Rowlands Wins Heavyweight National Wrestling Championship – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | General, Wrestling
March 23, 2002
ALBANY, N.Y. – Tommy Rowlands (So. Hilliard, Ohio/Bishop Ready) needed two overtime periods and all the strength he had to defeat No. 2 seeded Steve Mocco of Iowa to claim a 1-1 tiebreaker decision and capture the 2002 NCAA Championship in the heavyweight division Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Albany, N.Y. Rowlands, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, outlasted Mocco to win his second title against the Hawkeye. Rowlands defeated Mocco in the final of the Big Ten Championships at Champaign, Ill., two weeks ago by escaping in the second overtime. This time, Mocco tried to escape and Rowlands would not let him.
Both wrestlers tried to push their way inside and force one another to the mat but were unsuccessful. The first period ended with no score and Rowlands receiving the choice after winning the coin toss. Rowlands chose down and escaped to take and early 1-0 lead. That lead held up until the start of the third when Mocco went down and quickly escaped. Both Mocco and Rowlands battled to a 1-1 tie and sent the match into overtime.
In the first extra session, neither competitor could get much going and settled for the tiebreaker overtime. Since no offensive points were scored, the choice of position came down to a coin toss that Mocco won. In the 2001 national final, Illinois’ John Lockhart battled Rowlands into the same situation, chose down and escaped to claim the title. This time, however, Rowlands would not be denied.
Mocco started down and a stalemate was called with 0:21 showing on the clock. Ten seconds later, Rowlands clasped on to the left leg of Mocco as he tried to escape and was called for a stalling warning as well as a stalemate. Rowlands locked himself onto the Hawkeye big man and rode the final seconds off the clock. A jubilant Rowlands raised both hands over his name in celebration of his first national title then hugged Ohio State assistant coach and the Buckeyes’ last national champion Mitch Clark (1998) on the raised mat and jumped down to the floor to embrace Russ Hellickson, OSU head coach.
This was the fourth meeting in the Rowlands-Mocco series. Mocco, a true freshman, won the first two meetings this year before dropping the last one to the Buckeye wrestler. Mocco won in the first meeting, 2-1 in tiebreaker, when he escaped the down position at the Midlands in Evanston, Ill., Dec. 29 and won the second, 3-1 in overtime, in a dual match in Columbus Jan. 24 when he took Rowlands down in the extra session. Rowlands won the last meeting, 2-1 in tiebreaker, for the Big Ten title two weeks ago when Mocco locked his hands and Rowlands was awarded a penalty point.
2002 NCAA Championships
Albany, N.Y. * March 21-23
Numbers preceding wrestler name is tournament seeding
National Championship Final (Saturday 2 p.m.)
285 No. 1 Tommy Rowlands vs. No. 2 Steve Mocco (Iowa)
1st Period – No scoring
2nd Period – OSU down, OSU escape (1:50), UI stall warning (0:40)
3rd Period – OSU leads 1-0, UI down, UI escape (1:56)
Overtime – Tied 1-1, neutral, no scoring
Tiebreaker – UI wins toss, UI down, No escape (Rowlands wins)
Final Score – Rowlands 1, Mocco 1
