Sooners Prepare For Season Finale

Feb. 22, 2000

The Sooners
OU enters its regular season finale against Michigan State with a 16-4-1 record after defeating Missouri on Wednesday. Starters Quantres Bates, Byron Tucker, Orville Palmer and Brent Boeshans will compete for the final time in Norman.
So far this season, six OU grapplers have 20 or more wins. All 10 OU starters are ranked by Amateur Wrestling News or InterMat, seven of which are ranked in the top 10, including top-ranked 174-pounder Tucker.

Michigan State
Michigan State comes to Norman with a 10-4-1 record after upsetting Oklahoma State, 21-10, in East Lansing on Sunday. The Spartans won the first four matches of the dual and earned three upsets in the win. Top-ranked 197-pounder Nick Muzashvili brings a 27-1 record into the dual and second-ranked Pat McNamara is 10-1 at 133 pounds. Gray Manard, 157 pounds, is Michigan State's only other wrestler ranked in the top ten and sports a 23-8 record. The Sooners defeated the Spartans, 23-10, last year in East Lansing and own a 29-7 advantage in the all-time series.

Last Time Out
Fifth-ranked Oklahoma defeated Big 12 foe Missouri, 33-3, in front of 693 fans at the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse in Columbia, Mo., Wednesday night. OU's Robbie Waller (165) won by pin and three other Sooners won by major decision. The win moved OU to 16-4-1 on the season. Missouri fell to 10-11.

Oklahoma vs. Michigan State
Feb. 24 - OU Field House - 6 p.m.

Projected Lineup
#5/#5 Oklahoma (16-4-1) vs. #10/#12 Michigan State (10-4-1)


125 pounds:   #3/#4 Quantres Bates, Sr. (22-1)        vs. #18/#20 Chris Williams, So. (24-11)

133 pounds: #16/#12 Witt Durden, Fr.-RS (15-9)        vs. #2/#2 Pat McNamara, Jr. (10-1)

141 pounds:   #2/#4 Michael Lightner, Jr. (26-3)      vs. Mike Castillo, Jr. (16-12)

149 pounds:   #7/#8 Jared Frayer, So. (22-7)          vs. #18 (IM) Cory Posey, Jr. (18-6) OR

                                                          Karl Nodolsky, Fr.-RS (19-5)

157 pounds:   #5/#4 David Kjeldgaard, Jr. (26-3)      vs. #10/#10 Gray Maynard, Fr.-RS (23-8)

165 pounds:   10 Robbie Waller, Fr.-RS (19-4)      vs. #15/#18 Greg DeGrand, Sr. (27-9)

174 pounds:   #1/#1 Byron Tucker, Sr. (26-0)          vs. #15/#13 Will Hill, Sr. (18-9) OR

                                                          John Wechter, Fr.-RS (9-8)

184 pounds: #14/#13 Tommy Grossman, So. (14-8)        vs. James Brimm, Jr. (11-13) OR

                                                          Joe Cotant, Jr. (9-18)

197 pounds:   #5/#5 Orville Palmer, Sr. (18-8)        vs. #1/#4 Nick Muzashvili, Sr. (27-1)

Heavyweight: #18 (IM) Brent Boeshans, Sr. (19-5)      vs. 17 Matt Lamb, Jr. (24-8)

Team rankings: NWCA/InterMat  Individual Rankings:  Amateur Wrestling News/InterMat.

The Rankings
The OU wrestling team is ranked fourth in the nation by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and fifth by InterMat. The following wrestlers are ranked in their individual weight classes by Amateur Wrestling News and/or InterMat.


 125: Quantres Bates     #3 (AWN), #4 (IM)

 133: Witt Durden       #16 (AWN), #12 (IM)

 141: Michael Lightner   #2 (AWN), #4 (IM)

 149: Jared Frayer       #7 (AWN), #8 (IM)

 157: David Kjeldgaard   #5 (AWN), #4 (IM)

 165: Robbie Waller      #9 (AWN, IM)

 174: Byron Tucker       #1 (AWN), #10 (IM)

 184: Tommy Grossman    #14 (AWN), #13 (IM)

 197: Orville Palmer     #5 (AWN, IM)

 Hwt: Brent Boeshans    #18 (IM)

Starter Bios

Quantres Bates, Sr., 125 pounds, 22-1
Defeated Rocco Mansueto of Cleveland State for the championship at the Oklahoma Gold Classic...Downed seventh ranked Pat Cassidy of Indiana for the championship at the St. Louis Open...Defeated No. 13 Mike Kawamura of Arizona State, 5-4...Upset Nebraska's fourth-ranked Paul Gomez at the National Duals...Also defeated No. 14 Matt Azevedo of Iowa State, 9-3, in the semifinals of the National Duals...Also downed Azevedo by major decision, 15-5, in OU's 18-17 upset of the Cyclones...Defeated No. 12 Gomez in the Nebraska dual...Pinned OSU's sixth-ranked Jeff Ragan with one second remaining in the first period to avenge his only loss of the season.

Witt Durden, Fr.-RS, 133 pounds, 15-9
Pinned Central Oklahoma's Weston Moore (:37) in his first collegiate dual...Collected two falls at the Lone Star Duals.

Michael Lightner, Jr., 141 pounds, 26-3
Champion of the Oklahoma Gold Classic...Defeated eighth-ranked Jason DeBruin of Hofstra, 3-2, for the title...Won the championship at the St. Louis Open...Selected to compete in his second NWCA All-Star Classic...Upset OSU's third-ranked Jamill Kelly, 5-1, at the National Duals...Defeated #14 Sonny Marchette, 3-0, in the dual's final match to propel OU to an 18-17 upset of Iowa State...Downed seventh-ranked Damion Logan, 8-3. at the NWCA All-Star Classic...Defeated fifth-ranked Kelly again in Norman, 2-1...The win against Kelly was his 100th career victory.

Jared Frayer, So., 149 pounds, 22-7
Avenged an early season loss to Hofstra's seventh ranked Schmiesing, upseting him 10-5...Pinned his first two opponents at the Lone Star Duals...Upset Iowa's fifth-ranked Mike Zadick, 11-4, in the final match of the Lone Star Duals...Named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 11...Defeated ninth-ranked Cole Sanderson, 10-4, to avenge an earlier loss in OU's 18-17 upset of Iowa State...Won by major decision against No. 14 Joe Henson at Nebraska.

David Kjeldgaard, Jr., 157 pounds, 26-3
Won the championship at the Oklahoma Gold Classic...Defeated Bloomsburg's 14th-ranked Ed Hockenberry, 4-2, in the finals...Defeated OSU's #14 Shane Roller, 7-6, in the dual's final match to bring the final score to 16-16...Pinned N.C. State's Steve Wiggins in :59...Pinned Zac Becker of Northern Illinois at the Lone Star Duals...Wrestled up a weight class at 165 pounds and defeated Iowa's Matt Anderson at the Lone Star Duals...Downed eighth-ranked Cole Sanderson of Iowa State, 8-3, at the National Duals...Beat Sanderson again a week later in a 18-17 Sooner victory...Scored four points in the third period for a come-from-behind win against No. 15 Roller in Norman.

Robbie Waller, Fr.-RS, 165 pounds, 19-4
Defeated Hofstra's Noel Thompson, 15-4, to win the championship of the Oklahoma Gold Classic...Won the championship at the St. Louis Open...Defeated Wisconsin's Don Pritzlaff (ranked fourth nationally) and Heath Eslinger of Tennessee-Chattanooga (No. 13) on his way to the championship...Reversed seventh-ranked Ty Wilcox of Oklahoma State with four seconds remaining in their match for a 4-3 win...Collected two falls in one day when he pinned Matt Demers of Fresno State and Nate Knutson of Cal Poly...Pinned Nebraska's Tony Denke in 2:46.

Byron Tucker, Sr., 174 pounds, 26-0
Named the outstanding wrestler of the Oklahoma Gold Classic...Winner of the St. Louis Open...Defeated sixth-ranked Kole Clauson from Wisconsin at the St. Louis Open...Moved into InterMat's No. 1 ranking on Jan. 12 and Amateur Wrestling News' top spot on Jan. 17...Pinned Arizona State's Curtis Owen in 2:30...Pinned R.D. Pursell of Arizona State in 2:46 at he National Duals...Won all four of his matches at the National Duals by major decision or better...Defeated #15 Perry Parks by technical fall, 15-5, in OU's 18-17 upset win over Iowa State...Won by major decision over Nebraska's No. 19 Ati Conner...Defeated OSU's Tony Gansen, 19-6, for his 100th career victory.

Tom Grossman, So., 184 pounds, 14-8
Overcame a 5-1 third period deficit to defeat OSU's #16 Pat Popolizio, 8-6, in sudden victory overtime...Downed No. 20 Fikret Darzanoff of Seton Hall, 6-4.

Orville Palmer, Sr., 197 pounds, 18-8
Won the championship of the Oklahoma Gold Classic by defeating Bloomsburg's Todd Hockenbroch, 9-3...Downed Iowa's seventh-ranked Lee Weber in the final match of the Lone Star Duals.

Brent Boeshans, Sr., Hwt., 19-5
Defeated teammate Gary Barber, 18-7, for the championship of the Oklahoma Gold Classic...Won his first Sooner dual by fall, pinning Central Oklahoma's Bryan Wilson in 3:38...Upset OSU's eight-ranked Dave Anderton, 3-1, at the National Duals

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