Wrestlers place second in conference

By Ryan Huber

Published March 6, 2007

Five Big 12 wrestling squads grappled for more than 10 hours on Saturday at the Hearnes Center, but the Big 12 Championship competition wasn't decided until the final seconds of the day's last match.

In a battle in which the winner would take the title and the loser would receive the third place spot behind Missouri, freshman heavyweight Dave Zabriskie of the No. 2-ranked Iowa State Cyclones defeated redshirt freshman Jared Rosholt of Oklahoma State to give the Cyclones their first Big 12 wrestling title.

"This is a great accomplishment for this team," Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson said. "It's a great group, really good kids. They work hard, and they will do anything for you. It's just nice to see them get the success."

It was the closest victory margin in the history of the Big 12 Tournament. The Cyclones finished with 65.5 points, five ahead of the No. 3-ranked Tigers, and five and half ahead of Oklahoma State.

"There were a lot of close matches," Missouri coach Brian Smith said. "We lost a couple of heartbreakers in the semi-(finals). They put it all out on the mat and competed hard, and that's what I wanted from them. We came up a couple of points short here, but we will be back."

Missouri advanced a program-high eight wrestlers to the NCAA national championships, which will take place March 15-17 in Auburn Hills, Mich. Six Tigers received automatic bids by placing in the top three spots in their weight class, and two were voted into wildcard spots by Big 12 coaches. Seniors Ben Askren and Matt Pell, juniors Tyler McCormick and Josh Wagner, sophomores Raymond Jordan and Michael Chandler and redshirt freshmen Max Askren and Mark Ellis will attend the national tournament.

Three Tigers, the Askren brothers and Jordan, won individual titles at the Big 12 Tournament.

Defending national champion Ben Askren had one pin in the tournament and beat sophomore Brandon Mason of Oklahoma 13-4 in the championship to advance to his fourth-straight NCAA tournament. His younger brother, No. 1-ranked Max Askren, claimed both his first Big 12 individual title and national tournament bid with a nail-biting 8-7 victory that was determined by riding time against redshirt freshman Craig Brester of Nebraska.

Jordan, who is in the 184-pound weight class, was the third Tiger to win an individual title, as he defeated Cyclone redshirt freshman Jake Varner in a 3-2.

"It's a good feeling," Jordan said. "It definitely helps build my confidence heading into nationals. I would have liked to see the team win also, but I'm trying my best to help the team."

Hopes had been high that the Tigers would claim the program's first Big 12 title, but early losses in the preliminary round by 125-pounder John Olanowski and 133-pounder Ashtin Primus put the Tigers in a hole. It wasn't until 141-pounder and captain McCormick wrapped up a 7-0 victory that Missouri finally got on the board.

"I just wanted to start things off right and get the crowd into it," he said. "The crowd was great today. You couldn't have asked for a better one. They were behind our guys 100 percent. It's just an extra adrenaline rush when you've got a crowd out there cheering for you."

Missouri nearly pulled out several upsets, including Wagner's matchup against No. 1-ranked redshirt freshman Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State, but the Cyclone proved to be too much.

"We tell our kids that we want them to wrestle their best at Big 12s, but if you don't, you just have to get to nationals," Smith said. "The important thing is getting through the grind of the Big 12 conference. It's not a big conference, but everyone in it is tough as nails."