Sooners Set To Host Seton Hall, Oregon

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Dec. 31, 2000

#6/#6 Oklahoma Sooners (1-1) vs. Seton Hall Pirates (0-3)
Chickasha High School - Chickasha, Okla. - Noon

#6/#6 Oklahoma Sooners (1-1) vs. #16/#14 Oregon Ducks (3-0)
OU Field House - Norman, Okla. - 7 p.m.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

Oklahoma vs. Seton Hall
125 pounds:#11/#14 Bo Maynes, So. (12-2)vs. Tom Becker, Fr. (5-9)
133 pounds:#10/#10 Witt Durden, So. (11-3)vs. Dave Ilaria, Jr. (11-3)
141 pounds:#2/#2 Michael Lightner, Sr. (13-0)vs. Mike Settembrino, Sr. (8-7)
149 pounds:#8/#7 Jared Frayer, Jr. (11-2)vs. Beau Bruno, So. (11-8)
157 pounds:Brian Burrows, Jr. (0-0) vs. Leet Brady, Fr. (6-10)
165 pounds:#6/#6 Robbie Waller, So. (10-1)vs. Terry Madden, Fr. (4-6)
174 pounds:#11/#11 Michael Barger, Jr. (9-4)vs. Everett Bell, Sr. (10-4)
184 pounds:Josh Lambrecht, So. (7-7)vs. John Garriques, Jr. (4-5)
197 pounds:#10/#16 Waymon May, Sr. (9-4)vs. Fikret Darzanoff, Sr. (5-7)
Heavyweight:#12/#18 Leonce Crump, Fr.-RS (11-3)vs. Carlos Panfili, So. (6-9)

Oklahoma vs. Oregon
125 pounds:#11/#14 Bo Maynes, So. (12-2)vs. #5/#4 Shaun Williams, Jr., (14-2)
133 pounds:#10/#10 Witt Durden, So. (11-3)vs. #8/#13 Brian Watson, So. (8-1)
141 pounds:#2/#2 Michael Lightner, Sr. (13-0)vs. Casey Hunt, So. (4-5)
149 pounds:#8/#7 Jared Frayer, Jr. (11-2)vs. Tony Overstake, So. (3-4)
157 pounds:Brian Burrows, Jr. (0-0) vs. #18 (A) Eugene Harris, Jr. (11-3)
165 pounds:#6/#6 Robbie Waller, So. (10-1)vs. Luke Larwin, Fr. (1-4)
174 pounds:#11/#11 Michael Barger, Jr. (9-4)vs. Leif Williams, Jr. (3-6)
184 pounds:Josh Lambrecht, So. (7-7)vs. #4/#5 Doug Lee, Sr. (9-3)
197 pounds:#10/#16 Waymon May, Sr. (9-4)vs. #7/#7 Chael Sonnen, Sr. (10-3)
Heavyweight:#12/#18 Leonce Crump, Fr.-RS (11-3) vs. #20/#17 Eric Webb, So. (8-3)
Team Rankings: NWCA/InterMat
Individual Rankings: Amateur Wrestling News/InterMat

THE SOONERS
Oklahoma, ranked sixth by both the National Wrestling Coaches Association and InterMat, comes off a long winter break (its last dual was on Dec. 10 vs. Oklahoma State) to host Seton Hall and Oregon on Jan. 2. The Sooners enter the matches sporting a 1-1 record after falling to the top-ranked Cowboys, 22-13. OU will be without the services of redshirt-freshman 157-pounder Mark Worthy, who severed his ACL against OSU and will be lost for the season. The Sooners will replace him in the lineup with either junior transfer Brian Burrows or redshirt-freshman Tony Moore. Neither has seen dual action this season. Burrows suffered a knee injury during preseason drills, but OU coaches expect him to return to the line-up in time to compete against Seton Hall and Oregon.

SETON HALL
Seton Hall enters its dual against Oklahoma sporting an 0-3 record and have not competed in dual competition since Dec. 10. The Pirates fell in their opening dual of the season to former OU assistant coach Chuck Barbee's Army squad, 22-18. Seton Hall followed with losses to No. 21 Wisconsin, 31-7, and second-ranked Minnesota, 37-2. The Pirates are led by 133-pounder junior David Ilarie who has compiled an 11-3 record. Mike Settembrino, a senior at 141 pounds, was the only Pirate to claim a victory in last year's dual when he decisioned Bo Maynes 8-6 in sudden victory overtime at 133 pounds. OU won the only previous meeting between the two teams last season, 36-3.

OREGON
Oregon (#14/#16) travels to Norman after sending several individual wrestlers to the Midlands, one of he most prestigious wrestling tournaments in the nation. As a team, the Ducks sport a perfect 3-0 record after upsetting arch-rival Oregon State, 22-16, on Dec. 13. On paper, OU wrestlers are underdogs to the Oregon grapplers from four to six weights, depending on which rankings one looks at. Four Ducks are ranked in the top 10 of their respective weight classes, including fourth-ranked Shaun Williams (125 pounds, 14-2), eighth-ranked Brian Watson (133, 8-1), fourth-ranked Doug Lee (184, 9-3) and seventh-ranked Chael Sonnen (197, 10-3). Heavyweight Eric Webb (8-3) and 157-pounder Eugene Harris are also ranked in the top 20. The Sooners lead the all-time series with Oregon, 9-1. OU won the last meeting, 38-6, during the 1999 season.

LIGHTNER AIMS FOR CAREER WIN MARK
Senior 141-pounder Michael Lightner will be gunning for several Sooner records this season, including the career victory mark. His 120 career wins ranks fourth-all time. The school record holder in single-season victories (42 in 1999), Lightner would need to break his own record to tie Dan Chaid's mark of 150 wins. He will also try to become OU's first four-time conference champion, the first four-time Big 12 champion and Oklahoma's first four-time All-American since John Kading 1994-1997. Lightner has won 11 of his 13 matches (84.6 percent) by bonus this season.

FRAYER ON FIRE
With eight pins on the season, including a pin of then-seventh-ranked Billy Maldonado of Iowa State, Jared Frayer has now moved into a tie with four-time All-American Roger Frizzell for 10th in career pins with 23. The eight pins also tied his career high. Frayer has beaten two opponents ranked in the top 10 and started the season on an eight-match winning streak. His only losses of the season were to top-ranked Adam Tirapelle of Illinois and OSU's fourth-ranked Reggie Wright. Frayer has won 81.8 percent of his matches by bonus.

CRUMP OFF TO FAST START
Redshirt-freshman heavyweight Leonce Crump is off to a fast start, beginning his Sooner career with an 11-3 record. The champion of the Oklahoma Open, he is second on the team in pins with six and is riding a five-match winning streak since finishing fourth at the St. Louis Open. In his last match, Crump dominated OSU's James Huml, 9-4, in an upset victory.

BURROWS TO MAKE SOONER DEBUT
Junior Brian Burrows has recovered from a preseason knee injury and is set to make his Sooner debut at 157 pounds. A transfer from Oklahoma State, Burrows posted a 6-2 record in 2000 after recording a 16-2 mark in 1999.

KJELDGAARD, WORTHY OUT FOR SEASON AT 157
Considered one of OU's deepest weights during fall drills, 157 pounds has been depleted by a rash of early season knee injuries. Three grapplers, senior two-time NCAA qualifier David Kjeldgaard, junior Brian Burrows and redshirt-freshman Mark Worthy were in a heated three-way battle for the starting nod. Kjeldgaard is currently recovering from knee surgery, his fourth in as many seasons, and is lost for the season. Worthy sported a 5-2 record and was ranked 18th in the country by Amateur Wrestling News before suffering an ACL injury in the Oklahoma State dual. Burrows, a junior transfer from OSU, was held out of drills for much of the early season due to a knee injury but is expected to make his Sooner debut against Seton Hall

SOONER HEAD COACH JACK SPATES
Oklahoma finished fourth at the 2000 NCAA Wrestling Championships, its highest finish since 1989. The Sooners also crowned its first national champion since 1996 and two Big 12 Champions. OU tallied a 17-4-1 dual record and climbed as high as third in the polls. This came just one season after Oklahoma won the Big 12 Championship for the first time since 1986 and placed sixth at the NCAA Championships. The man who led the Sooners to those feats was head coach Jack Spates, the 1999 Big 12 Co-Coach of the Year.

Spates came to the University of Oklahoma from Cornell, where he owned the school's highest winning percentage after compiling an impressive 74-14-1 record over five seasons. Taking an Ivy League program that had no scholarships and without Eastern or national stature, Spates built a powerhouse that dominated the last two Eastern Championships during his tenure, crowning nine individual champions, and rose from no national placing to 20th-, 15th- and 10th-place finishes at the NCAA Championship. Equally impressive is the fact that his Cornell teams had the highest grade point average of any athletic team on campus. His accomplishments led him to be named the New York Collegiate Coach of the Year, Eastern Coach of the Year and New York State Wrestling Man of the Year.

Spates has developed 20 All-Americans while at OU, including four-time All-American and NCAA Champion John Kading at 190 pounds, undefeated NCAA Champion Byron Tucker at 174 pounds and three-time All-Amercian and two-time NCAA runner-up Michael Lightner.

KING PINS
With 33 pins already this season, OU wrestlers are on pace for its highest team total since the 1997-98 season. Several Sooners have either already set career highs for falls or have surpassed last season's total. Leading the pin parade is junior Jared Frayer with a career high tying eight pins. He has led OU in pins in each of the last two seasons and ranks in the OU top 10 in career falls. Heavyweight Leonce Crump has tallied eight pins in his freshman campaign, the highest total by an OU heavyweight since 1998. Michael Lightner's three pins surpasses his total from last season and Waymon May's three falls is a career high. Both Frayer (61.5 percent) and Crump (42.9) would currently place in the top-20 in single-season fall percentage.

WELDON, JONES PROMOTED TO TOP ASSISTANTS
OU assistant coaches Barry Weldon and Rodney Jones have been promoted to head assistant coach and second assistant coach. After former assistant coach Chuck Barbee left to become the head coach at Army, head coach Jack Spated conducted a national search before promoting Weldon and Jones. Derek DelPorto will now serve as the Sooners' volunteer assistant.

OU ON THE INTERNET
Sooner wrestling will broadcast selected home and road duals on the official OU athletic website, soonersports.com. The action will be called by veteran radio personality James Hale with analyst Dr. Ron Tripp. Dual broadcasts can be accessed on the site's front page. Audio with Sooner head coach Jack Spates and selected OU wrestlers will also be available by accessing the audio/video page of the website.

UP NEXT
OU will travel to Arlington, Texas on Jan. 6 to compete in the Lone Star Duals. The Sooners will wrestle four matches on the day, starting at 8 a.m. Oklahoma will compete against Wyoming, Brown, Harvard and Northern Iowa. OU has compiled an 8-1 record in the three-year history of the event.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Set To Host Seton Hall, Oregon

PROJECTED LINEUPS

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