Oklahoma State powers to championship at Big 12 tournament
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by USA Wrestling
Roger Moore
Special to Themat.com
AMES, Iowa – It didn’t have the usual status as an NCAA qualifier but don’t think Oklahoma State’s John Smith and Iowa State’s Kevin Jackson did not want to win a Big 12 Championship on Saturday.
The Cowboys, including the old Big Eight days, brought 48 overall conference titles into Hilton Coliseum; ISU owned 15 conference crowns. Of the 18 Big 12 Championships from 1997 to 2014, 15 went to either O-State or the Cyclones. Entering Saturday night’s finals, the Cyclones held a 63-61 advantage in the team race of the 2015 version. ISU had six in the finals with OSU advancing seven to title bouts. Four of those – 141, 165, 174, and 184 pounds – featured head-to-head matchups between the two long time conference rivals.
In the end it was a Cowboy rout, however. Smith’s squad won all seven finals matches and outdistanced the Cyclones, 92-68. The home-standing Cyclones won just one of six finals bouts, Kyven Gadson, who won his third league crown at 197 pounds.
“All day long it was a good tournament for us,” Smith said. “I think we had an opportunity to win all seven and we did; they did some things we haven’t done all season. Over the next 10 days it gives us some things to work on moving forward.
“We won some tough matches. I felt like we were the aggressor in a lot of those close matches. I saw some things I liked, guys putting two matches back-to-back. We know it’s going to get a lot tougher, but for now we can enjoy seven champions and going 7-0 in the finals. Let’s enjoy it and go back to work on Monday.”
OSU’s run started with 125-pounder Eddie Klimara (20-5), who beat West Virginia freshman Zeke Moisey, 5-3. After Oklahoma All-American Cody Brewer (17-1) dominated Iowa State’s Earl Hall, 10-5, in the 133-pound final – Hall pinned Brewer in a regular-season meeting – OSU pushed its lead to 71-63 when Dean Heil (22-8) pinned ISU rookie Donte Rodriguez, who tried an ill-advised elevator in the second period while fighting off a Heil shot.
“It is an individual sport, but any time you get a big pin it gets everybody going,” Smith said of Heil’s work. “And it came against a team you are going head-to-head with so it was a pretty big moment.”
Three Cowboy wins were of the nail-biting variety.
Anthony Collica (23-9), a champion at 141 pounds in 2014, beat OU’s Justin DeAngelis, 3-2, the deciding takedown coming in the final :30 of the 157-pound final. Kyle Crutchmer (18-6) won a marathon, two-tiebreaker match with ISU’s Tanner Weatherman at 174 pounds. The difference was :08 of riding time after a 3-3, 11-minute deadlock. The trend continued when Nolan Boyd (25-7) used 1:28 of riding time to dispatch ISU’s Leland Weatherspoon, 2-1, in the 184-pound title tilt.
“It comes from being coached by who we are coached by,” Crutchmer said. “Grinding is what we do. We are gaining experience every day and as far as winning it doesn’t matter how you do it in March, it’s about getting your hand raised.
“It was business-like before the finals. This team, we fight for each other, and that is what we did tonight.”
The Outstanding Wrestler Award went to 2014 NCAA champion Alex Dieringer (28-0), who dominated ISU senior Mike Moreno, 14-4, at 165 pounds. It was Dieringer’s third league title.
“It’s exciting to get a third Big 12 title,” Dieringer said. “There are bigger things left, and to go out and get a major against the number two guy gives me confidence (going into nationals). I thought, as a team, we really wrestled hard tonight. We’ll go back to work on Monday.”
Austin Marsden (25-2) rounded out the night for the Cowboys with an easy 7-0 win over West Virginia’s AJ Vizcarrondo in the 285-pound finale. It was Marsden’s second league crown.
Gadson, now a three-time champion, gave the Cyclones something to smile about after a tough evening.
“I wanted to leave a mark,” the senior said. “I’d give this title back for a team one. It hurts. It stings, but you move forward.”
The Sooners had the other champion, an unexpected one in 149-pounder Shayne Tucker (15-18), who rallied late to beat West Virginia’s Roman Perryman, 8-6.
The Cyclones’ 12 bonus points in the first session gave them a 63-61 advantage. Rodriguez, Michael Moreno, and Gadson each scored falls in the semifinals and Luke Goettl, wrestling in his fourth Big 12 meet at a third different weight, turned an elevator into a pin of West Virginia’s Brutus Scheffel in the bronze medal bout at 157 pounds.
Kyle Larson (125) and Gabe Moreno (149) each received medical forfeits in their third place matches for four additional team points.
The 149-pound weight class was a disaster with Oklahoma State’s Josh Kindig, the top seed, and Gabe Moreno, the No. 2 seed, both battling injuries. Kindig never competed, injury defaulting to WVU’s Roman Perryman, while Moreno suffered an injury late in the semifinals and dropped a 7-6 decision to Oklahoma’s Shayne Tucker. In the third place match, Kindig forfeited to Moreno.
The 2015 NCAA Championships are set for March 19-21 in St. Louis.
Topics of conversation
As late as Friday a few league coaches were still questioning just where the Big 12 Conference stood in regards to the NCAA’s qualification process. In the past, the five-team Big 12 received a waiver (at least six teams are required to remain a qualifying tournament for the NCAA Championships). With a group of programs often among the nation’s top 10 annually that waiver was perhaps easy to receive.
When the NCAA released its qualifying allocations for each tournament/qualifier for 2015, the Big 12 Conference was not among the list; 260 are divided among the ACC, the Big Ten, EIWA, EWL, Mid-American, Pac-12, Southern, and West Regional. An additional 70 at-large qualifiers, picked by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee, will be announced Wednesday.
A late-season injury to Kindig, a national finalist last March, provided a little more confusion. With the Big 12 not an NCAA qualifier did it matter if wrestlers did or did not compete? Did they become part of the at-large pool before Saturday or did they have to step on the mat in a conference/qualifying tournament that in fact was not actually an NCAA qualifying tournament?
Inquiring minds spent Friday trying to figure the whole semantic mess out. In the end Kindig weighed in and forfeited both Saturday matches.
The other big question, one that has accompanied the Big 12 Championships the last several seasons, concerns the league’s future. Will there be a Big 12-Western Wrestling Conference merger or some other plan for a qualifier starting in 2016? Coaches made it clear that an announcement is forthcoming.
“We should be a 10-team conference next year,” Jackson said after Saturday’s first session. “We will have affiliate members in wrestling and it will be the Western Wrestling Conference. We will have all six of those teams join our conference. I think the Ts are being crossed and the Is are being dotted.”
Historically, the Big 12 has been among the NCAA’s best – the conference, including the old Big Eight, owns 49 of the 84 NCAA title trophies awarded. Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Iowa State have produced a combined 77 Olympians.
2015 Big 12 Championships
Ames, Iowa
Team scores – Oklahoma State 92, Iowa State 68, Oklahoma 43, West Virginia 35
Championship Finals
125-Eddie Klimara (OS) dec Zeke Moisey (WV), 5-3
133-Cody Brewer (O) dec Earl Hall (IS), 10-5
141-Dean Heil (OS) pin Donte Rodriguez (IS), 4:49
149-Shayne Tucker (O) dec Roman Perryman (WV), 8-6
157-Anthony Collica (OS) dec Justin DeAngelis (O), 3-2
165-Alex Dieringer (OS) maj dec Mike Moreno (I), 14-4
174-Kyle Crutchmer (OS) dec Tanner Weatherman (I), 4-3, tb2
184-Nolan Boyd (OS) dec Leland Weatherspoon (I), 2-1
197-Kyven Gadson (I) maj dec Jake Smith (WV), 11-2
285-Austin Marsden (OS) dec AJ Vizcarrondo (WV), 7-0
Third place
125-Kyle Larson (I) by med. fft. over Ryan Milhof (O)
133-Gary Wayne Harding (OS) dec Cory Stainbrook (WV), 4-0
141-Trae Blackwell (O) dec Michael Morales (WV), 6-3
149-Gabe Moreno (I) by med. fft. over Josh Kindig (OS)
157-Luke Goettl (I) pin Brutus Scheffel (WV), :28
165-Clark Glass (O) dec Ross Renzi (WV), 3-1
174-Matt Reed (O) dec Parker VonEgidy (WV), 12-6
184-Bubba Scheffel (WV) dec Brooks Climmons (O), 4-2 sv1
197-Austin Schafer (OS) dec Andrew Dixon (O), 5-0
285-Ross Larson (O) pin Tyler Swope (IS), 6:54
Semifinals
125-Klimara (OS) dec Larson (IS), 10-4; Moisey (WV) dec Milhof (O), 5-0
133-Hall (IS) dec Stainbrook (WV), 11-5; Brewer (O) dec Harding (OS), 9-3
141-Heil (OS) maj dec Blackwell (O), 10-1; Rodriguez (IS) pin Morales, 1:35
149-Perryman (WV) by med fft over Kindig (OS), :01; Tucker (O) dec Moreno (IS), 7-6
157-Collica (OS) dec Scheffel (WV), 15-9; DeAngelis (O) dec Goettl (IS), 7-3
165-Dieringer (OS) pin Renzi (WV), 2:16; Moreno (I) pin Glass (O), 6;10
174-Crutchmer (OS) pin VonEgidy (WV), 1:13; Weatherman (I) dec Reed (O), 6-4
184-Weatherspoon (I) dec Climmons (O), 6-3, tb2; Boyd (OS) dec Scheffel (WV), 4-0
197-Gadson (I) pin Dixon (O), 2:07; Smith (WV) dec Schafer (OS), 2-1
285-Marsden (OS) maj dec Swope (I), 15-1; Vizcarrondo (WV) pin Larson (O), 3:57
Special to Themat.com
AMES, Iowa – It didn’t have the usual status as an NCAA qualifier but don’t think Oklahoma State’s John Smith and Iowa State’s Kevin Jackson did not want to win a Big 12 Championship on Saturday.
The Cowboys, including the old Big Eight days, brought 48 overall conference titles into Hilton Coliseum; ISU owned 15 conference crowns. Of the 18 Big 12 Championships from 1997 to 2014, 15 went to either O-State or the Cyclones. Entering Saturday night’s finals, the Cyclones held a 63-61 advantage in the team race of the 2015 version. ISU had six in the finals with OSU advancing seven to title bouts. Four of those – 141, 165, 174, and 184 pounds – featured head-to-head matchups between the two long time conference rivals.
In the end it was a Cowboy rout, however. Smith’s squad won all seven finals matches and outdistanced the Cyclones, 92-68. The home-standing Cyclones won just one of six finals bouts, Kyven Gadson, who won his third league crown at 197 pounds.
“All day long it was a good tournament for us,” Smith said. “I think we had an opportunity to win all seven and we did; they did some things we haven’t done all season. Over the next 10 days it gives us some things to work on moving forward.
“We won some tough matches. I felt like we were the aggressor in a lot of those close matches. I saw some things I liked, guys putting two matches back-to-back. We know it’s going to get a lot tougher, but for now we can enjoy seven champions and going 7-0 in the finals. Let’s enjoy it and go back to work on Monday.”
OSU’s run started with 125-pounder Eddie Klimara (20-5), who beat West Virginia freshman Zeke Moisey, 5-3. After Oklahoma All-American Cody Brewer (17-1) dominated Iowa State’s Earl Hall, 10-5, in the 133-pound final – Hall pinned Brewer in a regular-season meeting – OSU pushed its lead to 71-63 when Dean Heil (22-8) pinned ISU rookie Donte Rodriguez, who tried an ill-advised elevator in the second period while fighting off a Heil shot.
“It is an individual sport, but any time you get a big pin it gets everybody going,” Smith said of Heil’s work. “And it came against a team you are going head-to-head with so it was a pretty big moment.”
Three Cowboy wins were of the nail-biting variety.
Anthony Collica (23-9), a champion at 141 pounds in 2014, beat OU’s Justin DeAngelis, 3-2, the deciding takedown coming in the final :30 of the 157-pound final. Kyle Crutchmer (18-6) won a marathon, two-tiebreaker match with ISU’s Tanner Weatherman at 174 pounds. The difference was :08 of riding time after a 3-3, 11-minute deadlock. The trend continued when Nolan Boyd (25-7) used 1:28 of riding time to dispatch ISU’s Leland Weatherspoon, 2-1, in the 184-pound title tilt.
“It comes from being coached by who we are coached by,” Crutchmer said. “Grinding is what we do. We are gaining experience every day and as far as winning it doesn’t matter how you do it in March, it’s about getting your hand raised.
“It was business-like before the finals. This team, we fight for each other, and that is what we did tonight.”
The Outstanding Wrestler Award went to 2014 NCAA champion Alex Dieringer (28-0), who dominated ISU senior Mike Moreno, 14-4, at 165 pounds. It was Dieringer’s third league title.
“It’s exciting to get a third Big 12 title,” Dieringer said. “There are bigger things left, and to go out and get a major against the number two guy gives me confidence (going into nationals). I thought, as a team, we really wrestled hard tonight. We’ll go back to work on Monday.”
Austin Marsden (25-2) rounded out the night for the Cowboys with an easy 7-0 win over West Virginia’s AJ Vizcarrondo in the 285-pound finale. It was Marsden’s second league crown.
Gadson, now a three-time champion, gave the Cyclones something to smile about after a tough evening.
“I wanted to leave a mark,” the senior said. “I’d give this title back for a team one. It hurts. It stings, but you move forward.”
The Sooners had the other champion, an unexpected one in 149-pounder Shayne Tucker (15-18), who rallied late to beat West Virginia’s Roman Perryman, 8-6.
The Cyclones’ 12 bonus points in the first session gave them a 63-61 advantage. Rodriguez, Michael Moreno, and Gadson each scored falls in the semifinals and Luke Goettl, wrestling in his fourth Big 12 meet at a third different weight, turned an elevator into a pin of West Virginia’s Brutus Scheffel in the bronze medal bout at 157 pounds.
Kyle Larson (125) and Gabe Moreno (149) each received medical forfeits in their third place matches for four additional team points.
The 149-pound weight class was a disaster with Oklahoma State’s Josh Kindig, the top seed, and Gabe Moreno, the No. 2 seed, both battling injuries. Kindig never competed, injury defaulting to WVU’s Roman Perryman, while Moreno suffered an injury late in the semifinals and dropped a 7-6 decision to Oklahoma’s Shayne Tucker. In the third place match, Kindig forfeited to Moreno.
The 2015 NCAA Championships are set for March 19-21 in St. Louis.
Topics of conversation
As late as Friday a few league coaches were still questioning just where the Big 12 Conference stood in regards to the NCAA’s qualification process. In the past, the five-team Big 12 received a waiver (at least six teams are required to remain a qualifying tournament for the NCAA Championships). With a group of programs often among the nation’s top 10 annually that waiver was perhaps easy to receive.
When the NCAA released its qualifying allocations for each tournament/qualifier for 2015, the Big 12 Conference was not among the list; 260 are divided among the ACC, the Big Ten, EIWA, EWL, Mid-American, Pac-12, Southern, and West Regional. An additional 70 at-large qualifiers, picked by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee, will be announced Wednesday.
A late-season injury to Kindig, a national finalist last March, provided a little more confusion. With the Big 12 not an NCAA qualifier did it matter if wrestlers did or did not compete? Did they become part of the at-large pool before Saturday or did they have to step on the mat in a conference/qualifying tournament that in fact was not actually an NCAA qualifying tournament?
Inquiring minds spent Friday trying to figure the whole semantic mess out. In the end Kindig weighed in and forfeited both Saturday matches.
The other big question, one that has accompanied the Big 12 Championships the last several seasons, concerns the league’s future. Will there be a Big 12-Western Wrestling Conference merger or some other plan for a qualifier starting in 2016? Coaches made it clear that an announcement is forthcoming.
“We should be a 10-team conference next year,” Jackson said after Saturday’s first session. “We will have affiliate members in wrestling and it will be the Western Wrestling Conference. We will have all six of those teams join our conference. I think the Ts are being crossed and the Is are being dotted.”
Historically, the Big 12 has been among the NCAA’s best – the conference, including the old Big Eight, owns 49 of the 84 NCAA title trophies awarded. Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Iowa State have produced a combined 77 Olympians.
2015 Big 12 Championships
Ames, Iowa
Team scores – Oklahoma State 92, Iowa State 68, Oklahoma 43, West Virginia 35
Championship Finals
125-Eddie Klimara (OS) dec Zeke Moisey (WV), 5-3
133-Cody Brewer (O) dec Earl Hall (IS), 10-5
141-Dean Heil (OS) pin Donte Rodriguez (IS), 4:49
149-Shayne Tucker (O) dec Roman Perryman (WV), 8-6
157-Anthony Collica (OS) dec Justin DeAngelis (O), 3-2
165-Alex Dieringer (OS) maj dec Mike Moreno (I), 14-4
174-Kyle Crutchmer (OS) dec Tanner Weatherman (I), 4-3, tb2
184-Nolan Boyd (OS) dec Leland Weatherspoon (I), 2-1
197-Kyven Gadson (I) maj dec Jake Smith (WV), 11-2
285-Austin Marsden (OS) dec AJ Vizcarrondo (WV), 7-0
Third place
125-Kyle Larson (I) by med. fft. over Ryan Milhof (O)
133-Gary Wayne Harding (OS) dec Cory Stainbrook (WV), 4-0
141-Trae Blackwell (O) dec Michael Morales (WV), 6-3
149-Gabe Moreno (I) by med. fft. over Josh Kindig (OS)
157-Luke Goettl (I) pin Brutus Scheffel (WV), :28
165-Clark Glass (O) dec Ross Renzi (WV), 3-1
174-Matt Reed (O) dec Parker VonEgidy (WV), 12-6
184-Bubba Scheffel (WV) dec Brooks Climmons (O), 4-2 sv1
197-Austin Schafer (OS) dec Andrew Dixon (O), 5-0
285-Ross Larson (O) pin Tyler Swope (IS), 6:54
Semifinals
125-Klimara (OS) dec Larson (IS), 10-4; Moisey (WV) dec Milhof (O), 5-0
133-Hall (IS) dec Stainbrook (WV), 11-5; Brewer (O) dec Harding (OS), 9-3
141-Heil (OS) maj dec Blackwell (O), 10-1; Rodriguez (IS) pin Morales, 1:35
149-Perryman (WV) by med fft over Kindig (OS), :01; Tucker (O) dec Moreno (IS), 7-6
157-Collica (OS) dec Scheffel (WV), 15-9; DeAngelis (O) dec Goettl (IS), 7-3
165-Dieringer (OS) pin Renzi (WV), 2:16; Moreno (I) pin Glass (O), 6;10
174-Crutchmer (OS) pin VonEgidy (WV), 1:13; Weatherman (I) dec Reed (O), 6-4
184-Weatherspoon (I) dec Climmons (O), 6-3, tb2; Boyd (OS) dec Scheffel (WV), 4-0
197-Gadson (I) pin Dixon (O), 2:07; Smith (WV) dec Schafer (OS), 2-1
285-Marsden (OS) maj dec Swope (I), 15-1; Vizcarrondo (WV) pin Larson (O), 3:57
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