Wrestler McCormick finishes second at Big 12

By Sam Wilson

Published March 11, 2008

STILLWATER, Okla. — Senior 133-pounder Tyler McCormick woke up Saturday with plenty of uncertainty in his wrestling life. The two-time All-American wrestler was seeded fourth in the Big 12. Because he wasn’t among the top three seeds, he would have to compete in an extra match at the conference meet in his attempt to qualify for the national championship. He would have to finish third or better in the conference or qualify through a wild card meeting held by the conference’s coaches.

McCormick started the day with something familiar — a pineapple for breakfast.

“I love pineapple,” he said.

After breakfast, he opened his day with a match against the five seed, Oklahoma sophomore Brian Shelton. Shelton got the early advantage by scoring a takedown and near fall to go up 5-0, but McCormick recovered and took the match 10-8.

McCormick’s second match of the day proved to be more eventful. He went up against the No. 1 seed in the conference, Oklahoma State sophomore Coleman Scott. At the end of three periods, Scott and McCormick were deadlocked at 2. In overtime, Scott scored an escape to move up 3-2, but a stalling call against Scott tied the score at 3. McCormick was able to score a takedown and win the match 5-3.

Sophomore 197-pounder Max Askren said he liked the game plan McCormick used in the semifinal match.

“He knows Coleman tires out in the third, so he waited it out and he got him in overtime,” Askren said.

Somewhere along the way, McCormick got a black eye during the match.

“I don’t know when it happened,” McCormick said. “I just know that during the match I looked over at coach Smith and I pointed to my eye and I said, ‘it’s swelling shut.’ I could feel it starting to swell during my match. And he goes, ‘You can’t worry about that. You’ve got to focus on winning right now.’”

There weren’t more than a few hours for McCormick to ice his eye. He had to be prepared to face Iowa State freshman Nick Fanthorpe for the conference championship that night. A large portion of the 7,029 fans in attendance at Oklahoma State’s Gallagher-Iba Arena had been rooting for Scott and was unhappy with the way McCormick had won his previous match. Some of these fans cheered for Fanthorpe and heckled McCormick in the finals.

“It’s adversity,” McCormick said. “You have to deal with this. It’s bad here, but it’s just going to be that bad at nationals too.”

Smith said he was unhappy with some of the fans.

“I don’t understand it,” Smith said. “There is a thing called sportsmanship, and Tyler’s about the classiest kid in the Big 12. He did get a 4.0, he’s done everything right. And to rip a kid in the stands like that is wrong.”

McCormick fell short in his match against Fanthorpe. Fanthorpe was never behind, scoring an early two-point takedown. McCormick managed an escape to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Fanthorpe ended up winning 8-1. McCormick had finished second in the Big 12 at 133 pounds. In doing so, he earned his spot for the national competition, where he will compete March 20-22 in St. Louis.