The difference between 10 and 1 at the NCAA Wrestling Championships

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
03/20/2003


There is only one team at the 2003 NCAA Div. I Wrestling Championships with a full team of 10 wrestlers qualified to compete: pre-tournament favorite Oklahoma State.    There are exactly 13 teams with one wrestler in the draw: Binghamton, UC-Davis, Columbia, Duke, Eastern Illinois, Gardner-Webb, Maryland, Navy, Northwestern, Portland State, Princeton, Stanford and Virginia Tech.    The first session of competition is quite different if you are Oklahoma State than if you are one of the 13 with a lone entry. It is a perfect example of how wrestling can be an individual sport, and at the same time be a team sport.    For Oklahoma State, the key is to win as many matches as possible, picking up advancement points and bonus points. Early wins helps Oklahoma State take advantage of the extra bodies that they can throw into the fray this year.    For the 13 schools with one wrestler, the theme song is "Staying Alive." Two losses and not only is the athlete out of the championship, but so is the entire school.    Oklahoma State wrestlers are seeded in nine of the 10 weight classes. Of the 13 schools with only one athlete, there are only two seeded wrestlers: No. 2 Greg Parker of Princeton and No. 12 Scott Justice of Virginia Tech, both at 184 pounds.    For the coaches, the athletes from the teams with one entry have the personal and complete attention of their head coach. For Oklahoma State, the NCAA allows four coaching passes for a team with 10 wrestlers, so covering all of the entries is truly a team effort. The Oklahoma State coaches on the floor are head coach John Smith and assistant coaches Mark Branch, Pat Smith and Eric Guerrero.    "We also have six club athletes who are coaching and are in the stands," said Pat Smith. "They are doing the scouting for us. We give them a weight class and they scout the next opponents. If there is anything we need to know, they relay it back to us."    The four Oklahoma State coaches decide in advance which athletes they will work with. Pat Smith will have Johnny Thompson and Tyrone Lewis, plus others when needed.    "We talked to the athletes. We said if they had a request for a specific coach in their corner to let us know. If not, we will assign the coach," said Smith.    For Clar Anderson, the head coach at Duke, who is coaching one athlete, unseeded Tommy Huang at 125 pounds, the assignment is a bit different.    "I am excited to be here and coaching a young man," said Anderson. "There is a disappointment. When coaches come up to you and ask how many you have, you tell them one. They say maybe next year. I had two others who were able to be here, but they were hurt at the end of the year. With just one athlete, it's easier. You have just one guy and can really scout for him. Tommy has won matches here for two years. He upset the No. 4 seed two years ago. Now he has a No. 3 seed. We'll see how he does."    Oklahoma State had a rocky start to the tournament, when No. 8 Skyler Holman drew Rocco Mansueto of Cleveland State at 125 pounds. Holman jumped to a 6-0 lead in the match, scoring a takedown and tilt in the first period and a reversal in the second period.    Then, the match changed completely. Mansueto added an escape and a takedown later in the second period to close the match to 6-3. With the athletes on their feet in the third period, Holman was hit for a stalling penalty, whittling the lead to 6-4. A Mansueto takedown with 34 seconds to go tied the bout at 6-6.    With no takedown in the sudden death period, the match went to a tiebreaker. Holman got the bottom position. Mansueto sunk in the legs and rode him out for the entire 30 second period for the upset double-overtime win. It was not the kind of start Oklahoma State wanted for the team expected to dominate this event.    However, as the first session went on, Oklahoma State picked up the pace, winning the next eight matches, before unseeded Willie Gruenwald fell at heavyweight to returning national champion Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State.    For Greg Parker of Princeton, the top seed among the squads with one lone warrior, the first round is important to get under the belt and then move forward.    "It is good to get out there in front of this big crowd. I take it one match at a time and try to have fun," said Parker.    Parker's first match was a really good time, a 15-2 decision over Tony D'Amico of Boise State. He needed a lot of help getting prepared for this tournament, as Princeton's only entry in the show.    "My teammates were really supportive. They came out and worked out with me. I also brought some other guys in from other schools," he said.    When asked if the coaches were putting a bit too much emphasis on him, Parker laughed. "The coaches are real supportive too. They joke with me, trying to keep me down to size."    When asked about the rest of the team, Parker was understanding.    "We have a lot of tough guys on our team, who just had a tough week at the Easterns. The EIWA is getting so much tougher now," he said.    When comparing Oklahoma State's first session with Princeton's, it was quite a different morning. There really is a difference between 10 and one at the NCAA Championships.    Oklahoma State  125 - No. 8 Skyler Holman  133 - No 1 Johnny Thompson  141 - No. 2 Zack Esposito  149 - No. 5 Jerrod Sanders  157 - No. 3 Shane Roller  165 - No. 3 Tyrone Lewis  174 - No. 2 Chris Pendleton  184 - No. 10 Jake Rosholt  197 - No. 2 Muhammed Lawal  Hwt - unseeded Willie Gruenwald    Teams with one entry -  125 - unseeded Tommy Huang (Duke)  133 - unseeded Pat Dowty (Eastern Illinois)  141 - unseeded Josh Ruff (Binghamton)  157 - unseeded Jeremiah Jarvis (UC Davis)  157 - unseeded Matt Gentry (Stanford)  165 - unseeded Frank Edwards (Navy)  165 - unseeded Eric Arbogast (Portland State)  165 - unseeded Matt Palmer (Columbia)  165 - unseeded Jason Erwinski (Northwestern)  174 - unseeded Erik Wince (Gardner Webb)  184 - unseeded Jake Stork (Maryland)  184 - No. 12 Scott Justice (Virginia Tech)  184 - No. 2 Greg Parker (Princeton)