“This was an important tournament for us,” head coach Jack Spates said. “This was a great opportunity for our guys to grow and I think they took good advantage of it. We saw a lot of our guys grow up during the tournament. They learned a lot throughout it.”
Schmidtke, a redshirt sophomore from Aberdeen, Wash., pulled off the biggest upset of his career with an 11-3 major decision victory over OSU’s fifth-ranked Chris Perry. The Sooner victory at 184 pounds was huge for Schmidtke who finished last season with an overall record of 16-19.
“Especially impressive was Erich Schmidtke,” Spates said. “In the finals he beat an outstanding wrestler in Chris Perry from Oklahoma State, the No 5 ranked wrestler in the country. It was a hard-fought bout, but he (Schmidtke) never flinched and our wrestlers got to see that if you keep battling and you fight through the tough situations, good things happen.”
Bach, a redshirt sophomore from Liberal, Kan., claimed the second tournament title for the Sooners in the heavyweight division. Bach also defeated an opponent from in-state rival OSU. Back won by an injury default over the Cowboy’s Alan Gelogaev.
“Also a big congratulations to Joe Bach on an outstanding performance and a championship as well,” said Spates. “Our second team heavyweight did a great job, had some key wins and has been making big strides.
Two other Sooners, Alex Eckstrom and Keldrick Hall, competed in the 133 and 197 pound finals, respectively. Ekstrom, a sophomore from Palmyra, N.Y., was defeated by Oklahoma State’s Jordan Oliver be a 7-3 decision. Hall, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, fell to OSU’s Clayton Foster. Both Oklahoma wrestlers placed second in their respective weight classes.
Six other Sooners finished the Open with a third place finish which include: Greg Cannon (4-1) at 125 pounds, Dustin Reed (133 pounds) after going an impressive 5-1, Kendrick Maple at 141 pounds, Seth Vernon at 149 pounds, Kyle Detmer at 165 pounds after defeating fellow Sooner Derek Peperas in the third place bout and Nolan McBryde who defeated Sooner Ronnie Balfour in the 174 pound bout.
Other Sooners competing in the Open include: Quincy Mondaine, Ronnie Balfour, Scott Chene, Kyle Colling, Sean Datte, Justin DeAngelis, Dillon Dennis, Ian Fisher, Derek Geiges, Chase Gordon, Kosta Karageorge, Dax Perrier, Clay Reeb, Dustin Reed and Ben Bridell.
“It was a good experience overall and it will help prepare us for Central Oklahoma, which is going to be a real fun dual meet, Tuesday, given that there will be a ton of Oklahoma wrestlers on the mat,” Spates said. “Of course UCO has that great division-two national champion tradition. We are looking forward to Tuesday night and want to encourage Sooner fans and wrestling fans to come out and see some good action.”
The Sooners host their first dual meet against the University of Central Oklahoma on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at the McCasland Field House. Admission is free to the public.
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