Sooners Face Tough Road at NCAAs

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Oklahoma entered round one of the NCAA Championships at the Palace of Auburn Hills with something to prove after only qualifying six wrestlers two weeks ago at the Big 12 Championships in Columbia, Mo.

And after round one it looked as if the Sooners were here ready to prove that each of them belonged. OU won all six of its round one matches beginning with three-time All-American Sam Hazewinkel.

No. 1 Hazewinkel won his opening round match over Javier Maldonado of Chattanooga. Hazewinkel never trailed in the 125 pound match as he defeated Maldonado by a score of 8-0. The Sooner senior added one point due to his riding time of 3:41 to win the match, 8-0.

Kyle Terry began his quest for an NCAA title with a 5-2 decision over Tim Harner of Liberty at 141 pounds. Terry led the entire match as Harner was only able to score off of two escapes.

No. 2 Matt Storniolo opened the championships in a tight battle with Jermaine Thompson of Eastern Michigan at 149 pounds. The two seniors wrestled to a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation. Neither wrestler was able to score in the first overtime, as they went to a tie breaker in the second overtime. Storniolo came away with an escape with :45 seconds remaining to advance.

Will Rowe continued the success for the Sooners in session one as he upset No. 12 Matt Hill of Edinboro at 157 pounds. Rowe led the entire match as he only surrendered two takedowns in the first and second periods to win by a decision of 9-4.

Joshua Weitzel upset No. 7 Brandon Sinnott of Central Michigan by a score of 4-2 at 174 pounds.

No. 8 Joel Flaggert defeated Nathan Moore of Purdue by a decision of 7-3 in their opening round match at 197 pounds. Flaggert gained the advantage in the early going and never surrendered.

At the end of the first round of session one all six Sooners were in good position.

Hazewinkel kept Oklahoma on the right track to begin session two by defeating Mark McKnight of Penn State at 125 pounds to keep his hopes of an individual NCAA title alive.

McKnight led all of period one before Hazewinkel took an early lead in period two which he would never surrender. The Sooner All-American scored only one point in period one before scoring two takedowns in period two and one more in period three to take the victory, 7-4.

After the Hazewinkel win a contingent of Sooners put their backs against the wall.

Terry was defeated at 141 pounds by No. 2 Derek Moore of UC Davis in the second round of the 141 pound championship bracket during session two. Terry scored an escape to counter Moore's first period takedown. Moore scored two more takedowns in period two and one in period three. Terry could only come up with one takedown as Moore took the match, 6-3.

Storniolo was defeated by Matt Coughlin of Indiana by a decision of 2-1 at 149 pounds. Storniolo led the entire match by a slim margin of 1-0. Coughlin scored two points in the final seconds to take the controversial victory.

Rowe was defeated by No. 5 Michael Poeta of Illinois by a decision of 8-3. Rowe was never able to get back in the match after Poeta took an early 4-1 lead. Rowe now moves to the wrestleback side of the bracket.

Weitzel ran into No. 10 Matthew Herrington of Penn in the second round at 174 pounds and had the same luck as the teammate before him did. Weitzel was never able to get back to even with Herrington who took an early lead which he never relinquished. Herrington went on to take the match by a decision of 6-4. Weitzel also moves to the wrestlebacks on Friday morning.

In a rematch of the Big 12 Championships third place match Sooner Joel Flaggert did not fare as well this time around. Flaggert faced fellow Big 12 wrestler Kurt Backes of Iowa State. The match went the same way this time as it did the last with the only difference being the winner. Two weeks ago Flaggert won 6-4 in sudden victory, this battle Backes took by a score of 3-1 with a duck under in sudden victory at 197 pounds.

The five Sooners who lost in round two will be competing in the wrestleback competition on Friday morning at the Palace.

Hazewinkel will wrestle in the quarterfinals tomorrow night for a chance to compete for the 125 pound title.