Oklahoma Wrestling Places Fifth At National Duals

The Sooners take fifth place at the 2004 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals presented by Ice Breakers. Oklahoma started the day off in the consolation bracket in a match-up against No. 6 Penn State at 9:00 a.m. The Sooners lost the dual, 20-14, in the closing seconds of the heavy weight match sending them to wrestle No. 11 Hofstra for fifth place at 1:00 p.m. Oklahoma jumped out to a 16-0 lead against Hofstra and never looked back claiming the dual and fifth place in the tournament with a 28-15 victory.

“I am real pleased with our kids,” head coach Jack Spates said. “We are a young team and we came in seeded eighth against the national duals. We beat the fifth seeded team and the seventh seeded team. We won a lot of matches against individuals we were not supposed to, and we beat a couple of teams we were not supposed to. I think we did a lot of growing up and we did a lot of battling.”

For the second time in this tournament, the dual against Penn State came down to the heavy weight match to decide who will go on to battle for third place and who will try for fifth. The Sooners uncharacteristically lost their first match at 125 pounds, 7-5. The match was close, No. 8 freshman Sam Hazewinkel fought hard against No. 11 Adam Smith. It came down to the last seconds of the match. The match was tied at 5-5 until Smith pulled a takedown with six seconds remaining to start the momentum towards the Nittany Lions.

Oklahoma also dropped their second match to the No. 3 wrestler at 133 pounds, by a 5-3 decision. No. 1 ranked sophomore Teyon Ware was up next to score a major decision over DeWitt Driscoll, 10-2. Driscoll's only points came off escapes after Ware had taken him down. At 149 pounds, No. 14 freshman Jeff Ecklof defeated No. 12 Matt Storniolo in a slow match that only saw three total points. Ecklof won by decision, 2-1. This put Oklahoma in the lead for the first time with a 7-6 score. That would not last long after freshman Charles Jones lost by major decision to James Woodall, 13-4.

Senior Rafael Maturino tied things up for the Sooners after his decision of Jarrad Turner, 10-4. No. 11 junior E.K. Waldhaus would put the Sooners out in front by four, 14-10. Waldhaus scored a major decision over James Yonushanis, 12-4. Waldhaus recorded a takedown with one second left to make it 11-4, add riding time and the Sooners get four points. No. 15 freshman Justin Dyer and Austin David both lost the next two matches. No. 10 Eric Bradley defeated Dyer by a 9-5 decision, while David lost by major decision, 10-0, to No. 15 Joel Edwards. Penn State was up on the scoreboard 17-14.

The dual came down to a heavy weight battle between two All-Americans, No. 4 senior Leonce Crump and No. 2 Pat Cummins. The match was a slow fight with no action in the first period, while the wrestlers tried to figure each other out. Cummins scored the only point in the second period with and escape. Crump waited until the third period to get on the board with an escape of his own to tie the match at 1-1. The match would go into overtime to determine a winner. 32 seconds into overtime Cummins pulled a takedown to win the match by a 3-1 decision and send the Sooners to the fifth place match.

The clash for fifth place between Oklahoma and Hofstra began at 125 pounds. Hazewinkel wrestled No. 3 Tom Noto and won by decision, 6-4, scoring a takedown with three seconds left to break a 4-4 tie. Miller was awarded a fall by forfeit at 133 pounds. Ware recorded a decision against John Manarte, 4-1, at 141 pounds. At 149 pounds Ecklof wrestled Chris Vondruska, winning by a 9-1 major decision. Vondruska scored first on an escape, then Ecklof turned it on and rolled off nine consecutive points to win the match.

Oklahoma lost the next three matches by decisions making the score 16-9. Hofstra was mounting a comeback until the 184 pound match between Dyer and Brad Christie. Dyer pinned Christie at the 1:22 mark to give the Sooners six points and make the overall score 22-9. Fifth place was all but guaranteed to the Sooners. Hofstra would win the next match at 197 pounds to make the score closer, but they would forfeit the heavy weight match giving Crump a fall by forfeit. The final score would read 28-15 in Oklahoma's favor. This locked up the fifth place title for the Sooners in an impressive National Duals tournament.

“If you told me three months ago that we would be hear right now, I would have taken it,” Spates said. “Three months ago I was thinking how I could cancel the season. We have done so much growing as individuals and our freshman are battling toe-to-toe with the best.”

“Teyon is getting better every match,” Spates said. “Rivaling him for outstanding wrestler is Jeff Ecklof. Ecklof lost to number two, but beat several guys that were ranked ahead of him. Sam beat two All-Americans. Mimi battled hard against tough kids and had a couple of key wins. Overall, I think everyone did good.”

The Sooners will wrestle next hosting Arizona State at the Howard McCasland Field House on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m.

Penn State 20   Oklahoma 14
125    Adam Smith (PSU) dec Sam Hazewinkel (OU) 7-5
133    Josh Moore (PSU) dec Mimi Miller (OU) 5-3
141    Teyon Ware (OU) maj dec Dewitt Driscoll (PSU) 10-2
149    Jeff Ecklof (OU) dec Matt Storniolo (PS) 2-1
157    James Woodall (PS) maj dec Charles Jones (OU) 13-4
165    Rafael Maturino (OU) dec Jarrad Turner (PSU) 10-4
174    E.K. Waldhaus (OU) maj dec James Yonushanis (PSU) 12-4
184    Eric Bradley (PSU) dec Justin Dyer (OU) 9-5
197    Joel Edwards (PSU) maj dec Austin David (OU) 10-0
285    Pat Cummins (PSU) dec Leonce Crump (OU) 3-1ot

Oklahoma 28   Hofstra 15
125    Sam Hazewinkel (OU) dec Tom Noto (Hof) 6-4
133    Mimi Miller (OU) fall by forfeit
141    Teyon Ware (OU) dec Jon Manarte (Hof) 4-1
149    Jeff Ecklof (OU) dec Chris Vondruska (Hof) 9-1
157    Paul Siemon (Hof) dec Matt Grice (OU) 4-2
165    Ralph Everett (Hof) dec Rafael Maturino (OU) 5-1
174    Noel Thompson (Hof) dec E.K. Waldhaus (OU) 3-2
184    Justin Dyer (OU) fall Brad Christie (Hof) 1:22
197    Chris Skretkowicz (Hof) fall Justin Tapler (OU) 5:30
285    Leonce Crump (OU) fall by forfeit

Oklahoma Wrestling Places Fifth At National Duals

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