Sooners Open Championships

March 8, 2008

STILLWATER, Okla. -- The first round of the Big 12 Championships began at 11 a.m., with the four and five seeds of each weight class dualing to advance to the quarterfinal round. The loser of the opening matches fall to the consolation matches later in the afternoon.

The championships started for the Sooners with 133 pound and five seed Brian Shelton wrestling four seed Tyler McCormick of Missoui. McCormick rallied from a 6-2 deficit in the first to defeat the Sooner sophomore 10-8.

Zack Bailey (four seed) was next up for the Sooners, battling versus Marcus Hoehn (five seed) of Missouri.

Four seed Sooner Will Rowe then recorded a win over Ryan Freeman of Oklahoma State in the 149 pound match. Rowe posted his second win over Freeman on the year and his third against the team in the 3-2 final decision.

Max Dean at 165 pounds battled four seed Jon Reader of Iowa State in his efforts to advance. After a 1-1 tie to end the second, Dean scored an escape and a takedown in the third to record another Oklahoma win, 4-3.

Four seed Pat Flynn, facing his first competition at 174 pounds this season, led 3-1 over Emanuel Brooks of Missouri after two periods after scoring a takedown and an escape. A Brooks comeback sent the dual into overtime at 3-3 after scoring a takedown with just over a minute left. The Tiger recorded a takedown with 17 seconds to go to take the win in the sudden-death overtime.

Heavyweight Nathan Fernandez (five seed) was the last Sooner to compete in the four versus five seed matchups, duaing against Mark Ellis of Missouri. Freshman Fernandez fell 6-1 after giving up an escape and a takedown in the final period. The quarterfinal are up next, beginning at noon.

133: Tyler McCormick (MU) dec. Brian Shelton (OU), 10-8
141: Zack Bailey (OU) dec. Marcus Hoehn (MU), 3-2
149: Will Rowe (OU) dec. Ryan Freeman (OSU), 7-4
165: Max Dean (OU) dec. Jon Reader (ISU), 4-3
174: Emanuel Brooks (MU) dec. Pat Flynn (OU), 5-3
HWT: Mark Ellis (MU) dec. Nathan Fernandez (OU), 6-1

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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