Heskett defends title at University Freestyle National Championships

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
04/01/2001


Joe Heskett (Ames, Iowa/Sunkist Kids) claimed the 167.5 pound title, the only athlete to repeat as champion at the 2001 Men's University National Championships, held at Northwestern Univ. in Evanston, Ill., April 1.    Heskett edged Matt Lackey (Champaign, Ill./unattached), 6-5, in overtime, in the gold-medal finals. Heskett was a NCAA runner-up for the last two years at Iowa State, and Lackey is a NCAA All-American for the Univ. of Illinois.    Jamill Kelly (Stillwater, Okla./Cowboy) was named Outstanding Wrestler after claiming the 138.75 pound title. Kelly, who wrestles for Oklahoma State, scored an 11-1 technical fall over  Coyte Cooper (Bloomington, Ind./Indiana WC) in the finals.    Claiming a double title, winning both the freestyle and Greco-Roman tournaments this year, was Andy Bowlby (Corvallis, Ore./Orange Crush) at 286 pounds. Bowlby , who wrestles for Oregon State, stopped Tommy Rowlands (Columbus, Ohio/Dave Schultz WC), 4-1 in the championship finals. Rowlands was a NCAA runner-up as a freshman this year. Bowlby also claimed the Greco-Roman title on Thursday, beating defending champion Josh Etu of the Univ. of Virginia in the finals.    At 119 pounds, Junior World Champion T.J. Hill (Colorado Springs, Colo/Dave Schultz WC) scored a  dominant 10-0 technical fall over Skyler Holman (Stillwater, Okla./Cowboy) in the finals. Hill has won USA Wrestling age-group national titles on four levels (Cadet, Junior, FILA Junior/University).    Other individual champions were Sal Gonzales (Merced, Calif./Merced Bears) at 110 pounds, Chris Fleeger (W. Lafayette, Ind./Dave Schultz WC) at 127.75 pounds, Ryan Berger (unattached-IL) at 152 pounds, Andy Hrovat (Ann Arbor, Mich./Cliff Keen) at 187.25 pounds and Michael Dixon (unattached-IN) at 213.75 pounds    The Dave Schultz WC claimed the team title, with 51 points, followed by Orange Crush with 23 points. The Most Falls Award went to Oklahoma's Wes Roberts, who pinned three opponents in a combined 7:52.