Ohio repeats as Junior Freestyle National Duals champion
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John Fuller (USA Wrestling)
07/04/2004
Enid, Okla. - For the second consecutive year, Ohio defeated Oklahoma in the finals of the Junior Freestyle National Dual Championships, winning 34-26 on Saturday evening at the Enid Events Center. And this time, they did it without highly-touted Dustin Schlatter, who was out with a broken hand. The dual came down to the final bout. Ohio led 30-26 going into the 275-pound match, and a win for Oklahoma's Kelsey Epling by fall or a shutout technical fall would have given the win to Oklahoma. But Ohio's Dustin Fox dominated as he had during the entire tournament, winning 10-0 to seal the win for Ohio. After taking a 8-7 lead following the first four matches, Ohio went on a run, winning the next four matches to extend its lead to 20-12. However, Oklahoma wrestlers scored points in all four of those losses, piling up points for the Tornadoes and keeping the squad alive. Sean Nemec (135 lbs.) and Jason Johnstone (140) capped off the four-win run with matching 5-2 wins. Oklahoma then cut the lead to 22-18 with a 5-2 win by Zach Rosson over Josh Horne at 145 lbs. and a 4-2 win by Newley McSpadden over Jacob Frerichs at 152 lbs. Ohio's Steve Luke, one of the leaders of this year's squad that was missing a couple of blue-chip recruits, defeated Shane Vernon 3-0 at 160 lbs. to put Ohio back in the driver's seat. The match between Luke and Vernon was the only match that featured two wrestlers from last year's teams in the gold-medal dual. A fall by Michael Ward at 189 lbs. put a lot of pressure on Oklahoma for some big wins, but Joe Dennis was able to wrestle Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma to a 5-3 decision at 215 lbs., nearly sealing the win for Ohio. Illinois defeated Iowa Gold 34-27 for third place, New York The Evil Empire downed Pennsylvania We Called For Backups 30-29 for fifth place and California Heat defeated Team Kansas 41-20 for seventh place. Michigan defeated the New Jersey Sopranos 34-29 to win the consolation bracket. The Texas Road Kill was presented with the Rollie Hoover Sportsmanship Award by Minnesota coach Ed Kane, who announced that he will retire following this competition. Up next for the top Junior-level wrestlers will be the ASICS/Vaughan Junior National Championships in Fargo, N.D., July 24-31.