Sooner Wrestlers Ready For Action At 2001 NCAA Championships

March 14, 2001

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2001 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, March 15-17. Three schools - top-ranked Minnesota, second-ranked Oklahoma State and Ohio State - qualified 10 wrestlers for the championships. OU is one of four schools to qualify nine wrestlers. Edinboro, Illinois and Iowa State are the others. Last season, the Sooners finished fourth at the NCAA championships, crowned a national champion and had three grapplers earn All-America honors.

NINE SOONERS QUALIFY FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
For the second-straight season, OU qualified nine wrestlers for the NCAA championships. Leading the way is four-time Big 12 champion, three-time All-American and two-time NCAA runnerup Michael Lightner. The 141-pound Lightner has tallied a 32-0 record this season. Junior 149-pounder Jared Frayer will be making his third appearance at the NCAA's and has put together his best season as a Sooner. A two-time Big 12 runner-up, Frayer has pinned 19 opponents, best in the Big 12, and has posted a career-high 34 wins. Four OU grapplers - Robbie Waller (165), Michael Barger (174), Josh Lambrecht (184), and Waymon May (197) - have earned their second berth to the NCAA championships. Waller finished second at the Big 12 Championships and has won a career-high 29 matches. Waller owns a win against second-ranked Joe Heskett of Iowa State this season and leads OU in major decisions. Barger and May both last qualified in 1999. Barger backed-up NCAA champion Byron Tucker last season while May redshirted. Both Barger (27, 8) and May (29, 9) have posted career highs in wins and pins. Barger has defeated several highly ranked wrestlers including Michigan's Otto Olson, Big 12 champion Tyrone Lewis of Oklahoma State, Nebraska's Ati Conner and Mizzou's John Kopnisky. May downed Nebraska's Brad Vering in a dual in Norman. Josh Lambrecht (184) qualfied last season while wrestling at UT-Chattanooga. Lambrecht started the season slowly but has won seven of his last 10 matches, including two-straight pins. Big 12 Champion Leonce Crump (heavyweight), sophomore Witt Durden (133) and junior Matt Ridings (125) will be making their NCAA debut. Crump has 12 pins on the season and could score bonus points for OU. Ridings, the Big 12 runner-up, stepped into the starting lineup after an injury to starter Bo Maynes and has won 17 of his last 18 matches. Durden has struggled at times during the season but has wrestled one the toughest schedules in the nation which should prepare him for championship action.

BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
At the Big 12 Championships, Oklahoma senior 141-pounder Michael Lightner claimed his fourth Big 12 Championship to become the Sooners first four-time conference champion and the first wrestler to win four Big 12 crowns. As a team, OU finished in second place with 68 points behind conference champion Oklahoma State (85). Iowa State placed third (67.5) followed by Nebraska (50) and Missouri (10.5). Nine Sooners qualified for the NCAA Championships in Iowa City, Iowa. Conference champions Lightner and heavyweight Leonce Crump, runners-up Matt Ridings (125), Jared Frayer (149) and Robbie Waller (165), third-place finisher Josh Lambrecht (184), and wildcard qualifiers Witt Durden (133), Michael Barger (174) and Waymon May (197) all advanced to the championships.

LIGHTNER BECOMES OU'S FIRST FOUR-TIME CONFERENCE CHAMP AND FIRST FOUR-TIME BIG 12 CHAMP
Michael Lightner became OU's first four-time conference champion and the first four-time champion n Big 12 history. The senior 141-pounder could also become the Sooners first four-time All-American since John Kading (1994-97). His 137 career wins ranks second all-time in OU history. The school record holder in single-season victories (42 in 1999), a midseason injury sidelined Lightner's chance of breaking the school all-time victory mark. Lightner has won 24 of his 30 matches (80 percent) by bonus this season. He has been ranked second by every wrestling poll all season.

FRAYER ON FIRE
With 19 pins on the season, fifth-ranked Jared Frayer has now moved into sixth in career falls at OU with 34. The 19 pins are a career high and is the second most pins by an OU grappler in a single-season. He trails only Dan Chaid (24) in single-season pins. Frayer has beaten three opponents ranked in the top 10 and won career-high 32 matches. He has won 76.5 percent of his matches by bonus. Frayer leads the Big 12 in pins. He is currently ranked seventh by AWN.

CRUMP OFF TO FAST START
Redshirt-freshman heavyweight Leonce Crump is off to a fast start, beginning his Sooner career with a 29-9 record and winning the Big 12 Championship. The champion of the Oklahoma Open, he is second on the team in pins with 12, the highest total by a heavyweight since Herb Calvert posted 18 in 1976. Crump is currently ranked No. 12 nationally.

MAYDAY, MAYDAY!
After a slow start at the beginning of the season, senior 197-pounder Waymon May is now one of the hottest wrestlers in the nation. May has won 19 of his last 25 matches, including a 3-2 triumph against top-ranked, defending national champion Brad Vering of Nebraska. His six losses during that span were by a combined 10 points. May has also tallied a career-high nine pins. He is currently ranked ninth nationally by AWN.

WALLER AMONG NATION'S BEST
Sophomore Robbie Waller, 29-5, is among the best 165 pounders in the nation. He has notched three wins against top 10 ranked wrestlers including upsets of No. 6 Ty Wilcox of OSU and Iowa State's top-ranked Joe Heskett. Thirteen of Waller's wins have come by major decision and another three by technical fall. He is ranked fourth by Amateur Wrestling News and third by InterMat.

RIDING(S) A WINNING STREAK
With starter Bo Maynes out with injury, junior Matt Ridings has been thrust into the lineup at 125 pounds. Ridings posted a perfect 11-0 dual record and ended the dual season with 16-match winning streak. He extended his winning streak to 17 matches before falling to Jason Powell of Nebraska in the Big 12 championship match. Two of of Ridings five losses this season have been to Maynes. He cracked the rankings for the first time in his career at No. 12 by Amateur Wrestling News. Ridings is now ranked fifth by both AWN and InterMat.

BARGER FEATURED IN FACES IN THE CROWD
OU 174-pounder Michael Barger was recently featured in the Faces in the Crowd feature in Sports Illustrated. The junior won the honor after pinning top-ranked Otto Olson of Michigan at the Cliff Keen/NWCA National Duals. He also earned Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors earlier this season. Barger has posted career highs in both wins (27) and pins (eight). He has defeated several highly ranked wrestlers including Olson, OSU's Tyrone Lewis, Ati Conner of Nebraska and Mizzou's John Kopnisky. Barger has nine wins against ranked wrestlers this season.

DURDEN TO MAKE FIRST NCAA APPEARANCE
Sophomore Witt Durden will make his first NCAA appearance after finishing fourth at the Big 12 Championships. The 133 pounder won a career-best 25 matches and is ranked No. 15 by AWN and No. 11 by InterMat. Durden has wrestled one of the toughest schedules in the nation, facing NCAA qualifiers in 16 matches this season.

LAMBRECHT FINISHES STRONG
After battling injuries and the adjustment to a new system at the beginning of the season, sophomore transfer Josh Lambrecht placed third at the Big 12 Championships. Lambrecht has been one of OU's hottest wrestlers down the stretch, winning seven of his last 10 matches. All three of his losses have come to top-ranked Cael Sanderson of Iowa State and Oklahoma State's No. 3 Daniel Cormier, who defeated Lambrecht twice. Lambrecht has recorded first period pins in his last two matches.

LIGHTNER EARNS SECOND BIG 12 WRESTLER OF THE WEEK HONOR
Oklahoma senior 141-pounder Michael Lightner was selected Big 12 Wrestler of the Week as announced by the conference office Tuesday. He became the only Big 12 wrestler to earn the honor twice this season. Lightner, undefeated at 30-0 this season, defeated No. 16 Mike Castillo by major decision, 14-5, in OU's 30-6 win against 12th-ranked Michigan State. Lightner joins fellow senior Waymon May (197 pounds) and junior Michael Barger (174) who also won the award this season. An OU wrestler was honored as Big 12 Wrestler of the Week four times this season, more than any other conference school.

NO. 1 GOES DOWN...AGAIN
When 197-pounder Waymon May upset top-ranked Brad Vering, 3-2, in the Nebraska dual, it marked the third time this season that a Sooner has knocked off a No. 1-ranked wrestler. Michael Barger began the run for the Sooners when he pinned the No. 1 at 174 pounds, Otto Olson of Michigan. It was Olson's first loss of the season. Less than two weeks, later Robbie Waller (165) downed Iowa State's Joe Heskett, the nation's top-ranked wrestler by Amateur 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.

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 109-43-5.

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 76 pins already this season, the OU wrestling team has already surpassed their total of last 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 Big 12 leading 19 pins. He has led OU in pins in each of the last two seasons and ranks sixth in career falls with 34. His 19 pins are the second highest single season total in school history. Heavyweight Leonce Crump has tallied 12 pins in his freshman campaign, the highest total by an OU heavyweight since Herb Calvert posted 18 in 1976. Michael Lightner, Michael Barger and Waymon May have also both set career bests for falls with six, eight and nine, respectively. Frayer (47.5 percent) would currently place 15th 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.

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 did not participate in the competition due to injury.

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 weekly by accessing the audio/video page of the website.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner Wrestlers Ready For Action At 2001 NCAA Championships

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors