Wrestling Ranked Seventh Going Into Colorado School Mines Tournament

Jan. 26, 2001

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THE SOONERS
Oklahoma enters this weekend's action at the Colorado School Mines Tournament sporting a 14-3-1 record and are ranked seventh by the National Wrestling Coaches' Association (NWCA) and sixth by InterMat. Several Sooners are currently battling injuries including Michael Lightner (torn shoulder muscle) and Bo Maynes (seperated cartilidge in his ribs) will be out of action this weekend. All 10 OU starters are ranked nationally by either Amateur Wrestling News or InterMat.

LAST TIME
Oklahoma dominated NAIA power Missouri Valley, 29-10. The Sooners won 7 of 10 weights, including pins by 149-pounder Jared Frayer and Nick Curcio at 184 pounds.

COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES TOURNAMENT
OU will compete in the Colorado School of Mines Tournament this Saturday. The tournament is an individual tournament and will include wrestlers from the Colorado School of Mines, Cal State Fullerton, Wyoming, Air Force and Oklahoma. Each weight class will field an eight-man bracket with each school having at least one entrant in every weight class.

BARGER NAMED BIG 12 WRESTLER OF THE WEEK
Oklahoma junior Michael Barger was selected as Big 12 Wrestler of the Week as announced by the conference office Tuesday. Barger, a 174-pounder, is coming off an upset win over top-ranked and previously undefeated Otto Olson of Michigan at the Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals last weekend. The Sallisaw, Okla., native helped propel Oklahoma to a sixth-place finish. For the second straight week, Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors went to a Sooner. Senior Michael Lightner garnered the award last week.

LIGHTNER SELECTED FOR ALL-STAR DUAL
OU senior 141-pounder Michael Lightner has been selected to compete in the NWCA All-Star Dual at Franklin and Marshall University. The nation's second-ranked wrestler at 141, Lightner will not participate in the competition.

SPATES WINS 100TH DUAL AT OU
Head Coach Jack Spates won his 100th dual at Oklahoma with a 21-16 victory at Fresno State on Jan. 14. Spates' record at OU currently stands at 104-41-5.

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 131 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 20 of his 24 matches (83 percent) by bonus this season.

FRAYER ON FIRE
With 15 pins on the season, Jared Frayer has now moved into sixh in career falls at OU with 29. The 15 pins are a career high and are the highest season total for a Sooner grappler since Edcar Thomas posted 15 pins in 1979. Frayer has beaten three opponents ranked in the top 10 and started the season on an eight-match winning streak. He has won 76 percent of his matches by bonus. Frayer 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 20-7 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 14 of his last 18 matches 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.

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 54 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 and 15 pins. He has led OU in pins in each of the last two seasons and ranks sixth in career falls. His 15 pins are the highest single-season total since Edcar Thomas recorded 15 falls in 1979. 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 and seven, respectively. Frayer (51.7 percent) would currently place in the top 15 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.

SOONER BONUS
OU coaches stress the importance of winning matches by bonus points and this season Sooner wrestlers have clamed 73 matches by major decision or better. The following are OU's bonus points leaders.

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.

UP NEXT
OU travels to Ames, Iowa, to battle fourth-ranked Iowa State on Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. The Sooners return to Oklahoma on Feb. 4 to host Oregon State and Missouri. The Oregon State dual will be held in Marlow at 1 p.m. and the Missouri dual will begin at 7 p.m. at the OU Field House.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Wrestling Ranked Seventh Going Into Colorado School Mines Tournament

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