to make it to double-digit points, 11-2. With Herbert trying to roll him over, Askren caught both of Herbert's legs in his arms and pushed Herbert's back to the mat for another nearfall, winning the bout, 13-2. "It was a battle," Askren said. "He never quit and made it tough on me to get the win, but I was never worried. I had the best position throughout the match. I'm glad I came away with the victory." Askren's victory clinched a 45-0 season, the only undefeated season in the history of the Missouri wrestling program. Askren also set season records for falls (25), consecutive wins (45) and the record for most career falls at Missouri (61). "What Ben's national championship does is open the door for the team that is here now," Head Coach Brian Smith said. "Future wrestlers have something to strive for and see that we have a national champion."

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Oklahoma State put the finishing touches on its 34th national wrestling championship by crowning two champions and finishing with 122.5 team points, 38.5 points ahead of runner-up Minnesota, at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. OSU finished the tournament with six All-Americans, the most of any school in the tournament. The Cowboys and Minnesota both crowned two champions. "There is no question that with all that has happened this year and with all the questions about who would win it, that in the end we basically dominated," head coach John Smith said. "That is what we hoped for all year, that is what we are capable of doing and we did it." Johny Hendricks successfully defended his title at 165 winning a thriller, 9-8, over previously undefeated and top-seeded Ryan Churella of Michigan. Hendricks was leading 4-3 in the second period when Churella got him in a cradle for a takedown and two near fall points at the buzzer to go up 7-4. Hendricks escaped and took Churella down on the edge of the mat with 30 seconds left to tie it up. Hendricks decided to go for the win by cutting Churella and with time running out; Hendricks scored a takedown with three seconds left to a chorus of cheers and boos at the Ford Center. "As soon as I grabbed his foot, I looked up and thought I had two," Hendricks said after his match. "I looked up and saw three seconds left and I went to the crowd after that. I knew it was over because I know I am strong enough to hold on to his ankle for three seconds." Jake Rosholt was never threatened in the finals at 197 against Penn State's Phil Davis. Rosholt recorded a takedown and took Davis to his back for three near fall points to go up 5-0. Rosholt coasted from there and went on to defeat Davis, 10-3, for his third individual title. Rosholt is just the 15th three-time national champion in school history and 10th four-time All-American. Steve Mocco had a typical match with rival Cole Konrad of Minnesota. The match went into a second tiebreaker where Mocco held a slim one second advantage. Konrad quickly turned it around when he rode Mocco for the full 30 seconds. Konrad escaped holding the lead and riding time forcing Mocco to go for a takedown. He tried a shot but Konrad countered for the takedown and went onto win 5-2. Mocco is the first Cowboy to lose in the finals over the last two tournaments. OSU has gone 7-for-8 in the finals of the last two NCAA Championships. Zack Esposito came back to finish third after losing in the semifinals. Esposito defeated Michigan's Eric Tannenbaum by a major decision before defeating Oklahoma's Matt Storniolo in the third-place match. Esposito won four of his six matches by bonus points to aid OSU's championship run. Coleman Scott took fifth to earn All-America honors for the second time in his career. Scott lost to top-seeded Nick Simmons of Michigan State, 7-4, but he came back in a big way pinning Cal Poly's eighth-seeded Chad Mendes in 58 seconds. Scott had a remarkable tournament coming back through the consolation bracket with three falls and a technical fall after losing his first match. It was a disappointing finish for sophomore Nathan Morgan. Morgan suffered two losses to finish sixth after he lost in the semifinals on Friday night. Morgan earned All-America honors for the first time in his career. Oklahoma State won four consecutive titles for the first time since 1946. OSU won four in a row from 1940-46, no championship was held from 1943-45 due to World War II.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma -- Boise State senior Ben Cherrington won the the NCAA National Championship match at 157 pounds Saturday (March 18). Cherrington defeated Brian Stith of Arizona State, 7-3, in the championship match. The Cherrington vs. Stith match was a rematch of the 2006 PAC-10 Championship. Cherrington, in the PAC-10 Championship, defeat Stith by pin. Cherrington finishes his 2006 senior season 20-0. Boise State head coach Greg Randall said: "Ben wrestled just great. It was a thrill to be there. He dominated his weight class this entire tournament. This was his closest match and he won it by a score of 7-3." "Right afterward he gave a yell to the crowd and the crowd responded back in loud cheering as he walked off the mat. We all - Ben, the coaching staff and his teammates - embraced. This is what it is all about. This is why we work so hard. It was very emotional." "It was really a night to remember." The victory over Stith Saturday makes Cherrington Boise State's second individual NCAA Champion in the sport of wrestling. Kirk White, a current assistant coach on the team, was the Broncos' first, winning the 1999 NCAA Championship at 165 pounds. Cherrington is Randall's first NCAA champion as the Broncos' head coach. Randall was an assistant when Bronco Kirk White won his championship in 1999. NCAA Champion Ben Cherrington and the Bronco team and coaching staff will return to Boise tomorrow (Sunday, March 19) ...They will be arriving on United. They will leave Tulsa, Okla., stop in Denver. They will then land in Boise at 9:32 p.m. All media, family and friends are invited to greet the happy team at the Boise Airport.

Junior Cole Konrad and true freshman Dustin Schlatter won national titles at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. Konrad defeated two-time NCAA Champion and four-time finalist Steve Mocco of Oklahoma State in double overtime. Schlatter became the first freshman in school history to win a national title following his 4-0 decision against second-seeded Ty Eustice of Iowa. Sophomore Roger Kish was narrowly defeated by Oregon's Shane Webster in the 184-pound final. Behind the two national titles, Minnesota passed Oklahoma to finish in second place with 84 points. Oklahoma State claimed its fourth straight NCAA Championship with a final total of 122.5 points. The Sooners finished in third with 80.5, followed by Iowa with 70 and Cornell with 62.0. Nearly a year to the day when Mocco defeated Konrad in overtime for the 2005 NCAA title, Konrad turned the tables. Tied at one in the second tiebreaker, Konrad rode Mocco the entire 30-second period. Konrad started down in the next tiebreaker and earned the escape to take a 3-2 lead. With time winding down and Mocco needing a takedown, Konrad put the match away for good on a takedown with 10 seconds to go. His 5-2 win was his fourth straight victory over Mocco this season. Mocco defeated Konrad three times last year. Konrad capped off the best season in school history as he finished 41-0 on the year. He joins Marty Morgan (39-0, 1991) and Tim Hartung (39-0, 1999) as the only Golden Gophers to finish a season unbeaten. A three-time All-American, Konrad moved into 11th place all-time with a 120-13 career record. He is on pace to challenge the school record for wins, currently held by Ed Giese (1983-86) with 159. Konrad also joins Brock Lesnar, Verne Gagne and Leonard Levy as Minnesota heavyweight national champions. Schlatter finished the best freshman season in school history with his second win of the year over Eustice. Schlatter took the lead for good halfway through the first period on his takedown near the edge of the mat. Following a scoreless second period, Schlatter increased the lead to 3-0 with an escape to start the third. He held off Eustice in the final two minutes and was awarded a bonus point for his 1:15 advantage in riding time. "He (Eustice) is a banger," Schlatter said. "I was just trying to get a takedown early, ride him hard and keep my head straight. In the back of my mind I had the goal of being a national champion. I don't know how many people would've been believed me if I told them. I definitely thought I could do it." Schlatter finished with a final record of 42-1, the fourth-highest win total in school history. He finished the year on a 30-match winning streak, the seventh-longest in school history. Schlatter joins Konrad as the ninth and 10th Golden Gophers to win a Big Ten Championship and NCAA Championship in the same season. Konrad and Schlatter became just the second duo in school history to win national titles in the same season. They join Luke Becker and Jared Lawrence who accomplished the feat in 2002. Minnesota has now won a total of 18 individual titles, including eight in the last nine years. At 184 pounds, Kish and Webster traded escapes in the second and third periods. Nearly midway through the final period, Kish got in a leg, but Webster countered and scored the takedown to take a 3-1 lead. Kish escaped to make it 3-2, but was unable to generate any offense against Webster. He finished national runner-up following the 3-2 decision. The Golden Gophers finished off one of their best seasons in school history. Minnesota recorded its 29th top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships, including its 10th straight under head coach J Robinson. The Golden Gophers finished in the top three at nationals for the eighth time in the last 10 years. "We're disappointed in our finish because we came here to win a national championship," head coach J Robinson. "If you look at it from where we were last year, if I told our fans we would have two national champions, three finalists, a 20-1 record and two wins over Oklahoma State, I'm sure they would take it. From where we started at the beginning of the year, it's a pretty amazing story." Minnesota will lose just one senior in the offseason. Senior All-American Matt Nagel closed out his career with a 100-60 record and three trips to the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota will return four All-Americans and nine starters from a team that finished 20-1 during the dual meet season and won the Big Ten Championship.

Oklahoma City, Okla. -- University of Pennsylvania junior Matt Valenti became the program's third NCAA Champion on Saturday night with a 3-2 win in the finals at 133 pounds. The Newton, N.J. native went scoreless with Purdue's Chris Fleeger in the first period. In the second period, Fleeger chose bottom and was rode by Valenti the entire period. Both wrestlers were warned for stalling. Valenti chose bottom in the third and reversed Fleeger. With 1:57 left in the third, Fleeger called injury time and after a fresh start reversed Valenti to tie the score. Time ran out on the clock, but Valenti had riding time to secure the match and Penn's first National Championship in six years. "One of the things that Coach (Jones) has stressed throughout the year is conditioning and being able to battle through competitions like this," Valenti said of his progression in the tournament. "As a team coming into this tournament we knew that we would be in great shape towards the end of the tournament and would be able to push hard." Valenti finishes the season with a 36-2 record. He ended the season with a 24-match win streak. His 36 wins ties his own school record for wins in a season. He has 105 career victories, which is sixth best in program history. Earlier this year he become the first junior at Penn to reach the 100-win plateau. Valenti is the highest Ivy League and EIWA place winner. The Quakers finished 12th with 51 points, which is the most points scored by a Penn team at the NCAA Championships. It is also the Red and Blue's best finish since 2002 and sixth-best finish ever. "It was a great day for Penn wrestling. Our history touched us today," Head Coach Zeke Jones said. "Matt Valenti winning goes without saying. He is carrying on the proud tradition of Penn wrestling and he deserves it. He is such a hard working kid and he earned his right to wrestle for a national championship tonight." Penn junior Matt Herrington finished fifth at 174 pounds on Saturday morning to become an All-American for the first time. Herrington pinned Lehigh's Travis Frick in 6:44. It was third meeting between the two this season and the first win for Herrington. Herrington's only losses at the Nationals were to Patrovich. He went 6-0 against the rest of the field and pinned two top-10 grapplers. Herrington had a rematch with the wrestler who sent him to the consolation bracket, No. 5 seed Mike Patrovich. Unfortunately, Patrovich was on the winning end, taking the match 9-4. Herrington was taken down in the first and escaped. In the second, he tied the score with an escape, but was quickly taken down. Herrington escaped, but Patrovich hit another takedown to go ahead 6-3. In the bout for fifth place, Herrington fell behind early. Frick took him down, but Herrington escaped to stay within one. In the second, Frick chose bottom and escaped to go up 3-1. Herrington added another escape in the third and tied the match when he was awarded a point for two stalling falls on Frick. Several seconds later Herrington scored a takedown to pull ahead and then turned Frick and stuck him to the mat.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- In senior 125-pounder Joe Dubuque's last stand as a collegiate wrestler, the Bloomfield, N.J., native dominated from the opening whistle to claim his second consecutive national title. Dubuque overcame Troy Nickerson (Cornell), 8-3, to become the first Indiana grappler to win back-to-back national titles, and the second two-time champion since Charlie McDaniel captured a pair of titles in 1935 and 1938. "He is just a champion," head coach Duane Goldman said. "He epitomizes everything that a champion stands for, from the hard work and preparation to the success on and off the mat. He has been a blessing to coach and overall is the type of athlete every coach dreams about coaching." "I am his biggest fan," assistant coach Mike Mena said after the victory. "He has been a pleasure coaching since the first day he came to Indiana." Dubuque opened the match with a quick takedown in the opening period and never looked back. The three-time All-American allowed only three escapes by Nickerson, one in the first and two in the third, and registered a takedown in the second and third period en route to his 8-3 victory with riding time. Despite three escapes, Nickerson never managed a legitimate shot at the two-time champion in the loss. "I just had fun out there," Dubuque said after his second national-title victory. "Last year, the pressure was on. Today, I was just relaxed the whole time. I could not have gone out any better way, a champion." Dubuque concludes his illustrious season with his second consecutive national title, a third-place finish at Big Tens, his first regular-season title at the Mat Town Invitational, won 28 straight matches from March 6, 2005 to March 4, 2006 and became a three-time All-American (2004, 8th; 2005, 1st; 2006, 1st). During his career at Indiana, Dubuque is the fourth Hoosier grappler to earn three All-American honors in his career. "The first championship was for me," Dubuque said. "The second one was more for my coaches, my family and my grandfather (Louis DeRogatis) who recently passed away. I would not have traded this experience for anything in the world. The coaches at Indiana, the school and the pride of being a Hoosier, I would not have wanted to go anywhere else but IU." Indiana finished tied for 18th with 35.0 points. The is the 15th time IU has finished in the top 20 at NCAAs, and the fourth time under Goldman's leadership. The Hoosiers conclude the 2006 NCAA Championships with two All-Americans and one national champion.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Shane Webster won his second consecutive one-point match, Saturday night at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, to secure the national title at 184 pounds. The title is Oregon's first individual national title since 1969 (Johnny Miller) and only the second in program history. Webster, the Sams Valley Ore., native and the tournament's number five seed, defeated Minnesota's Roger Kish, 3-2, in the Championship Final. Webster was controlled and solid as he won an atypically low-scoring bout, in front of a capacity crowd at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Among the crowd was a teammate of Miller's, Oregon's first and until tonight only national champion. The first period passed scoreless as the two warriors tested each other. Webster scored a quick point for an escape to open the second. The one-point escape was all either wrestler scored in the second. An escape by Kish to open the third would tie the match, before the two would trade shots, with Webster rallying to scoot behind Kish and secure the two point takedown. Another escape by Kish provided the final, 3-2, margin. "We are really excited for Shane, this was the perfect ending to his college career," head coach Chuck Kearney said. "He kept himself focused all tournament long and proved himself worthy of being called a national champion." Webster's national title is the first for Oregon since Miller won in 1969 at 115 pounds. He was the first Duck in the final match since Scott Bliss reached the final at 150 pounds in 1980. He is coach Kearney's first national champion. "This moment was something I have been working for my whole life, ever since I started wrestling at seven years old," Webster said. "I can't even describe how I feel right now." Webster's composure as the seconds ticked off, locked up the match as he refused to be denied. "I knew I had that little bit of a lead and I knew neither one of us had riding time so I just tried to stay in a position where he couldn't get any points off me," Webster said. "He wrestled somewhat different than I was expecting, but I did the best I could and scored just enough to win." Joey Bracamonte, the Oregon senior from Albuquerque, N.M., was unable to get past his first consolation opponent Deonte Penn of Edinboro. Penn dominated the first period, scoring five points on two nearfalls and totaling 2:35 of riding time. Bracamonte fought through another nearfall and scored a nice reversal eventually landing a cement mixer, scoring a five-point nearfall, but he wasn't able to secure the fall. "Joey wrestled a great tournament and we don't want him to get lost in the shuffle, he was solid all weekend," head coach Chuck Kearney said. "Joey rallied back and scored a bunch of points and nearly stole the match back." Bracamonte got the match as close as, 14-10, but couldn't score again as he went upper body trying for the fall, Penn scored the riding time point and held on to win, 15-10. "When I hit the cement mixer, I thought I had him, but I didn't have it cinched quite enough," Bracamonte said. "I wish I had won my semifinal match, because I know I could have beaten (Johny) Hendricks [of Oklahoma State] again." In his fifth-place match Joey won a low-scoring, more conventional, contest as he edged Travis Paulson of Iowa State, 4-3, for the victory. The Ducks finished the tournament in 22nd place scoring 33 team points, the finish was the second-highest finish by a Pac-10 school, Arizona State finished 6th. The finish was Oregon's best since a tie for 21st in 1997.

Oklahoma City, Okla. -- Iowa State national champion and three-time All-American Nate Gallick closed out his stellar career with a 3-2 win over his rival, Teyon Ware of Oklahoma, in the 141-pound finals at the 76th NCAA Wrestling Championships Saturday evening in Oklahoma City at the Ford Center. Gallick finished his senior season with a perfect record of 35-0 and a career mark of 106-23. Gallick's win over Ware marked the eighth time in nine attempts he has defeated the Sooner. Iowa State finished tied for 13th with Northwestern in the team race with 48.5 points. Oklahoma State captured its fourth straight team title with 122.5 points followed by runner-up Minnesota with 84 points. The top-seeded Gallick met the No. 2 seed Ware for the ninth time in the pair's storied rivalry. Ware received a standing ovation from the in-state crowd as the Sooner hails from Edmond, Okla. Gallick struck early on a single-leg in the first period and fought off Ware's attempt to shake loose and scored the first points on a double-leg for an early 2-0 advantage. Ware followed with an escape and another escape to begin the second period to tie the match at two. After Ware was cautioned to open the third period from the top position, Gallick exploded from the bottom for an escape and a 3-2 lead. Gallick was warned for stalling towards the end of the third period but Ware was unable to get a clean shot in a final flurry as Gallick took the match, 3-2. "I tried to take a nap today but I just couldn't do it," Gallick said. "Every time I closed my eyes, I was shooting or avoiding being taken down. "I have a great amount of respect for Teyon (Ware). Every time we have wrestled it has been close. The first takedown in matches between us has been so important. A year ago, (Ware) got the first takedown (in Ware's 2005 NCAA final victory over Gallick) and then got some riding time on me. It changed the whole match and took me out of my game." Gallick's only loss to Ware came in the finals at last year's NCAA Championships. Ware scored the match's only takedown. Gallick had placed second and fifth previously in the national tournament prior to winning his national title. "Not winning a national title has given me a lot of motivation to come in and get it done," Gallick said. "This is my last year and it was my last chance to win one." Gallick and Ware are reknowned for their epic extra-session matches and clashing defensive styles. "My defense has always complimented my offense and it is real important for me to stay in good condition," Gallick said. "I try not to wrestle when I'm behind. If you get scored on you get put into a position that you have to score and not make any more mistakes." Head coach Bobby Douglas thought the plan he had for Gallick worked to perfection. "Nate's quick third period escape was planned well in advance," Douglas said. "We had been wrestling this match in our heads for a full year. Nate remembered that back flip (Ware did a back flip after winning the 2005 NCAA title against Gallick. Nate wrestled a perfect match." Douglas and assistant head coach Cael Sanderson brought in the nation's best recruiting class last season and says the future is bright. "We have a very promising group of young men, including Nate's younger brother (Nick) who have redshirted their true freshmen seasons," Douglas added. "They were the No. 1 wrestling recruiting class. That looks great on paper but those guys will be the heart of our program for years to come." Finals Result: 141 pounds -- Nate Gallick (Iowa State) dec. Teyon Ware (Oklahoma), 3-2

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Before the 76th NCAA Division I Championships got underway on Thursday morning at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, the team title was believed to be very much up for grabs. But after Friday night's semifinals, when Oklahoma State advanced three wrestlers into the championship finals, their fourth consecutive title was all but wrapped up. On Saturday night, in front of 16,394 fans, the Cowboys crowed two NCAA champions, Johny Hendricks (165) and Jake Rosholt (197), and put the exclamation point on their 34th NCAA title in a season that was filled with uncertainty and high expectations. The Cowboys finished with 122.5 points, on the strength of six All-Americans, which was 38.5 points higher than runner-up Minnesota (84 points). Oklahoma was third with 80.5 points, Iowa was fourth with 70 points, and Cornell was fifth with 62 points. "There's isn't any question that today was a good day, and it was the way to finish the tournament for a year that left a lot of questions as to who was going to win, and who was going to be the best in the end," said Oklahoma State coach John Smith. "I think the most gratifying thing is the fact that we dominated. And that's what you hoped. That's what you expected early in the year. It didn't materialize during the season, but in the end, it was what we were capable of doing, and we did it." Hendricks, who entered the event seeded No. 2 at 165, came from behind to defeat top-seeded and previously unbeaten Ryan Churella of Michigan in the finals, 9-8, to claim his second straight NCAA title. Hendricks took command of the match early with two first period takedowns, but Churella battled back. In the second period, Churella countered a Hendricks single leg attempt and locked up cradle and nearly had the Cowboy pinned as time ran out on the second period. In the third period, with Churella clinging to a tight 8-7 lead, Hendricks scored a takedown with just three seconds remaining for the dramatic 9-8 victory. For Hendricks, the fact that he won this title literally in his own backyard made it even sweeter. "It was amazing," said Hendricks. "I wanted to (win it) so bad. My parents live only 15 miles away from here. I had so many people up there. I had so many people out there who wanted me to lose. I knew that I had to do it here. If I don't win another one, I wanted to win it here." Rosholt, the No. 4 seed at 197, won his third NCAA title with a 10-3 decision over sixth-seeded Phil Davis of Penn State, 10-3. Nate Gallick of Iowa State, who finished his senior campaign a perfect 38-0, finally got the 141-pound NCAA title that eluded him in the past when he defeated his Big 12 nemesis, Teyon Ware of Oklahoma, 3-2. It was a role-reversal from a year ago when Ware defeated Gallick to claim the title. "Every match we have is close," said Gallick, who has now won seven of their eight career meetings. "I've been lucky enough that most of them went my way. Little mistakes can change the match. I definitely respect him. He's a great athlete and a great competitor. I'm glad that my college is career is over and that I probably won't have to wrestle him again. We've seen each other plenty." At 125, Indiana's Joe Dubuque won his second straight NCAA title by defeating true freshman Troy Nickerson of Cornell, 8-3. He became the first Indiana wrestler to win back-to-back NCAA titles, and the first two-time champion since Charlie McDaniel won a pair of titles in 1935 and 1938. "I think I was forgotten once I won the national championship last year," said Dubuque. "It actually motivates me a little bit more. These guys looking at the rankings, they're like, 'He has to be No. 1 because he's the returning national champ.' People were saying how I don't wrestle a tough schedule and how I take off some tournament. But, you know what, when it comes down to it, in March, I come out undefeated every time." At 174, it was a battle of unbeaten wrestlers as Missouri's Ben Askren faced Northwestern's Jake Herbert. Askren, who finished runner-up the past two years, scored early and often as he cruised to a convincing 14-2 victory over Herbert. He became Missouri's first-ever NCAA champion in wrestling and also earned the Outstanding Wrestler award for his effort. "It was a battle," said Askren. "He didn't stop wrestling. He never quit. But in the same respect, I was never worried. I had him in every position." Missouri coach Brian Smith believes that Askren's passion and dedication to the sport has rubbed off on his teammates. "It's hard to get mad at a kid who is a straight A student, does everything right, and has a passion for this thing that he loves, which is wrestling," said Smith. "He lives it. That goes to the room. Our team in the summer works out with Ben … and follows Ben. He's the leader of the team. A kid that's like that, you don't want to pull the reins too much because what he's doing is something special, and it's something that he loves." Minnesota finished with two NCAA champions -- Dustin Schlatter (149) and Cole Konrad (Hwt). Schlatter, Minnesota's true freshman phenom, won 149-pound title with a shutout victory over second-seeded Ty Eustice of Iowa, 4-0. With the win, Schlatter finished with the best freshman season in school history. It also marked his second win this season over Eustice. "It was definitely a goal for me," said Schlatter. "Kind of in the back my mind I had the goal of being a national champ. I don't know if many people would have believed me. I definitely thought I could do it." Last season, Oklahoma State's Steve Mocco defeated Konrad to win the NCAA title, but this season Konrad reversed the result with a 5-2 victory in overtime. It was Konrad's fourth straight victory over Mocco this season. The three-day attendance was 95,501, which is the second highest total at the NCAA Division I Championships, only to St. Louis in 2000. Finals Results: 125: No. 3 Joe Dubuque (Indiana) dec. No. 5 Troy Nickerson (Cornell), 8-3 133: No. 6 Matt Valenti (Penn) dec. No. 5 Chris Fleeger (Purdue), 3-2 141: No. 1 Nate Gallick (Iowa State) dec. No. 2 Teyon Ware (Oklahoma), 3-2 149: No. 1 Dustin Schlatter (Minnesota) dec. No. 2 Ty Eustice (Iowa), 4-0 157: No. 5 Ben Cherrington (Boise State) dec. No. 10 Brian Stith (Arizona State), 7-3 165: No. 2 Johny Hendricks (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 1 Ryan Churella (Michigan), 9-8 174: No. 1 Ben Askren (Missouri) maj. dec. No. 2 Jake Herbert (Northwestern), 14-2 184: No. 5 Shane Webster (Oregon) dec. No. 2 Roger Kish (Minnesota), 3-2 197: No. 4 Jake Rosholt (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 6 Phil Davis (Penn State), 10-3 Hwt: No. 1 Cole Konrad (Minnesota) dec. No. 2 Steve Mocco (Oklahoma State), 5-2 TB2 Final Team Standings: 1. Oklahoma State -- 122.5 2. Minnesota -- 84 3. Oklahoma -- 80.5 4. Iowa -- 70 5. Cornell -- 62 6. Arizona State -- 61.5 7. Michigan -- 57.5 8. Edinboro -- 56 T9. Lehigh -- 53.5 T9. Penn State -- 53.5 11. Hofstra -- 52.5 12. Penn -- 51 T13. Iowa State -- 48.5 T13. Northwestern -- 48.5 15. Missouri -- 45 Outstanding Wrestler: Ben Askren (Missouri) Manuel Gorrarian: Mark Perry (Iowa) Coach of the Year: Jack Spates (Oklahoma) Final Results Session 4 Recap Session 3 Recap Session 2 Recap Session 1 Recap

OKLAHOMA CITY -- It might have been a slow start for the Cowboys, but as head coach John Smith said, his team "Cowboy Up'ed" when it mattered most. Johny Hendricks (165) sparked a cowboy winning streak that included additional semifinal victories by defending NCAA champions Jake Rosholt (197) and Steve Mocco (Hwt). The crowd peppered Hendricks with boos from the beginning. "There seems to be a lot more hate," said Hendricks. "I've got 13,000 hating me and 3,000 loving me. But, you know, I don't know why. Whenever I go out there, I'm having fun. I'm wresting my hardest. I go harder than anybody." The Cowboys ended the session with a 33.5 point lead over second place Minnesota, who has 72.5 points and three finalists. Oklahoma (64.5), Iowa (61.5), and Arizona State (56) round out the top five teams. Perhaps the biggest story of the round was the validation of the "super frosh" -- Troy Nickerson of Cornell (125) and Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota (149). Nickerson, the No. 5 seed, shocked top-seeded and previously undefeated Nick Simmons of Michigan State, 2-1. He scored a reversal in the third period for the first points of the match. Simmons, however, was awarded a stalling point when Nickerson failed to advance his position. Nickerson was ecstatic about reaching the finals as a true freshman. He will now face defending NCAA champion Joe Dubuque of Indiana. "This has been my goal for a long time, but it is not over yet," said Nickerson. "I still have one more match. My goal is to become a national champ, and I am on my way." The other freshman phenom, Dustin Schlatter, lived up to his No. 1 seed as he took care of fourth-seeded Matt Storniolo of Oklahoma, 5-1. Schlatter used two takedowns and added a riding time point to secure a ticket to the finals against Ty Eustice of Iowa, a wrestler he defeated 3-1 in late January. "I have to keep doing what I've been doing throughout the season, get up for the matches and wrestle like myself," said Schlatter. "My riding has helped in a lot of close matches and that is something that I want to take advantage of again." Two finals matches are repeats from last year's NCAA finals -- 141 and heavyweight. At 141, Iowa State's Nate Gallick will take on familiar conference foe in Oklahoma's Teyon Ware. Although Ware is a two-time NCAA champion, Gallick owns the season series 3-0 and the overall series 7-1. In the heavyweight finals, Minnesota's Cole Konrad, who is undefeated, will take on Oklahoma State's Steve Mocco. This year's match is a role reversal as Konrad enters the match as the favorite and No. 1 seed. Konrad owns three victories over Mocco this year. Mocco knows that it is now or never for him to win his third NCAA title. "It's time to go," said Mocco. "The time to talk about it is over. The time to think about it is over. Now I have to go out there and scrap for it. I am not worried about the title. I'm worried about the match tomorrow." But the most anticipated finals matchmay be at 174 betweet two undefeated wrestlers, Ben Askren of Missouri and Jake Herbert of Northwestern. Askren, who finished runner-up the past two seasons, won by technical fall over Mike Patrovich of Hofstra in the semifinals, 21-6, to advance to the finals. Herbert defeated Iowa's Mark Perry for the third time this season, 9-3. Although Herbert enters the match as a slight underdog, he's looking forward to wrestling Askren. "He's one of the top wrestlers in the nation, regardless of weight class," said Herbert. "We both have some of the longest winning streaks in the nation, so I think that says something. We're both very versatile and good in all positions. It's going to be a scrap tomorrow." Team Standings (After Session 4): 1. Oklahoma State -- 106 2. Minnesota -- 72.5 3. Oklahoma -- 64.5 4. Iowa -- 61.5 5. Arizona State -- 56 6. Cornell -- 54 7. Penn State -- 53.5 8. Michigan -- 52 9. Hofstra -- 47 10. Lehigh -- 46 Session 4 Results Session 3 Recap Session 2 Recap Session 1 Recap

OKLAHOMA CITY -- At the beginning of the NCAAs, 10 sets of brothers started competition. By the end of the quarterfinals Friday morning, one set of brothers -- the Simmons of Michigan State -- found their title hopes still alive … while another set -- the Paulsons of Iowa State -- might have felt like the Brothers Grimm, having their championship quest dashed. Session 3 started at 10:00 am with the 125 pound quarterfinals. Two of the matches ended with a pin: Top-seeded Nick Simmons of Michigan State pinned ninth-seed Chad Mendes of Cal Poly at 6:44. It was the Spartans' third pin of the tournament. Freshman sensation Troy Nickerson of Cornell, the fifth seed, secured a fall at 3:27 over unseeded Michael Sees of Bloomsburg. Second-seeded Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma shut out Paul Donohue, the 10th seed from Nebraska, by the score of 5-0. And third seeded Joe Dubuque got a 6-4 victory over Luke Smith, the 10th seed from Central Michigan. The semifinals promise to be a barnburner, with Simmons vs. Nickerson, and Dubuque vs. Hazewinkel. At 133, first seeded Shawn Bunch of Edinboro continued his winning ways, dominating No. 8 Tennessee-Chattanooga's Matt Keller 14-9. Oklahoma State's Nathan Morgan, seeded second, topped unseeded Jason Borrelli of Central Michigan 8-4. Matt Valenti, the sixth seed from University of Pennsylvania, 7-2. Rounding out the final four was No. 5 Chris Fleeger of Purdue who was awarded the match on an injury default after being injured by an illegal move by Minnesota's fourth-seeded Matt Reiter, and was unable to continue. In the next round, Bunch will meet up with Fleeger, and Valenti faces Morgan. In the 141- pound quarterfinals, all the favorites advanced, Top-seeded Nate Gallick of Iowa State shut out Brandon Rader, the ninth seed from West Virginia, 3-0. Second-seeded Teyon Ware of Oklahoma rolled up a 12-4 victory over Iowa's Alex Tsirtsis, who had been seeded seventh. In a battle of the Big Ten schools in the state of Michigan, fourth-seed Andy Simmons of Michigan State secured a 4-2 sudden victory over Michigan's Josh Churella. Third-seeded Cory Cooperman of Lehigh pinned No. 6 Ryan Lang of Northwestern at 6:05. The semifinals will feature Gallick vs. Simmons, and Cooperman vs. Ware. At 149, another freshman continued to make headlines. Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, the No. 1 seed, shut out Michigan's No. 8 Eric Tannenbaum, 6-0. Iowa's Ty Eustice, seeded second, earned a 5-3 decision over No. 7 Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Fourth-seeded Matt Storniolo of Oklahoma edged Mark DiSalvo of Central Michigan 4-3. The huge contingent of Oklahoma State fans lifted the roof off Ford Center when their third-seeded wrestler Zack Esposito pinned Hofstra's No. 6 Jon Masa at 3:57. New headlines will be written Friday evening as Schlatter meets up with Storniolo, and Esposito wrestles Eustice. In the 157-pound class, none of the top four seeds advanced to the semifinals. In fact, the quarters featured a couple upsets. Ninth-seeded Joe Johnston of Iowa beat cross-state rival -- and top seed -- Trent Paulson, 6-3. In another upset, No. 3 Alex Tirapelle of Illinois lost in overtime, 3-2, to 11th-seeded Lehigh wrestler Derek Zinck. For two unseeded wrestlers in the weight class, their Cinderella stories came to an end. Missouri's Michael Chandler lost to fifth-seeded Boise State wrestler Ben Cherrington by the score of 8-1 … while Andrew Flanagan of Harvard was shut out by No. 10 Brian Stith of Arizona State 8-0. This means that the semifinals will feature Johnston vs. Cherrington, and Zinck vs. Stith, At 165, the No. 1 seed Ryan Churella got a 6-4 victory over Travis Paulson, the eighth seed from Iowa State… eliminating the Paulson twins' title dreams. Second-seeded Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State ended Daniel Thompson's championship ride, beating the unseeded Citadel wrestler 9-6. American's Muzaffar Abdurakmanov, seeded third, got the pin over Deonte Penn, putting the Edinboro man's shoulders to the mat at 1:39. In battle of two unseeded wrestlers, Johnny Galloway of Northern Illinois vs. Joey Bracamonte, the Oregon wrestler came out on top 2-1. In the semis, Churella will wrestle Bracamonte, and Abdurakhmanov takes on Hendricks. No. one seed at 174, B en Askren of Missouri, dominated No. 8 Travis Frick of Lehigh, securing a 19-3 technical fall at 5:13. Second-seeded Jake Herbert of Northwestern got a 10-5 victory over No. 7 Kenneth Cook of UC Davis. Mark Perry gave Iowa fans something to cheer about. The third-seeded Hawkeye secured a fall over No. 11 Brandon Mason of Oklahoma State at 4:23. Michael Patrovich, the fifth seed from Hofstra, topped Nebraska's Jacob Klein, who had been seeded fourth, by the score of 5-3. Later on Friday, Askren will go up against Patrovich … while Perry will take on Herbert in the semifinals. American University's Josh Glenn, the top seed at 184, continued his winning ways with a 14-10 win over No. 8 Eric Bradley of Penn State. Second seed Roger Kish of Minnesota got a 7-4 victory over 10th-seeded C.B. Dollaway of Arizona State. In a bit of an upset, sixth-seeded Pete Friedl of Illinois beat No. 3 Ben Wissel of Purdue 3-1… while No. 5 Shane Webster of Oregon State earned a 10-6 win over No. 4 Joe Mazzurco of Cornell. In the semifinals, it'll be Glenn vs. Webster, and Friedl vs. Kish. Hofstra's unseeded giant-killer at 197 Chris Weidman continues to have a storybook NCAA, scoring a victory over No. 8 Ryan Bader of Arizona State, scoring four takedowns on the Sun Devil. The upsets continued, with Cornell's Jerry Rinaldi -- seeded seventh -- got a 3-1 win over second-seeded Kyle Cerminara of Buffalo… while No. 6 Phil Davis of Penn State edged third-seeded B.J. Padden of Nebraska 6-5 after being behind 4-1 in the first period. Two-time champ -- and fourth seed -- Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State moved on to the semifinals by shutting out Oklahoma's No. 5 Joel Flaggert, 4-0. This sets the stage for the semifinals, with Rosholt vs. Weidman, and Davis vs. Rinaldi. In the heavyweight class, all of the top four seeds all advanced. The No. 1 seed, Minnesota's Cole Konrad, got the victory over No. 8 Mike Faust of Virginia Tech 4-0. Second-seed Steve Mocco delighted the Cowboy contingent with a convincing 9-3win over cross-state rival Jake Hager of Oklahoma 9-3. Third-seeded Greg Wagner of Michigan advanced to the semis with a pin of No. 6 Tanner Garrett of Navy at 1:41. The fourth seed, Arizona State's Cain Velasquez, dominated unseeded Kirk Nail of Ohio State 9-1. In the semifinals, Konrad will face Velasquez … while Mocco will meet Wagner. While you were sleeping … Late Thursday night, after most of Ford Center was empty except for the cleaning crews, the outcome of one Session 2 match was yet to be determined. A protest was filed in the Blake Maurer vs. Gabriel Dretsch match in the 187-pound consolations. Minnesota coach J Robinson protested that a penalty point awarded to Ohio State's Maurer early in the third period for an illegal hold was a misapplication of a rule. Originally, the Buckeye had been awarded the match 2-1 thanks to the penalty point and an escape in the third period. After a long protest/review delay that stretched long into the evening -- long after most fans had headed over to Bricktown to sample the nightlife -- the protest committee, after reviewing the tape, upheld Minnesota's protest and the third period was re-wrestled. It was more a barroom brawl, with only a hundred or so observers, most of them intense Golden Gopher fans. Their man scored a three-point near fall, which was followed by an escape by Maurer, answered by a Dretsch takedown. The final score: 6-1 Dretsch. To add to the bad news for the Buckeyes, Ohio State coach Russ Hellickson was given a warning for Control of Mat Area. Session 3 Results Session 2 Recap Session 1 Recap

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Day One of the 2006 NCAA Division I Championships is now in the books, and for the two top teams, Oklahoma State and Minnesota, it was a Tale of Two Teams. For the Cowboys, it was the best of times, with Oklahoma State wrestlers writing a great day for themselves, sending Cowboy fans into delirium repeatedly. By contrast, it may not have been the worst of times for Minnesota … but, for the Golden Gophers, there were some bad breaks along the way. Oklahoma State advanced six into the quarterfinals, including all four returning NCAA champs … all who got pins. Zack Esposito, seeded third at 149, recorded his second pin of the day, against Morgan Atkinson of Cal State Fullerton, at 4:25. Esposito will now face sixth-seeded Jon Masa of Hofstra in the quarterfinals, which is a rematch of their 2005 NCAA quarterfinals. Johny Hendricks, the second seed at 165, dispatched Garrett Atkinson of North Carolina at 5:52. Hendricks will now face The Citadel's Cinderella story, Daniel Thompson, who scored a big upset pin over 2004 NCAA champ Troy Letters of Lehigh. Jake Rosholt, who had a bit of a scare in his opening round match when he was put on his back, wasted little time in pinning Old Dominion's Adam Wright. He will now face familiar conference foe in Oklahoma's Joel Flaggart, a fifth-seeded wrestler he's beaten four times. The fourth Cowboy to win by pin was heavyweight Steve Mocco, defending heavyweight champion, got the fall over Andrew Patrick of Boise State at 1:30. Next in line for the for the second-seededed Cowboy big guy: Jake Hager of Oklahoma, the same wrestler he beat for the Big 12 title two weeks ago. In addition, Nathan Morgan (133) and Brandon Mason (174) also advanced into the quarterfinals. By contrast, Minnesota's second session was not as successful. After losing two of their seeded wrestlers in the opening session (Matt Nagel and Gabriel Dretsch), the news got worse. The biggest blow came at 157, when second-seeded CP Schlatter was upset by freshman Andrew Flanagan of Harvard, 5-3. All the scoring took place in the third period. Flanagan got an escape and a takedown. Schlatter then answered with an escaped and takedown of his own to tie the score. But Flanagan, the EIWA champion, escaped and added a point for riding time for the win, dashing Minnesota's expectations. Nine of the 10 No. 1 seeds advanced to the quarterfinals. The one who didn't: Central Michigan's Wynn Michalak, who was upset by Chris Weidman of Hofstra, a 14-11 wrestler who was unseeded. Weidman scored two takedowns and nearfall points in the first period, and led the entire match. Final score: 10-7. Two of the nine No. 1 seeds found themselves in unfamiliar territory at some point in their Thursday evening matches. One of the most dominating wrestlers in the country, Ben Askren, was losing to Oklahoma's Wes Roberts, 2-1, in the second period. However, the Missouri 174-pounder came back in the end with a takedown to end the match 6-4. Then, at 184, Josh Glenn of American had almost more than he could handle with Ron Howard of Cleveland State, who scored nearfall points to make it close. However, Glenn scored a takedown in the final seconds to force overtime. In the tiebreaker period, Glenn scored an escape and nearfall points for a final score of 14-10. One of the biggest upsets of the second session took place at 157 when unseeded Michael Chandler of Missouri scored a third period reversal to knock off No. 4 seed Matt Lebe of West Virginia, 3-2. Another fourth seed, Nick Baima of Northern Iowa, who won the Midlands title this season at 165, injury defaulted in 24 seconds to Johnny Galloway of Northern Illinois. Alex Tirapelle reached a milestone in wrestling history when he became the winningest wrestler in University of Illinois history. In his first match, the 157-pounder tied his older brother Adam's record of 127 wins. His second session victory -- an 8-2 decision over Matt Hill of Edinboro -- put him in the history books for the Fighting Illini. At 141, Illinois' Casio Pero and Michael Keefe of Tennessee-Chattanooga -- who were both returning All Americans -- found themselves in a pigtail consolation bout. The seventh-seeded Pero won 9-6, eliminating the No. 5 Keefe from further competition. In a Battle of the Bradleys -- Paul vs. Eric, both returning All-Americans at 184 -- eighth-seeded Eric Bradley of Penn State came out on top of the Iowa wrestler, 7-4. The attendance for the second session was 15,752. Five questions with Purdue's Chris Fleeger: Chris Fleeger of Purdue, a two-time All-American, was academically ineligible for much of the past two seasons. The Pennsylvania native finished third in 2003 and was an NCAA runner-up in 2004. Prior to the Big Ten Championships two weekends ago, he looked like a sure-fire NCAA finalist. But a disappointing Big Tens, where he injured his toe and lost to Tom Clum, dropped him down to the No. 5 seed here at the NCAA Championships. RevWrestling.com caught up with Fleeger shortly after his final match of Day One of the NCAA Championships. Chris, you've had two dominating victories thus far. Your thoughts on the way you wrestled on the opening day? Fleeger: I feel good. My shape feels pretty good and my foot is holding up. There are some pretty tough kids. They're scrappy. You don't really know them because you don't see them during the year. But I felt like I wrestled well. This just leads me to the tougher matches. You injured your toe at the Big Ten Championships. What exactly is the extent of the injury? I thought that I broke it, it hurt so bad. I just have real bad reverse turf toe. The joint is pretty swollen. I had a cortisone injection. I've been rehabbing, taped it up, so it can bend. It kinds of hurts my mobility, which I what kind of live on. But that's really not an excuse right now. Everyone came into this tournament banged up. I don't think there is one wrestler out there who is one-hundred percent. If I lose, I lose. If I win, I win. I shouldn't even be talking about it. How has it affected your preparation for this event? Well, I forfeited out of the Big Tens to rest it up. I'm just rehabbing it hard. I didn't go real hard on in practices. I just rested, rested, rested. That's all you can do. You've been in the NCAA finals before, yet you came into this event seeded No. 5. Do you feel like you have something to prove? I knew that you would ask me that question. It doesn't really matter to me. I said that to my coaches. I forfeited to sixth place to rest my toe. I think it was a smart thing to do. It put me on the same side as the No. 1 seed, and I'll have the No. 4 seed right away, but you have to beat them to win it. I'm here to win it. I'm not here to get on the podium in eighth place. I've been in the finals. I want the gold. I don't care where they put me. I don't care if they put me with the one, two, three, four seeds right off the bat, I don't care. Line them up. If they beat me, they beat me. I'm here to wrestle. You face Mack Reiter of Minnesota, a returning All-American, in the quarterfinals. What are your thoughts heading into that match-up? Fleeger: I've watched him a few times. He's a young, scrappy kid. I'm not sure how I match up with him. You never really know until you get out there. I'm not scared of anyone. If he beats me, he beats me. I'm just going to go out there and give it my all. I'm sure that he will to. I'm looking forward to it. Team Standings (After Session 2): 1. Oklahoma State -- 36.5 2. Oklahoma -- 24.5 3. Edinboro/Hofstra -- 22.5 5. Michigan/Nebraska/Minnesota -- 22 Session 2 Results Session 1 Recap

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The 76th NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships opened Thursday morning at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City with some first-round upsets affecting Oklahoma State, Illinois and other top programs that could have an ultimate impact on the team standings down the road. Oklahoma State leads the team race with 17 points and six wrestlers in the championships bracket. Hofstra sits one point behind Oklahoma State in second with 16 points, followed by Oklahoma in third with 13.5 points. All 10 of the No. 1 seeds rolled in their opening round matches, including Edinboro's Shawn Bunch, a returning NCAA runner-up, who dominated Jesse Sundell of Iowa State, 17-5. "I feel pretty good," said Bunch, who now owns a 36-1 record on the season. "I went out there did what I needed to do, put it on someone, and got a good blow in before my next match." It was a disappointing opening round for Big Ten powers Michigan and Minnesota, as both teams lost two of their seeded wrestlers. The Wolverines, who qualified nine wrestlers for the event, and a team that is expected to challenge for a top-five spot, lost two No. 12 seeds in the opening round. At 133, Mark Moos was upset by Chris Helgeson, 13-12, while 157-pound freshman Steve Luke, who won the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational earlier this season, dropped a 6-4 decision to Will Roe of Oklahoma. Two of Minnesota's seeded wrestlers lost in the first round. Matt Nagel, who was seeded sixth at 165 and also returning All-American, was upset by Deonte Penn of Edinboro, 8-5. And at 174, 10th-seeded Gabriel Dretsch fell to unseeded Kenne Robinson of Eastern Illinois. There were two major upsets in the 125-pound weight class in the first round. First, Illinois' Kyle Ott -- a two-time runner up, seeded fourth -- lost to Bloomsburg's unseeded Michael Sees, 8-5. Ott had been leading 5-3 in the third when Sees got a takedown and three near-fall points to change the outcome. Then sixth-seeded Coleman Scott of Oklahoma State fell to Bryce Leonhardt of Wyoming 3-2. These early upsets will have an impact on the team title race. Two two-time NCAA champs briefly saw their title hopes flash before their eyes in their first matches. Second-seeded Teyon Ware of Oklahoma got called for stalling twice, but won 4-3 thanks to riding time over Manuel Rivera of Minnesota. Jake Rosholt gave the Oklahoma State fans a bit of a scare during his first match when in the second period Michigan's 197-pounder Willie Breyer put the Cowboy on his back … however, the fourth-seeded Rosholt came through with a 21-9 major decision victory. Another big upset came at 165 when Joey Bracamonte of Oregon claimed a victory over fifth-seeded Matt Pell of Missouri, 8-3. Bracamonte, despite winning the Reno Tournament of Champions earlier this season (which included a win over NCAA champion Johny Hendricks), entered the event unseeded. Bracamonte stumbled a bit in the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago as he placed fifth and qualified for the NCAA Championships as a wildcard. The weight class with the most surprises was 165. In addition to Nagel and Pell losing, two others lost in that weight class. No. 10 Patrick Pitsch of Arizona State lost to Daniel Thompson of the Citadel (10-4), No. 11 Stephen Anceravage of Cornell to Will Durkee of Northwestern (2-0), and No. 12 Marc Harwood of Nebraska to Larry Hall of West Virginia (11-3). Illinois is the only team with 10 qualifiers this year. Edinboro (EWL), Lehigh (EIWA), Michigan (Big Ten), Nebraska (Big 12), and Oklahoma State (Big 12) each qualified nine. Eight wrestlers entered the tournament undefeated -- Nick Simmons of Michigan State (125, 32-0), Nate Gallick of Iowa State (141, 33-0), Ben Cherrington of Boise State (157, 15-0), Muzaffar Abdurkhmanov of American (165, 21-0), Ryan Churella (165, 25-0), Ben Askren of Missouri (174, 39-0), Jake Herbert of Northwestern (174, 32-0), and Cole Konrad of Minnesota (Hwt., 33-0). A total of 330 wrestlers from 69 schools are competing at the 2006 Division I Championships. There are 70 All-Americans competing. The attendance for the first session was 15,694. Session 1 Results

1. Ted's Cafe Escondito -- 2836 NW 68th St. -- 405.848.8337 Be happy you aren't the one making weight this weekend and check out the Best Mexican food in OKC … or anywhere in that case. Start with some delicious queso with your chips, but leave room for the tortillas that are as thick as pancakes! 2. Bass Pro Shop -- 200 Bass Pro Drive -- 405.218.5200 -- www.basspro.com After wrestling season comes fishing season! Check this place out on your way out of town to load up on some lures! 3. Water Taxi of OKC -- www.watertaxi.com/Oklahoma/OKCHome.Asp Sit back and enjoy the views while taking a ride down the Bricktown canal. Choose from narrated canal cruises, cocktail or dinner cruises. 4. Wormy Dog Saloon -- 311 E. Sheridan Ave. -- 405.6016276 -- www.wormydog.com Saddle Up (seriously, the bar stools are saddles) at the Wormy Dog Saloon in Bricktown for live music on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. Don't go if you are looking to get liquored up, though, because this Saloon only serves beer. 5. Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial -- www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org Located in downtown OKC, a beautiful tribute to the lives that were lost in the bombing. 6. TapWerks Ale House -- 121 E. Sheridan Ave. -- 405.319.9599 -- www.tapwerks.com Also in Bricktown, TapWerks offers a huge variety of delicious beer. Try sample the entire wall of taps … after the sessions are over for the day! 7. Makers Cigar & Piano Lounge -- 405.606.9000 -- www.makersokc.com/cigarpiano Celebrate your favorite wrestler's victory over a cognac and cigar! They have a huge menu of wonderful cigars coupled with great live music. 8. Skyy Bar -- 7 Mickey Mantle Dr. -- 405.272.9222 -- www.skkybar.com Located on the canal in Bricktown, this place has a big outdoor patio and a hot dance floor. You'll want to pull out your nicer duds as this place is a little dressier and does not allow baseball hats. 9. Hideaway Pizza -- 2 Mickey Mantle Dr. -- 405.232.4776 -- www.hidawaypizza.com In between sessions, grab lunch to go at Hideaway Pizza in Bricktown (I suggest the Paradise Pie). Open 11-1:30 M-F, pick up your pizza at the curb-side window and eat on the outdoor patio outside the Bricktown Ballpark. 10. Toby Keith's I love This Bar and Grill -- 310 Johnny Bench Drive, 405.231.0254 -- www.ilovethisbarandgrillokc.com Located in the heart of Bricktown, Toby's restaurant named after his No. 1 song is a hit of its own! Great food, comfortable atmosphere and great live music on Friday's and Saturday's will have you coming back to OKC again and again! Honorable Mention -- great places that didn't quite make weight: Bricktown Brewery -- www.bricktownbrewery.com Remington Park Race Track and Casino -- www.remingtonpark.com OKC Museum of Art -- www.okcmoa.com Cowboy Hall of Fame -- www.nationalcowboymuseum.org Myriad Gardens -- www.myriadgardens.com

Well it all ends in Oklahoma City wrestling fans. Who will be this years individual champions? Who will be team champions? It has been a year of ups and downs but typical of wrestling it has been a thrill a minute. Join Steve Foster and I along with Kyle Klingman and Ryan Lang for play by play, color, pageantry and results. It will be terrific I can promise you that. Oh, we will have on dozens of great guests too. Football hero Ronnie Lott has promised me a one on one with the great one this year. Our broadcast this year as in past years is FREE! Takedown Wrestling Radio's FREE presentation of the 76th annual NCAA Wrestling Championships is brought to you by: Asics, a proud supporter of strength, discipline and everything it takes to succeed on the mat and in life. Asics has been an important part of wrestling for over 50 years. Let's do the next 50 together. Keep wrestling, Wrestle with Asics! And by: The All new 7 Flags Fitness and Events Centers. Check out all that's new at 7 Flags. New Equipment, New Faces and a brand new attitude at 7 Flags. Call them at 515-278-8888 And By: Body Bar Systems. For your high intensity, low impact workouts its got to be Body bar. For infinite workouts its one bar. Body Bar. Official sponsor of the USA Wrestling Women's Team. Body Bar builds Champions! And by: The Oklahoma City All Sports Association- What a city! Its all in Oklahoma City. And by: DoubleSport! DoubleSport is the leader in high-tech competition and training gear for combat sport athletes. The originator of the first revolutionary 2-piece wrestling FILA approved wrestling uniform....why settle for a single when you can switch to a DOUBLE. Never Stop...DoubleSport."

Oklahoma State's wrestling team will look to win its fourth consecutive national title when the NCAA Championships hit Oklahoma City Mar. 16-18. OSU won the NCAA title the last time the championships were held in Oklahoma City in 1994 at the Myriad. This year they will move across the street to the Ford Center. The Cowboys come into the tournament with lots of experience, only one qualifier is making his first appearance in the national tournament. OSU brings four defending national champions and one All-American from a year ago. Zack Esposito, Johny Hendricks, Jake Rosholt and Steve Mocco will all look to defend their titles, while Coleman Scott will look to return to the medal stand. Nathan Morgan and Kevin Ward both qualified a year ago and will look to garner their first All-America honor. Rusty Blackmon was one match from placing in 2004, and Brandon Mason is making his first NCAA appearance and both could have an impact on OSU's NCAA title hopes. Despite two dual losses this season to Minnesota, the Cowboys still go into the tournament as the favorite and will have a target on their backs. Scouting the Field The NCAA Tournament field is loaded with the best wrestlers from around the country. There are several teams looking to win an NCAA team title. Illinois is the only team in the field who qualified all 10 wrestlers after a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Minnesota is currently ranked No. 1 with two dual wins over OSU, but Michigan recently knocked off the Gophers in one of the final duals of the year. There will be plenty of excitement in the individual brackets as well. Six champions from 2005 will return to defend their titles. Four of those champions are Cowboys with Indiana's Joe Dubuque at 125 and Oklahoma's Teyon Ware at 141. Several finalist are returning as well and some will have the opportunity to dethrone the current champion, while others will be the favorite in their weight class. Seniors Say Goodbye Five Oklahoma State seniors wrestled their final match inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. It has been one of the most productive senior classes over the last 50 years combining to win three NCAA team titles, four individual titles, six All-American finishes and five Big 12 championships. The Cowboys have gone 33-1 inside Gallagher-Iba Arena over the last four years and 70-4 overall in duals. The seniors made senior day memorable all recording wins in their final match inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. Steve Mocco recorded a fall and Rusty Blackmon rallied from a 7-0 deficit to win in sudden victory. Gopher Bitten Oklahoma State has dominated collegiate wrestling since the NCAA started conducting a championship in 1928. The Cowboys have been even more dominating of late winning the last three NCAA titles and compiling a 108-8 record over the last six seasons. There has been one team that has continually stuck out and that is Minnesota. The Gophers have handed OSU five of those eight losses and have won seven of the last 10 meetings in the series, including twice this year. Oklahoma State still leads the all-time series at 16-9, but Minnesota is closing the gap. Freshmen Become Sophomores Head coach John Smith made a decision last winter to pull two freshmen out of redshirt because the Cowboys were struggling at both 125 and 133. Coleman Scott and Nathan Morgan both became Big 12 champions later on that year, while Scott went on to finish eighth at the NCAA Championships at 125. The freshmen have become sophomores and have turned into two of the better wrestlers at their weight class in the country. Scott is 24-5 and is ranked as high as fifth in the country. Morgan has the best record on the team at 28-1 and is ranked second by the NWCA/Intermat Individual Rankings at 133 after defeating fourth-ranked Mack Reiter of Minnesota twice and third-ranked Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly. Jake Rosholt Wins No. 100 With Jake Rosholt's first round decision over Joel Flaggert at the Big 12 Tournament, Rosholt won the 100th match for his career. Rosholt lost in the finals to Nebraska's B.J. Padden and now stands at a career record of 100-20. The 2006 season has been the first season of Rosholt's career that he has not missed any time due to an injury. Despite the injuries Rosholt is still a three-time All-American and two-time national champion. Finals Loss an Omen for Rosholt During the course of Jake Rosholt's career he has never won the Big 12 championship and the NCAA championship in the same season. As a freshman Rosholt lost in the finals to Scott Barker and he came back to claim the NCAA title two weeks later. Rosholt won his only Big 12 title as a sophomore, but he finished third at the NCAA Championships. Rosholt has lost the last two Big 12 titles to Nebraska's B.J. Padden. He came back to win the NCAA title in 2005 and is waiting to see if the pattern will hold true in 2006. Johny Hendricks Opens Up on Offense If heavyweight Steve Mocco is nicknamed the bear then Johny Hendricks is the bull. Hendricks has bullied his opponents on the mat and enters postseason competition with a 22-1 record. His bullying style and aggressive mentality has made him one of the most feared and hated wrestlers in the country. Opposing fans have grown to hate Hendricks for his excitement and joy for winning that has caused him to celebrate after victories. Hendricks has opened up his offense this season. He recorded 47 takedowns in his first two years combined compared to 48 takedowns this season. At times he has even dared his opponents to approach him. Hendricks will be looking to defend his Big 12 and NCAA titles come March.

There really are numerous ways to describe the feeling of winning a national championship, but the one that keeps coming to mine is "UNBELIEVABLE." This is not because we didn't believe, because we did, all year long. Yet you really never truly know until the trophy is handed to you and it is announced over the loudspeaker that you are the national champions. This year's national tournament was one that I will never forget. It was unbelievable to see every guy on our team fighting for their life, leaving everything on the mat. All year long we had been training for these two days, and the training paid off. Not only did we win the national title, we also placed all 12 of us in the top seven. That was the most incredible feeling of all, knowing that we had all contributed to winning the national title. Everyone had contributed by winning, and every member of the team scored bonus points throughout the tournament. We had the second, third, and fourth place finishers for most falls in the least amount of time, which is incredible. The team race was close virtually the whole tournament. Lindenwood even jumped ahead of us when the second team rankings were shown on Friday, but we didn't throw in the towel and give up. We kept fighting and by Friday night had close to a twenty-point lead. I lost in the second round, which was a bit disheartening as I realized that my personal national title dreams had been crushed, but I did not want to leave as I did the last two years, with no hardware. I pinned my next opponent, only to find out I would be wrestling the same guy who beat me out for All-American honors two years ago. Marshall MarquardtIt was absolutely insane leading up to my match. You have to think about this situation for a moment, as I could not get it out of my head. Everyone else on the team was already an All-American, and I was the last guy on the team to wrestle that day. This was for all the marbles. To go home knowing that everyone on the team would be on the podium the next day. I am a fifth-year senior, wrestling at my last national tournament, wrestling a guy who beat me out two years ago, and trying to not be the only guy on our team that goes home without a plaque. All I can say is that I was a little nervous! It was over almost as soon as it began as I ended the match with a fall, and it was if the world had been lifted off me. I was so relieved and happy that I would be joining my teammates as an All-American, and a void in my life would finally be filled. Marshall MarquardtThe next day flew by as I pinned my opponent for seventh place, and we put three guys through to the finals. Both Jimmy Rollins and Willie Parks won National Titles for us. These are the first two national titles for any wrestler at Dana College, EVER! After we won the team title, we found out that Dana College is the smallest school to win a National Championship in any sport, ever. This was the first national championship for any team at Dana College since it was founded over one hundred years ago, but hopefully it won't be the last. Winning the national title really didn't set in until this past Monday, when our boosters teamed up with the college and threw a pep rally for us. We all boarded a stretch Hummer limo and cruised around Blair, eating pizza and blasting the music, laughing and having a good time. This was short-lived however, as we had fans waiting for us back at the gym. We arrived back at campus to a crowd of fans, boosters, administrators, and family, all waiting for us. We were all announced to the crowd as we are for a dual meet, and our accomplishments were named of as well. It was awesome to run out in the gym for one last time in front of all our supporters. We raised the national championship banner in the gym for all to see when they visit. It really is something to be proud of, not just for me, or the team, but the school as well. Steve Costanzo It is amazing to me to think that six years ago Dana College wrestling was almost non-existent, and in that short time we have won a national championship. I don't believe that the Coach of the Year award should necessarily be given to the coach whose team wins the national title, but I truly believe our coach, Steve Costanzo, is a great coach and mentor, and deserved the award very much. All of our coaches work so hard trying to prepare us to be great men, not just great wrestlers. They all deserve an award and at least a "Thank You". I think it's interesting that Dana College, and I, were chosen to write this inaugural blog for RevWrestling.com. We were not the favorites to win it earlier this season, and even after we won National Duals were we the favorite. Nobody wanted to give the little school from Blair, Nebraska any respect all year long, which made winning both National Championships (the NAIA and NWCA) so much sweeter. I would like to thank everyone out there who has supported me and this team, and thank Revwrestling.com, as well as Andrew Hipps for the opportunity to share my life throughout this season with everyone in the wrestling community. It has been an honor for me to share with all of you the ups and downs of a great season, what it's like to truly wrestle for a great group of coaches, and wrestling not on a great team, but a great family. Until next time, keep getting better. Marshall Marquardt Past Entries: Entry 12 (3/1/06) Entry 11 (2/16/06) Entry 10 (2/1/06) Entry 9 (1/19/06) Entry 8 (1/5/06) Entry 7 (12/28/05) Entry 6 (12/7/05) Entry 5 (11/23/05) Entry 4 (11/9/05) Entry 3 (10/26/05) Entry 2 (10/13/05) Entry 1 (10/1/05)