Wrestling Travels South for Lone Star Duals

Jan. 13, 2011

Wrestling at the Lone Star Duals
Date	Saturday, Jan. 14 (All Day)
Location	Arlington, Texas \| South Grand Prairie High School Colosium
Tickets	Ticket Information
Event Info	Lone Star Duals Official Site
Online	Live Stats
Opponents	-No. 8 American (10 a.m. CST) -Citadel (2 p.m. CST) -Harvard (4 p.m. CST)

NORMAN, Okla. - The seventh-ranked University of Oklahoma wrestling team (6-1, 0-1) hits the road this Saturday, Jan. 15, to compete in the Lone Star Duals in Arlington, Texas.

Set to challenge the Sooners are No. 8-ranked American (7-3), Citadel (4-5) and Harvard (0-5). This marks the final contest for the Sooners before heading into Big 12 Conference action.

“We are excited about the competition,” Jack Spates said. “We are going to be very much tested against American. They've got a number of ranked wrestlers including the No. 1 157 pounder in the country and the No. 3-ranked heavyweight. It's going to be a good test for us. Our guys have trained hard and we are looking forward to it.”

Oklahoma is coming off a 28-9 trouncing of the Midshipmen of Navy in the fourth-annual "Beauty and the Beast" event held on Jan. 7.

RANKINGS RUNDOWN

Seven Sooners are ranked in this week's InterMat individual ranking, led by fourth-ranked Tyler Caldwell at 165 pounds. Senior Zack Bailey (141 pounds) sits at No. 6 and Chase Nelson is ranked No. 8 at 157 pounds. Jarrod Patterson is also ranked in the top 10 at No. 7 among 125 pounders.

Nathan Fernandez stands 12th among 285 pounders, while Erich Schmidtke is 17th at 184 pounds. Jordan Keller (133) jumped one spot to No. 19 after entering the rankings for the first time last week.

American counters with five ranked wrestlers and are led by No. 1-ranked Steve Fittery at 157 pounds and third-ranked Ryan Flores at heavyweight. Other ranked American's include: No. 15 Matt Mariacher (141), No. 14 Ganbayar Sanjaa (149) and No. 20 Daniel Mitchell (197).

Harvard is led by two ranked individuals in 149 pounder Corey Jantzen (No. 17) and Walter Peppelman (No. 11) at 157 pounds.

Citadel is led by Turtogtokh Luvsandorj who is ranked No. 10 at 165-pounds.

Sooner Participants (Weight)	Hometown (Year)	Record
Jarrod Patterson (125)	Cushing, Okla. (So.)	19-4
Greg Cannon (125)	Tulsa, Okla. (Sr.)	7-6
Jordan Keller (133)	Wichita, Kan. (Jr.)	11-6
Dustin Reed (133)	Choctaw, Okla. (Fr.)	11-7
Zack Bailey (141)	Kansas City, Mo. (Sr.)	15-2
Matt Lester (149)	Eureka, Mo. (RFr.)	9-4
Chase Nelson (157)	Wichita, Kan. (So.)	14-5
Tyler Caldwell (165)	Wichita, Kan. (So.)	21-3
Jeff James (174)	El Reno, Okla. (RSr.)	3-1
Ben Bridell (174)	Birmingham, Ala. (RSo.)	4-4
Erich Schmidtke (184)	Aberdeen, Wash. (RSo.)	17-7
Keldrick Hall (197)	Dallas, Texas (RSo.)	11-7
Nathan Fernandez (HWT)	Lawton, Okla. (Sr.)	14-2

SOONER WRESTLING NOTES

LAST ACTION...
Wrestling alongside the fourth-ranked OU women's gymnastics team in front of 2,351 fans at the Lloyd Noble Center, eighth-ranked Oklahoma won its final six matches of the evening to rally and trounce the Navy Midshipmen, 28-9, at the fourth annual "Beauty and the Beast" event held at the Lloyd Noble Center.

LAST SEASON AT LONE STAR DUALS...
Oklahoma went 4-0 at the Lone Star Duals, topping Northwestern (40-3), Harvard (44-6), Brown (36-4) and Nebraska-Kearney (35-3) on Jan. 16 in Arlington, Texas. OU won 35 of 40 possible matches and won by an average margin of 39-4. The 12 victories marked the 15-straight year under head coach Jack Spates the Sooners have recorded 10-plus dual wins.

SPATES TO RETIRE AT END OF SEASON
Oklahoma Head Wrestling Coach Jack Spates, who is in his 18th season with the Sooners, announced Wednesday, Jan. 5 that he plans to retire from the position at the end of the current season.

"This is something that I had planned for quite a while," Spates said.

"I've been blessed by my tenure at OU. I've worked with the greatest kids, athletic director and president. I will leave with a smile on my face. It's a young man's game and a sport that requires tremendous passion and energy and I feel God is leading me in another direction at this time."

That direction may involve ministerial work. Spates received a master's degree in theology and education from Baptist Bible Seminary in 1980.

DROPPING WEIGHT
Sophomores Tyler Caldwell and Chase Nelson have dropped weight classes and will compete at 165 and 157 pounds, respectively. In addition, senior Jeff James and freshman Matt Lester also dropped to 174 and 149, respectively. Caldwell, reigning All-American at 165 pounds, has been impressive collecting a 14-2 record after moving up to 174 pounds.

NELSON EARNS MIDLANDS TITLE
After dropping to 157 pounds, Chase Nelson won five-straight bouts to earn the 157 pound title at the Midlands Championships.

UP NEXT...
Oklahoma travels to Ames, Iowa, on Jan. 21 to take on No. Iowa State at 7 p.m. The Sooners will attempt to break an eight-match Cyclone win streak, dating back to 2003.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Wrestling Travels South for Lone Star Duals

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