Big 12 Championships Next for Wrestling

March 1, 2012

No. 12 Oklahoma at the 2012 Big 12 Championships
Date	Saturday, March 3 at 11 p.m. CT
Location	Columbia, Mo. \| Hearnes Center
Championship Info	Championship Central \| OU Notes \| Seeding
T.V.	FSN (Championship matches)
Webcast	Semifinals \| Third Place Matches
Online	OU Notes \| @OUWrestling
Oklahoma Info	2011-12 Roster \| Staff \| Stats

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma enters the Big 12 Championships Saturday, March 3, in Columbia, Mo., after recording double-digit wins for the 17th-straight season. The Sooners finished the regular season with 13 dual meet victories, which included wins over four squads ranked in the top 25.

“Anytime you go into your conference tournament 100 percent injury free, particularly with the long season and schedule that we have had, you have to feel good about your chances," Mark Cody said. "There is no reason why we cannot bring home a Big 12 Championship. Our staff believes it and I feel our guys are starting to believe."

Junior Jarrod Patterson is in search of his second Big 12 title at 125 pounds, while nationally-ranked Sooners Kendric Maple and Matt Lester hope to earn their first conference title at 141 and 157, respectively.

Competing against the Sooners this weekend are No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Missouri and Iowa State. The Cowboys will attempt to win their third-straight Big 12 crown after claiming the previous two titles. Missouri finished second followed by Oklahoma in third. Nebraska and Iowa State rounded out the final spots at No. 4 and 5, respectively.

The championship finals will be broadcast live on FoxSportsNet, while the semifinals and third place matches will be webcast on Big12Sports.com.

Doors open at 10:00 a.m. and tickets are still available for purchase. Semifinal action begins at 11 a.m. and the championship matches will take place at 6:30 p.m.

RANKINGS RUNDOWN

Seven Sooners are ranked by InterMat, headlined by the nation's No. 2-ranked 141-pounder in Kendric Maple. Reigning All-American Jarrod Patterson is ranked No. 9 at 125 pounds. At 133 pounds, Jordan Keller is ranked No. 10. Twins Nick and Matt Lester are ranked No. 14 and No. 12 at 141 and 149 pounds, respectively.

Keldrick Hall jumps to No. 16, while Bubby Graham stayed solid at No. 20 among 165 pounders.

Sooner Participants (Weight)	Hometown (Year)	Record
Jarrod Patterson (125)	Cushing, Okla. (Jr.)	23-5
Jordan Keller (133)	Wichita, Kan. (Sr.)	20-7
Kendric Maple (141)	Wichita, Kan. (RSo.)	26-1
Nick Lester (149)	Eureka, Mo. (RSo.)	19-9
Matt Lester (157)	Eureka, Mo. (RSo.)	19-8
Bubby Graham (165)	Annapolis, MD (RJr.)	17-11
Kyle Detmer (174)	Wichita, Kan. (RSo.)	9-8
Erich Schmidtke (184)	Aberdeen, Wash. (RJr.)	17-11
Keldrick Hall (197)	Dallas, Texas (RJr.)	19-9
Kyle Colling (HWT)	Arcade, N.Y. (RFr.)	13-12

SOONER WRESTLING NOTES

LAST ACTION
The Sooners trailed top-ranked Oklahoma State by three going into the final bout of the night, which OU's Erich Schmidtke won by decision; however, OSU earned the win, 19-18, based on bonus-point criteria inside McCasland Field House on Thursday Feb. 16. Oklahoma won five bouts on the night, three by way of major decisions, but OSU countered with a major of their own and trumped OU with a technical fall victory at 174 pounds, which gave the Cowboys the nod.

LAST YEAR'S CHAMPIONSHIPS
Oklahoma traveled to Ames, Iowa, last year where the Sooners failed to crown a champion for the first time since 2008. The Sooners had a plethora of second place finishers at last year's event as Jarrod Patterson (125), Jordan Keller (133), Zach Bailey (141), Tyler Caldwell (165) and Nathan Fernandez (HWT) each earned silver.

Additionally, Matt Lester (149), Chase Nelson (165) and Erich Schmidtke (184) finished third in their respective weight classes.

The Sooners hope this year becomes the 11th time in the past 13 years they have crowned multiple conference champions (dating back to 1999).

TEAM NOTES
• Oklahoma was 3-3 in Big 12 duals this season and averaged 17.2 points per match. OU gave up 19.3 points to conference opponents.

• This season, Oklahoma topped an impressive four opponents ranked in the latest NWCA/Coaches Poll Top 25 (No. 10 Missouri, No. 15 Lehigh, No. 19 Binghamton and No. 22 Virginia Tech).

• In the 13 wins this season, Oklahoma outscored foes 438-242. Broken down, OU averaged 24 points to its opponent's 13. Each of Oklahoma's losses came at the hands of top 10 teams at the time of the dual.

BIG 12 TIDBITS
• The Sooners won the conference crown in 1999 and again in 2002, both under former head coach Jack Spates.

• OU has claimed 23 conference titles in 80 years of wrestling, which is second to Oklahoma State's 34. Two have come in the Big 12 era.

• Oklahoma has claimed 176 individual conference titles in the program's history. The crowns have come in four different conferences (Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12).

SENIOR FAREWELL
Thursday's match marks the last at home for seniors Jordan Keller, Erich Schmidtke, Marcus Armato and Ben Bridell. The four, who have combined for 132 career wins at Oklahoma, will be honored prior to the dual.

Keller, a 133 pounder from Wichita, Kan., finished second at the 2011 Big 12 Championships and qualified for the NCAAs in his first full season as a Sooner. Keller boasts a 38-17 career record at OU.

An Aberdeen , Wash., native, Schmidtke, is a two-time NCAA qualifier and has amassed 71 career wins and 54 losses competing at 184 pounds for the Sooners.

Armato, a native of Kansas City, Mo., ends his OU career with a record of 23-23. The 174 pounder went 1-3 in dual action this season.

Sooner to Watch: Kendric Maple

Kendric Maple | RSo. | 141 pounds
Maple, a 2010 NCAA qualifier, looks to earn his first Big 12 title after placing third in 2010.

The No. 2 ranked 141 pound redshirt sophomore from Wichita, Kan., is one of three wrestlers to earn three Big 12 accolades in the same season. OSU's Jordan Oliver and Missouri's Alan Waters are the others.

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).

NATIONAL DUALS RECAP
The Sooners, the third seed, went 1-1 at the Cornell regional in Ithaca N.Y. OU started the day with a dominating win over Mark Cody's former American squad, 35-12, but fell to the eventual regional champs, No. 7 Illinois, by a final of 21-18.

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 AT ALL-STAR CLASSIC
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...
The Sooners will compete in the NCAA Championships from Thursday, March 15, to Saturday, March 17, in St. Louis, Mo. Last year the Sooners finished 16th overall and crowned three All-American as Zack Bailey (141 pounds) and Tyler Caldwell (165) each earned repeat All-American honors, while Jarrod Patterson (125) claimed the accolade for the first time.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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