InterMat Staff

OKLAHOMA CITY -- At the beginning of the NCAAs, 10 sets of brothers started competition. By the end of the quarterfinals Friday morning, one set of brothers -- the Simmons of Michigan State -- found their title hopes still alive … while another set -- the Paulsons of Iowa State -- might have felt like the Brothers Grimm, having their championship quest dashed. Session 3 started at 10:00 am with the 125 pound quarterfinals. Two of the matches ended with a pin: Top-seeded Nick Simmons of Michigan State pinned ninth-seed Chad Mendes of Cal Poly at 6:44. It was the Spartans' third pin of the tournament. Freshman sensation Troy Nickerson of Cornell, the fifth seed, secured a fall at 3:27 over unseeded Michael Sees of Bloomsburg. Second-seeded Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma shut out Paul Donohue, the 10th seed from Nebraska, by the score of 5-0. And third seeded Joe Dubuque got a 6-4 victory over Luke Smith, the 10th seed from Central Michigan. The semifinals promise to be a barnburner, with Simmons vs. Nickerson, and Dubuque vs. Hazewinkel. At 133, first seeded Shawn Bunch of Edinboro continued his winning ways, dominating No. 8 Tennessee-Chattanooga's Matt Keller 14-9. Oklahoma State's Nathan Morgan, seeded second, topped unseeded Jason Borrelli of Central Michigan 8-4. Matt Valenti, the sixth seed from University of Pennsylvania, 7-2. Rounding out the final four was No. 5 Chris Fleeger of Purdue who was awarded the match on an injury default after being injured by an illegal move by Minnesota's fourth-seeded Matt Reiter, and was unable to continue. In the next round, Bunch will meet up with Fleeger, and Valenti faces Morgan. In the 141- pound quarterfinals, all the favorites advanced, Top-seeded Nate Gallick of Iowa State shut out Brandon Rader, the ninth seed from West Virginia, 3-0. Second-seeded Teyon Ware of Oklahoma rolled up a 12-4 victory over Iowa's Alex Tsirtsis, who had been seeded seventh. In a battle of the Big Ten schools in the state of Michigan, fourth-seed Andy Simmons of Michigan State secured a 4-2 sudden victory over Michigan's Josh Churella. Third-seeded Cory Cooperman of Lehigh pinned No. 6 Ryan Lang of Northwestern at 6:05. The semifinals will feature Gallick vs. Simmons, and Cooperman vs. Ware. At 149, another freshman continued to make headlines. Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, the No. 1 seed, shut out Michigan's No. 8 Eric Tannenbaum, 6-0. Iowa's Ty Eustice, seeded second, earned a 5-3 decision over No. 7 Gregor Gillespie of Edinboro. Fourth-seeded Matt Storniolo of Oklahoma edged Mark DiSalvo of Central Michigan 4-3. The huge contingent of Oklahoma State fans lifted the roof off Ford Center when their third-seeded wrestler Zack Esposito pinned Hofstra's No. 6 Jon Masa at 3:57. New headlines will be written Friday evening as Schlatter meets up with Storniolo, and Esposito wrestles Eustice. In the 157-pound class, none of the top four seeds advanced to the semifinals. In fact, the quarters featured a couple upsets. Ninth-seeded Joe Johnston of Iowa beat cross-state rival -- and top seed -- Trent Paulson, 6-3. In another upset, No. 3 Alex Tirapelle of Illinois lost in overtime, 3-2, to 11th-seeded Lehigh wrestler Derek Zinck. For two unseeded wrestlers in the weight class, their Cinderella stories came to an end. Missouri's Michael Chandler lost to fifth-seeded Boise State wrestler Ben Cherrington by the score of 8-1 … while Andrew Flanagan of Harvard was shut out by No. 10 Brian Stith of Arizona State 8-0. This means that the semifinals will feature Johnston vs. Cherrington, and Zinck vs. Stith, At 165, the No. 1 seed Ryan Churella got a 6-4 victory over Travis Paulson, the eighth seed from Iowa State… eliminating the Paulson twins' title dreams. Second-seeded Johny Hendricks of Oklahoma State ended Daniel Thompson's championship ride, beating the unseeded Citadel wrestler 9-6. American's Muzaffar Abdurakmanov, seeded third, got the pin over Deonte Penn, putting the Edinboro man's shoulders to the mat at 1:39. In battle of two unseeded wrestlers, Johnny Galloway of Northern Illinois vs. Joey Bracamonte, the Oregon wrestler came out on top 2-1. In the semis, Churella will wrestle Bracamonte, and Abdurakhmanov takes on Hendricks. No. one seed at 174, B en Askren of Missouri, dominated No. 8 Travis Frick of Lehigh, securing a 19-3 technical fall at 5:13. Second-seeded Jake Herbert of Northwestern got a 10-5 victory over No. 7 Kenneth Cook of UC Davis. Mark Perry gave Iowa fans something to cheer about. The third-seeded Hawkeye secured a fall over No. 11 Brandon Mason of Oklahoma State at 4:23. Michael Patrovich, the fifth seed from Hofstra, topped Nebraska's Jacob Klein, who had been seeded fourth, by the score of 5-3. Later on Friday, Askren will go up against Patrovich … while Perry will take on Herbert in the semifinals. American University's Josh Glenn, the top seed at 184, continued his winning ways with a 14-10 win over No. 8 Eric Bradley of Penn State. Second seed Roger Kish of Minnesota got a 7-4 victory over 10th-seeded C.B. Dollaway of Arizona State. In a bit of an upset, sixth-seeded Pete Friedl of Illinois beat No. 3 Ben Wissel of Purdue 3-1… while No. 5 Shane Webster of Oregon State earned a 10-6 win over No. 4 Joe Mazzurco of Cornell. In the semifinals, it'll be Glenn vs. Webster, and Friedl vs. Kish. Hofstra's unseeded giant-killer at 197 Chris Weidman continues to have a storybook NCAA, scoring a victory over No. 8 Ryan Bader of Arizona State, scoring four takedowns on the Sun Devil. The upsets continued, with Cornell's Jerry Rinaldi -- seeded seventh -- got a 3-1 win over second-seeded Kyle Cerminara of Buffalo… while No. 6 Phil Davis of Penn State edged third-seeded B.J. Padden of Nebraska 6-5 after being behind 4-1 in the first period. Two-time champ -- and fourth seed -- Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State moved on to the semifinals by shutting out Oklahoma's No. 5 Joel Flaggert, 4-0. This sets the stage for the semifinals, with Rosholt vs. Weidman, and Davis vs. Rinaldi. In the heavyweight class, all of the top four seeds all advanced. The No. 1 seed, Minnesota's Cole Konrad, got the victory over No. 8 Mike Faust of Virginia Tech 4-0. Second-seed Steve Mocco delighted the Cowboy contingent with a convincing 9-3win over cross-state rival Jake Hager of Oklahoma 9-3. Third-seeded Greg Wagner of Michigan advanced to the semis with a pin of No. 6 Tanner Garrett of Navy at 1:41. The fourth seed, Arizona State's Cain Velasquez, dominated unseeded Kirk Nail of Ohio State 9-1. In the semifinals, Konrad will face Velasquez … while Mocco will meet Wagner. While you were sleeping … Late Thursday night, after most of Ford Center was empty except for the cleaning crews, the outcome of one Session 2 match was yet to be determined. A protest was filed in the Blake Maurer vs. Gabriel Dretsch match in the 187-pound consolations. Minnesota coach J Robinson protested that a penalty point awarded to Ohio State's Maurer early in the third period for an illegal hold was a misapplication of a rule. Originally, the Buckeye had been awarded the match 2-1 thanks to the penalty point and an escape in the third period. After a long protest/review delay that stretched long into the evening -- long after most fans had headed over to Bricktown to sample the nightlife -- the protest committee, after reviewing the tape, upheld Minnesota's protest and the third period was re-wrestled. It was more a barroom brawl, with only a hundred or so observers, most of them intense Golden Gopher fans. Their man scored a three-point near fall, which was followed by an escape by Maurer, answered by a Dretsch takedown. The final score: 6-1 Dretsch. To add to the bad news for the Buckeyes, Ohio State coach Russ Hellickson was given a warning for Control of Mat Area. Session 3 Results Session 2 Recap Session 1 Recap

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Day One of the 2006 NCAA Division I Championships is now in the books, and for the two top teams, Oklahoma State and Minnesota, it was a Tale of Two Teams. For the Cowboys, it was the best of times, with Oklahoma State wrestlers writing a great day for themselves, sending Cowboy fans into delirium repeatedly. By contrast, it may not have been the worst of times for Minnesota … but, for the Golden Gophers, there were some bad breaks along the way. Oklahoma State advanced six into the quarterfinals, including all four returning NCAA champs … all who got pins. Zack Esposito, seeded third at 149, recorded his second pin of the day, against Morgan Atkinson of Cal State Fullerton, at 4:25. Esposito will now face sixth-seeded Jon Masa of Hofstra in the quarterfinals, which is a rematch of their 2005 NCAA quarterfinals. Johny Hendricks, the second seed at 165, dispatched Garrett Atkinson of North Carolina at 5:52. Hendricks will now face The Citadel's Cinderella story, Daniel Thompson, who scored a big upset pin over 2004 NCAA champ Troy Letters of Lehigh. Jake Rosholt, who had a bit of a scare in his opening round match when he was put on his back, wasted little time in pinning Old Dominion's Adam Wright. He will now face familiar conference foe in Oklahoma's Joel Flaggart, a fifth-seeded wrestler he's beaten four times. The fourth Cowboy to win by pin was heavyweight Steve Mocco, defending heavyweight champion, got the fall over Andrew Patrick of Boise State at 1:30. Next in line for the for the second-seededed Cowboy big guy: Jake Hager of Oklahoma, the same wrestler he beat for the Big 12 title two weeks ago. In addition, Nathan Morgan (133) and Brandon Mason (174) also advanced into the quarterfinals. By contrast, Minnesota's second session was not as successful. After losing two of their seeded wrestlers in the opening session (Matt Nagel and Gabriel Dretsch), the news got worse. The biggest blow came at 157, when second-seeded CP Schlatter was upset by freshman Andrew Flanagan of Harvard, 5-3. All the scoring took place in the third period. Flanagan got an escape and a takedown. Schlatter then answered with an escaped and takedown of his own to tie the score. But Flanagan, the EIWA champion, escaped and added a point for riding time for the win, dashing Minnesota's expectations. Nine of the 10 No. 1 seeds advanced to the quarterfinals. The one who didn't: Central Michigan's Wynn Michalak, who was upset by Chris Weidman of Hofstra, a 14-11 wrestler who was unseeded. Weidman scored two takedowns and nearfall points in the first period, and led the entire match. Final score: 10-7. Two of the nine No. 1 seeds found themselves in unfamiliar territory at some point in their Thursday evening matches. One of the most dominating wrestlers in the country, Ben Askren, was losing to Oklahoma's Wes Roberts, 2-1, in the second period. However, the Missouri 174-pounder came back in the end with a takedown to end the match 6-4. Then, at 184, Josh Glenn of American had almost more than he could handle with Ron Howard of Cleveland State, who scored nearfall points to make it close. However, Glenn scored a takedown in the final seconds to force overtime. In the tiebreaker period, Glenn scored an escape and nearfall points for a final score of 14-10. One of the biggest upsets of the second session took place at 157 when unseeded Michael Chandler of Missouri scored a third period reversal to knock off No. 4 seed Matt Lebe of West Virginia, 3-2. Another fourth seed, Nick Baima of Northern Iowa, who won the Midlands title this season at 165, injury defaulted in 24 seconds to Johnny Galloway of Northern Illinois. Alex Tirapelle reached a milestone in wrestling history when he became the winningest wrestler in University of Illinois history. In his first match, the 157-pounder tied his older brother Adam's record of 127 wins. His second session victory -- an 8-2 decision over Matt Hill of Edinboro -- put him in the history books for the Fighting Illini. At 141, Illinois' Casio Pero and Michael Keefe of Tennessee-Chattanooga -- who were both returning All Americans -- found themselves in a pigtail consolation bout. The seventh-seeded Pero won 9-6, eliminating the No. 5 Keefe from further competition. In a Battle of the Bradleys -- Paul vs. Eric, both returning All-Americans at 184 -- eighth-seeded Eric Bradley of Penn State came out on top of the Iowa wrestler, 7-4. The attendance for the second session was 15,752. Five questions with Purdue's Chris Fleeger: Chris Fleeger of Purdue, a two-time All-American, was academically ineligible for much of the past two seasons. The Pennsylvania native finished third in 2003 and was an NCAA runner-up in 2004. Prior to the Big Ten Championships two weekends ago, he looked like a sure-fire NCAA finalist. But a disappointing Big Tens, where he injured his toe and lost to Tom Clum, dropped him down to the No. 5 seed here at the NCAA Championships. RevWrestling.com caught up with Fleeger shortly after his final match of Day One of the NCAA Championships. Chris, you've had two dominating victories thus far. Your thoughts on the way you wrestled on the opening day? Fleeger: I feel good. My shape feels pretty good and my foot is holding up. There are some pretty tough kids. They're scrappy. You don't really know them because you don't see them during the year. But I felt like I wrestled well. This just leads me to the tougher matches. You injured your toe at the Big Ten Championships. What exactly is the extent of the injury? I thought that I broke it, it hurt so bad. I just have real bad reverse turf toe. The joint is pretty swollen. I had a cortisone injection. I've been rehabbing, taped it up, so it can bend. It kinds of hurts my mobility, which I what kind of live on. But that's really not an excuse right now. Everyone came into this tournament banged up. I don't think there is one wrestler out there who is one-hundred percent. If I lose, I lose. If I win, I win. I shouldn't even be talking about it. How has it affected your preparation for this event? Well, I forfeited out of the Big Tens to rest it up. I'm just rehabbing it hard. I didn't go real hard on in practices. I just rested, rested, rested. That's all you can do. You've been in the NCAA finals before, yet you came into this event seeded No. 5. Do you feel like you have something to prove? I knew that you would ask me that question. It doesn't really matter to me. I said that to my coaches. I forfeited to sixth place to rest my toe. I think it was a smart thing to do. It put me on the same side as the No. 1 seed, and I'll have the No. 4 seed right away, but you have to beat them to win it. I'm here to win it. I'm not here to get on the podium in eighth place. I've been in the finals. I want the gold. I don't care where they put me. I don't care if they put me with the one, two, three, four seeds right off the bat, I don't care. Line them up. If they beat me, they beat me. I'm here to wrestle. You face Mack Reiter of Minnesota, a returning All-American, in the quarterfinals. What are your thoughts heading into that match-up? Fleeger: I've watched him a few times. He's a young, scrappy kid. I'm not sure how I match up with him. You never really know until you get out there. I'm not scared of anyone. If he beats me, he beats me. I'm just going to go out there and give it my all. I'm sure that he will to. I'm looking forward to it. Team Standings (After Session 2): 1. Oklahoma State -- 36.5 2. Oklahoma -- 24.5 3. Edinboro/Hofstra -- 22.5 5. Michigan/Nebraska/Minnesota -- 22 Session 2 Results Session 1 Recap

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The 76th NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships opened Thursday morning at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City with some first-round upsets affecting Oklahoma State, Illinois and other top programs that could have an ultimate impact on the team standings down the road. Oklahoma State leads the team race with 17 points and six wrestlers in the championships bracket. Hofstra sits one point behind Oklahoma State in second with 16 points, followed by Oklahoma in third with 13.5 points. All 10 of the No. 1 seeds rolled in their opening round matches, including Edinboro's Shawn Bunch, a returning NCAA runner-up, who dominated Jesse Sundell of Iowa State, 17-5. "I feel pretty good," said Bunch, who now owns a 36-1 record on the season. "I went out there did what I needed to do, put it on someone, and got a good blow in before my next match." It was a disappointing opening round for Big Ten powers Michigan and Minnesota, as both teams lost two of their seeded wrestlers. The Wolverines, who qualified nine wrestlers for the event, and a team that is expected to challenge for a top-five spot, lost two No. 12 seeds in the opening round. At 133, Mark Moos was upset by Chris Helgeson, 13-12, while 157-pound freshman Steve Luke, who won the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational earlier this season, dropped a 6-4 decision to Will Roe of Oklahoma. Two of Minnesota's seeded wrestlers lost in the first round. Matt Nagel, who was seeded sixth at 165 and also returning All-American, was upset by Deonte Penn of Edinboro, 8-5. And at 174, 10th-seeded Gabriel Dretsch fell to unseeded Kenne Robinson of Eastern Illinois. There were two major upsets in the 125-pound weight class in the first round. First, Illinois' Kyle Ott -- a two-time runner up, seeded fourth -- lost to Bloomsburg's unseeded Michael Sees, 8-5. Ott had been leading 5-3 in the third when Sees got a takedown and three near-fall points to change the outcome. Then sixth-seeded Coleman Scott of Oklahoma State fell to Bryce Leonhardt of Wyoming 3-2. These early upsets will have an impact on the team title race. Two two-time NCAA champs briefly saw their title hopes flash before their eyes in their first matches. Second-seeded Teyon Ware of Oklahoma got called for stalling twice, but won 4-3 thanks to riding time over Manuel Rivera of Minnesota. Jake Rosholt gave the Oklahoma State fans a bit of a scare during his first match when in the second period Michigan's 197-pounder Willie Breyer put the Cowboy on his back … however, the fourth-seeded Rosholt came through with a 21-9 major decision victory. Another big upset came at 165 when Joey Bracamonte of Oregon claimed a victory over fifth-seeded Matt Pell of Missouri, 8-3. Bracamonte, despite winning the Reno Tournament of Champions earlier this season (which included a win over NCAA champion Johny Hendricks), entered the event unseeded. Bracamonte stumbled a bit in the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago as he placed fifth and qualified for the NCAA Championships as a wildcard. The weight class with the most surprises was 165. In addition to Nagel and Pell losing, two others lost in that weight class. No. 10 Patrick Pitsch of Arizona State lost to Daniel Thompson of the Citadel (10-4), No. 11 Stephen Anceravage of Cornell to Will Durkee of Northwestern (2-0), and No. 12 Marc Harwood of Nebraska to Larry Hall of West Virginia (11-3). Illinois is the only team with 10 qualifiers this year. Edinboro (EWL), Lehigh (EIWA), Michigan (Big Ten), Nebraska (Big 12), and Oklahoma State (Big 12) each qualified nine. Eight wrestlers entered the tournament undefeated -- Nick Simmons of Michigan State (125, 32-0), Nate Gallick of Iowa State (141, 33-0), Ben Cherrington of Boise State (157, 15-0), Muzaffar Abdurkhmanov of American (165, 21-0), Ryan Churella (165, 25-0), Ben Askren of Missouri (174, 39-0), Jake Herbert of Northwestern (174, 32-0), and Cole Konrad of Minnesota (Hwt., 33-0). A total of 330 wrestlers from 69 schools are competing at the 2006 Division I Championships. There are 70 All-Americans competing. The attendance for the first session was 15,694. Session 1 Results

1. Ted's Cafe Escondito -- 2836 NW 68th St. -- 405.848.8337 Be happy you aren't the one making weight this weekend and check out the Best Mexican food in OKC … or anywhere in that case. Start with some delicious queso with your chips, but leave room for the tortillas that are as thick as pancakes! 2. Bass Pro Shop -- 200 Bass Pro Drive -- 405.218.5200 -- www.basspro.com After wrestling season comes fishing season! Check this place out on your way out of town to load up on some lures! 3. Water Taxi of OKC -- www.watertaxi.com/Oklahoma/OKCHome.Asp Sit back and enjoy the views while taking a ride down the Bricktown canal. Choose from narrated canal cruises, cocktail or dinner cruises. 4. Wormy Dog Saloon -- 311 E. Sheridan Ave. -- 405.6016276 -- www.wormydog.com Saddle Up (seriously, the bar stools are saddles) at the Wormy Dog Saloon in Bricktown for live music on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. Don't go if you are looking to get liquored up, though, because this Saloon only serves beer. 5. Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial -- www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org Located in downtown OKC, a beautiful tribute to the lives that were lost in the bombing. 6. TapWerks Ale House -- 121 E. Sheridan Ave. -- 405.319.9599 -- www.tapwerks.com Also in Bricktown, TapWerks offers a huge variety of delicious beer. Try sample the entire wall of taps … after the sessions are over for the day! 7. Makers Cigar & Piano Lounge -- 405.606.9000 -- www.makersokc.com/cigarpiano Celebrate your favorite wrestler's victory over a cognac and cigar! They have a huge menu of wonderful cigars coupled with great live music. 8. Skyy Bar -- 7 Mickey Mantle Dr. -- 405.272.9222 -- www.skkybar.com Located on the canal in Bricktown, this place has a big outdoor patio and a hot dance floor. You'll want to pull out your nicer duds as this place is a little dressier and does not allow baseball hats. 9. Hideaway Pizza -- 2 Mickey Mantle Dr. -- 405.232.4776 -- www.hidawaypizza.com In between sessions, grab lunch to go at Hideaway Pizza in Bricktown (I suggest the Paradise Pie). Open 11-1:30 M-F, pick up your pizza at the curb-side window and eat on the outdoor patio outside the Bricktown Ballpark. 10. Toby Keith's I love This Bar and Grill -- 310 Johnny Bench Drive, 405.231.0254 -- www.ilovethisbarandgrillokc.com Located in the heart of Bricktown, Toby's restaurant named after his No. 1 song is a hit of its own! Great food, comfortable atmosphere and great live music on Friday's and Saturday's will have you coming back to OKC again and again! Honorable Mention -- great places that didn't quite make weight: Bricktown Brewery -- www.bricktownbrewery.com Remington Park Race Track and Casino -- www.remingtonpark.com OKC Museum of Art -- www.okcmoa.com Cowboy Hall of Fame -- www.nationalcowboymuseum.org Myriad Gardens -- www.myriadgardens.com

Well it all ends in Oklahoma City wrestling fans. Who will be this years individual champions? Who will be team champions? It has been a year of ups and downs but typical of wrestling it has been a thrill a minute. Join Steve Foster and I along with Kyle Klingman and Ryan Lang for play by play, color, pageantry and results. It will be terrific I can promise you that. Oh, we will have on dozens of great guests too. Football hero Ronnie Lott has promised me a one on one with the great one this year. Our broadcast this year as in past years is FREE! Takedown Wrestling Radio's FREE presentation of the 76th annual NCAA Wrestling Championships is brought to you by: Asics, a proud supporter of strength, discipline and everything it takes to succeed on the mat and in life. Asics has been an important part of wrestling for over 50 years. Let's do the next 50 together. Keep wrestling, Wrestle with Asics! And by: The All new 7 Flags Fitness and Events Centers. Check out all that's new at 7 Flags. New Equipment, New Faces and a brand new attitude at 7 Flags. Call them at 515-278-8888 And By: Body Bar Systems. For your high intensity, low impact workouts its got to be Body bar. For infinite workouts its one bar. Body Bar. Official sponsor of the USA Wrestling Women's Team. Body Bar builds Champions! And by: The Oklahoma City All Sports Association- What a city! Its all in Oklahoma City. And by: DoubleSport! DoubleSport is the leader in high-tech competition and training gear for combat sport athletes. The originator of the first revolutionary 2-piece wrestling FILA approved wrestling uniform....why settle for a single when you can switch to a DOUBLE. Never Stop...DoubleSport."

Oklahoma State's wrestling team will look to win its fourth consecutive national title when the NCAA Championships hit Oklahoma City Mar. 16-18. OSU won the NCAA title the last time the championships were held in Oklahoma City in 1994 at the Myriad. This year they will move across the street to the Ford Center. The Cowboys come into the tournament with lots of experience, only one qualifier is making his first appearance in the national tournament. OSU brings four defending national champions and one All-American from a year ago. Zack Esposito, Johny Hendricks, Jake Rosholt and Steve Mocco will all look to defend their titles, while Coleman Scott will look to return to the medal stand. Nathan Morgan and Kevin Ward both qualified a year ago and will look to garner their first All-America honor. Rusty Blackmon was one match from placing in 2004, and Brandon Mason is making his first NCAA appearance and both could have an impact on OSU's NCAA title hopes. Despite two dual losses this season to Minnesota, the Cowboys still go into the tournament as the favorite and will have a target on their backs. Scouting the Field The NCAA Tournament field is loaded with the best wrestlers from around the country. There are several teams looking to win an NCAA team title. Illinois is the only team in the field who qualified all 10 wrestlers after a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Minnesota is currently ranked No. 1 with two dual wins over OSU, but Michigan recently knocked off the Gophers in one of the final duals of the year. There will be plenty of excitement in the individual brackets as well. Six champions from 2005 will return to defend their titles. Four of those champions are Cowboys with Indiana's Joe Dubuque at 125 and Oklahoma's Teyon Ware at 141. Several finalist are returning as well and some will have the opportunity to dethrone the current champion, while others will be the favorite in their weight class. Seniors Say Goodbye Five Oklahoma State seniors wrestled their final match inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. It has been one of the most productive senior classes over the last 50 years combining to win three NCAA team titles, four individual titles, six All-American finishes and five Big 12 championships. The Cowboys have gone 33-1 inside Gallagher-Iba Arena over the last four years and 70-4 overall in duals. The seniors made senior day memorable all recording wins in their final match inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. Steve Mocco recorded a fall and Rusty Blackmon rallied from a 7-0 deficit to win in sudden victory. Gopher Bitten Oklahoma State has dominated collegiate wrestling since the NCAA started conducting a championship in 1928. The Cowboys have been even more dominating of late winning the last three NCAA titles and compiling a 108-8 record over the last six seasons. There has been one team that has continually stuck out and that is Minnesota. The Gophers have handed OSU five of those eight losses and have won seven of the last 10 meetings in the series, including twice this year. Oklahoma State still leads the all-time series at 16-9, but Minnesota is closing the gap. Freshmen Become Sophomores Head coach John Smith made a decision last winter to pull two freshmen out of redshirt because the Cowboys were struggling at both 125 and 133. Coleman Scott and Nathan Morgan both became Big 12 champions later on that year, while Scott went on to finish eighth at the NCAA Championships at 125. The freshmen have become sophomores and have turned into two of the better wrestlers at their weight class in the country. Scott is 24-5 and is ranked as high as fifth in the country. Morgan has the best record on the team at 28-1 and is ranked second by the NWCA/Intermat Individual Rankings at 133 after defeating fourth-ranked Mack Reiter of Minnesota twice and third-ranked Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly. Jake Rosholt Wins No. 100 With Jake Rosholt's first round decision over Joel Flaggert at the Big 12 Tournament, Rosholt won the 100th match for his career. Rosholt lost in the finals to Nebraska's B.J. Padden and now stands at a career record of 100-20. The 2006 season has been the first season of Rosholt's career that he has not missed any time due to an injury. Despite the injuries Rosholt is still a three-time All-American and two-time national champion. Finals Loss an Omen for Rosholt During the course of Jake Rosholt's career he has never won the Big 12 championship and the NCAA championship in the same season. As a freshman Rosholt lost in the finals to Scott Barker and he came back to claim the NCAA title two weeks later. Rosholt won his only Big 12 title as a sophomore, but he finished third at the NCAA Championships. Rosholt has lost the last two Big 12 titles to Nebraska's B.J. Padden. He came back to win the NCAA title in 2005 and is waiting to see if the pattern will hold true in 2006. Johny Hendricks Opens Up on Offense If heavyweight Steve Mocco is nicknamed the bear then Johny Hendricks is the bull. Hendricks has bullied his opponents on the mat and enters postseason competition with a 22-1 record. His bullying style and aggressive mentality has made him one of the most feared and hated wrestlers in the country. Opposing fans have grown to hate Hendricks for his excitement and joy for winning that has caused him to celebrate after victories. Hendricks has opened up his offense this season. He recorded 47 takedowns in his first two years combined compared to 48 takedowns this season. At times he has even dared his opponents to approach him. Hendricks will be looking to defend his Big 12 and NCAA titles come March.

There really are numerous ways to describe the feeling of winning a national championship, but the one that keeps coming to mine is "UNBELIEVABLE." This is not because we didn't believe, because we did, all year long. Yet you really never truly know until the trophy is handed to you and it is announced over the loudspeaker that you are the national champions. This year's national tournament was one that I will never forget. It was unbelievable to see every guy on our team fighting for their life, leaving everything on the mat. All year long we had been training for these two days, and the training paid off. Not only did we win the national title, we also placed all 12 of us in the top seven. That was the most incredible feeling of all, knowing that we had all contributed to winning the national title. Everyone had contributed by winning, and every member of the team scored bonus points throughout the tournament. We had the second, third, and fourth place finishers for most falls in the least amount of time, which is incredible. The team race was close virtually the whole tournament. Lindenwood even jumped ahead of us when the second team rankings were shown on Friday, but we didn't throw in the towel and give up. We kept fighting and by Friday night had close to a twenty-point lead. I lost in the second round, which was a bit disheartening as I realized that my personal national title dreams had been crushed, but I did not want to leave as I did the last two years, with no hardware. I pinned my next opponent, only to find out I would be wrestling the same guy who beat me out for All-American honors two years ago. Marshall MarquardtIt was absolutely insane leading up to my match. You have to think about this situation for a moment, as I could not get it out of my head. Everyone else on the team was already an All-American, and I was the last guy on the team to wrestle that day. This was for all the marbles. To go home knowing that everyone on the team would be on the podium the next day. I am a fifth-year senior, wrestling at my last national tournament, wrestling a guy who beat me out two years ago, and trying to not be the only guy on our team that goes home without a plaque. All I can say is that I was a little nervous! It was over almost as soon as it began as I ended the match with a fall, and it was if the world had been lifted off me. I was so relieved and happy that I would be joining my teammates as an All-American, and a void in my life would finally be filled. Marshall MarquardtThe next day flew by as I pinned my opponent for seventh place, and we put three guys through to the finals. Both Jimmy Rollins and Willie Parks won National Titles for us. These are the first two national titles for any wrestler at Dana College, EVER! After we won the team title, we found out that Dana College is the smallest school to win a National Championship in any sport, ever. This was the first national championship for any team at Dana College since it was founded over one hundred years ago, but hopefully it won't be the last. Winning the national title really didn't set in until this past Monday, when our boosters teamed up with the college and threw a pep rally for us. We all boarded a stretch Hummer limo and cruised around Blair, eating pizza and blasting the music, laughing and having a good time. This was short-lived however, as we had fans waiting for us back at the gym. We arrived back at campus to a crowd of fans, boosters, administrators, and family, all waiting for us. We were all announced to the crowd as we are for a dual meet, and our accomplishments were named of as well. It was awesome to run out in the gym for one last time in front of all our supporters. We raised the national championship banner in the gym for all to see when they visit. It really is something to be proud of, not just for me, or the team, but the school as well. Steve Costanzo It is amazing to me to think that six years ago Dana College wrestling was almost non-existent, and in that short time we have won a national championship. I don't believe that the Coach of the Year award should necessarily be given to the coach whose team wins the national title, but I truly believe our coach, Steve Costanzo, is a great coach and mentor, and deserved the award very much. All of our coaches work so hard trying to prepare us to be great men, not just great wrestlers. They all deserve an award and at least a "Thank You". I think it's interesting that Dana College, and I, were chosen to write this inaugural blog for RevWrestling.com. We were not the favorites to win it earlier this season, and even after we won National Duals were we the favorite. Nobody wanted to give the little school from Blair, Nebraska any respect all year long, which made winning both National Championships (the NAIA and NWCA) so much sweeter. I would like to thank everyone out there who has supported me and this team, and thank Revwrestling.com, as well as Andrew Hipps for the opportunity to share my life throughout this season with everyone in the wrestling community. It has been an honor for me to share with all of you the ups and downs of a great season, what it's like to truly wrestle for a great group of coaches, and wrestling not on a great team, but a great family. Until next time, keep getting better. Marshall Marquardt Past Entries: Entry 12 (3/1/06) Entry 11 (2/16/06) Entry 10 (2/1/06) Entry 9 (1/19/06) Entry 8 (1/5/06) Entry 7 (12/28/05) Entry 6 (12/7/05) Entry 5 (11/23/05) Entry 4 (11/9/05) Entry 3 (10/26/05) Entry 2 (10/13/05) Entry 1 (10/1/05)

BUFFALO, NY -- University at Buffalo sophomore Mike Ragusa (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) is one of 10 Mid-American Conference wrestlers named to the Academic All-MAC Team, the league office in Cleveland announced Monday evening. The communication major with a 3.288 GPA had a breakthrough season after a knee injury took his freshman year away from him, as he was one of seven UB wrestlers to win 20 matches. He started the season at 165 pounds, finishing second at the Slippery Rock Open, fourth at the Oklahoma Gold Classic and fifth at the Mat Town USA Invitational. He moved up to 174 pounds, however, earning the starting job and finishing the year with a 7-6 dual meet mark and 3-2 mark in the Mid-American Conference. He finished the season with a 21-16 overall record. His defining moment came on Feb. 4 against Central Michigan, when he beat nationally-ranked Brandon Sinnott, in front of a Alumni Arena record crowd of 847 fans. Ragusa recorded a takedown in overtime after earning an escape to secure a 5-4 win. Ragusa is the first UB wrestler to earn All-Academic status since Mike Sebaaly was rewarded in 2003. Central Michigan led the award-winners with five members on the squad, while Northern Illinois, Ohio, Kent State and Eastern Michigan also provided one wrestler each to the team. Junior Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) and seniors Kyle Cerminara (Lewiston, NY/Lewiston-Porter) and Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) will hit the mats at the NCAA Championships on March 16 at noon in Oklahoma City, OK.

Pembroke, NC -- Adam Dedmon (pictured left) and Matt Dunn, members of the UNC Pembroke wrestling team, were named All-Academic by the NCAA Division II Wrestling Coaches Association, which released the 2005-06 All-Academic teams prior to the Division II Championship Tournament last week. Dedmon, a 125-pound junior from Forest City, NC, has a 3.20 cumulative grade point average, while Dunn, a fifth-year senior from Claremont, NC, posted a 3.90 cumulative GPA. Dedmon's selection to the 2005-06 squad marks the second consecutive season he has earned the academic laurel as he was named to the 2004-05 All-Academic team. With Dedmon and Dunn's (pictured right) selection to the 2005-06 team, UNCP has now had 13 grapplers appear on the All-Academic squad. In order for a student-athlete to be nominated, he needed to have a minimum 3.00 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale. He must also be in at least his second full year at his school and have a minimum of two letters of recommendation submitted on his behalf by his academic advisor and coach.

FINDLAY, Ohio -- Using three top four individual finishes, the Adams State College Grizzly wrestling team finished in the top ten for the fourth straight year as the 2006 NCAA Division II National Championships came to a close, Saturday in the University of Findlay's Koehler Fitness Center. Junior Brian Pitts (Rio Rancho, N.M.) finished third at 141 pounds while seniors Rob McCabe and Heath Soderstrom (Englewood, Colo.) finished fourth in the 125-pound and heavyweight brackets. The Grizzlies also received a sixth place finish from Scott Cleve (Escondido, Calif.) at 157 pounds and an eight place finish by Casey Woodall (Morenci, Ariz.) at 197 pounds as Jason Ramstetter's squad finished ninth with 52 team points. The University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks had three individual champions and won their third straight title with 117. Nebraska-Kearney had two individual champions and finished second with 98.5. All five of the Grizzlies' placers had clinched All-America honors on Friday night. Pitts and McCabe have now won two All-America certificates while Cleve, Woodall and Soderstrom each earned their first. The five All-Americans are the most ASC has ever had at the NCAA Division II level. Adams State has not finished in the top ten in four straight years since doing so from 1989-92, their last four years at the NAIA level.

C.J. MacNaught and Ralph Acosta wrapped up their collegiate wrestling careers as NCAA Division II All-Americans Saturday afternoon. MacNaught won five straight matches to place third at 174 pounds and Acosta finished fifth at 133 pounds. The two are the first D-II All-Americans in Upper Iowa history. Acosta was a conference champion and Division III All-American in 2002. Both Acosta and MacNaught qualified for the D-III National Tournament in 2003. In its first season as a Division II institution, Upper Iowa placed 17th with 20 team points. Nebraska-Omaha won the team title with 117 points. Nebraska-Kearney (98.5 points) placed second and Shippensburg (66.5) finished third. After MacNaught lost his first-round match to third-ranked Jared Hess of Central Oklahoma 2-0, he rebounded to win five straight matches. MacNaught started his roll with a 7-4 victory over James Reynolds of Adams State and advanced to Saturday with a 7-6 decision over Hudson Harrison of Mercyhurst. Saturday, MacNaught won three straight matches to finish third. He defeated Central Missouri State's Jesse Sheets 14-5 before slipping past sixth-ranked Tom Clark of West Liberty State, 4-2. MacNaught claimed third place by defeating second-ranked Travis Krinkie (Minnesota State Mankato) 13-7. Acosta also had to battle through the consolation draw after losing his opening match. Acosta opened with a 6-5 overtime loss to Western State's Marques Bravo. He then earned two hard-fought 3-2 wins to advance to Saturday. He picked up the first win over Matt Mossor of West Liberty State and followed with the 3-2 decision over Raymond Dunning of Adams State. Dunning is ranked third in the country at 133 pounds. Acosta, ranked sixth, started Saturday with a 7-2 win over Nebraska-Omaha's Dan Hilario, ranked seventh. Fifth-ranked Earl Jones of Central Oklahoma forced Acosta into the fifth-place match after a 6-4 decision. Acosta concluded his Peacock career with a 3-2 win over Pitt-Johnstown's Brandon Reasey. Two other Peacocks qualified for Nationals but saw their seasons end Friday. Red-shirt freshman Tyler Mumbulo opened the 125-pound weight class with an 11-7 win over Findlay's Craig Fechko. In the championship quarterfinals, Mumbulo lost 7-1 to top-ranked Trevor Charbonneau of Nebraska-Kearney. Mumbulo's tournament run came to an end after he was pinned by Ashland's Mike Compton in 5:32. Compton is ranked fourth while Mumbulo entered the tournament ranked sixth. Junior Brian Black fell to seventh-ranked Chris Finn of Central Oklahoma 3-1 in first-round heavyweight action. He bounced back with a 10-1 major decision over New Mexico Highland's Charles Saguil. Black's season concluded with a 6-1 loss at the hands of Augustana's Criston Bietz, ranked fourth.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- With less than a week to go before the start of the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships, Northwestern's 12th-ranked wrestling team is preparing its seven qualifiers -- the most in the program's 78-year history -- to make this one of the most successful seasons in program history and help all seven go deep into the championship brackets. Head coach Tim Cysewski as well as all seven NCAA qualifiers took a moment to reflect on the 2005-06 season and talk about the upcoming NCAA Championships. Cysewski first spoke about the program's increased success at a conference and national level. "I think qualifying seven guys for nationals, the increased success in our recruiting and our upgraded facilities proves our program is on the rise," Cysewski said. "I give tribute to my staff. We knew we were going to have a good group of guys, but then you've got to develop them. I give credit to the staff -- Rob Eiter, Andrew Pariano and Foley Dowd -- they have been doing a great job of getting the guys ready so they can be successful. Now with seven qualifiers, we've got a good chance of doing some damage at nationals." The wrestlers set to do that damage have prepared for this week all season long, although their thoughts on how to train this week differ slightly. "I think the best strategy to approach NCAAs is to go calm, collected and not stress out about it," senior John Velez (Kings Mills, Ohio/Kings) said. "I think a lot of people do stress out about it and they don't perform as well as they should or can. I just want to go in there, prepare like it's a normal match, have fun and don't let the stress get to me." For sophomore All-American Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny), the work has been put in, now it's a matter of execution. "All the training has been done in the past 18 years, now I'm just trying to get healthy, get the weight down, maintain myself," Herbert said. "I've already done all the training it takes to win a national title, I've just got to go do it now." Sophomore Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) takes a slightly different approach in preparing for the national tournament. "Short, fast-paced practices and drilling, it's essential," Fox said. It isn't just any other week, it is my goal to feel as though I am peaking Thursday, Friday and Saturday." For senior Will Durkee (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy) and sophomore Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick), this marks their first-career trips to nationals, yet both echoed goals to finish near the top of their respective weight classes. "It's a pretty big deal," Tamillow said about qualifying for the NCAA Championships. "It's a dream come true, but I don't expect anything less." "I'm going in there with the goal of making All-American," Durkee said. The NCAA Championships offer a unique feel because it allows wrestlers to face opponents they haven't previously faced that season, or in their careers. "I just have to keep wrestling my style and attack," senior Matt Delguyd said. "I need to stay focused and use conditioning to my advantage." "I don't believe you wrestle your opponents, only those that aren't the best wrestle their opponents," sophomore Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward) said. "I wrestle myself and if I wrestle my best, I beat myself, knowing that I am the best out there. If I lose, it's because I let myself lose. It does not matter whatsoever who you are wrestling when you are 'on." After sending the most NCAA qualifiers in program history, winning the most conference matches since 1990 and finishing a strong fifth in the Big Ten Championships, Cysewski knows he has a special group on his hands. "I think it's the best group we've had and the youngest group we've had," Cysewski said. "I'm excited about this year -- I want to finish strong and maybe break some records this year yet -- but we've got some great young talent coming up the ranks for the next few years too." Northwestern finished 14th at the 2005 NCAA Championships with five wrestlers representing the Wildcats. With a record seven wrestlers going to nationals this season, Cysewski expects this could be one of the best showings in Northwestern wrestling history. "If we can stay focused and wrestle well and get some breaks here and there, there are no limits," Cysewski said. "The seven guys we're sending are serious contenders and can make some major noise at the NCAA Championships. Again, it's a matter of getting there, winning the match in front of you and not worrying about looking beyond that. I think if we stay focused and wrestle well, we can finish top-10 and you never know what can happen from there." The 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships take place Thursday though Saturday, March 16-18 in Oklahoma City.

The 2006 Division I Wrestling Championships are set to get underway on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. CST at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Below is a preview of all 10 weight classes. 125 Seeds: 1 -- Simmons, Nick -- Michigan State Jr (32-0) 2 -- Hazewinkel, Sam -- Oklahoma Jr (25-1) 3 -- Dubuque, Joe -- Indiana Sr (23-1) 4 -- Ott, Kyle -- Illinois Sr (11-4) 5 -- Nickerson, Troy -- Cornell Fr (32-1) 6 -- Scott, Coleman -- Oklahoma State So (24-5) 7-- Mendoza, Jeremy -- Arizona State Sr (32-3) 8 -- Velez, John -- Northwestern Sr (22-7) Sam Hazewinkel and Nick SimmonsSimmons, who recently won his second straight Big Ten title, is undefeated and wrestling at an extremely high level. He has two shutout victories over Ott (14-0 and 7-0), and defeated Hazewinkel, 4-2, in their only regular season meeting on Feb. 23. However, Hazewinkel defeated Simmons at the All-Star Classic (in November), 6-2, and owns a 4-1 career record against him. Dubuque is the defending NCAA champion, and if everything goes as expected, he will face Hazewinkel in the semifinals, which would be a rematch of last year's semifinals. Dubuque wrestled like a man possessed at last year's NCAAs, and seems to be at his best when the lights come on. Although Ott is the No. 4 seed, he has been in the finals twice, so he knows what it takes to get there. He's had multiple knee surgeries throughout his career, so the Illinois coaching staff decided to hold him out until January as a precautionary measure. In addition to his losses to Simmons, he also dropped matches to Dubuque (but came back to defeat him at the Big Tens) and Valez. Nickerson was the most talked about freshman in the country until the National Duals, where he suffered his only loss of the season at the hands of Hazewinkel. In hindsight, that lone blemish on his record might end up being a blessing in disguise because it has allowed Nickerson to wrestle without the pressure of staying undefeated. If everything goes as expected, he will see Ott in a highly-anticipated quarterfinal match. Rev Wrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 2 Hazewinkel dec. No. 1 Simmons 133 Seeds: 1 -- Bunch, Shawn -- Edinboro Sr (35-1) 2 -- Morgan, Nathan -- Oklahoma State So (28-1) 3 -- Clum, Tom -- Wisconsin Sr (14-2) 4 -- Reiter, Mack -- Minnesota So (27-4) 5 -- Fleeger, Chris -- Purdue Sr (10-2) 6 -- Valenti, Matthew -- Pennsylvania Sr (31-2) 7 -- Strayer, Jake -- Penn State So (23-4) 8 -- Keller, Matt -- Tennessee-Chattanooga Jr (30-7) Bunch, last year's NCAA runner-up, might be the most athletic wrestler in the country. He is currently riding a 19-match winning streak. He'll be looking to become Edinboro's first NCAA champion since Josh Koscheck won the 174-pound title in 2002. Morgan is an extremely technical wrestler who seems to be the forgotten Cowboy this season. Much of the talk about Oklahoma City this season has centered around their four returning NCAA champions, but Morgan has quietly put together a stellar sophomore campaign. He lost 13-7 to Bunch in last year's semifinals, so he'll be looking to avenge that loss. His only loss this season came at the hands of No. 8 Keller at the Reno Tournament of Champions. Chris FleegerClum, the Big Ten champion, finished third at the NCAAs a year ago. He has beaten Reiter three times over the past two seasons, with his most recent victory coming in the Big Ten finals, where he won 6-4. If Reiter can reach the semifinals, he'll likely get another shot at Bunch, who he has lost to three times over the past two seasons, including in the NCAA semifinals. Unfortunately for Reiter, he might have the toughest quarterfinal match-up of anyone in the country, against Fleeger. Fleeger, a two-time All-American, was academically ineligible for much of the past two seasons. He placed third in 2004 and was an NCAA runner-up in 2004. Prior to the Big Tens, he looked like a sure-fire NCAA finalist. But a disappointing Big Tens, where he injured his toe and lost to Clum, dropped him down to the No. 5 seed. Regardless, we still think he's the best wrestler in the country at 133. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 5 Fleeger dec. No. 2 Morgan 141 Seeds: 1 -- Gallick, Nate -- Iowa State Sr (33-0) 2 -- Ware, Teyon -- Oklahoma Sr (22-2) 3 -- Cooperman, Cory -- Lehigh Sr (23-1) 4 -- Simmons, Andy -- Michigan State Jr (30-5) 5 -- Churella, Josh -- Michigan So (25-3) 6 -- Lang, Ryan -- Northwestern Jr (17-5) 7 -- Tsirtsis, Alex -- Iowa So (23-10) 8 -- Moore, Derek -- UC Davis Sr (20-3) Gallick and Ware have dominated this weight class over the past two seasons. Last March, Ware defeated a then-undefeated Gallick to win his second NCAA title. Much like last season, Gallick enters this event undefeated and as the man to beat. He has defeated Ware three times this season (including the Big 12 finals) -- and owns a 7-1 career mark against his conference nemesis. All three of Ware's losses this season have come against Gallick. Cooperman, who finished third at the NCAAs behind Ware and Gallick a year ago, enters the event with a 23-1 record. His only loss this season came against Ware, 13-2, when he was battling sickness. Simmons looked great in wining the Big Tens. His road to the finals, however, will likely have to go through two wrestlers who have defeated him this season -- Churella (quarterfinals) and Gallick (semifinals). Churella's only losses this season have come to Lang (twice) and Cooperman. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 1 Gallick dec. No. 2 Ware 149 Seeds: 1 -- Schlatter, Dustin -- Minnesota Fr (37-1) 2 -- Eustice, Ty -- Iowa Sr (24-2) 3 -- Esposito, Zack -- Oklahoma State Sr (22-3) 4 -- Storniolo, Matt -- Oklahoma Jr (20-4) 5 -- DiSalvo, Mark -- Central Michigan Sr (23-4) 6 -- Masa, Jon -- Hofstra Sr (30-8) 7 -- Gillespie, Gregor -- Edinboro Fr (36-2) 8 -- Tannenbaum, Eric -- Michigan So (22-8) Schlatter appears to be a legend in the making. The precocious Minnesota freshman has compiled an impressive 37-1 record and recently won the Big 10 title in dominating fashion. The most impressive things on his resume, however, are his two victories over Esposito, the defending NCAA champion. Entering the season, Esposito was widely considered to be one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in the country. But after his losses this season to Schlatter (most recently 11-2), Eustice, and Tannenbaum, he enters the NCAAs with something to prove. Eustice brings an impressive 24-2 record into the NCAAs, with his only losses coming to Schlatter and Tirapelle (at Big Tens). Storniolo has a win over DiSalvo, but has lost three times to Esposito. DiSalvo is the only wrestler this season to defeat Schlatter this season. With the exception of Esposito, Masa, who placed third last year, is the highest returning place-winner. Gillespie is an extremely talented freshman who is a bear on top. His only two losses came at the Southern Scuffle in December. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 1 Schlatter dec. No. 3 Esposito 157 Seeds: 1 -- Paulson, Trent -- Iowa State Jr (23-1) 2 -- Schlatter, CP -- Minnesota So (34-5) 3 -- Tirapelle, Alex -- Illinois Sr (27-2) 4 -- Lebe, Matt -- West Virginia Sr (32-3) 5 -- Cherrington Ben -- Boise State Sr (15-0) 6 -- Becker, Brandon -- Indiana So (23-7) 7 -- Manotti, Dustin -- Cornell Sr (26-4) 8 -- Henning, Craig -- Wisconsin So (25-7) This is arguably the deepest weight class in the country. Paulson, the No. 1 seed, has had a phenomenal junior season. He comes in with a 23-1 record, with his only loss coming to second-seeded Schlatter, which he later avenged. Although Schlatter has five losses this season (more than any of the top-five seeds), he is coming off a very impressive Big Tens, and is wrestling with a lot of confidence. Tirapelle was an NCAA runner-up as a freshman, finished fourth as a sophomore, but failed to place last year. He brings an impressive 27-2 record into the NCAAs, with his only losses coming to Schlatter and Luke. Cherrington is undefeated (with a victory over Johnston), but missed nearly half the season. Lebe, who placed seventh at the NCAAs last year, recently won his second consecutive EWL title. Becker and Manotti are both returning All-Americans who will be underdogs (according to their seeds) in the quarterfinals. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 3 Tirapelle dec. No. 1 Paulson 165 Seeds: 1 -- Churella, Ryan -- Michigan Sr (25-0) 2 -- Hendricks, Johny -- Oklahoma State Jr (24-1) 3 -- Abdurakhmanov, Muzaffar -- American Sr (21-0) 4 -- Baima, Nick -- Northern Iowa Jr (31-3) 5 -- Pell, Matt -- Missouri Jr (29-4) 6 -- Nagel, Matt -- Minnesota Sr (25-9) 7 -- Letters, Troy -- Lehigh Sr (17-4) -- Neck 8 -- Paulson, Travis -- Iowa State Jr (30-5) Johny Hendricks (Photo by John Sachs)This weight class is loaded. Of the top-eight seeds, two are NCAA champions, six are All-Americans, one is a Midlands champion, and two are undefeated. Churella is a perfect 25-0 this season and 114-17 for his career after winning his third Big Ten title. Hendricks, the defending NCAA champion, has lost just once this season -- to Bracamonte at the Reno Tournament of Champions (twice if you count the All-Star Classic loss to Nagel). Last year, he defeated Churella, 6-2, in the NCAA semifinals. Abdurakhmanov is undefeated this season, but hasn't seed seen any of the top-eight seeds -- with the exception of Nagel, who he defeated 13-3. Baima has wins over Pell, Nagel, and Poeta, but has lost twice to Paulson and once to Hendricks. Pell's only losses this season have come against Churella, Hendricks (twice), and Baima. Nagel has had some nice wins this season, but also some bad losses. Poeta has been a very impressive freshman, especially considering the fact that he's naturally a 157-pounder. Letters, who won the NCAA title in 2004, is seeded seventh because of a serious neck injury he suffered. He lost twice at the EIWAs, and appears to be just a shell of what he used to be. Regardless, you can never count out a champion like Letters. If everything goes as expected, he'll face Hendricks in the quarterfinals, who he has beaten multiple times throughout his career. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 2 Hendricks dec. No. 1 Churella 174 Seeds: 1 -- Askren, Ben -- Missouri Jr (40-0) 2 -- Herbert, Jake -- Northwestern So (32-0) 3 -- Perry, Mark -- Iowa So (16-3) 4 -- Klein, Jacob -- Nebraska Jr (20-4) 5 -- Patrovich, Michael -- Hofstra Sr (31-3) 6 -- Boudro, R.J. -- Michigan State Sr (28-6) 7 -- Cook, Ken -- UC Davis Sr (21-4) 8 -- Frick, Travis -- Lehigh Sr (23-5) Askren, who has finished as the NCAA runner-up to Chris Pendleton the past two seasons, has been the most dominant wrestler in the entire NCAA this season. He's currently 40-0 with 25 pins and seven technical falls. Herbert, like Askren, enters the NCAAs with a perfect record at 32-0. He has two pins over Perry, including a pin in the Big Ten finals. Herbert, who has two Midlands titles on his resume, has been overshadowed much of this season by Askren, but is hoping to become Northwestern's first NCAA champion since Jack Griffin won a title in 1990. Perry, who was the 165-pound NCAA runner-up last season as a freshman, has had an up and down season. He has battled injuries all season, which has greatly affected his performance. In addition to his losses to Herbert, Perry also dropped a match to Klein at the National Duals. Last season, Perry shocked the wrestling world by beating Letters in the NCAA semifinals, a wrestler many thought was unbeatable. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 1 Askren dec. No. 3 Perry 184 Seeds: 1 -- Glenn, Josh -- American So (31-1) 2 -- Kish, Roger -- Minnesota So (33-4) 3 -- Wissel, Ben -- Purdue Sr (34-4) 4 -- Mazzurco, Joe -- Cornell Sr (21-2) 5 -- Webster, Shane -- Oregon Sr (32-1) 6 -- Friedl, Pete -- Illinois Sr (24-4) 7 -- Backes, Kurt -- Iowa State Jr (24-6) 8 -- Bradley, Eric -- Penn State Sr (11-3) This is, without question, the most wide-open class. Glenn, the No. 1 seed, has put together an outstanding sophomore campaign. He enters the NCAAs with a 31-1 record and 18 pins. He has wins this season over second-seeded Kish (pin) and fourth-seeded Mazzurco (6-0). The only blemish on his record is a 5-4 loss to Wissel. Kish, who just missed becoming an All-American last year as a freshman, catapulted to the No. 2 seed after his impressive run through the Big Tens, where he defeated Wissel and Friedl. In addition to his victory this season over Glenn, Wissel has also defeated Friedl (twice), Bradley, and Mazzurco. However, both Friedl and Bradley have a victory this season over Friedl. Webster, who won the Pac-10, has the most impressive record in the weight class (32-1), but has yet to face a top-ten opponent. Backes, who is seeded eighth, was the No. 2 seed last year, but failed to place. He enters the NCAAs with a 24-6 record, which includes wins over Kish and Bradley. Bradley, who is seeded eighth, began the season ranked No. 1, but injured his ankle in a November wrestle-off, and has yet to get back to the level he was at prior to the injury. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 7 Backes dec. No. 1 Glenn 197 Seeds: 1 -- Michalak, Wynn -- Central Michigan So (29-1) 2 -- Cerminara, Kyle -- Buffalo Sr (37-2) 3 -- Padden, B.J. -- Nebraska Jr (22-3) 4 -- Rosholt, Jake -- Oklahoma State Sr (22-4) 5 -- Flaggert, Joel -- Oklahoma Jr (21-4) 6 -- Davis, Phil -- Penn State Jr (21-3) 7 -- Rinaldi, Jerry -- Cornell Jr (29-2) 8 -- Bader, Ryan -- Arizona State Sr (28-4) This is the only weight class that one of the top-two seeds doesn't reside in the Big Ten or Big 12 conferences. The most stunning thing, though, might be the fact that Rosholt, a two-time NCAA champion, is the No. 4 seed. Three of his losses are to No. 3 Padden and the other one is to No. 1 Michalak. Michalak has wins over the each of the top-six seeds, with the exception of Flaggert, who gave him his only loss this season. Cerminara, who became Buffalo's first All-American ever in 2004, is 38-2, with both losses coming to Michalak. Although Padden has been impressive against Rosholt, he lost badly this season to Michalek, 15-3, and also lost 6-2 to Flaggert. Davis, who became an All-American as a freshman last year, is coming off a Big Ten title. Bader, who comes in as the No. 8 seed, finished fourth at the NCAAs in 2004, but failed to place a year ago. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 3 Padden dec. No. 4 Rosholt Hwt Seeds: 1 -- Konrad, Cole -- Minnesota Jr (33-0) 2 -- Mocco, Steve -- Oklahoma State Sr (23-2) 3 -- Wagner, Greg -- Michigan Sr (24-2) 4 -- Velasquez, Cain -- Arizona State Sr (34-5) 5 -- Ogunwole, Bode -- Harvard Jr (27-5) 6 -- Garrett, Tanner -- Navy Sr (41-2) 7 -- Hager, Jake -- Oklahoma Sr (22-5) 8 -- Faust, Mike -- Virginia Tech Sr (34-6) Coming into this season, Mocco, a two-time NCAA champion, reigned superior in this weight class. He hadn't lost a collegiate match since 2002. But in the first match of the season, at the All-Star Classic, Mocco lost to Konrad, 4-1. Then, at the National Duals, Konrad proved it was no fluke by pinning Mocco. And finally, on Feb. 12, Konrad defeated Mocco, 3-1, for the third straight time this season. In addition to his victories over Mocco, Konrad has also defeated No. 3 Wagner (twice) and No. 4 Velasquez. Mocco and Wagner both have two victories over Velasquez this season. Ogunwole, who comes in with a 27-5 record, was runner-up at the Midlands. Garrett owns a very impressive 41-2 record, but has not defeated any of the top-eight seeds this season. Hager, the Big 12 runner-up, has lost twice to Mocco this season and once to Velasquez. RevWrestling.com Finals Prediction: No. 1 Konrad dec. No. 2 Mocco

FINDLAY, Ohio -- The University of Nebraska at Omaha became the first team since 1995 to win three straight national titles Saturday night, crowning three individual champions. Cody Garcia, J.D. Naig and Les Sigman all went to the winner's circle, with Sigman gathering his fourth straight heavyweight title. The win gives UNO NCAA Division II wrestling titles in 1991, 2004, 2005 and 2006. UNO also won the 1970 NAIA tournament championship. The Mavericks finished with 117 points, their highest total ever. Nebraska-Kearney, with two champions, was second with 98.5, followed by Shippensburg at 66.5, Central Oklahoma at 64.5 and Minnesota State, Mankato with 63.5. Sigman edged Nebraska-Kearney's Tervel Dlagnev, capping an undefeated season and an amazing career. He scored an escape to open the third period in a conservative championship bout. It was the third win for Sigman over Dlagnev this season. Sigman was also named the meet's outstanding wrestler. He registered a fall, technical fall, leading 17-1, and blanked two opponents. Garcia dominated his finals match, scoring a 5-1 decision over Jamie Thomas of Shippensburg to improve to 39-3 on the season. Unger gave up back points midway through the match, then came back with a reversal, but fell short of Findlay's No. 3 ranked Antonio Guerra, 5-4, in a battle of sophomores. Unger, ranked No. 6, finished the season at 21-9. No. 1 ranked Naig, now 32-3, delivered his second straight fall to win his second straight title, pinning Indianapolis junior Michael Jackson in 6:53. Naig also had a fall in his semifinal match and opened the tournament with a major decision, giving him 5 bonus points. He has now had six pins in nine tournament victories over the past three years. He had two falls last year in winning the 165-pound crown. The only other wrestlers to win four consecutive national titles were Tim Wright, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville from 1984-87, Dan Russell, Portland State, 1988-91, and Cole Province, Central Oklahoma, 2001-04. Central Oklahoma was the last team to win as many as three straight team titles. The Bronchos won four in succession from 1992-95. Championship matches: 125: Cody Garcia, UNO, dec. Jamie Thomas, Shippensburg, 5-1 133: Brett Allgood, Nebraska-Kearney, dec. Andy Uhl, Findlay, 9-7 141: Thad Benton, Pittsburgh-Johnstown, dec. Kyle Evans, Central Oklahoma, 4-2 149: Antonio Guerra, Findlay, dec. Shane Unger, UNO, 5-4 157: Brad Becker, Wisconsin-Parkside, WBF, David Nordhues, Fort Hays State, 6:29 165: Nathan Baker, Minnesota State, Moorhead, dec. Zach Schafer, Mercyhurst, 10-5 174: J.D. Naig, UNO, WBF, Michael Jackson, Indianapolis, 6:53 184: Tanner Linsacum, Nebraska-Kearney, dec. Mike Corcetti, Pittsburgh-Johnstown, 10-7 197: Plamen Paskalev, Central Missouri State, dec. Corey Jacoby, Shippensburg, 5-3 Hwt: Les Sigman, UNO, dec. Tervel Dlagnev, Nebraska-Kearney, 1-0 NCAA Division II Championships Coverage

State College, Pa. -- The ESPN family of national cable networks will offer extensive live coverage of the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships, held on March 16-18 at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Three of the tournament's six sessions will be covered live, including the championship finals. Coverage begins on Friday, March 17, at 11 a.m. The quarterfinals and consolation bouts will be aired during that early session on ESPNU. Later on that same Friday, ESPNU and/or ESPN-Plus will carry live coverage of the national semifinals. The next night, ESPN will carry the entire slate of Championship Finals beginning at 7:30 p.m. Penn State, under the direction of head coach Troy Sunderland, will have eight individuals participating in the three-day tournament. The Nittany Lions will begin action with two sessions on Thursday, March 16. Heading to Oklahoma City for Penn State are freshman Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) at 133, senior DeWitt Driscoll (Connellsville, Pa.) at 141, senior James Woodall (Dupont, Pa.) at 149, junior Nathan Galloway (State College, Pa.) at 157, junior James Yonushonis (Philipsburg, Pa.) at 174, senior All-American Eric Bradley (Plaistow, N.H.) at 184, sophomore All-American and 2006 Big Ten Champion Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) at 197 and senior heavyweight Joel Edwards (Upper Darby, Pa.). Penn State is coming off a fourth-place finish at the 2006 Big Ten Championships. The eight national qualifiers and the fourth-place team finish are the highest for Penn State since the 2003 season. The Nittany Lions are coming off a superb 13-4 dual match season in which they went 5-3 in Big Ten action.

Ames, Iowa -- Cyclone Wrestling Club Coaches Ed Banach and Tony Ersland will be conducting a regional training camp from March 27 to July 27 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. The camp will also be held on Saturday and Sunday with times to be arranged. The camp is open to ages 8-16 and the cost is $100.00 payable to Cyclone Wrestling Club. For more information contact wrestling secretary Jeanne Vogel at (515) 294-6421.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys looked invincible heading into this college wrestling season. In 2005, they had five NCAA champions, seven All-Americans, scored a whopping 153 points at the NCAA Championships and only lost 174-pound Chris Pendleton to graduation. But their four returning NCAA champs have had a combined 13 losses this season and OSU lost two dual meets to Minnesota. At 141 pounds, their lineup went without 2005 fourth-place finisher Daniel Frishkorn since the mid-season, a very talented, if streaky, wrestler. So the question arises: Has OSU faltered this season? While I don't think winning their fourth straight NCAA title is a lock, even with everything that's gone down so far, I'd say the answer is "no." OSU had an amazing tourney last year. Just stunning. Most of the time, even the championship team has ups and downs, but for the 2005 Cowboys, it was just about all ups. They wrestled great and, just as important, they got help from other teams. For example, 165-pound Johny Hendricks had lost twice to Troy Letters during the regular season and 197-pound Jake Rosholt had lost twice to Jon Trenge. But thanks to Iowa's Mark Perry upsetting Letters and UNI's Sean Stender upsetting Trenge, these two Cowboys didn't have to solve the riddle of these opponents in order to win their titles. Nathan Morgan (Johnnie Johnson)The thing to remember is that even if the Cowboys had gone 0-5 in the finals last year instead of 5-0, perhaps some of their individual losses this year would seem less surprising, but they still would have entered this season as favorites to win No. 34 in March. Losing big individual match-ups during the regular season creates a lot of excitement and chatter by wrestling enthusiasts, but that doesn't mean that those wrestlers aren't still going to score a ton of points at the big show -- even if it's a few places lower than they got last year. John Smith doesn't put his schedule together to go undefeated. The Cowboys have taken their lumps, both individually and as a team, but have wrestled very well. Moreover, unlike many seasons in the 90s where Oklahoma State teams would excel in the regular season and fade come tourney time, John Smith has had his teams peaking in March for the last three years. This season, OSU fans have had to see some of their stars suffer disappointments mainly because of two reasons. 1. The emergence of new young talents like Dustin Schlatter and Wynn Michalak. 2. A wrestler who consistently lost to a Cowboy star last year has made some adjustments and turned the corner (Cole Konrad). OSU started the season with four No. 1-ranked wrestlers, and even though the results of John Smith's brutal schedule have dropped them to 2-2-4-2, they still have plenty of firepower. Moreover, their qualifiers who aren't returning champs (Coleman Scott, Nathan Morgan, Kevin Ward, Brandon Mason and Rusty Blackmon) have rankings that suggest a hefty team-point compliment. Although Minnesota had beaten Oklahoma State twice in dual meets, up until this past weekend, the Cowboys appeared to be a stronger tournament team. That things are roughly about equal now is more the result of Minnesota stepping up than OSU having any kind of misstep. OSU had a very good Big 12 Championships. They qualified nine for the big show, had seven finalists and four champs. But with Gophers C.P. Schlatter, Matt Nagel, and Roger Kish beating a grand total of five, top-ten wrestlers ranked ahead of them, they all did wonders for their individual rankings. Moreover, Manuel Rivera and Gabriel Dretsch both avenged losses from earlier in the season and moved up as well. Awarding placement and advancement points (i.e. no bonus points or pigtail advancement points) based on the current rankings, here are the projected results between the Cowboys and the Golden Gophers (Editor's Note: RevWrestling.com's rankings were not used because they were compiled prior to the conference tournaments) AWN = OSU 94.5, MN 87 WIN = OSU 87, MN 96 NWCA = OSU 86.5, MN 91.5 But again, that OSU no longer appears to be a lock to run away with No. 4 in a row doesn't reflect any kind of significant underperformance. They haven't dropped as much as Minnesota has risen. And, as much as we all know that anything can happen, it would appear that we are in for a dogfight. John SmithAs mentioned earlier, John Smith puts together a very tough schedule. On the one hand, this is beneficial as it pits his wrestlers against top competition all season long, thus creating fewer potential surprises the post-season. Smith is a brilliant tactician and strategist and it's very difficult not to imagine his wrestlers being totally prepared for any rematch -- won or lost the first go-round. On the other hand, there is an undeniable psychological component that goes with accumulating a number of losses over the course of a wrestling season. It takes its toll on your confidence and you start to think you're not unbeatable -- even if you're just a fan of the team.

Nashville, Tenn. -- Real Pro Wrestling (RPW), a professional sports league for collegiate and Olympic-style wrestlers, has announced its initial plans for a second season of competition, which is expected to take place in the late fall of 2006. "We've brought a lot of exposure to our sport through these amazing athletes," RPW CEO Toby Willis said. "We consider that one of our biggest successes. In addition to adding value to our tight knit wrestling community, we need to continue to create more awareness for our sport." RPW co-founders Willis and Matt Case also announced that the league format will change for its second season to dual meet competitions held regionally. In the first season, wrestlers competed in individual tournaments in seven separate weight classes. A team score was kept for eight teams, each of which had one wrestler per weight class. In Season Two, the eight teams will compete against each other in dual meets in front of live crowds, culminating with a dual meet championship at the end of the season. Each team will have seven weight classes, and rosters are expected to be filled by the end of summer. "We initially used the tournament format because it allowed us to meet the 'made for TV' requirements and capture all the episodes in a short time," Case stated. "However, our aim has always been team based competition in a live dual meet format in cities. This is why we're making the transition from tournament to duals." While the actual cities of the eight franchises have yet to be finalized, RPW will select teams to compete in the following eight states: California, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas. All eight of those states hosted teams in the first season as well, but this will be the first season that actual competitions will be held in those states. "We chose these regions for a variety of reasons. They are either top wrestling markets or are showing considerable growing in the sport," Case said. "Texas, for example, isn't a traditional wrestling hotbed, but it's growing fast. It's a region that if successful, could be a foundational area." Toby WillisCurrently, venues in various cities throughout the eight aforementioned states are being surveyed along with community interest and local sponsors in each region. "Wrestling could support many teams in many regions because of the wealth of it's grassroots programs. The sport doesn't require huge football-size stadiums because of the close-up action. You don't need a big field of play," Willis added. RPW will announce the host cities of the franchises along with rosters as they are finalized and become available. In 2005, RPW presented a historic first season of wrestling action on PAX and Fox Sports Net. Seven, one-hour episodes were aired, one for each weight class, and a two-hour finale showcased the championship bouts from each of the seven weight classes. Nearly a half million people viewed the two-hour finale. The Iowa Stalkers ran away with the team title. Individual champions were 2000 Olympic silver medalist Sammie Henson of the Pennsylvania Hammer (121 lbs.), Tony DeAnda of the New York Outrage (132), former NCAA champion Doug Schwab of the Iowa Stalkers (145), 2004 Olympian Joe Williams of the Chicago Groove (163), Mo Lawal of the Oklahoma Slam (184), 2004 Olympian Daniel Cormier of the Oklahoma Slam (211) and Pat Cummins of the Pennsylvania Hammer (264). Overall, eight Olympians, six U.S. World Team members and 23 former NCAA champions competed in Season 1. Over $300,000 in cash prizes were awarded to wrestlers. RPW is a hybrid style of wrestling, combining the Olympic styles of Greco-Roman and Freestyle, along with elements of collegiate and Sumo wrestling. In RPW, classic meets the future as the matches are conducted in a specially designed coliseum which showcases a raised circular mat to facilitate better camera angles and to afford the live audience a better viewing experience. The circular mat allows for 360 degree camera angles and aids in covering the close quarters that wrestlers frequently find themselves in as they maneuver for position. Real Pro Wrestling, Inc was founded in 2002 by former Northwestern University wrestling teammates, Toby Willis and Matt Case. The company is based in Nashville, Tenn. with brand offices in Los Angeles and Colorado Springs. RPW is a television production company and a producer of live events.

Eagles Head Wrestling Coach, John Petty, announced today that he will resign from the position at the end of the academic semester. "This has been one of the toughest decisions that I have made in my life. This year's team has been the best team that I have ever been associated with after nearly 30 years of athletics. These young men are a phenomenal group of guys that you can expect to be champions, both on and off the mat as students, businessmen, husbands and fathers. I love each and every one of them. I learned so much from them and I hope they picked up a thing or two from me." At press time, Coach Petty has not indicated where his next coaching stop will be, but is hopeful that something will open up and be a good fit for him and his family. "My early resignation comes out of respect to the university, athletic department and the remaining athletes so they can start the search process for the next Head Coach who can begin to recruit and build their program. Knowing that I was not going to return next season; I did not want to wait until I secured something before informing the Athletic Director. I am hopeful and confident that I will find a position that will allow me to remain in coaching, because that is what I have a passion for…I am a Coach." Petty leaves the #5 Eagles with 10 National Qualifiers, 4 All-Americans and 3 Academic All-Americans. "I'd like to say that the next coach will have a nice foundation to continue to build on. This is a good mature group and most importantly they are truly a team who sticks together and holds one another accountable." Petty's ERAU Resume: * Three winning seasons(2004-2006) * Three top 10 National finishes (8th in 2004, 6th in 2005 and 5th in 2006) * One Regional Championship (2005) * One NAIA National Champion of Character Sportsmanship Award * 15 All-Americans * 6 Academic All-Americans * 3 National Champion of Character Awardees * 5 ERAU Champion of Character scholarship recipients * One ERAU Athlete of the Year * One Coach of the Year (2005) * Team average GPA of 3.0.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State wrestler J Jaggers will miss the 2006 NCAA Wrestling Championships March 16-18 in Oklahoma City, Russ Hellickson, head coach, announced Wednesday. Jaggers, who qualified for the national championships at 149 pounds after a sixth-place showing at the Big Ten championships, sustained a knee injury at the conference meet March 4-5. "This is a devastating loss for J and our team," Hellickson said. "J is a proven leader and when he sets goals, he gets the job done." Jaggers (r-Fr., Northfield, Ohio/St. Peter Chanel) finished the regular season a team-best 25-6, and then went 1-1 at the Big Ten championships before he was forced to medical forfeit his remaining two bouts. Throughout much of the dual season, Jaggers outperformed his opponents in several statistical categories, including falls (4-0), match points (257-177), takedowns (38-26) and back points (16-3). Teammates Blake Maurer (r-Fr., Evansville, Ind./Mater Dei) and Kirk Nail (So., Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) will compete at the national championships at 174 pounds and heavyweight, respectively. Maurer placed seventh at the league championships and Nail was sixth. Reece Humphrey (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North), who was named a second alternate by the coaches after the conference meet, will join the NCAA championships field after injuries to two other Big Ten wrestlers.

Williamsburg, Ky. -- Discipline is displayed early in the morning, everyday. Vanity Vazquez-Olmo is up and ready to meet either the track or wrestling team for 6:15 a.m. practices. Then the day brings classes, studying, and homework. Just about the time most take time for an afternoon nap, Vazquez is off to 3:30 p.m. track practice. From there, Vazquez-Olmo stops for dinner just before scheduled wrestling practice at 6 p.m. Vanity Vazquez-OlmoThis would be impressive all on its own, but Vazquez-Olmo, a freshman at University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, accomplished all of this while her husband Angel Olmo served in Iraq. It would seem easy to be distracted by all the time demands as well as worry for her husband's safety, but Vazquez-Olmo got the job done. There was rarely a moment when Vazquez-Olmo wasn't displaying strength of mind and body, commitment and determination. "I've had to take it a day at a time," she said. With Angel Olmo already six months into deployment, the couple wed on July 8, 2005, during a two week leave from service. The pair had minimal time to see each other since the wedding. During his deployment, the two kept in communication by phone. "[Angel] worked in communications, so he always snuck me phone calls," she said. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed by such an intimidating schedule and constant concern for her husband, but Vazquez-Olmo's revealed her source of strength, "School and sports keep me busy and on my down time [Angel] called me. That's how I got through." In January, Vazquez-Olmo received a call she would never forget. After serving a full year in Iraq, she received word that her husband was coming home. The excitement of his return was soon stalled by several flight delays. Vazquez-Olmo's frustration was shared by her husband's. "[Angel] was so excited to be home but he would get so upset when they delayed him," she said. Finally, after the delays and days of anticipation, Vazquez-Olmo was reunited with her husband for the first time in months. Her school and sport schedule remain as hectic as ever but Vazquez-Olmo couldn't be more pleased. "He is home, and I am so, so, so happy!" she said. Vazquez-Olmo's hard work is paying off. Besides finishing her first semester with an impressive 3.7 GPA, good enough to make Cumberlands' Dean's list, Vazquez-Olmo has also helped her 3200-meter relay team qualify for the NAIA national track meet to be held on Thursday, March 9th – Saturday, March 11th in Johnson City, Tenn. Although such success tends to add pressure for future achievement, this disciplined freshman is continuing to take it all in stride. "My goal is to do what I can to keep this positive momentum going in both my classes, running and wrestling," she said. The University of the Cumberlands is in its 117th year of operation. Cumberlands offers four undergraduate degrees in 37 major fields of study, 30 minors and nine pre-professional programs, as well as online and accelerated, non-traditional programs for adults.

Tuesday, March 21 is the deadline for event bids to be submitted from organizing committees who wish to host the 2006 USA Wrestling Beach National Championships, along with the 2006 USA Wrestling Sombo National Championships. These events are scheduled to be held August 18-19, 2006. Beach Wrestling was added as a new style of international wrestling, starting in 2005. Athletes compete on sand, in a style that features takedowns within a ring. Sombo is a style of competition that has similarities to judo and wrestling, and has been reinstated as an international style of wrestling this year. Sombo was included in international wrestling until the mid-1980s, when the international wrestling federation These two events will serve as the qualifiers for the U.S. team that will compete at the World Beach Wrestling Championships and the World Sombo Championships, set for Antalya, Turkey, Oct. 13-15. In addition to these two events, USA Wrestling will also conduct its semi-annual Board of Directors meeting in the city which is hosting the Beach and Sombo Nationals. These are the volunteer leaders that set the direction for USA Wrestling and represent all apects of the wrestling community. USA Wrestling will also conduct its annual State Leaders Conference in the city which hosts the Beach and Sombo Nationals. This annual meeting brings together state leaders from each of the USA Wrestling state associations, who attend workshops and seminars and network together to help expand and improve USA Wrestling's programs and activities. To receive more information on the events and activities included, or to receive a copy of the bid packet, contact Chris Moen of USA Wrestling at 719-598-8181 or via e-mail at cmoen@usawrestling.org,

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Daniel Cormier wants to be a star. Not just as a U.S. wrestler, but as an international wrestler. In order for that to happen, Cormier must break through and win a medal at the World Championships or Olympic Games. So far, he has been close. But breaking into the top three in one of the toughest weight classes in the world has proven difficult so far for Cormier. "There are some really good guys in my weight class," Cormier said. "But I think I've proven I can wrestle with them. I just haven't ended some of those matches the smartest, and that's where I got burned." In fact, the last wrestler not from Russia or not named Eldar Kurtanidze to win this weight class or its equivalent (before the weights were shifted in 2001) was American Kurt Angle, who took gold in the 1996 Olympic Games. Cormier will hope to change that. A new attitude on training, and a new focus has Cormier dreaming bigger than ever before. Since 2003, he has dominated the U.S. circuit, as evidenced by his three straight U.S. Nationals titles and his Real Pro Wrestling Season 1 title for the Oklahoma Slam. But after a disappointing second-round exit at the 2005 World Championships, Cormier had to make some decisions. "Kevin Jackson sat us all down after the World Championships last year. I think most of us were pretty upset at how we wrestled," he stated. "K.J. challenged us. I'm not going to say I haven't trained hard the past three years, because I have. But I think right now there's more that I can do. That's what's happening." Daniel CormierCormier will plan to make more trips to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he will be under the watchful eyes of Jackson and Terry Brands. It will also give him the opportunity to train with his former training partner in Stillwater, Mo Lawal. "It's good for me (to train in Colorado Springs)," Cormier said. "I get good training here at Oklahoma State with the best coaching staff in the country, but they have to focus on a college wrestling season through March. They have to get these kids ready. I have to get myself ready." His training also has not come without distractions. Cormier's life is one riddled by tragedy. His father died while Cormier was just a child, his best friend was killed in a plane crash while he was in college and his daughter, Kaedyn Imri, was killed in an automobile accident shortly before the 2003 U.S. World Team Trials. Then, this year, many of Cormier's friends were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. While Cormier hails from Lafayette, La., a city not affected by the hurricane, his sponsoring club, the Gator Wrestling Club, is based just outside of New Orleans. But looking back on all of the events in Cormier's life, it is clear that he may not be where he is today without having to go through those battles. "In life, you have to find a ray of sunshine in every cloud. I've had a lot of clouds roll through my life, but it's time to start seeing some more sunshine," Cormier said. He's hoping that sunshine comes this summer, during Real Pro Wrestling's Season 2, and then at the 2006 World Championships. For younger wrestlers -- No matter what you're doing, make sure you have fun with it. If it's wrestling, football, whatever. Take the time to enjoy all the opportunities given to you. Your favorite all-time wrestler -- John Smith. How high should you set goals -- As high as possible. There's no shame in not reaching a goal. There's only shame in not giving 100 percent to attempt to reach it.

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Senior Jon Masa of Hofstra University is the Colonial Athletic Association Wrestler of the Week, and Steven Tisdell of George Mason University and Doug Umbehauer of Rider University have been named the CAA Rookies of the Week, for all competition the first week of March. Masa (Long Beach, NY), a two-time All-American, won his fourth CAA title and was named the CAA Championship Most Outstanding Performer. At the CAAs, Masa won by a major decision, a tech fall in the semi-finals and with a pin in the finals of the 149 pound weight class. Now 30-5, Masa will lead 23 CAA wrestlers to Oklahoma City, OK for the 2006 NCAA Division I Nationals March 16-18. Tisdell, a freshman 165 from Sewell, NJ, placed runner-up at the CAAs and will now compete in the NCAA Championships. Tisdell won a major decision in the quarter-finals, and upset the number two seed in the semi-finals, before losing to the top seed in the finals by the score of 3-2. Umbehauer, a freshman 174 from Shamong, NJ, finished runner-up in his first CAA tournament and will now advance to Nationals. After a first round bye Umbehauer defeated the sixth seed in the quarter-finals and upset the second seed in the semi-finals, 6-5 on a tie breaker, before falling 7-3 to the fifth ranked wrestler in the nation in the finals.