Cyclones Lead Big 12s; Send Six to Finals

03.08.2008 | Wrestling

By: cyclones.com

Stillwater, Okla. ? Iowa State leads the Big 12 Wrestling Championship after the semifinal round and will send six wrestlers to title matches Saturday night. The Cyclones lead with 48 points hold a 6.5 point lead over Nebraska (41.5) heading into the wrestleback and then championship session in Gallagher-Iba Area. Host Oklahoma State is in third with 34 points, followed closely by Missouri with 32. Oklahoma rounds out the pack with eight points. ISU, last year's tournament champion, has not won back-to-back conference titles since 1979-80.

Consolation matches start at 4 p.m.

“We wrestled a solid round,” Iowa State head coach Cael Sanderson said. “Before we get to the championship round, the upcoming wrestlebacks will be big in determining the team champion.”

Iowa State's Nick Fanthorpe punched his ticket to the 133-pound title bout with a 4-1 tie-breaker victory over Kenny Jordan of Nebraska. Tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, neither wrestler was able to put any points on the board in sudden victory pushing the match to a tie breaker. The first tie-breaker saw Jordan commit three technical violations to lift Fanthorpe past the Husker. Fanthorpe will take on Missouri All-American Tyler McCormick in the title match. McCormick provided one of the tournament's biggest upsets with 5-3 sudden victory win over defending Big 12 champ Coleman Scott of OSU.

The ISU second finalist is No. 12 Nick Gallick at 141 pounds. A third-period escape and 1:54 worth of riding time propelled Gallick past Mike Rowe of Nebraska. Gallick will meet defending conference champion Nathan Morgan of OSU in the championship bout.

At 149 pounds, Cyclone Mitch Mueller avenged a dual loss to second-seeded Josh Wagner of Missouri with an impressive 9-5 win over the Tiger. Mueller gave up the first takedown of the match, but answered with three takedowns and a reversal en route to the win. For the 149-pound title, the third-seeded ISU sophomore will face top-seeded Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska.

Second-seeded Iowa Stater Cyler Sanderson will have another shot at Missouri's Michael Chandler in the 157-title bout after a 10-3 win over Chad Terry of Oklahoma in the semi finals.

Top-seeded and top-ranked Cyclone Jake Varner defeated Oklahoma State's Jack Jensen 2-1 to advance into the finals. His finals opponent is third-seeded Josh Weitzel of Oklahoma. The Sooner upset Missouri's defending league champion Raymond Jordan in the semis.

At heavyweight No. 5 David Zabriskie of Iowa State is back in the finals and will attempt to defend his title against familiar foe, No. 7 Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State. The meeting is the fifth between these two sophomores, with the ISU grappler winning all four meetings. Zabriskie's semi-final match against Missouri's Mark Ellis was pushed into sudden victory, but the reliable Zabriskie came through on a takedown with four seconds remaining in the 60-second period. Zabriskie is now 13-0 lifetime against Big 12 competitors.

A pair of Cyclones, No. 14 Tyler Clark and No. 12 David Bertolino, will contest for third-place honors at 125 and 197 pounds, respectively. Clark opened the tournament with a 6-0 blanking of Missouri's John Olanowski. Unable to avenge a loss from two weeks ago, the true freshman fell to defending NCAA champ Paul Donahoe of Nebraska 2-1 in a semi final match up. Bertolino notched his fifth major decision of his senior campaign with a 12-4 win over Oklahoma State's Clayton Foster. In the semi final bout against fifth-ranked Max Askren of Missouri, Bertolino was able to hold a second-period lead, but the Tiger registered a reversal and a takedown to earn the win.

Two wrestlers, No. 8 Jon Reader (165) and Aron Scott (174) must win one more match in order to wrestle for third-place honors. Reader, the fourth-seeded wrestler in the tournament, fell in his opening match to fifth-seeded Max Dean of Oklahoma on a 4-3 decision. He will square off against Oklahoma's No. 5 Jake Dieffenbach in his first consolation match. Seeded-third at 174 pounds, Scott nearly knocked off Oklahoma State All-American Brandon Mason, but a takedown by the Cowboy in sudden victory for a 4-2 decision denied the senior Cyclone the upset. In his first consolation match Scott is set wrestle to Oklahoma's Pat Flynn.

Quarterfinal Matches
125 pounds - Tyler Clark (ISU) dec. John Olanowski (Missouri), 6-0
165 pounds - Max Dean (Oklahoma) dec. Jon Reader (Iowa State), 4-3
197 pounds - David Bertolino (Iowa State) maj. dec. Clayton Foster (Oklahoma State), 12-4

Semi Final Matches
125 pounds ? Paul Donahoe (Nebraska) dec. Tyler Clark (Iowa State), 2-1
133 pounds - Nick Fanthorpe (ISU) dec. Kenny Jordan (Nebraska), 4-1 (TB)
141 pounds - Nick Gallick (ISU) dec. Mike Rowe (Nebraska), 2-0
149 pounds - Mitch Mueller (Iowa State) dec. Josh Wagner (Missouri), 9-5
157 pounds - Cyler Sanderson (Iowa State) dec. Chad Terry (Oklahoma), 10-4
174 pounds - Brandon Mason (Oklahoma State) dec. Aron Scott (Iowa State), 4-2 (SV)
184 pounds - Jake Varner (Iowa State) dec. Jack Jensen (Oklahoma State), 2-1
197 pounds ? Max Askren (Missouri) dec. David Bertolino (Iowa State), 6-3
HWT - David Zabriskie (Iowa State) dec. Mark Ellis (Missouri), 3-1 (SV)