Two Beavers Wrestlers Earn All-America Spots at NCAA Championships
Oregon State had two wrestlers assure themselves of All-America honors Friday at the NCAA Championships, as 126-pounder Jason Buce and 142-pounder Oscar Wood both picked up victories in the wrestleback quarterfinals to assure themselves places among the top eight finishers.
OSU is 15th in the team race with 33 points. Iowa leads with 90 points and Oklahoma State is second with 85. Buce and Wood will both be in Saturday morning's third-place semifinals. The winners of those matches will wrestle later in the morning for third and fourth place; the losers will wrestle for fifth and sixth place. To both Beavers, taking third means a lot. "I want third place," Wood said. "There's first place; second place hurts a lot but it's great; third place is great; then there's all the rest."
Added Buce: "To me, fourth through eighth are all about the same. Third place, I'd remember, and that's what I'm going for." The ninth-seeded Buce (30-5) will open against second-seeded Dwight Hinson of Iowa State (29-3). In the other half of the bracket for third through sixth places are unseeded Stan Greene of Fresno State (23-9) and fifth-seeded Pat McNamara of Michigan State (34-8). Wood (30-6), also seeded ninth, will get a rematch against eighth-seeded Mike Harp of Missouri (24-9).
Harp beat Wood 10-6 in the second round after Wood had taken an early lead in that match. In the other half of the bracket are fifth-seeded Jamar Billman of Penn State (34-4) and third-seeded Jason Davids of Minnesota (35-4). Beaver heavyweight Mat Orndorff just missed earning the All-America tag, losing 9-8 to fourth-seeded Shelton Benjamin of Minnesota on a takedown with 10 seconds remaining in their wrestleback quarterfinal. In the Friday morning session, three Beaver freshmen were eliminated in their first match as 118-pounder Ben Richards, 150-pounder Eric Jorgensen and 190-pounder Shane Zajac were defeated in the wrestleback second round.
"As a coach, you tend to dwell on the ones you don't win - you look at the possibilities," OSU head coach Joe Wells said. "There were some big disappointments that you've got to wait a whole year to overcome." Wrestle hard and intelligently the entire match, and your chances of winning are a lot better.
"We had some guys who didn't do that, and they paid the consequences," Wells said. "You do that, and you get the benefits. Oscar goes after people and puts them on his back. Jason could have sat on a lead today and he didn't, he kept going after the guy." Buce, a senior, earned All-America honors for the first time in his career. He had been one win away from that status at the NCAA Championships his sophomore season, then failed to make weight at the Pacific-10 meet after trying to come back from a knee injury. Becoming an All-American felt as good as Buce thought it would. "And then some. It feels great, especially to do it at 126," said Buce, who spent the first 3 Ohm seasons of his career as at 118 pounds.
Wood, a junior, became OSU's first All-American at 142 pounds since current Beaver assistant coach Dan Hicks won the second of his back-to-back titles at that weight in 1979. Wood, who had placed seventh at 134 pounds as a freshman in 1996, is also the first Oregon State wrestler to become an All-American at two weights since Babak Mohammadi at 126 pounds and 134 pounds from 1991-95. "Mostly, I feel I should be here to win it, but I wasn't in good enough shape this year," Wood said. "That's a pretty lame thing. I just didn't push myself hard enough this year, and if I don't learn from that, I'm never going to be any good." It was a 9-4 win over 11th-seeded Shawn Ford of Arizona State that clinchd a top-eight spot for Buce.
Though both Buce and Ford are from Pacific-10 schools, this was their first meeting. Ford, the top seed at the Pac-10 meet, had been upset in the early rounds and Buce went on to the title.
Trailing 4-3 after Ford escaped to start the third period, Buce managed a takedown just inbounds with 1:31 left to go back in the lead 5-4. He quickly turned that into a three-point near fall position and held Ford there, unable to complete the pin, for almost one minute until the end of the match. He was awarded the near-fall points - plus a point for riding time - at the finish for the final 9-4 margin.
"In that position, I didn't feel confident going for the pin," Buce said. "It wasn't tight enough, and he could have gotten away. I was content just to hold him there."
Buce then took a 4-1 win over Joey Coughran of Cal State-Fullerton, whom he had beaten 5-2 in the Pacific-10 semifinals. "I had a couple of shots on him, but I didn't finish them," Buce said. "Things get closer (in a rematch). I had a lot of confidence after I beat him. I knew he'd have a hard time scoring and that if I got a couple takedowns, I could beat him with no trouble." Buce began the day with a championship quarterfinal match was against No. 1 seed Eric Jetton of Wisconsin, and Jetton was in control throughout a 6-0 win. He took Buce down less than a minute into the match, then scored an escape and a takedown in the second period and rode Buce out in the third period to assure himself a point for riding time.
The ninth-seeded Wood earned All-America status by upsetting sixth-seeded Adam Tirapelle of Illinois 12-6 in the wrestleback quarterfinals. Wood scored big late in the second period while trailing 4-3. He managed a takedown and immediately worked it into a three-point near fall to go up 8-4; he was awarded another point when the official stopped the match due to blood while Tirapelle was on his back .
"I hit it hard," Wood said of the decisive move. "We hit face-to-face, and I think it chipped his tooth and broke his nose. I would have pinned him, but they had to stop it . it lookd like his nose exploded. He was the strongest kid I've wrestled so far. Later in the evening, Wood pinned seventh-seeded Tom Tomeo of Clarion in 4:17. With the scored tied 3-3 after a Tomeo takedown midway through the second period, Wood managed a quick reversal and took Tomeo immediately to his back.
"I didn't want to spend the rest of the period on my belly - I wanted to get out quick," Wood said. "The opportunity presented itself. I was in a headlock position in front and he was on his knees; he sat on his hip and I spun him through and caught him on his back."
The third round of wrestlebacks had presented Wood with a rematch of the Pacific-10 championship match against Tracy Brown of Arizona State. Again, Wood took the victory, this time by a 7-3 score after he'd won 7-4 at the Pac-10 meet.
"I felt I wrestled better this time, but I still gave up the first takedown," Wood said. "He's a good wrestler, no question about it, and our styles are quite a bit similar. I'm surprised one of us scored so high, up in the sevens." Trailing 2-1 late in the second period, Wood scored an escape and a takedown to go up 4-2 heading into the final period. After a Brown escape made it 4-3, Wood scored another takedown with 48 seconds left and added a point for riding time. Wood felt that the rematch situation favored Brown. "The more matches you wrestle, the person who loses has the advantage," Wood said.
"They learn, they know what cost them the match before, and they guy who won is supposed to win again." Wood started the day with a rush, beating Pieree Pryor of North Carolina State by technical fall, 21-5. A three-point near fall as the final period ended - Wood's second near-fall of the match - provided the margin necessary for a near fall, which gave the Beavers an extra 1.5 team points. Orndorff had been just seconds away from All-America status after leading Benjamin 6-3 after two periods. Orndorff allowed an escape and a takedown early in the third period to tie the score; after Orndorff went back in front with an escape, he was called for a second stall warning that made it 7-7 with 20 seconds left. Orndorff had a point coming for riding time, but Benjamin took him down just at the edge of the circle with 10 seconds left for the winning points.
Orndorff had provided the Beavers with some extra team points in the second and third rounds of wrestlebacks. He took a technical fall over Tim Courtad of Miami (Ohio) 16-1 in a match that ended in just 5:12, then earned a major decision over Ricky Krieger of Lock Haven 13-0.
"I felt a lot more comfortable today than I did Thursday," said Orndorff, who had managed just one point in his second-round loss to seventh-seeded Karl Roesler of Illinois. "I think the first-round bye hurt. I wasn't in the right frame of mind - I wasn't caught up with everyone who'd already wrestled." Richards was eliminated in heartbreaking fashion in the second round of wrestlebacks, losing to Brandon Paulson of Minnesota 10-8 in overtime.
The Beaver freshman led 8-6 and was riding Paulson late in the match; he lost control but couldn't get clear of Paulson, who scored a reversal with 10 seconds left to tie the match. Paulson scored a takedown seven seconds into overtime to take the victory. Another close match knocked Jorgensen out in the second round of wrestlebacks, as he lost 5-3 to Mark Strickland of Old Dominion. Jorgensen trailed 4-2 entering the final period and managed an escape early in the period to get within 4-3; he was close to completing a takedown with 20 seconds left but a stalemate was called and Strickland earned a point for riding time. Zajac dropped a tough 8-6 decision to Nick Muzashvili of Michigan State to eliminate Zajac in the second round of wrestlebacks. It was tied 2-2 after two periods, then Muzashvili scored an escape and a takedown early in the third period to go up 5-2 with 1:17 left. Zajac eventually got within 7-6 with a takedown with 10 seconds left and immediately cut Muzashvili loose; but Zajac couldn't manage a late takedown to tie.Top Five and Pacific-10 Team Scores after Day 2 at Ncaa Championships
1. Iowa, 90; 2. Oklahoma State, 85; 3. Minnesota, 84; 4. Penn State, 54; 5. Central Michigan, 46.50; 10 (tie). Cal State-Bakersfield, 37; 15. Oregon State, 33; 18 (tie). Arizona State, 26.5; 23 (tie). Oregon, 21.5; 28 (tie) Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, 12.5; 30 (tie) Cal State-Fullerton, 12; 43 (tie) Boise State, 5; 56 (tie) Stanford, 3; 62 (tie). Cal-Davis 2.
Oregon State Results after Day 2 at Ncaa Wrestling Championships
BEN RICHARDS, 118 POUNDS - dec. by No. 2 Stephen Abas, Fresno State, 11-4 in first round; pin over Chris Mansueto, George Mason, 3:48 in wrestleback first round; dec. by Brandon Paulson, Minnesota, 10-8 (OT) in wrestleback second round. JASON BUCE, 126 POUNDS (No. 9 seed) - major dec. over Jason Betz, Penn State, 18-9 in first round; dec. over No. 8 Joe Warren, Michigan, 7-5 in second round; dec. by No. 1 Eric Jetton, Wisconsin, 6-0 in quarterfinals; dec. over No. 11 Shawn Ford, Arizona State, 9-4 in wrestleback quarterfinals; dec. over Joey Coughran, Cal State-Fullerton, 4-1 in wrestleback semifinals. Next: vs. No. 2 Dwight Hinson, Iowa State, in third-place semifinals. OSCAR WOOD, 142 POUNDS (No. 9 seed) - pin over Chris Elliott, Slippery Rock, 4:23 in first round; dec. by No. 8 Michael Harp, Missouri, 10-6 in second round; tech. fall over Pieree Pryor, North Carolina State, 21-5 (7:00) in wrestleback second round; dec. over Tracy Brown, Arizona State, 7-4 in wrestleback third round; dec. over No. 6 Adam Tirapelle, Illinois, 12-6 in wrestleback quarterfinals; pin over No. 7 Tom Tomeo, Clarion, 4:17 in wrestleback semifinals. Next: vs. No. 8 Mike Harp, Missouri, in third-place semifinals. ERIC JORGENSEN, 150 POUNDS - dec. by No. 1 Eric Siebert, Illinois, 5-3 in preliminary round; dec. over Kevin Stanley, Indiana, 11-6 in wrestleback preliminary; major dec. over John Fogarty, Cornell, 12-2 in wrestleback first round; dec. by Mark Strickland, Old Dominion, 5-3 in wrestleback second round. ISAAC WOOD, 158 POUNDS - dec. over Vince DeAugustine, Buffalo, 4-1 in preliminary round; major dec. by No. 1 Hardell Moore, Oklahoma State, 14-2 in first round; dec. by Alex Leykikh, Virginia, 6-3 in wrestleback first round. SANDERS FREED, 177 POUNDS - dec. by Dave Murray, Lock Haven, 4-2 (OT) in first round; dec. by Doug Lee, Oregon, 5-1 in wrestleback first round. SHANE ZAJAC, 190 POUNDS - dec. by No. 4 Ryan Tobin, Nebraska, 6-1 in first round; pin over Jonathan DyReyes, Cal State-Fullerton, 1:05 in wrestleback first round; dec. by Nick Muzashvili, Michigan State, 8-6 in wrestleback second round. MAT ORNDORFF, HEAVYWEIGHT (No. 10 seed) - bye in first round; dec. by No. 7 Karl Roesler, Illinois, 5-1 in second round; tech. fall over Tim Courtad, Miami (Ohio) in wrestleback second round, 16-1 (5:12); major dec. over Ricky Krieger, Lock Haven, 13-0 in wrestleback third round; dec. by No. 4 Shelton Benjamin, Minnesota, 9-8 in wrestleback quarterfinals.
