Oklahoma State leads team race after first session of NCAA Championships; Jones loses
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John Fuller (TheMat.com)
03/20/2003
Kansas City, Mo. - Defending NCAA champion Greg Jones of West Virginia suffered the biggest of many upset losses in the first session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Kemper Arena. In all, 22 seeded wrestlers lost their first round matches, including nine wrestlers seeded within the top eight of their respective weight classes. Oklahoma State, a team that suffered one of those upsets, leads the team race with 19.5 points. But no wrestler fell further and harder than Jones, a sophomore who entered the tournament with a 28-0 record at 174 lbs. Jones was defeated by Ralph Everett of Hofstra, 3-2 in a tiebreaker. The two wrestlers entered the tiebreaker tied at 2-2 after trading escapes and stall points. In the tiebreaker, Everett won the coin toss and chose bottom. He quickly earned the escape to set the morning crowd on fire. "I'm pretty excited. This was my best match all season," Everett said following his win. "I wanted to wrestle smart and not give up any dumb takedowns. I wanted to work on my single leg." Rocco Mansueto of Cleveland State dealt a huge blow to Oklahoma State's title hopes with a 6-6 tiebreaker win over All-American Skyler Holman of Oklahoma State at 125 lbs. Mansueto trailed 6-0 in the second period, but rallied with three takedowns to tie the match. In the tiebreaker, Mansueto rode out Holman, who has struggled from the bottom all season long, for the upset win. "He had a slow start. Typically he is a slow starter," Cleveland State head coach Jack Effner said. "Once he has his motor going, he can go with anybody. He knows he can do it here. The pressure is off him. He is solid in every position. He just needs to get his motor going." That upset triggered a barrage of losses by seeded wrestlers. At 133 lbs. alone, five seeded wrestlers went down in the first round, including All-Americans Witt Durden of Oklahoma and Zach Roberson of Iowa State. Durden was dominated by Evan Sola of North Carolina 6-2. Sola never let Durden gain an edge offensively while scoring one takedown in every period en route to his victory over the fourth seed. Roberson, the fifth seed, was pinned by Brandon Lauer of West Virginia in the second period. Roberson had been put to his back earlier in the match and trailed Lauer 9-6 at the time of the fall. The only other wrestler seeded fifth or higher to lose was David Shunamon of Edinboro. Shunamon fell to Anton Talamantes of Ohio State 8-6 at 197 lbs. Shunamon was the only wrestler to have defeated the top two seeds at his weight class during the regular season. Five of the six defending NCAA champions advanced to the second round. They are Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State (133 lbs.), Aaron Holker of Iowa State (141), Jared Lawrence of Minnesota (149), Luke Becker of Minnesota (157) and Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State (285). Even with Holman's loss, Oklahoma State leads the team race with 19.5 points. The Cowboys have eight wrestlers still in the championship round, including true freshman Zack Esposito, who survived a scare from Derek Sola of Millersville at 141 lbs. The Cowboys are seeking to come home with their 31st NCAA team title, but their first since 1994. Lehigh, who suffered a blow when 133-pound All-American candidate Cory Cooperman did not make weight, is second with 16 points, followed by Illinois (15), Oklahoma (14.5) and Iowa, Michigan State and Minnesota all tied with 12.5 points. Of those schools, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota all have six wrestlers still competing on the championship side of the bracket while Lehigh, Oklahoma and Michigan State all have five wrestlers in the championship bracket. The second session and first round of consolations will begin at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. TheMat.com will complete complete coverage of the NCAA Championships from Kemper Arena.