Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU Wrestling Set to Compete in NCAA Championships
March 18, 2002 | Cowboy Wrestling
March 18, 2002
Brackets for the upcoming NCAA Wrestling Championships in Albany, N.Y., were released today with Oklahoma State's fourth-ranked wrestling team nabbing three top-three seeds.
Junior Skyler Holman enters the championships on a 10-match win streak and earned a No. 3 seed at 125 pounds, while sophomore Johnny Thompson is seeded second at 133 pounds. Holman will take on the winner of Rob Rebmann (Drexel) and Matt Sanchez (Illinois) in the first round and Thompson will face Shawn Amistade of Pittsburgh.
Sophomore All-American Tyrone Lewis, who is coming off a loss to top-ranked and top-seeded Joe Heskett, was chosen as the second seed and will take on Seth Cameron of James Madison in the first round.
"It is post season and there is no question that this is an exciting time for everyone," head coach John Smith said. "We have nine guys that we are taking and after having an opportunity to see the draws and the seeds, I think we have a good chance of having a good tournament.
"If we are going to have a great tournament we are going to have to pull a lot of upsets," Smith said. "That is going to be the key to determine if we are going to be successful as a team."
Junior Jerrod Sanders captured the 11th seed and will face Stanford's Matt Gentry at 149 pounds, while Ty Wilcox is seeded No. 10 at 174 pounds and will take on Ed Pawlek of Lock Haven.
"I do think there are several individuals that have a good chance of winning individual national championships," Smith said. "Johnny Thompson, who is going to be seeded No. 2, Tyrone Lewis and Shane Roller all have an opportunity to do really well.
"Roller does have to go through one of the toughest guys in the country right now (Bryan Snyder), but he has several tough matches even to get to him."
After finishing the year ranked fourth nationally, Roller, a junior, enters the tournament as the fourth seed at 157 pounds and will grapple Kent State's Mike Tolar, while senior Pat Popolizio enters the tournament as the ninth seed at 184 pounds and will face Lock Haven's Josh Willard.
"I think this is a team that if we wrestle like we did in the Big 12, we would feel real good finishing in the top five," Smith said. "For us to push ourselves above that, we are going to have to pull several upsets, and that is what it's all about."
At heavyweight, 11th-seeded senior James Huml was the lone Cowboy to receive a bye and will face the winner of sixth-seeded Jake Vercelli of Purdue and Harvard's David Rechul in the second round.
Sophomore 197-pounder Willie Gruenwald is the lone Cowboy to enter the tournament without a seed and will take on Matt Greenberg of Cornell in the first round.
Competition begins at 11 a.m. on Thursday at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y., with finals set for Saturday at 2 p.m.
Seedings by weight 125: No. 3 Syler Holman 133: No. 2 Johnny Thompson 149: No. 11 Jerrod Sanders 157: No. 4 Shane Roller 165: No. 3 Tyrone Lewis 174: No. 10 Ty Wilcox 184: No. 9 Pat Popolizio 197: Willie Gruenwald 285: No. 11 James Huml
