ORNDORFF ADVANCES TO ALL-AMERICAN ROUNDS
March 19, 1999
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Senior heavyweight Mat Orndorff earned All-American honors with a pair of victories over eighth seed J. R. Plienis of Nebraska and 10th seed Bandele Adeniyi-Bada of Pennsylvania friday night at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Penn State University. He can finish as high as third in tomorrows final day of competition opening with a match against third seed Leslie Apedoe of VMI. Orndorff, now 32-6 this year, beat Plienis, 4-2. He earned a takedown with 14 seconds remaining in the first period and scored an escape to open the second with a 3-0 lead. The remaining points of the match were awarded for stalling. It was Orndorffs second win this season over Plienis. He defeated him earlier in the year, 3-1.
Less than an hour later, he earned a 6-2 decision over Adeniyi-Bada. Orndorff scored a takedown and near fall points in the final 20 seconds of the first period to take a 4-0 lead. Save for a second period reversal, Adeniyi-Bada could get no closer to Orndorff.
"Im so happy," said Orndorff of his All-American honor. "Its been a long wait."
OSU head coach Joe Wells said of Orndorffs day, "He obviously worked hard to get there and Im excited for him. Its nice to see him get to be an All-American. Now he needs to go get us some more team points with a third place finish."
Already in the wrestlebacks, Oscar Wood and Eric Jorgensen won their first matches of the day, but were eliminated in the next round. Nathan Navarro was eliminated in a tough 7-6 decision against #10 seed Leroy Vega of Minnesota.
Earlier in the day, Orndorff couldnt stave off a furious comeback by fifth seeded Karl Roesler of Illinois and lost in overtime, 10-8, in the championship quarterfinals. Orndorff dominated the first two periods leading 5-1 with almost two minutes of riding time before Roesler was able to take him down twice in the last minute of regulation and once again early in the overtime.
The third-seeded Wood frustrated eight-seed John Mark Bentley of North Carolina into a disqualification with 17 seconds to go in the match. Wood was leading 17-7 with riding time when Bentley was disqualified for numerous infractions including head butting Wood, bumping the official, and eventually swinging and missing at Wood. North Carolina was penalized two team points for the display. Wood had accumulated four takedowns, two of them with near fall points.
Wood was eliminated in his second match of the days opening session. After a scoreless first period, Lehighs Ryan Bernholz countered a Wood move and earned a takedown and near fall for a 5-0 advantage in the second. Wood could only score a reversal midway through the final period losing the match, 8-2.
The two-time All-American, Wood completed his career at OSU with a career mark of 118-23 with 51 pins. The 118 career wins was one short of the OSU all-time top 10 list, while the 51 pins was fifth all-time at OSU. He ends his senior year at 30-6 with 17 pins. The pins tied him for eighth on the OSU season list.
Sophomore Eric Jorgensen grabbed an early lead with a takedown against Wyoming s Matt Winninger, led 2-1 after two periods and eventually won the match on riding time, 5-4. Jorgensen was eliminated in his next match as he was shutout by Larry Quisel of Boise State, 4-0. It was Quisels fourth victory over Jorgensen this year. Jorgensen finishes his year at 26-16. At 125 pounds in the morning session, Navarro was down to Vega 4-1 in the first 90 seconds on a pair of takedowns, but climbed back to take a 5-4 lead in the second period. The two were tied at six going into the final period. Navarro controlled Vega through the next 80 seconds, but gave up the deciding escape with 40 seconds and Vega held him off the rest of the way. Navarro completes his first season at OSU with a record of 24-18.
OSU quarterfinal results (Friday morning) Hwt.: (#5) Karl Roesler, Illinois dec. (#4) Mat Orndorff, OSU, 10-8 in OT
OSU second round wrestleback results (Friday morning) 125: (#10) Leroy Vega, Minnesota dec. Nathan Navarro, OSU, 7-6 149: (#3) Oscar Wood, OSU wins over (#8) John Mark Bentley, North Carolina, disq. 157: Eric Jorgensen, OSU dec. Matt Winninger, Wyoming, 5-4
OSU third round wrestleback results (Friday morning) 149: (#11) Ryan Bucholz, Lehigh dec. (#3) Oscar Wood, OSU, 8-2 157: (#4) Larry Quisel, Boise State dec. Eric Jorgensen, OSU, 4-0
OSU fourth round wrestleback result (Friday evening) Hwt.: (#4) Mat Orndorff dec. (#8) J. R. Plienis, Nebraska, 4-2 Hwt.: (#4) Mat Orndorff dec. (#10) Bandele Adeniyi-Bada, Penn, 6-2
Second day team standings: 1. Minnesota 89.5, 2. Iowa 86, 3. Penn State 74.5, 20. tie OREGON STATE, Harvard, Indiana 18.
