Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Win RTOC Title With 205.5 Points
December 19, 2003 | Cowboy Wrestling
The Cowboys went six for six in the finals with three of them recording bonus-point wins. Arizona State crowned a pair of champions and chipped in 127.5 points to finish second, while Cal State Bakersfield finished third with 105.5 points and one champ.
Boise State and Cal Poly rounded out the top five with 83.5 points and 79 points, respectively. Boise State also finished the tournament with one champ.
"I am real happy with all the pins and how many points we scored," Oklahoma State head coach John Smith said. "Overall, we wrestled pretty well. We had some spotty efforts at 125, 133, 197 and heavyweight. These were weights I thought we wrestled well at times and inconsistent at times. It's going to get tougher from here on out, and we are going to have to get tougher, too."
At 125 pounds, Efren Ceballos of Cal State Bakersfield edged out Arizona State's Christian Staylor , 4-3, to earn the title. Peter Derstin of Clarion placed third after escaping a 2-1 decision over The Citadel's Ryan McClester.
The 133-pound champion is Darrell Vazquez of Cal Poly. Vazquez fended off a late surge by Arizona State's Mike Simpson to notch the, 4-3, decision, and claim Outstanding Wrestler honors. Vazquez defeated the top two seeds on his way to the championship. He also became a four-time Reno champion. Johnny Thompson placed third after blanking Lassen Community College's Charles Lloyd, 3-0.
"That's what I came in here to do," Vazquez said. "I want to be the best and to do that you have to beat the best. I wanted to come here and get better and this was the place to do it."
Oklahoma State saw its first champion at 141 pounds. Ronnie Delk defeated Jesse Brock of Boise State, 6-5, before getting crowned as champion. In the third-place match, Clarion's Frank Edgar tallied a 17-10 decision over Cal State Bakersfield's Roberto Vargas.
The Cowboys crowned their second champion at 149 pounds. Zack Esposito built a 7-0 lead before he pinned Arizona State's Patrick Williams in 5:24. Tyler Moran placed third with a 3-2 decision over Cal Poly's Matt Cox.
OSU's 157-pounder Johnny Hendricks needed sudden victory to capture his tournament title. Hendricks came from behind to tie the score at 4-4 with Oregon's Joey Bracamonte to send it into sudden victory. Hendricks then recorded a takedown seconds into the extra period to earn the 6-4 win.
The Cowboys also placed Kevin Ward at 157 pounds. Ward defeated Clarion's Chris Honring, 12-9, to place third.
Former Cowboy teammates Tyrone Lewis and Matt Ellis, who now wrestles for Oregon State, battled for the 165-pound title. Lewis recorded a trio of takedowns in the first period en route to a 17-6 dismantling of Ellis. Oregon's Luke Larwin placed third after Michael Font of Davis injury defaulted.
Chris Pendleton of OSU recorded his third technical fall of the tournament after his 19-3 scoring spree on Oregon State's Jed Pennell. The Lemoore, Calif., native built a 9-2 lead after the first period, and extended it to 14-3 after the second. A reversal and near fall points were all that was needed for him to capture his second straight RTOC title.
Leonel Sanchez of Cal Fullerton placed third after decisioning Aaron Wright of Clarion, 7-4.
At 184 pounds, Jake Rosholt became the sixth Cowboy to record a tournament title with a 13-7 decision over Cal Poly's Ryan Halsey. Wisconsin-LaCrosse's Jason Lulloff recorded an 8-2 decision over Brandon Bear of Davis en route to a third-place finish.
Hometown wrestler Ryan Bader notched a tournament victory after scoring a late takedown to take the 4-2 win over Matt Monteiro of Cal State Bakersfield. It was his second consecutive Reno tournament title. K.C. Walsh earned a third-place finish after a close 3-2 decision over Cal Fullerton's Landon Fullerton.
Cain Velasquez of Arizona State needed only 2:37 to flatten Wes Balensifer of Southern Oregon to win the heavyweight title. Oklahoma State's Will Gruenwald pinned Boise State's Jacob McGinnis in 2:03 to finish third.
