Wrestlers Off To Iowa For NCAA Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | General, Wrestling
March 13, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio– The Ohio State wrestling team enters its final weekend of the 2000-01 campaign following a fifth-place finish at the Big Ten championships, March 3-4, in Evanston, Ill. The Buckeyes qualified all 10 of their wrestlers for the NCAA Tournament, held at Iowa City, Iowa, in the Carver-Hawkeye Arena, March 15-17.
Looking Back
OSU head coach Russ Hellickson said at the opening of the 2000-01 campaign he felt the Buckeyes “have a number of people who are very capable of placing high in the national tournament.” Ten OSU wrestlers will look to back up Hellickson’s predictions and extend the streak of All-America wrestlers under his direction to 13 in as many years.
A Tradition of NCAA Success
OSU is no stranger to success in the national tournament. In the 1990’s, OSU is No. 4 in number of individual champions (four), No. 7 in individual national finalists (seven) and No. 10 for the number of All-Americans 23). Iowa, Oklahoma State and Penn State are No. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, in all three categories.
National Pre-Seedings
The NCAA released its national tournament pre-seedings and four Buckeyes received Top 12 recognition. Tommy Rowlands leads the way with the No. 2 spot at heavyweight while Nick Preston and Keaton Anderson join Rowlands in the Top 10 with a No. 9 seed at 197-pounds and No. 10 at 149, respectively.
Robert Sessley rounds out the seeded Buckeyes with the No. 12 spot at 141.
Hellickson On Nationals
“The pre-seeds are good but I would have liked to have seen (Ryan) Hieber seeded. The rest of the seeds are very realistic but the seedings don’t really matter. You have to show up and wrestle. I think we are all healthy, eager and ready to compete. We are mentally and physically ready to wrestle.” By The Numbers
Here is how the Buckeyes stack up with the rest of the national qualifiers participating in the NCAA tournament:
Kore Sharpley: 5-12 Jeff Ratliff: 6-12 Robert Sessley: 7-10 Keaton Anderson: 8-3 Josh Janson: 5-10 John Clark: 3-11 Ryan Hieber: 6-12 Anton Talamantes: 2-10 Nick Preston: 14-6 Tommy Rowlands: 14-2
2000 NCAA Championships
OSU entered the national tournament a year ago (March 16-18, St. Louis, Mo.) with five qualifiers. Nick Preston took fifth place and became an All-American for the Buckeyes, the 12th-consecutive year coach Russ Hellickson has had one of his wrestlers attain such an honor. Here are the qualifiers, their finish and tournament record.
Kore Sharpley Did Not Place (1-2) Brian Roskovich Did Not Place (1-2) Peter Rogers Did Not Place (0-2) Donovan True Did Not Place (0-2) Nick Preston Fifth (5-2)
OSU finished the national tournament with 11.5 points and 34th place overall. Iowa won its sixth-consecutive national championship with 116.5 points.
1. Iowa 116.5 2. Iowa State 109.5 3. Minnesota 80.0 4. Oklahoma 69.5 5. Oklahoma State 66.5 6. Illinois 59.5 7. Lehigh 46.5 8. Nebraska 45.5 9. Pennsylvania 44.0 Wisconsin 44.0
Big Ten Tournament
Kore Sharpley: Sharpley, after not receiving a seeding in the Big Ten tournament, finished with a 3-3 record and sixth place.
Jeff Ratliff: Ratliff, also an unseeded participant in the tournament, captured seventh place with a 16-7 major decision win over Michigan’s No. 5 seed Foley Dowd, 16-7, in the seventh/eighth place bout to qualify for the national tournament.
Robert Sessley: Sessley finished in fourth place with a 2-2 record as the No. 4 seed at 141-pounds.
Keaton Anderson: Anderson, the No. 3 seed, came back from a tough loss to No. 2 Jared Lawrence (Minn.) to defeat No. 4 Mike Zadick (Iowa) for the second time in as many weeks for a shot at third .
Josh Janson: Janson finished the tournament with a 3-2 mark and captured fifth place as the No. 6 seed with a win by fall over No. 8 Clovis Crane of Purdue at 3:46.
John Clark: Clark rebounded from an early loss to post a 14-6 major decision over Penn State’s Doc Vecchio on his way to sixth place. Clark upset No. 6 Ben Shirk of Iowa to move into the consolation semifinals but withdrew later due to injury.
Ryan Hieber: Hieber, seeded No. 6, was the surprise of the tournament. He was the lone Buckeye to reach the finals of his respective weight class. Hieber upset No. 3 Ryan Lange (Purdue) and No. 2 Gabe McMahan (Iowa) to reach the finals, but could not defeat No. 1 Otto Olson, he fell, 6-3.
Anton Talamantes: Talamantes compiled a 2-3 record as the No. 8 seed with four of his five matches coming against four of the Top 5 wrestlers at 184.
Nick Preston: Preston came back from an opening round upset by No. 7 Jon Bush of Purdue, 5-4, to go 3-1 in the consolation bracket and claim fifth place. Preston was the No. 2 seed.
Tommy Rowlands: No. 1 seed Rowlands won his first two matches before dropping his first match in nearly three months, a tough 4-3 decision to No. 4 John Lockhart. Rowlands rebounded to claim third place with a 5-2 decision over No. 3 Matt Brink of Michigan.
At the conclusion of the Big Ten Championships, Rowlands was named the 2001 Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
“It is a great honor and a great feeling to be the top wrestler in my (freshman) class,” Rowlands said.
2001 Big Ten Championships
On the strength of 10 national qualifiers, a first during the coaching tenure of Russ Hellickson, Ohio State accumulated 104.5 points to finish fifth in the conference at the 2001 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, March 3-4, in Evenston, Ill. OSU was joined by Minnesota as the only two teams to qualify all 10 of its wrestlers for the national tournament with Illinois placing nine. Iowa qualified eight wrestlers to the event that will be held in their home arena, Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Team Standings 1. Minnesota 154.0 2. Illinois 130.5 3. Iowa 129.5 4. Michigan 109.0 5. OHIO STATE 104.5 6. Wisconsin 75.0 7. Michigan State 65.0 8. Indiana 59.5 9. Purdue 50.0 10. Penn State 35.0 11. Northwestern 6.0
Hellickson On The Big Ten Tourney
“This was a spectacular Big Ten tournament for us. I have never experienced having 10 national qualifiers as a coach. Our goal was to qualify 10 guys and we accomplished that goal in a very tough Big Ten event.”
For The Record
Rowlands and Preston have written themselves into the OSU history books with their performances this year. Rowlands also has closed within the season wins record list. His 39 wins are one shy of tenth all-time.
Career Winning Percentage 1. Mark Coleman (1988) .962 (50-2) 2. Rex Holman (92-93) .958 (69-3) 3. Tommy Rowlands (2001) .929 (39-3) 4. Kevin Randleman (91-93) .928 (108-7-3) 5. Dunyasha Yetts (92-94) .850 (68-12) 6. Ed Potokar (80-83) .844 (151-28) 7. Roger Young (66-68) .833 (45-9) 8. Dave Camaione (58-60) .820 (41-9) 9. Mitch Clark (93-98) .815 (119-27) 10. Dave Reinbolt (65-67) .804 (44-10-2)
Season Winning Percentage 1. Rex Holman (1993) 1.000 (29-0) 2. Dave Reinbolt (1966) .977 (21-0-1) 3. Mitch Clark (1998) .975 (39-1) Kevin Randleman (1993) .975 (24-1) 5. Kevin Randleman (1992) .967 (42-0-3) 6. Mark Coleman (1988) .962 (50-2) Ed Potokar (1983) .962 (50-2) 8. Roger Young (1968) .950 (19-1) 9. Rex Holman (1992) .930 (40-3) 10. Tommy Rowlands (2001) .929 (39-3)
Season Takedowns 1. Adam DiSabato (1991) 223 2. Ken Ramsey (1992) 218 3. Adam DiSabato (1990) 194 4. Mark Coleman (1988) 191 5. Adam DiSabato (1993) 161 6. Tommy Rowlands (2001) 148 7. Kevin Randleman (1992) 140 8. Mark Marinelli (1991) 133 9. Eric Smith (1996) 130 10. Mark Marinelli (1990) 129
Fastest Wins By Fall 1. Kevin Randleman (1992, 177) 0:08 2. Don Moxley (1985, Hwt.) 0:15 3. Nick Preston (2001, 197) 0:16 4. Del Creps (1985, 167) 0:20 5. Kevin Randleman (1992, 177) 0:21 Kevin Randleman (1993, 177) 0:21 7. Kelvin Irby (1980, 142) 0:25 Kevin Randleman (1992, 177) 0:25 Mike Scyck (1993, 158) 0:25 10. Rob Archer (1998, 134) 0:26
Next Time Out
The NCAA National Wrestling Championships marks the end of the 2000-01 season for the Buckeyes.
