Cowboys send nine to Wrestling Championships

Of the 330 athletes preparing to compete in the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Omaha, Neb., nine are OSU wrestlers and all but one of those nine have earned national seeds.

Senior heavyweight Jared Rosholt and sophomore 141-pounder Jamal Parks solidified the highest seeds for the Cowboys earning the No. 2 spots in their weight classes.

Parks is coming off an exciting Big 12 tournament where he defeated a familiar foe, OU’s Zack Bailey, for a third time this season and secured the Big 12 title. Parks said he is hoping his recent success will carry over into the tournament.

Rosholt held the No. 1 ranking in the country at heavyweight for nearly the entire season as he boasted a single loss until he reached the Big 12 Championships. After losing to David Zabriskie in hischampionship bout at the tournament, Rosholt surrendered his top-seed to the Iowa State senior and won’t have the opportunity to see him again unless both wrestlers meet in the championship bout.

Redshirt freshman Jordan Oliver, who was one of three Cowboys who brought home their first Big 12 title, locked in the fourth-seed at the 133-pound weight class. If the seeds hold, Oliver could face the only two opponents who handed him a loss this season.

With the possibility of facing fourth-ranked Boris Novachkov of California Polytechnic State University in the quarterfinals and top-ranked Jayson Ness in the semifinals, Oliver said he expects to see the best wrestling performance from his opponents.

“Definitely, in nationals, kids are going to come out hard in every match with nothing to lose,” Oliver said. “I think we are going to have to pick up the pace and get better in certain positions. We still have stuff to work on, but we can wrestle better than we did (at the Big 12s).”

Sophomore Clayton Foster, who also won his first Big 12 title, earned the fifth-seed at 184 pounds and Big 12 runner-up Mike Benefiel secured the sixth-seed at 174 pounds.

Senior 125-pounder Chris Notte and redshirt freshman 165-pounder Alex Meade captured the No. 10 seed with junior Neil Erisman earning the eleventh-seed at the 157-pound weight class.

The only OSU wrestler to not earn a national seed is sophomore 197-pounder Alan Gelogaev, who has undoubtedly competed at the toughest weight class in the Big 12. Gelogaev has struggled this season not only because of his tough competition, but also because he is new to collegiate style of wrestling.

“Z (Gelogaev) is behind these guys in collegiate wrestling experience,” Smith said. “He has years of catching-up to do.”