Wrestlers On A Roll, Ranked Sixth Nationally

Jan. 18, 2001

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#6/#6 Oklahoma Sooners (10-1)
At Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals
Jan. 20-21 - State College, Pa.

THE SOONERS
Oklahoma, ranked sixth by both the National Wrestling Coaches Association and InterMat polls, enters the National Duals with a record of 10-1 after winning three duals last weekend. Nine of OU's 10 starters are ranked in their individual weight class by either Amatuer Wrestling News or InterMat.

LAST TIME
The Sooners won three duals last weekend, downing Arizona State, Cal Poly and Fresno State. OU won six bouts against Arizona State highlighted by Michael Lightner's win over third-ranked Eric Larkin at 141 pounds. Waymon May (197) and Bo Maynes (125) won their matches by major decision. Against Cal Poly, OU claimed eight matches to win 28-6. Lightner tallied his fifth pin of the season, a career high, and Robbie Waller recorded a major decision at 165 to highlight the victory. Against Fresno State, OU won four of the first five matches before dropping four of the last five in a 21-16 win. Three Sooners, Lightner, Waller and Michael Barger (174), claimed their matches by bonus.

CLIFF KEEN/NWCA NATIONAL DUALS
OU will be the fifth seed at the National Duals and will compete in its first match on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. The Sooners first round opponent will not be determined until Friday. The tournaments top seed is undefeated Oklahoma State, followed by Minnesota, Iowa and Iowa State. Michigan will be seeded sixth with Nebraska and Arizona State at seventh and eighth, respectively. Unseeded teams include Edinboro, Hofstra, Lehigh, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Montclair State, Montana State Northern and Nebraska-Omaha.

LIGHTNER NAMED BIG 12 WRESTLER OF THE WEEK
Lightner, a three-time Big 12 champion from Marlow, Okla., defeated third-ranked Eric Larkin of Arizona State 7-3 in OU's 20-12 win over the Sun Devils on Jan. 12. The two-time NCAA runnerup and second-ranked wrestler nationally at 141 pounds also notched a pair on wins on Jan. 14 - a fall over Aaron Gharst of Cal Poly and a technical fall over Fresno State's Ralph Lopez.

SPATES WINS 100TH DUAL AT OU
Head Coach Jack Spates and the Sooners won three matches to capture his 100th dual win at Oklahoma. Spates' record at OU currently stands at 100-39-4.

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 129 career wins ranks second all-time in OU history. 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 19 of his 22 matches (86.4 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 last two 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 77.7 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 17-6 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 11 of 14 and is currently ranked ninth nationally by Amatuer Wrestling News.

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 at 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 produced 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 47 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 and Waymon May have also both set new career bests for falls with five. Frayer (57.1 percent) would currently place in the top 10 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 Michael (149) and Robbie Waller (165) will be featured.

UP NEXT
OU hosts NAIA power Missouri Valley, Jan. 24 at the OU Field House. Action begins at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on OU athletics official website, www.soonersports.com

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Wrestlers On A Roll, Ranked Sixth Nationally

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