Oklahoma Wrestling Takes Fifth Place At Big 12 Championships

The ninth ranked Oklahoma wrestling team placed fifth at the Big 12 Championships at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa on Saturday. The tournament puts the top five wrestlers at each weight class against each other to determine a champion. The Sooners walked away with two individual championships. Senior Leonce Crump captured his third title in his four-year career defeating Will Gruenwald of Oklahoma State, 6-1. The win marked the third time this year Crump defeated Gruenwald. Freshman Sam Hazewinkel picked up his first defeating top ranked Jason Powell of Nebraska, 5-2. Oklahoma State picked up its sixth Big 12 Championship in eight tries.

“It has been a long day that's for sure,” Oklahoma head coach Jack Spates said. “There were a lot of disappointments and some bright spots. The bottom line is we didn't do enough wrestling. Some of our guys wanted to win a little to easy.”

The first round of competition began with the fourth and fifth seeds battling to move up in the brackets. The Sooners had five wrestlers trying to advance to the semi-finals, but only freshman Mimi Miller and freshman Charles Jones won their matches. The first contest for Oklahoma came at 133 pounds with Miller. The match was close until 13th ranked Miller scored a takedown with three seconds left in the match to win 5-2. Jones won a close 165-pound match by only one point. Jones struck first with a takedown at 1:18 left in the first period, but had to hold on to win the match 3-2.

Oklahoma wrestled seven wrestlers in the semi-final round, only winning two of those matches. Eighth ranked Hazewinkel and third ranked Crump both won moving them into the finals to battle for championships. Hazewinkel's 125 pound semi-final match was not as close as the score shows. Hazewinkel's opponent, Cody Stites of Oklahoma State, only scored two points on escapes, the final point came from a stalling call on Hazewinkel with 39 seconds left to make the final score 5-3. Crump dominated his match with Nathan McClain of Nebraska. This is the second time Crump defeated McClain this season. The match started slow with Crump leading after two periods 2-1. Crump exploded in the third period scoring four points to close the match out with a 6-2 decision.

The consolation round started with six Sooners fighting for a chance to wrestle for third place. Three of those six were victorious and kept their third place hopes alive. After losing in overtime in the semi-finals defending Big 12 and national champion Teyon Ware defeated J.P.

Reese of Missouri at 141 pounds, 5-3 after scoring a takedown with 24 seconds left in overtime. Ninth ranked Jeff Ecklof upset third ranked Jeremy Spates of Missouri, 4-2 after a takedown with 15 seconds left in the match to advance to the third place match. The last Sooner to advance was 11th ranked E.K. Waldhaus. Waldhaus bounced back after being pinned in the semi-finals to pick up a 14-8 decision.

Third place matches began without a break after the consolation round. Oklahoma had four wrestlers competing for third place honors. Second ranked Ware and 11th ranked Waldhaus were the only two to garner third place medals. Ware won his match over Ronnie Delk of Oklahoma State in overtime, 3-3 criteria. This was Ware's third overtime match of the tournament. Waldhaus won his match destroying James Pummel of Nebraska, 9-4.

“Teyon Ware is not quite Teyon,” Spates said. “He's got to want it more than he fears it. He is a hair away from being a national champion again, but he has to go out and battle.”

Before the finals started Justin Dyer participated in a challenge match to determine who would take home fourth place in the 184-pound weight class. Dyer lost a tough match only to riding time. The match ended in a 6-6 tie, but Travis Pascoe of Nebraska had 1:04 of riding time to win the match by one point, 7-6.

The finals started at 125 pounds, which pitted Hazewinkel against first ranked Jason Powell. Hazewinkel scored the first four points of the match and never looked back. Powell scored two points off escapes and Hazewinkel added one more point with riding time to close the match out and claim the Big 12 Championship with a 5-2 decision.

“I have mixed emotions,” Hazewinkel said. “I'm really hurt for the team. It is not how we wanted it. We have a young team, we are still learning and we will bounce back. I am pretty excited on a personal level. It's great to win a Big 12 title and great to beat someone who beat you.”

The heavyweight finals match saw Crump matched up against defending Big 12 Champion, Will Gruenwald of Oklahoma State. Crump went in to this match with a purpose to rectify last year's title. Crump allowed only one point to Gruenwald on an escape in the second period, then cruised to the win with a 6-1 decision.

“It felt real good to win my third title,“ Crump said. “I keep telling myself that it should have been four, but you can't duel on the past. I made a mistake last year, but I came back and redeemed myself and beat the person that won my title last year that made it feel even better.”

“The NCAA Championships will be a new day, “ Spates said. “Historically we wrestle great at the Championships and we anticipate that happening again.”

The Sooners will compete next at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo. on March 18-20 all day.

First Round:
125 Grant Nakamura (ISU) decisioned Austin DeVoe (MU), 2-0
133 Mimi Miller (OU) decisioned Brett Watkins (MU), 5-3
141 Ronnie Delk (OSU) decisioned J.P. Reese (MU), 6-5
149 Trent Paulson (ISU) decisioned Jeff Ecklof (OU), 6-1
157 B.J. Wright (NU) fall Rafael Maturino (OU), 6:59
165 Charles Jones (OU) decisioned Tyron Woodley (MU), 3-2
174 James Pummel (NU) decisioned Grant Turner (ISU), 7-6
184 Travis Pascoe (NU) decisioned Kurt Backes (ISU), 10-3
197 Rusty Blackmon (OSU) decisioned Joel Tapler (OU), 1-0
HWT Nathan McClain (NU) decisioned Mike Whitehead (MU), 7-2 (OT)

Semi-Finals:
125 Jason Powell (NU) decisioned Grant Nakamura ISU), 8-2
       Sam Hazewinkel (OU) decisioned Cody Stites (OSU), 5-3
133 Johnny Thompson (OSU) decisioned Mimi Miller (OU), 3-1
       Zach Roberson (ISU) decisioned Matt Keller (NU), 7-5
141 Nate Gallick (ISU) decisioned Ronnie Delk (OSU), 3-2
       Matt Murray (NU) decisioned Teyon Ware (OU), 3-3 (2 OT) criteria
149 Travis Shufelt (NU) pinned Jeremy Spates (MU), 4:34
       Zack Esposito (OSU) decisioned Trent Paulson (ISU), 8-2
157 Johny Hendricks (OSU) decisioned B.J. Wright (NU), 4-1
       Kenny Burleson (MU) decisioned Travis Paulson (ISU), 3-1 (2 OT)
165 Tyrone Lewis (OSU) major decisioned Charles Jones (OU), 15-5
      Jacob Klein (NU) decisioned Nick Passolano (NU), 3-1
174 Chris Pendleton (OSU) pinned James Pummel (NU), 1:46
       Ben Askren (MU) pinned E.K. Waldhaus (OU), 2:07
184 Matt Pell (MU) decisioned Justin Dyer (OU), 3-2
       Jake Rosholt (OSU) decisioned Travis Pascoe (NU), 10-5
197 Rusty Blackmon (OSU) decisioned B.J. Padden (NU), 7-4
       Jeff Foust (MU) decisioned Trevor Smith (ISU), 6-4
HWT Leonce Crump (OU) decisioned Nathan McClain (NU), 5-2
         Will Gruenwald (OSU) decisioned Scott Coleman (ISU), 6-2

Consolation:
125 Cody Stites (OSU) decisioned Austin DeVoe (MU), 3-0
133 Matt Keller (NU) major decisioned Brett Watkins (MU), 12-3
141 Teyon Ware (OU) decisioned J.P. Reese (MU), 5-3 (OT)
149 Jeff Ecklof (OU) decisioned Jeremy Spates (MU), 4-2
157 Travis Paulson (ISU) decisioned Rafael Maturino (OU), 4-3
165 Nick Passolano (ISU) decisioned Tyron Woodley (MU), 8-4
174 E.K. Waldhaus (OU) decisioned Grant Turner (ISU), 14-8
184 Kurt Backes (ISU) decisioned Justin Dyer (OU), 8-5
197 Trevor Smith (ISU) decisioned Joel Tapler (OU), 8-2
HWT Scott Coleman (ISU) decisioned Mike Whitehead (MU), 8-2

3rd place: (Winners advance to NCAA Tournament)
125 Grant Nakamura (ISU) decisioned Cody Stites (OSU), 3-2 (OT)
133 Matt Keller (NU) decisioned Mimi Miller (OU), 6-3
141 Teyon Ware (OU) decisioned Ronnie Delk (OSU), 3-3 (2 OT) criteria #2
149 Trent Paulson (ISU) decisioned Jeff Ecklof (OU), 3-1
157 B.J. Wright (NU) decisioned Travis Paulson (ISU), 3-2
165 Nick Passolano (ISU) decisioned Charles Jones (OU), 4-2
174 E.K. Waldhaus (OU) decisioned James Pummel (NU), 9-4
184 Kurt Backes (ISU) decisioned Travis Pascoe (NU), 6-3
197 B.J. Padden (NU) major decisioned Trevor Smith (ISU), 12-4
HWT Scott Coleman (ISU) decisioned Nathan McClain (NU), 7-2

Challenge Match:
184 Travis Pascoe (NU) decisioned Justin Dyer (OU), 7-6

Finals:
125 Sam Hazewinkel (OU) decisioned Jason Powell (NU), 5-2
133 Johnny Thompson (OSU) pinned Zach Roberson (ISU), 6:22
141 Nate Gallick (ISU) decisioned Matt Murray (NU), 2-1 OT
149 Zack Esposito (OSU) decisioned Travis Shufelt (NU), 7-5
157 Kenny Burleson (MU) decisioned Johny Hendricks (OSU), 3-2
165 Tyrone Lewis (OSU) major decisioned Jacob Klein (NU), 12-4
174 Ben Askren (MU) decisioned Chris Pendelton (OSU), 9-7
184 Jake Rosholt (OSU) decisioned Matt Pell (MU), 11-6
197 Jeff Foust (MU) decisioned Rusty Blackmon (OSU), 2-1
HWT Leonce Crump (OU) dec. Will Gruenwald (OSU), 6-1

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma Wrestling Takes Fifth Place At Big 12 Championships

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