Missouri On Their Way To NCAA Triumph
Hoping to snap Oklahoma State's string of championships, the Tigers wrestle on
March 15, 2007
By Kyle Stefan
Special to CSTV.com
With 34 points after two sessions,
Penn State ended Thursday fourth with 24 points while Iowa was fifth with 20 and Cornell sixth with 19.
Oklahoma State, the four-time defending NCAA champions, entered the championships with more wrestlers unseeded (five) than seeded (three); despite Brandon Mason's 2-1 first round upset of third-seeded Steve Luke from Michigan at 174 pounds, the Cowboys were seventh after the first day with 18 points.
"There isn't any question it's a steep hill,"
"I'm not sure we could have scored more points than we did today. With the draws and the way they came out, we were going to have to knock out some pretty steep competition that we haven't shown yet this year."
The Golden Gophers were the runaway Big Ten Champions March 3-4 at Michigan State and benefited from that experience on Thursday.
"We were a little flat at the Big Tens, so we changed our training so the first day here would be a little different,"
All nine Gophers made it through Thursday's first round unscathed and seven advanced to Friday's quarterfinals.
"We expected nine to advance to the quarterfinals," Robinson said. "We wanted nine - that's the way you have to look at it. You have to be satisfied with seven, but you aren't totally happy because someone has lost along the way."
Top-seeded sophomore Dustin Schlatter (149 pounds) and senior Cole Konrad (heavyweight) each advanced for the Gophers. Both are undefeated on the season and both are defending NCAA champions.
Schlatter, the Big Ten champ at 149 his first two seasons, improved to 34-0 with wins over Jordan Burroughs (3-2) in the first round and Matt Moley (5-1) in the second.
His winning streak of 64 consecutive matches trails Konrad's string of 73 straight, which was bolstered Thursday with major decisions over OSU's Jared Rosholt (8-2) and
"I was disappointed in the second match, but it was still 9-1," Konrad said. "I wasn't wrestling my best. Condition-wise and everything, I'm fine. I wasn't warmed up and I took the guy lightly. That's not trying to brag, but I need to be coming out and working for the pin. I need to warm up and get ready to go like every match is my last. I'll definitely change that around tomorrow."
Robinson said: "There are a lot of expectations on Cole this year, I think. Sometimes people want to see a lot more than what he does. He had a major and a major. You're going to the national tournament and majoring people, that's pretty positive. He'll be fine."
In addition to Schlatter and Konrad, Thursday began with six other undefeated wrestlers in the field, three of whom are defending champs.
"I'm pleased with what I did today," Askren said. "When it comes down to it, wrestling is an individual sport. I want that individual title. Then again, as much as I've worked with these other guys, I want to see them do great as well."
Askren added about
"He looked good," Smith said. "He takes it to each match. He's looked focused, but it's a three-day tournament. He has to stay focused for three days."
Penn's Matthew Valenti won the title at 133 last year as a No. 6 seed, and advanced to the quarterfinals this year as a No. 2 seed with wins over
At 125,
Hazewinkel has one last shot at an elusive NCAA title after finishing third in each of the past three championships.
Two undefeated wrestlers advanced to the quarters on opposite sides of the bracket at 141, as Northwestern's Ryan Lang (27-0) beat Lehigh's Matt Ciasulli 6-0 and pinned
Northwestern's Jake Herbert improved to 29-0 with major decisions over
Friday's action begins with session three at 11 a.m. with the championship quarterfinals and consolation wrestle-backs. Championship semifinals are slated for session four Friday night at 7 p.m., with the finals starting Saturday night at 8 p.m.
"We want to put seven guys in the semifinals, and we want the other two to come through the back door to be in the wrestle-backs," Robinson said about
Smith said that his
"Coming back with seven tomorrow is good, but we have to wrestle a little bit better than we did in the consolations," he said. "We were a little bit timid, a little bit conservative, and I'll tell you, the consolations - you have to throw out conservative, because it's going to take a lot more that what we gave those last two matches."
NOTEBOOK: The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships are being hosted in the
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