Oklahoma State University Athletics
Wrestling Duo Leads Cowboys Charge
June 21, 1999 | Cowboy Wrestling
December 14, 1998
Although they do not necessarily lead off dual meets for the Cowboys, there is no doubt who the leaders of OSU's top-ranked wrestling team are.
One a two-time national champion the other a defending national champion. Eric Guerrero and Teague Moore are the backbone of Oklahoma State's team. The seniors hold down the top two weights in the Cowboys lineup. They are both ranked No.1 in the country Moore at 125, Guerrero at 133. They share so much more than being teammates.
Both have the desire to be the best there is. Both want nothing more than a national championship.
Guerrero, from the West Coast (San Jose, Calif.), is the quiet one. Moore, from the East Coast (Pittsburgh, Pa.),is more vocal. Both are intense in their own way; Guerrero on the inside, Moore on the outside. Both have overcome great obstacles. Guerrero's physical, numerous injuries last season. Moore's, physical and emotional, with the loss of his father, John, during his sophomore season.
Both have overcome the adversity and on March 21, 1998, approximately 10 minutes apart they were both on top of the wrestling world. Guerrero picked up a hard-fought win over Eric Jetton of Wisconsin. Moore won his with a fall over David Morgan of Michigan State in the NCAA Finals at the Convocation Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
They were both underdogs. They had both lost to their opponents earlier in the season. The team race was over so what did they do. They won. They are both winners on and off the mat.
They have always had success on every level but it has not been easy for them.
"Our friendship has grown for the better," Moore said. "When we got here it was rough for us living together and both trying to start. We have been through some rough times but our friendship has grown for the better."
Now there friendship is more of a professional one. One that has them feeding off each other to be successful. They are both spiritual, both refreshing in the day of the spoiled athlete.
"I would say our friendship is basically geared toward wrestling or church in some way," said Moore. "The reason we both came here is wrestling. Off the mat we really see each other at church activities and wrestling type events."
"I enjoy Teague's friendship very much," said Guerrero. "I can talk to him about anything not just about wrestling; about life, about school, about anything. Relationships like that don't come around that often."
"I am not a person that has a lot of best friends. But Teague is definitely one of my better friends."
Both admit they have learned a lot from each other and each one drives the other to be the best..
"I know I have grown a lot of being around him athletically," said Moore. "The mental aspect of wrestling. Being as obsessive and compulsive about the sport as he is. I have taken a lot from him and been able to adapt it into my wrestling and it has helped me for the better."
"He helps drive me so much," Guerrero said. "Sometimes to keep up the intensity and wrestle 100 percent is really difficult. Those days I don't feel up to my very best it seems that those are the days that he is working 120 percent. He elevates me to that level. I don't want him to out work me.
"It's kind of like having two brothers that the other one does not want to be outdone by the other one. Feeling that close to Teague it makes that competitive rivalry really intense.
Being seniors on the Cowboys top-ranked team they have inherited the role of team leader. The both have the same goals for this season.
"We only have one goal each and that is to win the national title," said Moore. "Both individually and as a team. We have to prepare some of our young guys that are freshmen and in the lineup for the first time what it is like to go out and represent the best school in the nation every time you hit the mat. I feel we are both doing a good job of motivating the older guys and helping the younger guys along.
"Every time you step on the mat you have to do it 100 percent. I think both of us have been able to push on this team that idea."
The goal of everyone is to win a national championship and for these two champions it is no different. They both agree that individual success is what they strive for.
"I wouldn't want to give up a national championship for the team, said Moore". "I feel if I obtain my goals and all 10 of us obtain our goals then we will be champions as a team. Compromising an individual goal for a team goal, I don't think that really fits our scheme for what we are doing."
"My main concern is myself," said Guerrero. "Wrestling is an individual sport. I can only do what I can do. It may sound selfish, but wrestling is a selfish sport."
Don't consider Guerrero on the conceited side. His feelings are shared by most every wrestler in the nation. Wrestling is an individual sport that happens to be played in a team format. It is no doubt every man for himself. He is very considerate of others as well.
"The goal is to win a national championship and win you achieve that goal you don't want to brag about it to those who don't achieve their goals," said Guerrero. "You want to be humble about who you are and what you do."
Guerrero has been a winner on the international level as well. He placed third at the World team trials this past season. He is a former Espoir National Champion. He is an Academic All-American. He is also a devout Catholic. He is a finalist for the Dan Hodge Award, as the nation's top collegiate wrestler. But he has one other main goal.
"My goals is to be an Olympic champion. That is the foremost goal of mine. Anyone who does something well wants to be the very best at what they do. That is me I want to be the best.
Moore, also a devout Catholic, has similar types of goals and also wants to continue his academic career at Oklahoma State.
"I want to move on and finish my career with a national title," said Moore. "I am looking to establish myself internationally after that and go for the Olympics in 2000 and the World Championships. Setting those type goals is the only way you can achieve them.
Academically, I would like to go to grad school here at Oklahoma State and major in history.
They have similarities in that they learned a lot from one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time in their head coach John Smith.
"There is no doubt that he influences us," said Guerrero. "The way he carries himself, the way he has that ability to make everyone better, the way he works out with us. He is the best and he makes us want to be the best as well. He is a champion and he expects that out of us."
Whatever you want to say about their style, their attitude, their skill level, their brashness is fine but there is only way to describe both of them at the end of the day and that is champion.
By Chad Grubbs
OSU Media Relations
