The Daily O’Collegian

AMES, Iowa - Oklahoma State clinched its sixth Big 12 Wrestling Championship since the conference’s inception with 86.5 team points and four individual champions on Saturday in Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum.

Nebraska finished in second with 55.5 points followed by ISU with 46.5, Missouri with 43 and Oklahoma with 37.5.

The Cowboys have never finished below second in the Big 12 Wrestling Championships — they finished second to Oklahoma in both 1999 and 2002. OSU won the tournament in Columbia, Mo., last year.

Leading the way for the Cowboys were individual champions Johnny Thompson at 133, Zack Esposito at 149, Tyrone Lewis at 165 and Jake Rosholt at 184.

“I thought we could get seven or eight (individual champions) to tell you the truth,” Smith said. “I think once you get the team title wrapped up like we did coming into the finals, that’s behind you. You look at individual champions and four was less than I thought we’d get.”

Thompson won his fourth-consecutive Big 12 title by throwing ISU’s Zach Roberson to his back for a fall with 28 seconds left in the third period.

When Thompson made his winning move, the two wrestlers were locked in a 1-1 tie.

Thompson found his way to the finals with a 3-1 decision over OU’s Mimi Miller. It was the second time in a month that Thompson and Miller have faced. On Feb. 8, Miller won a 7-6 decision over Thompson in Norman.

“I definitely thought about it. It was something I wanted to accomplish,” Thompson said of winning his fourth Big 12 title. “But, that’s over now. The conference tournament isn’t what matters, national tournament is.”

Esposito won his first Big 12 title with a 7-5 decision over Nebraska’s Travis Shufelt. Esposito made it to the final with an 8-2 decision over ISU’s Trent Paulson in the 149-pound semi-final match.

Esposito made it to last year’s final at 141 pounds, but lost to eventual NCAA Champion Teyon Ware of OU.

“It’s just a stepping stone to get to nationals,” Esposito said of the win. “But it’s exciting. It shows progress.”

Lewis won his second Big 12 title in three years by earning a major decision over Nebraska’s Jacob Klein 12-4. It was the second time this season Lewis beat Klein with a 12-4 score.

Lewis made it to the final match after earning a major decision over OU’s Charles Jones 15-5.

The last Cowboy to win his championship match was defending national champion Jake Rosholt. Rosholt, who lost a major decision in last year’s Big 12 final to Missouri’s Scott Baker, earned an 11-6 decision over the Tigers’ Matt Pell.

Runners-up for the Cowboys were Johnny Hendricks at 157 pounds, Chris Pendleton at 174, Rusty Blackmon at 197 and Will Gruenwald at heavyweight.

Hendricks lost to Missouri’s Kenny Burleson with a 3-2 decision. Pendleton lost a 9-7 decision to the Tigers’ Ben Askren. Askren also won the Outstanding Wrestler award for the tournament.

It was also Pendleton’s first loss of the season.

“Not enough fire in his eyes. Lack of focus,” Smith said. “It really was one of his only matches where he wasn’t on fire a little bit.”

Gruenwald lost a 6-1 decision to OU’s Leonce Crump.

Blackmon made it to the finals despite being a No. 4 seed and just 14-12 on the season. The 197-pound Cowboy had to win twice to make it the finals and in his second match of the day upset No. 1 seed B.J. Padden of Nebraska with a 7-4 decision.

“I knew he was going to wrestle for seven minutes and I knew I had to do the same and find a way to win,” Blackmon said of his match with Padden.

Padden entered the match having already earned a major decision against Blackmon Feb. 7 in Stillwater. Padden was also ranked No. 2 nationally - Blackmon was unranked and 14-12 on the season.

Blackmon advanced to the semi-final match with Padden after scoring a 1-0 decision over Oklahoma’s Joel Tapler. That match was scoreless until the third period when Blackmon scored an escape late.

Before the final round started, the Cowboys had the title nearly locked.

Following the consolation round, the Cowboys had a solid lead over second place Nebraska, with the Cowboys having 71.5 team points and the Cornhuskers 53.5.

By the end of the first round and semi-finals, Oklahoma State had put eight into the finals, guaranteeing eight qualifiers for the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

“We knew that that semi-final round was going to be real important,” Smith said. “And for the most part we showed up with our ‘A’ game.”

The top three in each weight class earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. The five Big 12 coaches then pick six wild-card entries to make the Big 12 representation at the national tournament 36.

The Cowboys were not awarded a wild card for either Delk or Stites.

“We won the tournament and we should really be considered for that one extra wrestler,” Smith said before the wild-card slots were selected. “We’re going in as the favorite to the national championship; we won the Big 12 Championship. We need that extra guy.”

Cody Stites finished in fourth place at 125 pounds after losing to ISU’s Grant Nakamura in the third-place match.

The pair went to overtime, and Stites lost when Nakamura was able to secure a two-point reversal with two seconds left in overtime to move the score to 3-2.

Despite losing his first match of the day, Stites had put himself into position for a possible bid to nationals when he beat Austin DeVoe of Missouri 3-0 in the consolations.

Ronnie Delk finished fourth at 141 pounds after losing in overtime to OU’s Teyon Ware. Neither wrestler scored a takedown in the third-place match, but Ware won because he had an eight second riding time advantage at the end of the final overtime period.

Delk started the day for the Cowboys in the 141-pound wrestle-in by earning a 6-5 decision over Missouri’s JP Reese. Reese beat Delk Jan. 18 with a 4-0 decision. With the win, Delk moved on to face No. 1 seeded Nate Gallick of Iowa State.

Thompson, Esposito, Pendleton, Rosholt, Blackmon, Gruenwald, Hendricks and Lewis will represent the Cowboys at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in St. Louis March 18-20.