Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
Chris Pendleton (San Jose, Calif./Oklahoma State) has been named TheMat.com Wrestler of the Week for the week of March 15-21.
Each week, TheMat.com will select an Athlete of the Week, based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling, from youth programs through the Senior level. The announcement will be made each week on Wednesday.
Pendleton, the returning NCAA champion at 174 lbs., defending his title by winning the weight class at the NCAA Div. I Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Mo., March 17-19.
Pendleton was one of five Oklahoma State wrestlers to win a NCAA Div. I title this year, leading the Cowboys to the team title for the third straight year. OSU set a record for the largest margin of victory at the NCAA Championships, and its five champions matched the mark set by the 1997 Iowa Hawkeyes, which had five champions in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
No. 1 seeded Pendleton defeated No. 2 Ben Askren of Missouri, a 2004 NCAA runner-up, in the gold-medal finals, 10-5. It was a rematch of the 2004 NCAA title bout.
He won five matches on the way to the title. Pendleton opened with a pin over J.J. Holmes of Eastern Michigan in 5:50. In the second round, he defeated Daniel Waters of American, 14-10. In the quarterfinals, he scored a 16-1 technical fall in 5:52 over No. 9 Eric Hauan of Northern Iowa. His semifinal victim was No. 5 Joe Mazzurco of Cornell, who he defeated by technical fall, 16-1 in 4:02.
Pendleton is a four-time NCAA qualifier, and placed third at the 2003 NCAA Tournament before winning the national title last year.
Pendleton is a Sociology major at Oklahoma State Univ.
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