Kansas City, Mo. - With the NCAA semifinals broadcast live on ESPN for the first time ever, excitement was high in Kemper Arena for the 2003 NCAA Championships.    Defending NCAA champion Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State had to injury default his match to Kevin Hoy of Air Force at 285 lbs., leaving only Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State and Jared Lawrence of Minnesota as the two remaining national champions with hopes of defending their titles.    Oklahoma State continued to hold on to its lead in the team race, but two-time defending champion Minnesota has begun to close the gap.    The Cowboys are in first place with 109 team points followed by Minnesota with 90.5 points. Lehigh (68), Oklahoma (65.5) and Arizona State (54.5) round out the top five.    At 125 lbs., sophomore All-Americans Chris Fleeger of Purdue and Travis Lee of Cornell both advanced to the finals. Fleeger used a takedown in the second period and an escape in the third period to hold off A.J. Grant of Michigan 3-0.    Lee, an All-American last year, scored a reversal with 21 seconds remaining in his match with Ben VomBaur of Boise State to win 5-3.    A rematch of last year's NCAA finals will take place at 133 lbs. as Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State and Ryan Lewis of Minnesota will square off.    Thompson trailed 2-1 late in his semifinal match with Rad Martinez of Clarion, but earned an escape with 12 seconds remaining and then earned a point after Martinez was called for stalling to win 3-2. Lewis dominated Cliff Moore of Iowa 13-3 to advance to the finals.    Lewis and Thompson met earlier this season with Lewis coming away with a 6-5 win in November.    Freshman Teyon Ware of Oklahoma will meet up with Dylan Long of Northern Iowa in the 141-pound final.    Ware, a true freshman, defeated Jason Mester of Central Michigan 3-1 in a tiebreaker. Though Mester controlled the offensive action, he was unable to score on the defensive Ware. In the tiebreaker, Ware won the coin toss and was able to score a reversal with nine seconds remaining.    Long came back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Shane Cunanan of West Virginia 4-3. Trailing 3-0, Long scored an escape and a takedown with six seconds left in the second period to tie the score. A third period escape gave Long the win.    At 149 lbs., Eric Larkin of Arizona State survived a late scare from Jerrod Sanders of Oklahoma State in a 5-3 win. With Larkin leading 3-1 late in the match, Sanders was able to score a reversal, but Larkin had a decisive riding time advantage, so Sanders let him go. The Cowboy was unable to muster any more offense in the loss.    Larkin will meet up with defending NCAA champion Jared Lawrence of Minnesota, who defeated Jesse Jantzen of Harvard 7-2. Larkin beat Lawrence twice this year by 10-4 and 6-4 scores.    Alex Tirapelle of Illinois, another freshman, advanced to the finals with a 5-1 win over Scott Owen of Northern Illinois. Tirapelle used a second-period cradle to take a 4-0 lead before holding on for the win. He will face Ryan Bertin of Michigan in the finals.    Bertin scored a second-period takedown to take a 5-3 lead over Keaton Anderson of Ohio State, who is wrestling with a torn ACL. Bertin went on to win the match 5-4.    Tirapelle and Bertin have met twice this season, with each wrestler winning once by a 3-2 score.    The most exciting match of the night took place at 165 lbs., as freshman Troy Letters of Lehigh and All-American Tyrone Lewis of Oklahoma State battled in an offensive showdown. After several high-flying scrambles, Lewis took control with two takedowns for a 4-2 lead. Near the end of the second period, Letters came back with a takedown of his own to tie the match at 4-4.    In the third period, Lewis scored a takedown on an inside-trip, but Letters fired back with an escape and a low ankle-pick to take an 8-6 lead. Letters added a takedown and two nearfall points at the end of the match after Lewis needed a score just to tie the match.    Letters will meet up with 2002 NCAA finalist Matt Lackey of Illinois in the finals. Lackey, who defeated Letters 6-3 in the Midlands finals, beat Jacob Volkmann of Minnesota 6-3 in the semifinals.    Robbie Waller of Oklahoma made his first trip to the finals with a 1-1 tiebreaker rideout over Brad Dillon of Lehigh at 174 lbs. Waller and Dillon both struggled to score points in the match. In the tiebreaker, Dillon won the coin toss, but Waller, after two stalemates and a stalling call, was able to stay on top of Dillon for the full 30 seconds.    Waller will face unseeded Carl Fronhofer of Pittsburgh, which happens to be near Waller's hometown, in the finals. Fronhofer defeated Shane Webster of Oregon 3-2.    The 184-pound finals will match up two surprise finalists, both of whom were finalists in the Big XII Championships.    Scott Barker of Missouri surprised top seed Jessman Smith of Iowa with a 9-4 victory. In the third period, Barker took control of a 4-4 tie, scoring on an ankle-pick to take a 6-4 lead and added another takedown near the end. With riding time, Barker came away an NCAA finalist.    Freshman Jake Rosholt, the fourth freshman in the NCAA finals, dominated 2002 NCAA finalist Josh Lambrecht of Oklahoma for the second consecutive match in a 9-2 win. Rosholt scored two takedowns, a reversal and two nearfall points in the victory.    Barker defeated Rosholt 8-1 for the Big XII title just two weeks ago.    At 197 lbs., Damion Hahn of Minnesota scored a takedown with sex seconds remaining in his match against Oklahoma State's Muhammed Lawal for a 4-3 semifinal victory. Lawal began the scoring in the first period with a single-leg takedown at the edge of the mat for a 2-0 lead. Hahn quickly earned an escape and the two wrestlers then traded escapes at the start of each period before Hahn's takedown.    Hahn will face 2002 NCAA finalist Jon Trenge of Lehigh, who defeated Chris Skretkowicz of Hofstra 5-3 in the semifinals.    At heavyweight, Rowlands had to default after he re-aggravated an ankle injury he suffered during his quarterfinal match against Matt Feast of Pennsylvania. Hoy will face 2002 NCAA finalist Steve Mocco of Iowa, who defeated Kellan Fluckiger of Arizona State 10-2 in the semifinals.    Mocco recorded a first-period pin over Hoy in the Midlands semifinals earlier this year.    The NCAA finals will begin at 2:30 p.m. Central Time. TheMat.com will provide a free audio broadcast for the finals, which will be aired on a tape-delayed basis on ESPN2.      2003 NCAA Championships  Final Matchups  125: Chris Fleeger (Purdue) vs. Travis Lee (Cornell)  133: Johnny Thompson (Oklahoma State) vs. Ryan Lewis (Minnesota)  141: Teyon Ware (Oklahoma) vs. Dylan Long (Northern Iowa)  149: Eric Larkin (Arizona State) vs. Jared Lawrence (Minnesota)  157: Alex Tirapelle (Illinois) vs. Ryan Bertin (Michigan)  165: Matt Lackey (Illinois) vs. Troy Letters (Lehigh)  174: Carl Fronhofer (Pittsburgh) vs. Robbie Waller (Oklahoma)  184: Scott Barker (Missouri) vs. Jake Rosholt (Oklahoma State)  197: Jon Trenge (Lehigh) vs. Damion Hahn (Minnesota)  285: Steve Mocco (Iowa) vs. Kevin Hoy (Air Force)