By Andy Hamilton
Iowa City Press-Citizen
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — By now, you probably know the family tree.
Mark Perry Jr.’s uncle is Oklahoma State coach John Smith. Perry’s father was a two-time All-American for the Cowboys. His uncle, Pat, was the first four-time NCAA champion during his career at Oklahoma State. Perry grew up in Stillwater, Okla., has a lot of friends who go to Oklahoma State and his early years around the sport were spent pulling for the Cowboys.
Then Perry had to pick a college and he chose Iowa — Oklahoma State’s longstanding rival — putting his family in some awkward situations like the one they’ll encounter tonight.
Perry wrestles Oklahoma State’s Johny Hendricks in the 165-pound NCAA final at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
“It’s a little unique and it was hard for me, “Perry said. “My first year in college it was real hard for me. I would get so nervous, not even to wrestle Hendricks, but more so having my uncles in the corner who I’ve looked up to my whole life.
“As a wrestler, that’s kind of who I tried to (emulate). I wrestle in kind of a low stance, their kind of type. I’m a little bit funkier and obviously John was quite a bit better than I was. But I have a lot of respect for the program and Hendricks, but they’re in the way of what I’m trying to accomplish and tomorrow night I’m coming. He’s just another target to take down.”
Perry hasn’t beaten Hendricks in six collegiate tries, including the 2005 NCAA final when the Cowboy won a 5-2 decision for his first of two national titles.
“I really can’t tell you why I’ve had his number, “Hendricks said. “I don’t know if I ever did have his number. I know that I do what it takes to get my hand raised.”
“¢ GOPHERS IN A HOLE: Minnesota was projected to have the NCAA title put away by Friday night — at least in the eyes of some some wrestling followers.
But the Gophers went through a brutal session Friday night when they went 1-3 in the semifinals and lost juniors Mack Reiter and Manuel Rivera from the consolation bracket.
The biggest surprise, though, came when top-seeded Dustin Schlatter suffered his second collegiate loss. The defending NCAA champion dropped a 3-2 decision to Edinboro’s Gregor Gillespie in the 149-pound semifinals.
“A lot of people don’t like the way Dustin Schlatter wrestles because he wins by one every time, but that’s one tough dude if he can win 30, 40 matches just by the grit of his teeth, “Perry said. “I respect that kid a lot, but it caught him tonight, and that’s not the way I want to wrestle. But when it comes down to it and you’re not wrestling your best at the national tournament, you need to find a way to win. This is what you prepare for.”
“¢ TSIRTSIS KNOCKED OUT: Iowa junior Alex Tsirtsis entered the NCAA Tournament with some confidence stemming from two victories against defending Big Ten champion Andy Simmons of Michigan State.
Tsirtsis exited the NCAA Tournament Friday with a bewildered look on his face after he was bounced from the consolations on a controversial defensive fall call against Nebraska’s Dominick Moyer.
Tsirtsis was leading 2-1 in the third period and trying to erase Moyer’s riding-time advantage when the fifth-seeded Husker looked for a reversal and wound up with a quick pin.
“We put ourselves in a position we shouldn’t have been in and the referee called the fall, “Iowa coach Tom Brands said. “Whether we agree with that or not, it doesn’t matter. We cannot put ourselves in that position. We talked about it. We talked about it in the practice room. We talked about it away from the matches in preparation. We talked about it in the corner from transition from the second to the third period — do not go there, and he continued to go there.”
“¢ BACKPOINTS: Derek Moore became the first All-American in school history for UC-Davis. … Sacred Heart heavyweight Payam Zarrinpour became his school’s first All-American in any sport. … Seven of the tournament’s No. 1 seeds advanced to the finals. … Northwestern’s Ryan Lang and North Carolina State’s Darrion Caldwell were involved in the day’s most action-packed match. Unseeded Caldwell put top-ranked Lang on his back and built and early 8-3 lead in the 141-pound quarterfinals, but Lang used a Twister to whip Caldwell to his back for a fall after a wild flurry in a match that featured 16 points in less than two minutes.
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