Esposito goes down, Mocco gets lucky and Oklahoma State still leads after an eventful first day at t

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John Fuller (TheMat.com)
03/20/2003


Kansas City, Mo. - Who cares about Survivor Thailand? How about Survivor Kansas City? That is seemingly the new theme of the 2003 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships after another handful of highly-seeded wrestlers were defeated in the second round of competition.    After a sluggish first-round performance, second-seeded true freshman Zack Esposito of Oklahoma State dropped a 3-1 overtime match to Shane Cunanan of West Virginia to drop into the consolation bracket.    Esposito once again had trouble getting his offensive gears revved up, and in the overtime, Cunanan dominated the action, getting deep on three shots before finally finishing a single-leg with less than 20 seconds remaining in overtime.    "It's big," Cunanan said after his victory. "It helps me reach my goal. My goal is to be a national champion. I needed that match to reach my goal. He was resting his hands; they were not real busy. I've done a bunch (of tiebreakers) this year, so I was ready. But you always want to get that takedown."    Cunanan will face Dana Holland of Arizona State in the quarterfinals.    The loss for Oklahoma State delivered another blow to its attempt at winning its first NCAA team title since 1994. But strong performances by high seeds Shane Roller at 157 lbs., Tyrone Lewis at 165 lbs., Chris Pendleton at 174 lbs. and Muhammed Lawal at 197 lbs. as well as two unexpected wins from freshman Jake Rosholt at 184 lbs. have kept the Cowboys in first place with 35 team points.    Lehigh continues its impressive run with a second-place showing after posting 26.5 team points. The Mountainhawks are without starting 133-pounder Cory Cooperman, who did not make weight.    Rounding out the top five teams are Oklahoma (25.5), Minnesota (23) with Illinois and Iowa tied with 19 team points.    "For our team, it was a good day," stated Oklahoma State head coach John Smith. "You bring 10 and you want a perfect round. It's hard to happen. The bonus points were important in these rounds."    Also at 141 lbs., top seed Teyon Ware of Oklahoma survived an upset bid with a 5-4 win over Mike Messina of Sacred Heart. Messina scored on a double-leg with only 20 seconds remaining in the match, but Ware quickly scored a reversal to tie the match at 4-4. A riding time point earned by Ware gave him the one-point victory. Ware will wrestle Phil Simpson of Army in the quarterfinals.    At 174 lbs., Shane Webster of Oregon downed All-American Tyler Nixt of Iowa 7-4 to move on to the quarterfinals against Big Ten champion Ryan Lange of Purdue.    In the other quarterfinal at the top half of the 174-pound bracket, Ralph Everett of Hofstra will square off with Carl Fronhofer of Pittsburgh.    Everett, who defeated top seeded Greg Jones of West Virginia in the first round, advanced with a 4-3 win over Matt Erwin of V.M.I. Fronhofer defeated Brian Glynn of Illinois 3-2 in a tiebreaker.    At 125 lbs., Tony Black of Wisconsin manhandled 2002 NCAA finalist Luke Eustice of Iowa 15-0. Black was able to get on top after a takedown and score on a series of tilts and cradles in his technical fall victory. Black will face All-American Travis Lee of Cornell in the quarterfinals.    Also at 125 lbs., fourth-seeded Nick Simmons of Michigan State was knocked into the consolation round after the mat official called him for a choke against Terrance Clendenin of Lehigh just as Simmons appeared to have Clendenin pinned. Simmons was winning the match at the time when he flattened Clendenin, who then began to flail his arms and legs before the official stopped the match.    Clendenin will meet up with 2001 All-American A.J. Grant of Michigan in the quarterfinals.    At 133 lbs., No. 1 seed Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State, No. 2 seed Cliff Moore of Iowa and No. 3 seed Ryan Lewis of Minnesota all advanced to the quarterfinals. Thompson and Lewis, last year's NCAA finalists, both pinned their opponents while Moore escaped with a hard-fought 9-6 win over Travis Drake of Appalachian State.    Tom Grossman of Oklahoma scored another upset when he defeated third-seeded Justin Ruiz of Nebraska 7-6 in the second round at 197 lbs. The win matches Grossman with two-time All-American Damion Hahn of Minnesota in the quarterfinals.    The final upset of the evening came when John Testa of Clarion dominated two-time All-American and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Garrett Lowney of Minnesota at 285 lbs. Testa scored three takedowns against Lowney in a 7-3 victory. He will now meet up with Steve Mocco of Iowa in the quarterfinals.    Mocco survived a scare of his own. After accidentally cranking the arm of Iowa State's Scott Coleman too hard, the wrestler faced a possible disqualification. Instead, Iowa State began the match for one more second and then injury defaulted to Mocco.    "He had the near wrist and tried to turn the guy. The arm came off the back. That is where the move can become illegal. It wasn't intentional; he tried to turn the guy. He has to be smarter than that. Steve was scared about the situation after. You have to learn from that," Iowa head coach Jim Zalesky stated after the incident.    Cyclones head coach Bobby Douglas felt that the decision to injury default was the right move.    "When they call an illegal hold, when your wrestler can't continue, it's a disqualification. If we didn't continue, Mocco loses. We did the right thing. I didn't help Mocco. I don't think my wrestler would feel good and I wouldn't feel good about that. Coleman wanted to win. I didn't want Mocco to lose that way. He didn't do it on purpose. We did the right thing," he added.    2002 NCAA champions Thompson, Aaron Holker of Iowa State (141 lbs.), Jared Lawrence of Minnesota (149), Luke Becker of Minnesota (157) and Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State (285) all advanced to the quarterfinals as well.      2003 NCAA Championships  Quarterfinals Matchups  125  Chris Fleeger (Purdue) vs. Jason Powell (Nebraska)  Terrance Clendenin (Lehigh) vs. A.J. Grant (Michigan)  Ben VomBaur (Boise State) vs. Bo Maynes (Oklahoma)  Tony Black (Wisconsin) vs. Travis Lee (Cornell)    133  Johnny Thompson (Oklahoma State) vs. Mark Jayne (Illinois)  Brandon Lauer (West Virginia) vs. Rad Martinez (Clarion)  Ryan Lewis (Minnesota) vs. Pat Garcia (Northern Iowa)  Josh Moore (Penn State) vs. Cliff Moore (Iowa)    141  Teyon Ware (Oklahoma) vs. Phil Simpson (Army)  Jason Mester (Central Michigan) vs. Aaron Holker (Iowa State)  Dylan Long (Northern Iowa) vs. Mike Maney (Lock Haven)  Dana Holland (Arizona State) vs. Shane Cunanan (West Virginia)    149  Eric Larkin (Arizona State) vs. Karl Nadolsky (Michigan State)  Jerrod Sanders (Oklahoma State) vs. Jake Percival (Ohio)  Jesse Jantzen (Harvard) vs. Collin Robertson (Boise State)  Dustin Manotti (Cornell) vs. Jared Lawrence (Minnesota)    157  Luke Becker (Minnesota) vs. Alex Tirapelle (Illinois)  Gray Maynard (Michigan State) vs. Scott Owen (Northern Illinois)  Shane Roller (Oklahoma State) vs. Ryan Bertin (Michigan)  Derek Zinck (Lehigh) vs. Keaton Anderson (Ohio State)    165  Matt Lackey (Illinois) vs. Matt R. King (Edinboro)  Tyron Woodley (Missouri) vs. Jacob Volkmann (Minnesota)  Tyrone Lewis (Oklahoma State) vs. Johnny Clark (Ohio State)  Levi Prevost (Wyoming) vs. Troy Letters (Lehigh)    174  Ralph Everett (Hofstra) vs. Carl Fronhofer (Pittsburgh)  Shane Webster (Oregon) vs. Ryan Lange (Purdue)  Robbie Waller (Oklahoma) vs. Mark Fee (Appalachian State)  Brad Dillon (Lehigh) vs. Chris Pendleton (Oklahoma State)    184  Jessman Smith (Iowa) vs. Ben Heizer (Northern Illinois)  Mark Becks (Penn State) vs. Scott Barker (Missouri)  Clint Wattenberg (Cornell) vs. Josh Lambrecht (Oklahoma)  Jake Rosholt (Oklahoma State) vs. Greg Parker (Princeton)    197  Jon Trenge (Lehigh) vs. Kyle Smith (Michigan)  Morgan Horner (Lock Haven) vs. Chris Skretkowicz (Hofstra)  Tom Grossman (Oklahoma) vs. Damion Hahn (Minnesota)  Sean Stender (Northern Iowa) vs. Muhammed Lawal (Oklahoma State)    285  Steve Mocco (Iowa) vs. John Testa (Clarion)  Boe Rushton (Boise State) vs. Kellan Fluckiger (Arizona State)  Tommy Rowlands (Ohio State) vs. M