Oregon State
NCAA Championships (host Missouri)
Oregon State Wrestlers Rebound From First Round Shutout At Nationals
March 16, 2000 | Wrestling
March 16, 2000
ST LOUIS, Mo.- Oregon State wrestlers rebounded from a first round shutout with six victories in the evening's opening consolation round of the NCAA Division I National Championships at the Kiel Center in St. Louis Thursday.
All six Beaver wrestlers dropped their first match of the afternoon session, but five remain in contention for third place and All-America honors. A record crowd of 31,903 watched the first day's action in two sessions.
Beaver head coach Joe Wells said, "We obviously weren't the same team in the second round. We scored some major decisions and a pin in the second round. I don't know if or how we were distracted in the afternoon, but we showed a lot of aggressiveness and picked up some points tonight. We'll just take it round-by-round from here."
Oregon State lost their highest seed in the tournament as sixth-seeded 157-pounder Eric Jorgensen was eliminated by Illinois' Griff Powell in his third match of the day. He rebounded from an opening round upset in overtime, 8-6, by Dennis Papadatos of Hofstra to overwhelm Neil Posmer of Marquette. Jorgensen ran up a 14-1 advantage after one period against Posmer and earned an escape and takedown in the second period to win by technical fall, 17-1 at the 4:12 mark of the match. Against Powell, Jorgensen led 1-0 going into the final period, but was taken down twice by Powell leading to a 6-3 defeat. Jorgensen finishes his season at 29-6.
In his first round match, Jorgensen was in control leading most of the first two periods, but was taken down in the final minute of the third period. Down 6-4, Jorgensen escaped and two minutes of riding time gained him a regulation tie at 6-6. Although Jorgensen was the early aggressor in the overtime, Papadatos gained the advantage and a takedown 34 seconds into sudden death.
"I'm disappointed for Eric," said Wells. "He's worked hard and had a great year beating some strong opponents. It's disappointing, but I know he'll wrestle in the off-season and get ready for his senior year."
Nathan Navarro was dominated by the top seed at 125 pounds, Iowa's Jody Strittmatter. Navarro, now 19-13 on the year, managed only a first period escape as Strittmatter won, 10-1, including 3:52 in riding time. Navarro came back to earn a major decision over Alexis Rivera of Northern Illinois in his first wrestleback match. Navarro had five takedowns in the victory over Rivera. His next opponent is Jose Leon of Boston University.
At 133 pounds, Ben Richards was defeated by fifth-seeded Roman Fleszar of Hofstra, 6-1. Fleszar, the East Coast Conference champion, grabbed a 4-1 first period lead and added an escape and riding time for the 6-1 final margin. Richards wasted little time against Livio DiRubbo of Brown in his first consolation match running up a 10-0 score after one period. After running up four minutes of riding time, he pinned DiRubbo in the final period at the 6:10 of the match. Richards faces Brad Wright of Ohio University in Friday morning's round.
Central Michigan's seventh-seeded 141-pounder Chris Marshall controlled freshman Shane Cunanan throughout their first round match. Cunanan could not earn an offensive point in the 19-8 defeat. In his consolation match, Cunanan overcame a 3-0 deficit going into the final period to take Ralph Lopez of Fresno State into overtime and won it with a takedown 47 seconds into the extra period. Cunanan advances to face David Douglas of Arizona State.
The Beavers' 174-pound sophomore Nathan Coy was leading 1-0 against unseeded Joseph Tucceri of Cornell late in the second period when Tucceri flipped Coy and secured the pin with only three seconds to go in the period. Coy rebounded to win convincingly against Nathan Rickman of James Madison, 12-4. The victory included four takedown and a three-point near fall. Coy will open Friday morning against the 12th-seed, Nick Mengerink of Pittsburgh.
Sophomore heavyweight Jason Cooley, the seventh-seed, was pinned by Dave Anderton of Oklahoma State at the 28 second mark of their match. He bounced back to shutout 10th-seeded Sean Hage of West Virginia, 6-0. Cooley had a first period takedown and a reversal in each of the last two periods to account for all the scoring. He will face Josh Pearce of Edinboro in the next round of consolation action.
TEAM LEADERS (after the first session on Thursday, March 16) 1. Oklahoma State 38.00 2. Iowa 33.50 3. Iowa State 30.00 4. Minnesota 28.50 5. Oklahoma 25.00
OREGON STATE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
(Seeds in parenthesis)
NATHAN NAVARRO (20-13), 125, lost to top-seed Jody Strittmatter of Iowa,
10-1, major decision over Alexis Rivera of Northern Illinois, 12-3, Next: Jose
Leon, Boston University.
BEN RICHARDS (17-12), 133, lost to fifth-seeded Roman Fleszar of
Hofstra, 6-1, win by fall over Livio DiRubbo of Brown at 6:10, Next: Brad
Wright, Ohio University.
SHANE CUNANAN (15-15), 141, lost to seventh-seeded Chris Marshall of
Central Michigan, 19-8, defeated Ralph Lopez of Fresno State, 6-4, at :47
seconds in overtime, Next: David Douglas, Arizona State.
ERIC JORGENSEN (29-6), 157, sixth-seeded, lost to Dennis Papadatos of
Hofstra, 8-6, at :34 in overtime, defeated Neil Posmer of Marquette, by
technical fall, 17-1, at 4:12, lost to Griff Powell, Illinois, 6-3. Jorgensen
eliminated.
NATHAN COY (21-12), 174, lost by fall to Joseph Tucceri of Cornell at
4:57, major decision over Nathan Rickman of James Madison, 13-4, Next: 12th
seeded Nick Mengerink of Pittsburgh.
JASON COOLEY (25-7), HWT, seventh-seeded, lost by fall to Dave Anderton
of Oklahoma State at :28, defeated tenth-seeded Sean Hage of West Virginia, 6-0.
Next: Josh Pearce of Edinboro.
