Greg Dickinson
Asst. Sports Editor
The Cowboys qualified nine wrestlers for the 2005 NCAA Wrestling Championships.
OMAHA, Neb. ” Oklahoma State coach John Smith knows how to get the best out of his team at the right time.
The Cowboys won their third consecutive Big 12 Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, dominating the rest of the conference on their way to qualifying nine wrestlers for the NCAA tournament.
“Coach Smith has got peaking down to an art, he’s got it down to a science,” said OSU’s 141-pound wrestler Daniel Frishkorn. “He knows how to have (us) start peaking for the Big 12 and nationals.”
OSU’s 99.5 team points, second-highest total in conference history, more than doubled second place Iowa State’s 49. The Cowboys won eight of nine semifinal matches to distance themselves from the rest of the field and take the suspense out of the team race before the finals.
“This is probably one of the better rounds as far as competition goes,” Smith said after the semifinal round. “I thought we brought our A game today, and it was good to see Kevin Ward pick up some nice wins.”
Ward, seeded fourth at 157, was one of the seven Cowboy individual champions. Coming into the tournament, Ward was unranked nationally and needed to beat one of the top-three seeds to assure himself a trip to nationals.
In the semifinals, Ward got the upset he needed when No. 1-seed Trent Paulson of ISU 7-4 to advance to the finals where he beat No. 3-seed Brad Cieleski of Missouri.
“I had the weekend I wanted, and I wanted to come out here and win and I knew I could,” Ward said. “I just wanted to wrestle hard for seven minutes, and knowing the way I prepared if I could make my opponent wrestle for seven minutes they are not going to beat me. I want to make my opponent wrestle and give him the hardest match of his life.”
Freshmen Coleman Scott at 125 and Nathan Morgan at 133 got the Cowboys started in the finals.
Scott beat No. 1-seed Sam Hazewinkel from Oklahoma to earn the title at 125 pounds. Hazewinkel was 33-0 coming into the match.
“I came to win, not to get in the top three. That’s just the mentality you’ve got to have,” Scott said.
Morgan beat Dominick Moyer of Nebraska 14-6 to earn his first Big 12 crown.
Assistant coach Pat Smith said the key to the freshmen’s performances was that they did not care who they were wrestling.
“You have to step out there and say, ‘I don’t care who it is and who I am facing and I’m going to win this match,’ ” and that is what they did today,” he said.
At 149, Zack Esposito won his second straight title and was joined by Johny Hendricks at 165 and Chris Pendleton at 174.
Pendleton, a champion in 2003, avenged a loss in last season’s final to Missouri’s Ben Askren.
“It was a good match,” Pendleton said after beating Askren 12-8. “I felt like I controlled the whole match. I gave up some stupid stuff at the end.”
The Cowboys got their seventh champion when heavyweight Steve Mocco beat Scott Coleman from ISU, 9-4.
Two other Cowboys placed in the top three in their weights to qualify for nationals.
Jake Rosholt placed second after losing to NU’s B.J. Padden in the finals at 197 pounds. Smith said Rosholt worked hard but he just could not score points.
Frishkorn beat No. 3-seed Matt Murray from NU for third place. Frishkorn said he was glad he qualified for nationals.
“I needed to go to nationals and make a name for myself ” try to show everybody what seven months of Oklahoma State wrestling can do for you,” Frishkorn said.
The seven champions are the most crowned by the Cowboys in one Big 12 tournament. Smith said he was pleased with the effort but the nine qualifiers must work hard in practice before heading to St. Louis from March 17 to 19 to defend their NCAA title.
“Seven champs, that was a great effort by our team,” John Smith said. “We did what we are supposed to do, and I am really looking forward to trying to carry some of that momentum over into our training next week.”
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