UCO, visiting Plachy Hall for the first time since 1989, had a slight 6-4 advantage in match wins, including the forfeit, and improved to 9-2 in duals. The Grizzlies, who picked up two of the overtime victories, including a thrilling 133-pound pin from sophomore Raymond Dunning (Nashville, Tenn.), fell to 1-2.
Both teams will compete in the 7-team Colorado Collegiate Invitational starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Grizzlies never led but challenged the highly touted and 6-time NCAA Division II National Champion Bronchos throughout the evening. UCO, boasting four returning All-Americans in the lineup, started the dual with an 11-0 major decision win by seventh-ranked Shea Timothy over ASC senior Dave Welanko (Clarkston, Mich.).
Timothy, now 14-5 on the year, scored an early takedown and tilted Welanko, now 1-2, before riding him out for the entire first period. The Broncho junior, who finished seventh in the 157-pound bracket at last year's national championships, scored another takedown in the second period and followed that up with a third period near fall from the top position while holding a 5:49 advantage in riding time.
The Grizzlies then closed within 4-3 as 157-pound senior Scott Cleve (Escondido, Calif.) overcame a 2-1 first period deficit to take a 4-3 lead over UCO's Jason Leavitt in the second period. Called for an illegal hold at the end of the period, Cleve went into the third tied at four before giving up an early escape. He then retook the lead with a takedown before Leavitt got out to force overtime.
Cleve, a 2-time national championship qualifier, then improved to 3-3 on the year with his sudden victory takedown, which gave him an 8-6 win over the Broncho sophomore, who fell to 14-7.
One of the most highly anticipated bouts of the night ended more than a minute early as UCO's Cort Petersen took a 7-1 lead after two periods before pinning ASC sophomore Evan Copeland (Las Cruces, N.M.) 44 seconds into the third period of the battle of returning All-Americans and nationally-ranked grapplers. Petersen, ranked fourth, improved to 19-6 while Copeland, ranked fifth, fell to 9-9 after wrestling for the first time in two weeks because of nagging injuries. Petersen had defeated Copeland 11-5 in a dual in UCO's Hamilton Field House last January but finished seventh at the national championships, four placers lower than Copeland.
Up 10-3, the Bronchos went for more as junior Jared Hess overcame an early takedown by Grizzly junior James Reynolds (Monte Vista, Colo.), ranked seventh in the nation, to post a 7-3 win at 174 pounds. Taking a 3-2 lead after one with a first period takedown of his own, Hess kept Reynolds down throughout the second period before building a 4-2 lead with an escape in the third. Hess then scored another takedown and accumulated more than two minutes of riding time while allowing just one more escape to improve to 24-6. Reynolds, a returning national qualifier, fell to 10-12.
UCO freshman Kenny Meredith then received a forfeit at 184 pounds because ASC's Josh Vialpando (Walsenburg, Colo.) suffered an injury in practice this week. That win allowed Meredith to improve to 17-13 as the Bronchos took a commanding 19-3 lead in the dual.
The Grizzlies then closed the gap at 197 pounds as junior Casey Woodall (Morenci, Ariz.) picked up his 10th win of the season in one of the more interesting matches of the night. After a scoreless first period, Woodall scored the only reversal of the night against Heath Jolley to take a 2-0 lead before Jolley escaped to cut the gap in half.
Jolley, now 17-10, then escaped to begin the third before a Woodall takedown in the final minute gave the Grizzly a 4-2 lead. Jolley cut the gap with his third escape before Woodall secured the 6-3 win with a final takedown to improve to 10-7.
ASC senior heavyweight Heath Soderstrom (Englewood, Colo.) nearly pulled the upset of the night in the longest match of the dual. Escaping an apparent takedown by returning All-American and fourth-ranked Josh LeadingFox, Soderstrom scored one of his own at the edge of the mat to take a 2-0 lead before going into the second period with a 2-1 cushion. He then escaped early in the second to go up 3-1 before LeadingFox tied the match with an escape and stalling point in the third.
After a scoreless sudden victory period, Soderstrom escaped just six seconds into the first 30-second tiebreaking period before LeadingFox got out eight seconds into the second. The two wrestlers then went into a second 1-minute sudden-victory period, in which LeadingFox claimed an 6-4 win to improve to 15-5. Soderstrom, a returning national qualifier, fell to 9-10.
Down 22-6, the Grizzlies closed the gap again as senior Rob McCabe, won his fourth straight match, with a 6-2 decision over UCO sophomore Shane Caruthers at 125 pounds. McCabe scored the only takedown of the first period and built up more than two minutes of riding time. Caruthers then chose to remain neutral but could do nothing against the eighth-ranked Grizzly in the second two minutes.
McCabe, who finished fourth at last year's national championships, then chose the neutral position to begin the third stanza before Caruthers tied the match with his only takedown. McCabe quickly got out and scored a match-clinching takedown later in the period improving to 12-8 overall. Caruthers fell to 12-7.
McCabe had defeated Caruthers by the same 6-2 margin in last year's dual.
The unquestioned match of the night then came at 133 pounds as Dunning and fifth-ranked Earl Jones battled to a scoreless tie through seven minutes. Jones, who wrestles with just one full leg, was able to ride Dunning for the entire two minutes of the second period before Dunning was able to do the same in the third.
Going to the sudden victory period, Dunning got a takedown and was then able to pick up his team-leading fourth pin of the year in the ensuing flurry as the Grizzlies claimed three extra team points as they closed to within 22-15. Dunning, who finished sixth in the nation last year, improved to 14-6 while Jones, a 2-time National Junior College Champion while at Labette (Kan.) Community College fell to 19-6.
UCO sophomore Kyle Evans, ranked second in the nation after a sixth place finish at last year's national championships, then posted a 6-4 win over 2002 All-American Brian Pitts (Rio Rancho, N.M.) in the 141-pound finale. Evans, now 22-4, took the opening 2-0 lead before Pitts came back to take a 3-2 lead after one with an escape and takedown of his own.
Evans scored the only points of the second period on an escape and takedown to go up 5-3 before trading an escape for a riding time point in the third to close out UCO's win.
Each team had 11 takedowns in the match while the Bronchos picked up all three near falls of the dual.
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