Oklahoma claims top honors in Pool B at Junior Duals in freestyle
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by Roger Moore
OKLAHOMA CITY - The hosts used a little home-mat advantage during the second day of freestyle at the 2008 Junior Duals.
They needed every bit of it in wins over California and Texas as they went 5-0 to claim top honors in Pool B.
Two pools - C and D - were all-but-determined during Thursday's afternoon session.
Illinois, the Greco champions earlier this week and winners of the last two titles in freestyle, faced off against New Jersey, third in 2007 and runners-up in 2005 and '06.
Jersey hung for awhile, but in the end it was Illinois rolling to a 42-16 victory and eventually finishing 5-0 in Pool C.
Kansas, the fourth seed, beat Minnesota in a 34-28 thriller and took first in Pool D.
Powerful Iowa was not challenged in five matches for top honors in Pool A.
Oklahoma took control of Pool B with a 31-28 win over California during the morning session. The hosts lost a team point during the 152-pound bout and trailed 21-18 entering 160.
All-American Dallas Bailey used a headlock for three in the third period to beat TJ Belton, and Joey Sheridan, a former Cadet champion, edged Dominic Borelli at 171 to give Oklahoma a 24-23 advantage.
Chris Perry, among the top-five recruits in the Class of 2009, dominated All-American Ian Gaube, picking up a technical fall at 189. Gaube nearly caught Perry on his back for a pin in the first period, but the Stillwater, Okla., native stormed back with a technical fall, 9-3, 6-0.
Tyson Yoder's win at 215 clinched the dual victory. Dominic Pico, a big part of California's success in Greco this week, was penalized twice in the decisive second period clinch as Yoder, a 2007 All-American, was awarded the win to put the Okies up by six with only one bout remaining.
Yoder, who will attend Oklahoma State, was put in the same situation against Texas a round later.
Tyler Eitel used a third-period neck-wrench for three and a win at 171 that gave the Texans a 27-22 advantage. It came one match after Johnny Koepp, another Oklahoma State signee, beat Bailey in a disputed match at 160.
Perry took care of business at 189, sending the match to Yoder with Oklahoma trailing, 27-25.
Yoder needed 1:44 to pin Courtland Harrison, and when Chaz Mattocks held off Keldrick Hall in the finale, Oklahoma had a 33-27 win and first in Pool B.
"I've been in that situation a lot," admitted Yoder. "Texas has gotten a lot better over the last few years, so we knew it was going to be a tough dual.
"We got Missouri in the first round, so that really got us going."
"I think we had the toughest pool here," said Perry. "I think it was good having Missouri right off the bat. We wrestled well all day. California was in the Greco finals and Texas has tough team, so nothing was easy the first two days.
"(Against California) I knew I to beat a tough kid. I got caught early but I found a way to stay calm … come back and wrestle a solid match."
Iowa, the top seed, moved to 3-0 in Pool A with a 42-24 win over Pennsylvania and was the only squad in that pool unbeaten by noon on Thursday. Pennsylvania rebounded from its loss to Iowa with a 33-29 victory against Wisconsin and finished second in the pool.
Illinois turned in another solid day of wrestling. New Jersey, South Dakota, Virginia and New York each won just three bouts against the third seed. Michigan won only two.
"It's always fun to bring back a good group of guys to compete here," said coach John Kading, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. "I love the team aspect of it and our guys enjoy it as well.
"We encourage our best guys to wrestle here. It really is pretty easy for us to recruit the kids because everybody enjoys this tournament. For awhile Illinois was down … really down … but we've had some success the last few years and that is a credit to the way the guys are working."
One of those soon-to-be college freshman, 160-pounder Conrad Polz, looks at the late summer schedule as a chance to keep training.
"It's another training opportunity. A way to keep getting better," said Polz, who beat 2007 Junior champion Scott Winston in the dual against New Jersey. "I think (freestyle) carries over a lot. (Beating Winston) was big, especially after the way I started. I was pretty tired in the third period, but I found a way to win the match. I was pretty happy about it.
"Our team is wrestling well right now, having some fun."
"Oklahoma has one the better teams here, so we will have to be ready to go for that one," Kading said.
In the Pool D decider, Minnesota tried to rally against the Kansans, getting a technical fall from Travis Rutt at 171, a three-period decision by Caleb Lines at 189 and another three-period win by Jake Kahnke over 2007 Cadet champion Kyle Caylor at 215.
But Steve Andrus shut out Jake Kettler at heavyweight to give Kansas the victory.
Aldon Isenberg and Brent Fisher had back-to-back pins for Kansas at 140 and 145, respectively.
Wrestling continues Friday morning at 9 a.m. (CST). The finals are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. All results can be found at www.trackwrestling.com.
Wednesday night notes
Freestyle hit the mats Wednesday night, and right off the bat Pool B saw a down-to-the wire affair between Oklahoma and Missouri.
Pins by Jonathan Mondragon at 98 and Drew Partain at 130 proved the difference. Missouri's Clarence Neely beat Joey Sheridan at 171 to send the match to 189 with Oklahoma leading 26-24. Perry and Yoder recorded back-to-back shutouts for the Okies, who also beat Washington, 49-16, in the first session.
Iowa and Pennsylvania both opened with two wins in Pool A to set up their Thursday morning dual.
In Pool C, Illinois opened with a 57-10 victory against Michigan. New Jersey beat regional rival New York, 34-24, to open the tournament. NY led 19-17 after Zach Clemente's 17-second pin at 145, but Jersey rolled off five straight victories started by Mario Mason and Winston's back-to-back shutouts at 152 and 160, respectively.
The top eight
Iowa, Oklahoma, Illinois and Kansas will be joined by Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Jersey and Minnesota in the battle for top eight.
Oklahoma, with a nice contingent of fans, opens with Pennsylvania this morning, then gets a shot at Illinois a round later.
"The (Texas) dual was awesome, the crowd was great," Perry said. "We've got a long ways to go and hopefully the atmosphere will be the same Friday."
Priorities
An anticipated Thursday morning match between Pennsylvania's Jordan Oliver and Iowa's Matt McDonough never materialized. Oliver, the Dave Schultz Excellence Award recipient in his state and a freshman at Oklahoma State this fall, is not competing in the morning sessions because he is attending summer school in Stillwater.
2007 Junior champion Nate Moore did pick up a victory over 2007 Cadet champion Josh Kindig as Iowa took control of Pool A with a 42-24 victory.
Oliver had a technical fall against Kansas on Wednesday night but did not compete on Thursday due to a pair of classes at Oklahoma State.
He is expected to wrestle Friday.
Tough job
John Wilcox, who just completed his eligibility at Oklahoma City University, has had maybe the toughest job this week - in charge of security. With nine mats going and duals ending at different times, wrestlers always like to jump on those mats for a little extra workout or to watch on-going matches.
For Wilcox and his staff, keeping those mats clear has been a full-time gig.
A little history
Oregon won the first Junior Duals championship, in 1991, which had Greco-Roman only. A year later, freestyle was added and Oklahoma won the first of its nine titles.
Ohio (3), Illinoss (2), Iowa and North Dakota have also won freestyle championships.
They needed every bit of it in wins over California and Texas as they went 5-0 to claim top honors in Pool B.
Two pools - C and D - were all-but-determined during Thursday's afternoon session.
Illinois, the Greco champions earlier this week and winners of the last two titles in freestyle, faced off against New Jersey, third in 2007 and runners-up in 2005 and '06.
Jersey hung for awhile, but in the end it was Illinois rolling to a 42-16 victory and eventually finishing 5-0 in Pool C.
Kansas, the fourth seed, beat Minnesota in a 34-28 thriller and took first in Pool D.
Powerful Iowa was not challenged in five matches for top honors in Pool A.
Oklahoma took control of Pool B with a 31-28 win over California during the morning session. The hosts lost a team point during the 152-pound bout and trailed 21-18 entering 160.
All-American Dallas Bailey used a headlock for three in the third period to beat TJ Belton, and Joey Sheridan, a former Cadet champion, edged Dominic Borelli at 171 to give Oklahoma a 24-23 advantage.
Chris Perry, among the top-five recruits in the Class of 2009, dominated All-American Ian Gaube, picking up a technical fall at 189. Gaube nearly caught Perry on his back for a pin in the first period, but the Stillwater, Okla., native stormed back with a technical fall, 9-3, 6-0.
Tyson Yoder's win at 215 clinched the dual victory. Dominic Pico, a big part of California's success in Greco this week, was penalized twice in the decisive second period clinch as Yoder, a 2007 All-American, was awarded the win to put the Okies up by six with only one bout remaining.
Yoder, who will attend Oklahoma State, was put in the same situation against Texas a round later.
Tyler Eitel used a third-period neck-wrench for three and a win at 171 that gave the Texans a 27-22 advantage. It came one match after Johnny Koepp, another Oklahoma State signee, beat Bailey in a disputed match at 160.
Perry took care of business at 189, sending the match to Yoder with Oklahoma trailing, 27-25.
Yoder needed 1:44 to pin Courtland Harrison, and when Chaz Mattocks held off Keldrick Hall in the finale, Oklahoma had a 33-27 win and first in Pool B.
"I've been in that situation a lot," admitted Yoder. "Texas has gotten a lot better over the last few years, so we knew it was going to be a tough dual.
"We got Missouri in the first round, so that really got us going."
"I think we had the toughest pool here," said Perry. "I think it was good having Missouri right off the bat. We wrestled well all day. California was in the Greco finals and Texas has tough team, so nothing was easy the first two days.
"(Against California) I knew I to beat a tough kid. I got caught early but I found a way to stay calm … come back and wrestle a solid match."
Iowa, the top seed, moved to 3-0 in Pool A with a 42-24 win over Pennsylvania and was the only squad in that pool unbeaten by noon on Thursday. Pennsylvania rebounded from its loss to Iowa with a 33-29 victory against Wisconsin and finished second in the pool.
Illinois turned in another solid day of wrestling. New Jersey, South Dakota, Virginia and New York each won just three bouts against the third seed. Michigan won only two.
"It's always fun to bring back a good group of guys to compete here," said coach John Kading, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. "I love the team aspect of it and our guys enjoy it as well.
"We encourage our best guys to wrestle here. It really is pretty easy for us to recruit the kids because everybody enjoys this tournament. For awhile Illinois was down … really down … but we've had some success the last few years and that is a credit to the way the guys are working."
One of those soon-to-be college freshman, 160-pounder Conrad Polz, looks at the late summer schedule as a chance to keep training.
"It's another training opportunity. A way to keep getting better," said Polz, who beat 2007 Junior champion Scott Winston in the dual against New Jersey. "I think (freestyle) carries over a lot. (Beating Winston) was big, especially after the way I started. I was pretty tired in the third period, but I found a way to win the match. I was pretty happy about it.
"Our team is wrestling well right now, having some fun."
"Oklahoma has one the better teams here, so we will have to be ready to go for that one," Kading said.
In the Pool D decider, Minnesota tried to rally against the Kansans, getting a technical fall from Travis Rutt at 171, a three-period decision by Caleb Lines at 189 and another three-period win by Jake Kahnke over 2007 Cadet champion Kyle Caylor at 215.
But Steve Andrus shut out Jake Kettler at heavyweight to give Kansas the victory.
Aldon Isenberg and Brent Fisher had back-to-back pins for Kansas at 140 and 145, respectively.
Wrestling continues Friday morning at 9 a.m. (CST). The finals are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. All results can be found at www.trackwrestling.com.
Wednesday night notes
Freestyle hit the mats Wednesday night, and right off the bat Pool B saw a down-to-the wire affair between Oklahoma and Missouri.
Pins by Jonathan Mondragon at 98 and Drew Partain at 130 proved the difference. Missouri's Clarence Neely beat Joey Sheridan at 171 to send the match to 189 with Oklahoma leading 26-24. Perry and Yoder recorded back-to-back shutouts for the Okies, who also beat Washington, 49-16, in the first session.
Iowa and Pennsylvania both opened with two wins in Pool A to set up their Thursday morning dual.
In Pool C, Illinois opened with a 57-10 victory against Michigan. New Jersey beat regional rival New York, 34-24, to open the tournament. NY led 19-17 after Zach Clemente's 17-second pin at 145, but Jersey rolled off five straight victories started by Mario Mason and Winston's back-to-back shutouts at 152 and 160, respectively.
The top eight
Iowa, Oklahoma, Illinois and Kansas will be joined by Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Jersey and Minnesota in the battle for top eight.
Oklahoma, with a nice contingent of fans, opens with Pennsylvania this morning, then gets a shot at Illinois a round later.
"The (Texas) dual was awesome, the crowd was great," Perry said. "We've got a long ways to go and hopefully the atmosphere will be the same Friday."
Priorities
An anticipated Thursday morning match between Pennsylvania's Jordan Oliver and Iowa's Matt McDonough never materialized. Oliver, the Dave Schultz Excellence Award recipient in his state and a freshman at Oklahoma State this fall, is not competing in the morning sessions because he is attending summer school in Stillwater.
2007 Junior champion Nate Moore did pick up a victory over 2007 Cadet champion Josh Kindig as Iowa took control of Pool A with a 42-24 victory.
Oliver had a technical fall against Kansas on Wednesday night but did not compete on Thursday due to a pair of classes at Oklahoma State.
He is expected to wrestle Friday.
Tough job
John Wilcox, who just completed his eligibility at Oklahoma City University, has had maybe the toughest job this week - in charge of security. With nine mats going and duals ending at different times, wrestlers always like to jump on those mats for a little extra workout or to watch on-going matches.
For Wilcox and his staff, keeping those mats clear has been a full-time gig.
A little history
Oregon won the first Junior Duals championship, in 1991, which had Greco-Roman only. A year later, freestyle was added and Oklahoma won the first of its nine titles.
Ohio (3), Illinoss (2), Iowa and North Dakota have also won freestyle championships.
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