Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Big 12 Championship
Cowboys Take Fourth At Big 12 Wrestling Championships
March 08, 2009 | Cowboy Wrestling
LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 12 Oklahoma State wrestling team placed fourth at the 2009 Big 12 Championships at the NU Coliseum Saturday. OSU was led by junior Chris Notte, who finished second at 133 pounds. Senior 125-pounder Obenson Blanc, freshman 141-pounder Jamal Parks, sophomore 157-pounder Neil Erisman and senior 174-pounder Newly McSpadden all placed third in their respective weight classes.
Iowa State tied with Nebraska for the team title and Missouri was third. Nebraska 197-pounder Craig Brester was the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.
Based off the NCAA qualifier allocations released last week, Oklahoma State will send no fewer than nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis from March 19-21.
“It wasn't a great day for us by any means,” Coach John Smith said. “We did qualify nine for the NCAA Championships and we don't have to count anyone to vote us in, which is important and I am pleased to see that.”
Notte lost a 5-1 decision to reigning Big 12 champion Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State in the title bout. Fanthorpe scored a key takedown in the waning seconds of the first period and was able to keep Notte at bay for the remainder of the bout before scoring a second takedown in the last seconds of the third period when Notte was desperately pursuing a takedown of his own.
“It was very unfortunate that I gave up that takedown late in the first because it dictated the rest of the match,” Notte said. “He was able to take a defensive position the rest of the way.”
Notte earned a spot in the final round with an 8-1 beating of Oklahoma's Brian Shelton in which he was able to score three takedowns.
The Cowboys got off to a strong start in the pigtail rounds, as all five OSU wrestlers to compete won their respective bouts.
The semifinal round wasn't nearly as fruitful for the Pokes, as OSU wrestlers lost nine of their 10 bouts in that round, with Notte's win over Shelton the lone highlight.
There were few surprises in the first two rounds of the tournament, as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds advanced to the title bouts in eight of the 10 weight classes. The lone upsets came at 125 pounds, where third-seeded Tyler Clark of Iowa State benefitted from a controversial technical violation call on second-seeded Obenson Blanc of OSU to win a 4-3 decision and at 165 pounds, where third-seeded Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska was a 7-3 winner over No. 2 seed Jon Reader of Iowa State.
The Cowboys bounced back during the consolation semifinal round by winning all four of their bouts. Blanc was a 13-2 major decision winner over Troy Dolan of Missouri, Parks was a 5-3 winner over Nebraska's Curtis Salazar, McSpadden was a 6-4 winner over Duke Burk of Iowa State and Jared Rosholt claimed a 5-4 win over Oklahoma's Nathan Fernandez.
A quartet of Cowboys won their third-place matches, with Blanc, Parks and Erisman all claiming major decision victories over their opponents and McSpadden scoring a late takedown to knock off Jeff James of Oklahoma, 4-3. Erisman's 15-6 win over Iowa State's Cyler Sanderson was particularly impressive, as Sanderson entered the bout ranked No. 8 in the nation. Blanc handed Nebraska's Andy Pokorny an 11-3 defeat and Parks was a 12-2 winner over former Tulsa Union HS teammate Seth Vernon of Oklahoma.
By virtue of his first-round 9-4 sudden victory win over Missouri's Dorian Henderson, Cowboy Chris McNeil earned a spot at the NCAA Championships. McNeil saw the bulk of his action in open tournaments this year, but his work ethic in the OSU practice room put him in position to earn a spot in the Cowboy lineup for the Big 12 Championships, where he has now punched his ticket to the NCAAs.
“We knew that we needed to win a match at that weight class and in the end, we felt Chris was the only guy we had that was going to be able to do that. He was our best hope,” Smith said. “Ultimately, he was the guy and I was pleased with his effort. Winning that first-round match took a lot out of him and he battled some mental fatigue afterwards because he doesn't have a lot of experience, but I'm pleased with the fact that he will be going to the NCAAs.”
“It feels good to be able to compete at nationals,” McNeil said. “It's been a long year and I kept working hard and made the best out of it. I'm real excited, but I have got to get back to work to make sure that everything that I have done is not in vain.”
Smith said the Cowboys will be in a new position at this year's NCAA Championships and are probably not in the role of championship contenders.
“If we don't have the attitude at NCAAs that we're going to do what it takes to win those grind-it-out matches, it could be a long tournament for us,” Smith said. “We probably are not in that championship picture so we need to focus on getting as many guys as possible on that podium.”
2009 Big 12 Championships Final Team Scoring
T1. Iowa State: 70 points
T1. Nebraska: 70 points
3. Missouri: 55 points
4. Oklahoma State: 40 points
5. Oklahoma: 38.5 points
Oklahoma State Results
Pigtail Round
149: No. 5 Luke Silver dec. No. 4 Andrew Sherry (MU); 7-5 SV
157: No. 4 Neil Erisman dec. No. 5 Chad Terry (OU); 8-1
165: No. 4 Brandon Mason dec. Ryan Smith (OU); 5-0
184: No. 5 Chris McNeil dec. No. 4 Dorian Henderson (MU); 9-4 SV
197: No. 4 Clayton Foster dec. No. 5 Eric Lapotsky (OU); 6-1
Semifinals
125: No. 3 Tyler Clark (ISU) dec. No. 2 Obenson Blanc; 4-3
133: No. 2 Chris Notte dec. No. 3 Brian Shelton (OU); 8-1
141: No. 1 Nick Gallick (ISU) dec. No. 3 Jamal Parks; 2-0
149: No. 1 Kyle Terry (OU) fall No. 5 Luke Silver; 3:42
157: No. 1 Jordan Burroughs (NU) maj. dec. No. 4 Neil Erisman; 16-6
165: No. 1 Nick Marable (MU) dec. No. 4 Brandon Mason; 5-3
174: No. 2 Brandon Browne (NU) dec. No. 3 Newly McSpadden; 3-2
184: No. 1 Vince Jones maj. dec. No. 5 Chris McNeil; 9-1
197: No. 1 Jake Varner (ISU) dec. No. 4 Clayton Foster; 5-0
285: No. 2 Mark Ellis (MU) dec. No. 3 Jared Rosholt; 2-1
Consolation Matches
125: No. 2 Obenson Blanc maj. dec. No. 4 Troy Dolan (MU); 13-2
141: No. 3 Jamal Parks dec. No. 5 Curtis Salazar (NU); 5-3
174: No. 3 Newly McSpadden dec. No. 5 Duke Burk (ISU); 6-4 SV
285: No. 3 Jared Rosholt dec. No. 5 Nathan Fernandez (OU); 5-4
Third-Place Matches
125: No. 2 Obenson Blanc maj. dec. No. 5 Andy Pokorny (NU); 11-3
141: No. 3 Jamal Parks maj. dec. No. 4 Seth Vernon (OU); 12-2
149: No. 3 Robert Sanders (NU) dec. No. 5 Luke Silver; 4-3
157: No. 4 Neil Erisman maj. dec. No. 3 Cyler Sanderson (ISU); 15-6
165: No. 2 Jon Reader (ISU) dec. No. 4 Brandon Mason; 3-2
174: No. 3 Newly McSpadden dec. No. 4 Jeff James (OU); 4-3
184: No. 3 Pat Flynn (OU) fall No. 5 Chris McNeil; 1:13
197: No. 3 Max Askren (MU) dec. No. 4 Clayton Foster; 7-2
285: No. 4 Tucker Lane (NU) dec. No. 3 Jared Rosholt; 3-2
Championship Matches
133: No. 1 Nick Fanthorpe (ISU) dec. No. 2 Chris Notte; 5-1
