By DAN McCOOL
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
St. Louis, Mo. – Mark Perry of Iowa heard the boast about defending 165-pound NCAA wrestling champion Troy Letters of Lehigh as he helped former NCAA champion Joe Williams prepare for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
“We were in Florida, West Palm Beach, and (Lehigh assistant coach) Kerry McCoy said no one would touch Letters, “Perry said. “That’s been in my head, you know, things people say to you . . . whatever you’ve got to do to motivate yourself.”
Perry not only touched Letters, he cancelled the star’s bid for a second championship with a 3-0 victory in the semifinals of the NCAA Division I tournament at Savvis Center Friday night. A three-point near fall in the second period proved to be all the scoring the Iowa freshman needed in handing Letters his first loss in 26 bouts this season.
Perry’s stunning victory was part of a big day for the state’s three Division I programs, all of which have at least one competitor in today’s championship round for the first time since 2000, when Iowa’s Eric Juergens, Northern Iowa’s Tony Davis and Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson won championships.
The finals begin at 4 p.m. and will be shown on ESPN.
Joe Johnston of Iowa, the No. 8 seed at 157 pounds, upset top-seeded Alex Tirapelle of Illinois in the quarterfinals. Johnston then beat Jake Percival of Ohio University, 9-8, in the semifinals.
Johnston said the victory over Percival was dedicated to Iowa volunteer assistant Mike Zadick, who was whipped by then-freshman Percival at the 2002 NCAA tournament.
Sixth-seeded Trent Paulson of Iowa State upset defending 157-pound NCAA champion Matt Gentry of Stanford in triple-overtime in the quarterfinals to earn all-America honors for the first time, but was beaten in the semifinals.
Nate Gallick of Iowa State, the No. 1 seed at 141, remained one of three undefeated wrestlers in the tournament with a 2-0 victory in the semifinals against Andy Simmons of Michigan State. Gallick takes a 29-0 record into today’s title match against 2003 NCAA champion Teyon Ware. Gallick has beaten him in each of their last four meetings.
Fifth-seeded Sean Stender of Northern Iowa, the Panthers’ first three-time all-American in 10 years, denied top-seeded Jon Trenge of Lehigh’s bid for a third appearance in the finals with a 5-3 victory in the semifinals. Stender is Northern Iowa’s first finalist since Dylan Long at 141 in 2003, and is seeking to become the Panthers’ first champion since Davis.
“My way of winning is taking people down, “Stender said, “and those two takedowns I had were huge for me.”
With Johnston and Perry gaining the finals, Iowa moved ahead of Iowa State and into fifth place with 64 points. Iowa State is eighth with 52 1/2 points and Northern Iowa is tied with Arizona State for 12th and has 38 1/2 points.
Iowa State held a 6-point lead over Iowa going into the semifinal round.
Oklahoma State clinched its third consecutive team championship Friday night, with 1271/2 points. The Cowboys go into today’s final two rounds with five finalists and a 56-point lead over Cornell.
“I’m totally impressed with the team, “Oklahoma State 165-pound finalist Johny Hendricks said. “We weren’t trying to make this a race.”
Johnston started the day with his stunning 6-5 victory over Tirapelle. That big bang was followed by impacts with a growing crescendo that included fans from other programs cheering the upsets.
“If I’m wrestling the way I need to be wrestling, kind of a throwback Iowa style – always on the guy, scoring and building your lead, that mentality – then the winning will take caree of itself, “said Johnston, who had never won a first-round match in two previous NCAA appearances.
Perry decided on his own game plan against Letters, who lost for only the fourth time in 99 career matches.
“I knew (from) watching the films from last year’s NCAA finals that if you let Letters on your leg, I don’t know how he does it but he lifts you. He must be pretty strong, “Perry said. “(Friday night) he didn’t feel strong at all because my game plan was not to let him shoot ever. He never took one shot.”
Gallick and Ware are expected to have another low-scoring chess match today. Their last meeting was a six-overtime victory for Gallick in the finals of the Big 12 Conference wrestling tournament.
“I’m 4-0 against (Ware), so he’s really got to want to come after me, so I’m going to have to wrestle twice as hard to keep him off, “Gallick said.
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