The crowd peppered Hendricks with boos from the beginning.
"There seems to be a lot more hate," said Hendricks. "I've got 13,000 hating me and 3,000 loving me. But, you know, I don't know why. Whenever I go out there, I'm having fun. I'm wresting my hardest. I go harder than anybody."
The Cowboys ended the session with a 33.5 point lead over second place Minnesota, who has 72.5 points and three finalists. Oklahoma (64.5), Iowa (61.5), and Arizona State (56) round out the top five teams.
Perhaps the biggest story of the round was the validation of the "super frosh" -- Troy Nickerson of Cornell (125) and Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota (149).
Nickerson, the No. 5 seed, shocked top-seeded and previously undefeated Nick Simmons of Michigan State, 2-1. He scored a reversal in the third period for the first points of the match. Simmons, however, was awarded a stalling point when Nickerson failed to advance his position.
Nickerson was ecstatic about reaching the finals as a true freshman. He will now face defending NCAA champion Joe Dubuque of Indiana.
"This has been my goal for a long time, but it is not over yet," said Nickerson. "I still have one more match. My goal is to become a national champ, and I am on my way."
The other freshman phenom, Dustin Schlatter, lived up to his No. 1 seed as he took care of fourth-seeded Matt Storniolo of Oklahoma, 5-1. Schlatter used two takedowns and added a riding time point to secure a ticket to the finals against Ty Eustice of Iowa, a wrestler he defeated 3-1 in late January.
"I have to keep doing what I've been doing throughout the season, get up for the matches and wrestle like myself," said Schlatter. "My riding has helped in a lot of close matches and that is something that I want to take advantage of again."
Two finals matches are repeats from last year's NCAA finals -- 141 and heavyweight.
At 141, Iowa State's Nate Gallick will take on familiar conference foe in Oklahoma's Teyon Ware. Although Ware is a two-time NCAA champion, Gallick owns the season series 3-0 and the overall series 7-1.
In the heavyweight finals, Minnesota's Cole Konrad, who is undefeated, will take on Oklahoma State's Steve Mocco. This year's match is a role reversal as Konrad enters the match as the favorite and No. 1 seed. Konrad owns three victories over Mocco this year.
Mocco knows that it is now or never for him to win his third NCAA title.
"It's time to go," said Mocco. "The time to talk about it is over. The time to think about it is over. Now I have to go out there and scrap for it. I am not worried about the title. I'm worried about the match tomorrow."
But the most anticipated finals matchmay be at 174 betweet two undefeated wrestlers, Ben Askren of Missouri and Jake Herbert of Northwestern.
Askren, who finished runner-up the past two seasons, won by technical fall over Mike Patrovich of Hofstra in the semifinals, 21-6, to advance to the finals. Herbert defeated Iowa's Mark Perry for the third time this season, 9-3.
Although Herbert enters the match as a slight underdog, he's looking forward to wrestling Askren.
"He's one of the top wrestlers in the nation, regardless of weight class," said Herbert. "We both have some of the longest winning streaks in the nation, so I think that says something. We're both very versatile and good in all positions. It's going to be a scrap tomorrow."
Team Standings (After Session 4):
1. Oklahoma State -- 106
2. Minnesota -- 72.5
3. Oklahoma -- 64.5
4. Iowa -- 61.5
5. Arizona State -- 56
6. Cornell -- 54
7. Penn State -- 53.5
8. Michigan -- 52
9. Hofstra -- 47
10. Lehigh -- 46
Session 4 Results
Session 3 Recap
Session 2 Recap
Session 1 Recap
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