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Cody Faces Familiar Opponent at National Duals
February 09, 2012 | Wrestling
Feb. 9, 2012
| No. 12 Oklahoma at NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals | |
| First Round | Sunday, Feb. 12 at 9 a.m. CT |
| Tournament Info | Host Site | Bracket | Tickets |
| Online | Webcast | Live Stats | Blog | @OUWrestling |
| Oklahoma Info | 2011-12 Roster | Staff | Stats |
NORMAN, Okla. -- The 12th-ranked University of Oklahoma wrestling team travels to Ithaca, N.Y., to compete in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, where head coach Mark Cody will face his former team, American University, in the first round on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 9 a.m. inside Newman Arena on the University of Cornell campus.
"I'm excited, but I must admit that I have some reservations about it, but at this point there is nothing I can do," Mark Cody said. "I thought that American would be seeded higher and if they were seeded higher then we wouldn't be wrestling them. That is the way it goes sometimes and a lot of times you can never predict what is going to happen."
OU will be participating in Cornell's Mat Mayhem Regional, which is one of four sites around the country that will be hosting a six-team regional. The winner of each site will advance to the National Duals finals, which will be held on Sunday, February 19 at a location that will be announced following regional action.
The Sooners (12-3, 3-2) are winners of nine of their last 10 duals, but are coming off a 25-12 loss at Missouri last Sunday. Oklahoma, the No. 3 seed, is 1-0 all-time against American, the No. 6 seed, with the only meeting coming last year at the Lone Star Duals, which OU won 22-14.
"Overall, I am excited and eager to see those guys [former wrestlers at American]," Cody explained. "Scouting wise I am not going to have to sit here and watch a lot of film because I know them all like the back of my hand. I love those guys and friendship is one thing, but business is business and we are going to be there to get down to business. I am really looking forward to it and the event as a whole."
The last time Oklahoma competed in the National Duals was in 2006 when OU dropped two straight to Cornell and Central Michigan.
"The National Duals are basically in my backyard," Cody said of the event. "I spent a lot of time in Ithaca growing up and a lot of my friends and family will be there to watch the event. Cornell has done an unbelievable job with that program and a lot of people, including my guys, will be floored when they see the crowd of home fans that Cornell has been able to generate over the years. It gets you ready for the NCAA tournament to wrestle in front of a lot of people and we are looking forward to that. The level of competition is going to be high."
Following this weekend's action, Oklahoma returns to the friendly confines of the Howard McCasland Field House to take on Bedlam rival and top-ranked Oklahoma State on Thursday Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.
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RANKINGS RUNDOWN |
Five Sooners are ranked by InterMat, headlined by the nation's No. 3-ranked 141-pounder in Kendric Maple. Reigning All-American Jarrod Patterson is ranked No. 9 at 125 pounds. Nick Lester sits 13th among 149 pounders. Three Sooners are ranked outside the top 10 in their respective weight classes. Matt Lester checks in at No. 15 among 157-pounders. Jordan Keller is No. 10 at 133 pounds. Bubby Graham enters the rankings at No. 20 among 165 pounders, while two-time NCAA Qualifier, Erich Schmidtke, fell out of the 184 pound rankings by InterMat, but is still No. 18 by Amateur Wrestling News. Also ranked by AWN is Keldrick Hall (197 pounds) at No. 19.
American counters with four highly-ranked individuals and are led by the nation's top-ranked heavyweight in Ryan Flores. At 157 pounds Ganbayar Sanjaa is ranked third, while Matt Mariacher (141) and Daniel Mitchell (197), check in at No. 14 and 19, respectively.
Illinois has six ranked wrestlers:
125 pounder Jesse Delgado (No. 7), 133 B.J. Futrell (No. 5), 149 Eric Terrazas (No. 19), 165 Conrad Polz (No. 12), 174 Conrad Polz (No. 11) and 197 Mario Gonzalez (No. 16).
Cornell is led by five ranked wrestlers: 125 pounder Frank Perrelli (No. 5), 141 Mike Nevinger (No. 16), 157 Kyle Dake (No. 1), 184 Steve Bosak (No. 5) and 197 Cam Simaz (No. 1).
Purdue boasts four ranked wrestlers in: 133 pounder Cashe Quiroga (No. 9), 149 Ivan Lopouchanski (No. 11), 174 Nick Purdue (No. 15) and at 184 Braden Atwood (No. 19).
Central Michigan's three ranked wrestlers -- 125 Joe Roth (No. 17), 184 Ben Bennett (No. 4) and heavyweight Peter Sturgeon (No. 17) -- is least among the regional field.
| Sooner Participants (Weight) | Hometown (Year) | Record |
| Jarrod Patterson (125) | Cushing, Okla. (Jr.) | 21-4 |
| Jordan Keller (133) | Wichita, Kan. (Sr.) | 19-5 |
| Kendric Maple (141) | Wichita, Kan. (RSo.) | 23-1 |
| Nick Lester (149) | Eureka, Mo. (RSo.) | 17-8 |
| Justin DeAngelis (149) | Tulsa, Okla. (RFr.) | 12-8 |
| Matt Lester (157) | Eureka, Mo. (RSo.) | 17-7 |
| Bubby Graham (165) | Annapolis, MD (RJr.) | 15-10 |
| Kyle Detmer (174) | Wichita, Kan. (RSo.) | 6-4 |
| Erich Schmidtke (184) | Aberdeen, Wash. (RJr.) | 15-10 |
| Keldrick Hall (197) | Dallas, Texas (RJr.) | 17-8 |
| Kyle Colling (HWT) | Arcade, N.Y. (RFr.) | 12-10 |
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SOONER WRESTLING NOTES |
SCHEDULE FOR NATIONAL DUALS
10 a.m. - No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 American
10 a.m. - No. 4 Central Michigan vs. No. 5 Purdue
12 p.m. - No. 1 Cornell vs. Winner of No. 4 Central Michigan/No. 5 Purdue
12 p.m. - No. 2 Illinois vs. Winner of No. 3 Oklahoma/No. 6 American
12 p.m. - Loser of No. 3 Oklahoma/No. 6 American vs. Loser of No. 4 Central Michigan/No. 5 Purdue
2 p.m. - Championship Match - Winners of the two 12 p.m. matches
(all times are eastern time zone)
LAST ACTION
Despite winning nine straight, The Sooners are coming off a 25-12 loss at Missouri which took place in Columbia, Mo., on Sunday, Feb. 5.
SERIES RECORD VS. AMERICAN
Oklahoma is 1-0 all-time against American with the only meeting between the two coming last year at the Lone Star Duals, which OU won 22-14.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
American is 6-6 in dual action on the year and won back-to-back duals over Binghamton (18-15) and Bucknell (23-13) this past weekend.
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SERIES RECORD VS. THE FIELD
Oklahoma is 5-1-0 against Central Michigan with the last meeting in 2007 going in favor of UCM, 21-15.
The Sooners hold a 6-2-0 advantage over the host school, Cornell. The Big Red took the previous meeting 23-15 in 2007.
Illinois and Oklahoma are knotted at 2-2 in its all-time series, with the Illini taking the previous two matchups.
If OU and Purdue meet, it will be the first ever matchup between the two squads.
NATIONAL DUALS WEBCAST
To be announced.
MAPLE EARNS THREE BIG 12 ACCOLADES
Redshirt-sophomore Kendric Maple was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Month and Big 12 Wrestler of the Week twice (1/2 & 1/30) this season. Maple joins OSU's Jordan Oliver (2010) as the only Big 12 wrestlers to earn three honors in a single season.
He earned his first career conference honor after being named the Big 12 Conference Wrestler of the Month for his performance in November where he compiled a 6-0 overall record (3-0 dual) at 141 pounds. During that span, he accumulated three victories by major decision and two technical falls.
On Nov. 12, Maple won the Brockport/Oklahoma Gold title after he posted a 3-0 record and defeated Rutgers' 16th-ranked Billy Ashnault by major decision, Army's Connor Hanafee via a technical fall and American's No. 9-ranked Matthew Mariacher, 5-0. After his impressive outing at the tournament, he was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler.
Maple was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 2, after he claimed the 141 pound title at the Midlands Championships. Over the course of the tournament, Maple posted a 6-0 record and defeated the nation's top ranked wrestler in Iowa's Montell Marion, 5-3.
Most recently, Maple was named the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for matches from Jan. 23-29, where he defeated two ranked wrestlers by way of major decisions, Virginia Tech's 19th-ranked Zach Neibert and Lehigh's No. 15-ranked Steve Dutton, to help the Sooners defeat then-No. 23 Virginia Tech (19-12) and No. 14 Lehigh (22-16).
SOONERS TAKE THIRD AT MIDLANDS
The Oklahoma wrestling squad finished third overall and Kendric Maple claimed the 141 pound title and Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 2011 Midlands Championships, hosted by Northwestern University, Dec. 29-30.
Oklahoma finished the tournament taking home the third place trophy with 94.5 points. Iowa ran away with the title after tallying 152 points. Northwestern placed second with 105.5 points. Virginia Tech (76.5) and Edinboro (74.5) rounded out the top five.
Leading the way for Oklahoma was redshirt sophomore Kendric Maple who won the 141 pound title to remain unbeaten (12-0) on the year. The Wichita, Kan., native entered Friday's semifinal matchup having earned bonus points in each of his last seven bouts. In the semifinals Maple defeated Iowa State's Luke Goetti, 13-1. In the championship bout, Maple downed Iowa's No. 1-ranked Montell Marion, 5-3.
In addition to OU's 141 pound champion, five other Sooners - Jarod Patterson (fifth), Nick Lester (fourth), Matt Lester (fifth), Bubby Graham (sixth) and Erich Schmidtke (fifth) - claimed top six finishes among their respective weight classes.
RETURNING QUALIFIERS
OU returns seven NCAA qualifiers and adds another in transfer Bubby Graham. Highlighting the returning group is 2011 All-American Jarrod Patterson (125), who collected a 29-9 overall record last season.
Other returning starters that qualified for the NCAA Championships include Jordan Keller (133), Matt Lester (149 pounds), Chase Nelson (157) and Erich Schmidtke (184) and Kendric Maple, a 2009-10 NCAA qualifier that redshirted last year.
PATTERSON COMPETES IN ALL-STAR DUAL
Oklahoma junior Jarrod Patterson competed in the 46th-annual NWCA All-Star Classic where he fell to then-No. 4 ranked Nic Bedelyon of Kent State, 7-3.
BUBBY A SOONER
OU adds another NCAA qualifier in American transfer Bubby Graham. The talented wrestler from Annapolis, Md., looks to anchor the 165 pound spot for the Sooners. Graham was a two year starter for the Eagles where he competed at 157 and 165 pounds.
SOONERS SIGN SIX IN EARLY PERIOD
Mark Cody recently signed six high school seniors to National Letters of Intent, four of which rank in the top-20 nationally in their respective weight classes.
Leading ranked recruits is Clark Glass from Brandon, Fla., ranked No. 6 nationally among 160 pounders by InterMat. Brad Johnson , a product of Homer Glenn, Ill., is a three-time All-State selection and is ranked by CollegeWrestling.net as the No. 49 overall recruit nationally. Kyle Garcia (125 pounds), Greg Wilson (195), Tim Hamilton (141) and Garrison McCauley (157) round out the class.
BROCKPORT CHAMPIONS
Oklahoma won its 13th-straight Brockport/Oklahoma Gold Classic title on Nov. 12, 2011. Five Sooners claimed individual titles and five more garnered top-five finishes. Kendric Maple earned the Most Outstanding Wrestler Award. Chase Nelson was the aggregate pin leader after posting falls in 0:11 and 1:17.
The Sooners won the team portion with 182 total points. The Sooners closest competition was Maryland, who finished with 174.5 points. Going undefeated on the day to capture individual crowns were Jarrod Patterson (125 pounds), Jordan Keller (133), Maple (141), Matt Lester (157) and Erich Schmidtke (184).
UP NEXT...
Oklahoma returns to the friendly confines of the Howard McCasland Field House to take on Bedlam rival, top-ranked Oklahoma State, on Thursday Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.
WR Highlights: Big 12 Championships (Day Two)
Sunday, March 09
WR Highlights: Big 12 Championships (Day One)
Saturday, March 08
WR Highlights: OU 32, Arizona State 6
Sunday, February 16
WR Highlights: OU 23, Missouri 13
Saturday, February 01
