NCAA Wrestling Underway Thursday

March 18, 2009

ST. LOUIS, Mo., -- Eight University of Oklahoma wrestlers begin competition at the 2009 NCAA Championships Thursday, March 19, in St. Louis, Mo. Held inside the Scottrade Center, national qualifiers will battle for individual and team championships and All-America honors.

Competing for the Sooners include Big 12 champions Joey Fio and Kyle Terry at 125 and 149 pounds, respectively. Terry, seeded ninth, enters the championship with a 26-match winning streak and seventh-seeded Fio is a winner of the past 14.

Also qualifying for 13th-ranked Oklahoma is Chad Terry (157 pounds), Ryan Smith (165), Jeff James (174), Pat Flynn (184), Eric Lapotsky (197) and heavyweight Nathan Fernandez.

Competition begins Thursday at 11 a.m., and will end Saturday evening with the championship finals commencing at 5:30 p.m. CDT.

NCAA Championship Brackets

OU fans unable to attend can tune into ESPN's family of networks for coverage beginning Friday. Session three will be televised by ESPNU at 10 a.m., followed by session four covered by ESPN2 at 6 p.m. Saturday's session five is on ESPNU at 9:30 a.m., and the finals at 5:30 will be carried on ESPN.

The Oklahoma program owns 65 individual national championships and seven team titles, which is fifth-most all-time in the history of the sport. The Sooners have crowned 37 All-Americans (256 total) in the past 10 years, a number only three other programs can claim more than. OU teams are also tied for third for most top 10 finishes at the NCAA's in the last 10 years with eight.

Sooner NCAA Qualifiers (Weight)	Hometown (Year)	Record
No. 7 Joey Fio (125)	Sandpoint, Idaho (So.)	21-3
No. 9 Kyle Terry (149)	Midwest City, Okla. (RJr.)	28-1
Chad Terry (157)	Midwest City, Okla. (RJr.)	16-7
Ryan Smith (165)	Prineville, Ore. (RFr.)	15-11
Jeff James (174)	El Reno, Okla. (RSo.)	22-6
Pat Flynn (184)	Quakertown, Pa. (RSo.)	25-6
Eric Lapotsky (197)	Mt. Carmel, Pa. (Jr.)	22-8
Nathan Fernandez (HWT.)	Lawton, Okla. (RSo.)	20-10

OU CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES

LOOKING BACK AT BIG 12'S
The University of Oklahoma crowned two champions at the 2009 Big 12 Championships in Lincoln, Neb., on March 7, as Joey Fio and Kyle Terry became the program's newest conference champs.

Earning top seeds, the duo went 2-0 on the day in front of 3,000 fans inside the historic NU Coliseum. OU now owns 173 conference champions, 27 under current head coach Jack Spates.

Also earning a medal was Pat Flynn at 184 pounds. After suffering a loss in the opening round, Flynn reeled off back-to-back pins over Henderson of Missouri and McNeil of Oklahoma State to place third.

Additionally, Ryan Smith (165 pounds), Eric Lapotsky (197) and Nathan Fernandez (HWT.) received invited to the NCAA's under the new selection criteria instituted this season.

CHAD TERRY, JEFF JAMES SELECTED
Under the new selection process instituted this season, Sooners Chad Terry and Jeff James were announced as two of the 52 at-large selections for the 2009 Championships this week. The duo joins six teammates, making eight total Sooners competing this weekend.

LAST YEAR AT NCAA'S
Oklahoma qualified five wrestlers – Joey Fio, Zack Bailey, Will Rowe, Josh Weitzel and Joel Flaggert – for the 2008 NCAA Championships held in St. Louis, Mo.

Advancing furthest in the postseason tourney was Will Rowe, dropping out one win short of becoming an All-American.

Fio, Bailey and Flaggert went 1-2, while Weitzel recorded a 2-2 record. The Sooners finished in 38th place.

RETURNING TO THE BIG STAGE
Three of the eight OU qualifiers are making a return trip to the NCAA Championships this March. Joey Fio, Kyle Terry and Eric Lapotsky all advanced during their freshman campaigns.

Lapotsky qualified at Bucknell in 2007 before transferring to Oklahoma. After being unseated as a starter last season, Kyle Terry is back as a junior. Sophomore Fio is in St. Louis for the second straight March.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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