Sooners Rout Opponents in Openers

Nov. 4, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. -- Sooner wrestlers began the season in dominant fashion, winning Sunday over Missouri Valley, Oklahoma City and Neosho Community College on the campus of OCU. The Sooners won 29 out of 30 matches on the day and outscored opponents 141-3 in team points.

"Overall, I was very pleased with today's matches," head coach Jack Spates said. "I think we made improvements from our ranking match last Thursday in our aggressiveness and our conditioning on the mat."

In the opening dual against Missouri Valley, Joey Fio at 125 pounds put OU on the board first by recording a 21-6 technical fall over Bill Exline. The Sooners would not look back after the initial win. Brian Shelton followed with a decision over Jon Garland in the 133-pound match, as did Zach Bailey with a major decision over Brandon Nice at 141 pounds.

The next two Sooners in the lineup scored falls with Will Rowe over Brian Graham at 149 pounds and Chad Terry over Juan Alvarez at 157 pounds to extend OU's team score to 24-0.

The closest match of the dual paired Max Dean and Chris Jones in the 165-pound bout. Dean recorded a 7-6 decision over Jones with the help of a riding time point to end the match. Jeff James then won his match at 174 pounds by a forfeit.

Joshua Weitzel at 184 pounds and Joel Flaggert at 197 pounds both recorded major decisions. Heavyweight Nathan Fernandez sealed the shutout with a fall over Travis Ewart to give the Sooners a 47-0 win over Missouri Valley.

It was another dominant performance in match number two against Oklahoma City, with the Sooners prevailing 44-0 over the Stars.

The following Sooners recorded major decisions: Fio over Adam Delong 16-5, Bailey over Jeremy Garner 13-1, James over John Wilcox 10-2 and Fernandez over Jeremy Johnson 12-2 in the heavyweight bout.

Shelton won his second match of the day in a 9-2 decision over Justin Blumer, as did Rowe scoring a technical fall over Nik Turner by a score of 22-7. Terry continued with a 2-0 decision over Brandon Benson.

Dean and Weitzel both recorded falls in their matches against Trevor Adkisson and Mitchell Eichenauer, respectively. Two-time All-American Joel Flaggert won his second match of the day in a technical fall over Corey Johnson, 21-6.

Sooners continued to impress in the third dual against Neosho Community College to end the day.

Greg Cannon was awarded a win in the first match by forfeit, and John Starzyk put the Sooners up 12-0 with a pin at the 2:40 mark over Ian Seaton.

Kyle Terry in his first match of the day at 141 pounds won by a medical forfeit to give the Sooners an 18-0 advantage and Matt Sansone was defeated in a decision by Ty Jaquess in the 149-pound match. Shane Vernon won his only match of the day by a forfeit.

Dean and James followed up with major decisions to put OU up 32-3 over the Black Cats.

Josh Hinton, Pat Flynn and Brad Farmer all recorded pins within the first period in the 184, 197 and heavyweight matches to give the Sooners a 50-3 victory in its last match.

"This has been another great evaluation on where we are strong and also where this team can improve," Spates continued. "This is a very young team and today was a step in the right direction."

The Sooners travel to Brockport, N.Y., next weekend for the annual Brockport/Oklahoma Gold Classic.

Weight-By-Weight Results

Oklahoma 47 Missouri Valley 0

125: Joey Fio (OU) tech. fall Billy Exline (MoVal), 21-6
133: Brian Shelton (OU) dec. Jon Gerland (MoVal), 4-2
141: Zach Bailey (OU) maj. dec. Brandon Nice (MoVal), 14-3
149: Will Rowe (OU) fall Brian Graham (MoVal), 2:35
157: Chad Terry (OU) fall Juan Alvarez (MoVal), 3:42
165: Max Dean (OU) dec. Chris Jones (MoVal), 7-6
174: Jeff James winner by forfeit
184: Joshua Weitzel (OU) maj. dec. Charlie Gibbs (MoVal), 10-0
197: Joel Flaggert (OU) maj. dec. 15-3 Jeff Cobb (MoVal), 15-3
HWT: Nathan Fernandez (OU) fall Travis Ewart (MoVal), 4:40

Oklahoma 44 Oklahoma City 0

125: Joey Fio (OU) maj. dec. Adam Delong (OCU), 16-5
133: Brian Shelton (OU) dec. Justin Blumer (OCU), 9-2
141: Zach Bailey (OU) maj. dec. Jeremy Garner (OCU), 13-1
149: Will Rowe (OU) maj. dec. Nikolas Turner (OCU), 22-7
157: Chad Terry (OU) dec. Brandon Benson (OCU), 2-0
165: Max Dean (OU) fall Trevor Adkisson (OCU), 2:52
174: Jeff James (OU) maj. dec. John Wilcox (OCU), 10-2
184: Joshua Weitzel (OU) fall Mitch Eichenauer (OCU), 2:26
197: Joel Flaggert (OU) tech. fall Cory Johnson (OCU), 21-6
HWT: Nathan Fernandez (OU) maj. dec. Jeremy Johnson (OCU), 12-2

Oklahoma 50 Neosho CC 3

125: Greg Cannon (OU) winner by forfeit
133: John Starzyk (OU) fall Ian Seaton (NEO), 2:40
141: Kyle Terry (OU) winner by medical forfeit
149: Ty Jaquess (NEO) dec. Matt Sansone (OU), 5-9
157: Shane Vernon (OU) winner by forfeit
165: Max Dean (OU) maj. dec. Kenny Carney (NEO), 15-5
174: Jeff James (OU) maj. dec. Jason Green (NEO), 16-2
184: Josh Hinton (OU) fall Tim Cross (NEO), 0:17
197: Pat Flynn (OU) fall Daunte Nixon (NEO), 2:42
HWT: Brad Farmer (OU) fall Sam Robbins (NEO), 2:02

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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