Oklahoma Wrestling To Face Sun Devils, Mustangs, and Bulldogs

Jan. 11, 2001

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#6/#6 Oklahoma Sooners (7-1)
At #9/#11 Arizona State Sun Devils (4-0) - Jan. 12 - 7 p.m.
At Cal Poly Mustangs (1-2) - Jan. 14 - Noon
At #25/#25 Fresno State Bulldogs (2-4) - Jan. 14 - 7 p.m.

THE SOONERS
Oklahoma, ranked sixth by both the National Wrestling Coaches Association and InterMat, enters this weekend's western road swing with a record of 7-1 after sweeping four matches at the Lone Star Duals. Nine of OU's 10 starters are ranked in their individual weight class by either Amatuer Wrestling News or InterMat.

LAST TIME
OU won four matches at the Lone Star Duals in South Grand Prairie, Texas. The Sooners downed Wyoming (37-7), Brown (35-6), Harvard (27-15) and No. 24 Northern Iowa (23-15). With four wins on the day, senior Michael Lightner improved to 126 victories for his career, the third best total in school history. Junior Jared Frayer pinned three opponents to move into eighth place in career pins with 27. He also has 12 pins on the season, the best OU single-season mark since 1998. Bo Maynes and Matt Ridings (125 pounds), Lightner (141), Frayer (149), Robbie Waller (165) and Michael Barger (174) all went undefeated on the day.

ARIZONA STATE
Arizona State is unbeaten in dual action and ranked ninth by the NWCA and No. 11 by InterMat. The 4-0 Sun Devils have posted two shutouts this season, blasting Minnesota-Morris, 51-0, and Northwestern, 41-0. One of the marquee matchup of the night will involve OU's second-ranked Michael Lightner (19-0) against third-ranked Eric Larkin (9-0). Larkin did not wrestle collegiatelly last season while training for the Olympic Trials and qualified for the U.S. National Team. All of his wins have come by bonus (three falls, one tech fall and five major decisions). Friday's dual will be the first action for Larkin since early December due to a knee injury. Another highly anticipated bout will feature ASU's Steve Blackford (#4/#5) and Sooner Robbie Waller. The sixth winninest wrestler in Sun Devil history, Blackford leads Arizona State with 17 victories this season including wins in 11 of his last 12. Blackford defeated Waller, 4-0, in their only previous meeting at the National Duals last season. Other matchups between ranked wrestlers include OU's Witt Durden against David Douglas (17/18) at 133 pounds, the Sun Devils Rocky Smart (16/14) versus Brian Burrows (18/20) at 157 and heavyweights Kellan Fluckiger (9/9) against Sooner Leonce Crump (14/20). OU leads the series 17-12-1. The Sooners have won four-straight, including three last season.

CAL POLY
OU will face Cal Poly in the first match of its California doubleheader. Cal Poly is 1-2 on the season and has dropped both of its matches to top 25 competition. The Mustangs have only one ranked wrestler, junior 149-pounder Cedric Haymon. Haymon (No. 12 AWN, No. 13 IM) lead Cal Poly with a 17-4 record, five wins coming by major decision. Cal Poly will face Fresno State on Jan. 12 before they face OU and will be without starter Jesse Reta who will be replaced by Josh Blagg at 157 pounds. Blagg will be making his first career start against Fresno State. The Sooners lead the all-time series 22-3-2. OU has not lost to Cal Poly since 1990.

FRESNO STATE
Fresno State is currently ranked 25th by th NWCA and InterMat. The Bulldogs feature one of the top wrestlers in the nation in Stephen Abas. The 1999 NCAA champion at 125 pounds, Abas spent last season training for the Olympic Trials and did not compete in collegiate competition. The 11-0 Abas is currently ranked first nationally at 125. Heavyweight Billy Blunt is another standout for Fresno State. Ranked third by AWN and fourth by InterMat, Blunt sports a 6-1 record. Blunt's only loss came to fifth-ranked Paul Hynek of Northern Iowa, 5-4, at the Lone Star Duals. Derrick Hayes (16/19 at 133 pounds) and Nathan Vasquez (15/16 at 157) are FSU's only other ranked grapplers. Fresno State will face Cal Poly on Jan. 12 before its meeting with the Sooners. OU lead the all-time series, 12-5.

SPATES GUNS FOR CENTURY MARK AT OU
Head Coach Jack Spates will be searching for his 100th win at OU during this weekend's roadtrip. Spates has currently tallied 97 wins with the Sooners and is favored in all three matches this weekend. Spates' record at OU currently stands at 97-39-4.

LIGHTNER AIMS FOR CAREER-WIN RECORD
Senior 141-pounder Michael Lightner will be aiming for several Sooner records this season, including the career victory mark. His 126 career wins ranks third all-time and he could move past T.J. Sewell (128 career victories) into second place with three wins this weekend. 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 17 of his 19 matches (89.5 percent) by bonus this season.

FRAYER ON FIRE
With 12 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 T.J. Sewell for eighth in OU career falls. The 12 pins are a career high and are the highest season total for a Sooner grappler since Michael Roller posted 12 falls in 1998. Frayer has beaten three opponents ranked in the top 10 and started the season on an eight-match winning streak. He has won four straight matches by fall with his latest coming in 27 and 33 seconds, respectively. Frayer's only losses of the season were to top-ranked Adam Tirapelle of Illinois and OSU's fourth-ranked Reggie Wright. He has won 87.5 percent of his matches by bonus. He leads the Big 12 in pins.

CRUMP OFF TO FAST START
Redshirt-freshman heavyweight Leonce Crump is off to a fast start, beginning his Sooner career with an 15-5 record. The champion of the Oklahoma Open, he is second on the team in pins with eight, the highest total by a heavyweight since Mark Tatum posted eight in 1986. Crump has won nine of 11 matches since finishing fourth at the St. Louis Open.

BURROWS WINS TWO IN SEASON DEBUT
Junior Brian Burrows has recovered from a preseason knee injury and won two matches in his Sooner debut on Jan 2. He downed Seton Hall's Leet Brady, 4-2, and Oregon's No. 18 Eugene Harris, 8-7. 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 year. 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 made his season debut against Seton Hall. Redshirt-freshman Tony Moore competed for the Sooners at 157 in the Lone Star Duals, becoming OU's third grappler to start a dual a that weight.

SOONER HEAD COACH JACK SPATES
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. 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 conference 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 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.

OU'S ALL-TIME WINNINGEST COACHES
Head coach Jack Spates is among the all-time leaders in career wins and winning percentage by OU coaches. The 1999 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Spates ranks third in both career wins and winning percentage.

KING PINS
With 45 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 12 pins. He has led OU in pins in each of the last two seasons and ranks eighth in career falls. His 12 pins are the highest single-season total since Michael Roller tallied 12 falls in 1998. Heavyweight Leonce Crump has tallied eight pins in his freshman campaign, the highest total by an OU heavyweight since 1986. Michael Lightner's four pins ties his career best and Waymon May's five falls is a career high. Frayer (66.7 percent) would currently place in the top three 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, respectively. 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. The next scheduled broadcast is slated for Jan. 24 against Missouri Valley at 7 p.m. Audio with Sooner head coach Jack Spates and selected OU wrestlers will also be available weekly by accessing the audio/video page of the website. This week Jared Frayer (149) and Robbie Waller (165) will be featured.

UP NEXT
OU travels to the prestigious Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals in State College, Pa. Competition will be held Jan. 20-21. The top eight seeds for the 16-team tournament will be decided by the most recent NWCA poll prior to the competition. Top-ranked Oklahoma State, Iowa (No. 2), Minnesota (No. 3), Iowa State (No. 4), Oklahoma (No. 6), Lehigh (No. 7), Michigan (No. 8), Nebraska (No. 9), Arizona State (No. 10), Edinboro (No. 13), Hofstra (No. 19), Virginia Tech (No. 21), Penn State, Nebraska-Omaha (defending Division II champion), Montclair State (defending Division III champion) and Montana State Northern (defending NAIA champion) comprise the field.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma Wrestling To Face Sun Devils, Mustangs, and Bulldogs

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