Brewer, Tucker Secure Big 12 Titles

OU's Championship Results (with tournament seeds)
133	No. 2 Cody Brewer	dec.	No. 1 Earl Hall (ISU), 10-5
149	No. 3 Shayne Tucker	dec.	No. 4 Roman Perryman (WVU), 8-6
157	No. 1 Anthony Collica (OSU)	dec.	No. 2 Justin DeAngelis, 3-2

AMES, Iowa — Two Sooners secured individual titles at the 2015 Big 12 Championship on Saturday night inside Hilton Coliseum as the Oklahoma wrestling team finished third with a total of 43 points.

Winning conference crowns for the Sooners were redshirt junior Cody Brewer at 133 pounds and redshirt freshman Shayne Tucker at 149 pounds. As a team, OU placed third behind No. 6 Oklahoma State (92 points) and No. 8 Iowa State (68 points) and ahead of West Virginia (35).

“As far as the two champions, I am really happy with them. I'm really happy with their effort," fourth-year OU head coach Mark Cody said. "The goal of course is to do well here, but our ultimate goal is to do well at the NCAA Championships, and I think that we have a few things to clean up, but I think we have some real potential, and that was evident in the way they competed this weekend.”

In the highly-anticipated 133-pound bout, Brewer, No. 5 in the latest InterMat ranking, faced No. 4 seed Earl Hall from Iowa State. Brewer's only loss of the season came against Hall in a dual meeting, and Brewer avenged the blemish with a 10-5 decision of the ISU junior.

No. 1 seed Hall struck first, tallying a quick takedown in the opening seconds, but No. 2 seed Brewer answered with an escape and a takedown to lead 3-2 after the first. Brewer then increased his lead with a three-point second period and added a takedown in the final two minutes of the match. The Big 12 title was the first for Brewer, who took second in each of his first two appearances.

“It was good to win. I am just looking forward now to nationals here in two weeks, but it was good to get that first Big 12 title," Brewer said. "Losing the first two was tough so getting this one was good. Hopefully two weeks from now I can get another one.”

Trailing 5-3 after the second period, Tucker used a late surge with a takedown and two-point nearfall to take the his first conference title, 8-6. No. 3 seed Tucker defeated No. 4 seed Perry Weatherman of West Virginia, marking the first time in the 19-year history of the Big 12 a non-No. 1 seed has won the 149-pound title.

“The hard work has finally started to pay off. This year has been a lot of ups and downs, and I feel like it's really starting to pay off toward the end of the year," Tucker said. "Coach Cody always says that if you work hard, the benefits will come later, so if you don't start to see the results right away, just keep pushing through and keep working hard and I feel like that's how I'm feeling right now.”

At 157 pounds, redshirt senior and No. 18 Justin DeAngelis, the No. 2 seed, grabbed a runner-up finish against No. 1 seed Anthony Collica of OSU, who is ranked No. 16. The two were tied at 1 late in the match before Collica tallied a takedown to win by decision, 3-2. It was DeAngelis' second Big 12 runner-up showing in as many appearances.

Earlier in the day, Trae Blackwell (141 pounds), Clark Glass (165 pounds), Matt Reed (174 pounds) and Ross Larson (heavyweight) all finished third in their respective weight classes.

Next up the Sooners head to St. Louis, Mo., for the 2015 NCAA Championships scheduled for March 19-21 (Thursday-Saturday). All Big 12 qualifiers to the national tournament will come as at-large selections, which will be announced on Wednesday, March 11.

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Final Team Standings
1. Oklahoma State - 92
2. Iowa State - 68
3. Oklahoma - 43
4. West Virginia - 35

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Championship Results (with tournament seed)
125: No. 1 Eddie Klimara (OSU) dec. No. 2 Zeke Moisey (WVU), 5-3
133: No. 2 Cody Brewer (OU) dec. No. 1 Earl Hall (ISU), 10-5
141: No. 1 Deal Heil (OSU) fall No. 2 Dante Rodriguez (ISU), 4:49
149: No. 3 Shayne Tucker (OU) dec. No. 4 Roman Perryman (WVU), 8-6
157: No. 1 Anthony Collica (OSU) dec. No. 2 Justin DeAngelis (OU), 3-2
165: No. 1 Alex Dieringer (OSU) maj. dec. No. 2 Michael Moreno (ISU), 14-4
174: No. 1 Kyle Crutchmer (OSU) dec. No. 3 Tanner Weatherman (ISU), 3-3 (TB-2, RT)
184: No. 2 Nolan Boyd (OSU) dec. No. 1 Lelund Weatherspoon (ISU), 2-1
197: No. 1 Kyven Gadson (ISU) maj. dec. No. 2 Jake Smith (WVU), 10-2
HWT: No. 1 Austin Marsden (OSU) dec. No. 3 A.J. Vizcarrondo (WVU), 7-0

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Players Mentioned

Trae Blackwell

Cody Brewer

Justin DeAngelis

Clark Glass

Ross Larson

Matt Reed

Shayne Tucker

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