Scott Moore
• Sooners open NCAA meet today
Will Rowe had a wild ride at the Big 12 Tournament two weeks ago in Stillwater.
Afterward, Oklahoma coach Jack Spates said, “What can I say about Will Rowe?”
He had put in an up-and-down performance. He won his first match over Oklahoma State’s Ryan Freeman 7-4, then lost by a 24-9 technical fall to Nebraska’s Jordan Burroughs.
With a berth to the NCAA National Championship on the line, he pulled out a 16-13 win over Missouri’s Josh Wagner to finish third.
It was a victory, but it wasn’t exactly what Rowe wanted.
“My goal is never just to place,” he said. “ I wanted to win it.”
But he’s at the big dance, and that’s all that matters. He’s one of five Sooners that will be competing today when the national tournament starts at 11 a.m. The others include Joey Fio at 125 pounds, Zack Bailey at 141, Josh Weitzel at 184 and Joel Flaggert at 197.
Rowe wrestles at 149, after being at 157 the last two years. He’s an NCAA tournament veteran, having qualified the last two seasons, but he’s never placed.
“I want to be an All-American,” he said. “I think about it all the time. I always think about it.”
As OU coach Jack Spates put it, the Sooners are going into the tournament a bit “light.” OU has five wrestlers in, but it was banking on more.
“We had some strong points, but we were anticipating more,” Spates said of the Big 12 Tournament. “Frankly, our expectations aren’t as high as they normally are.”
OU does have a reputation at the NCAA Tournament. Since 2000, the Sooners have finished third four times and fourth twice. The only time the Sooners finished out of the top 10 was last year, when they finished 22nd.
But unless OU’s five wrestlers perform some extraordinary things, the Sooners probably won’t finish as one of the top teams in the country.
“If we can be a top 15 team with a couple of All-Americans, then we would have done a good job,” Spates said. “ Would we like to do better than that? Absolutely. But given the fact that we’re going into it so light, it’s going to be a challenge.
“It’s hard to compete with just five guys, but we’re anticipating those five guys are going to go out and battle.”
OU is bringing its front line guys, as all five are ranked. Ranked fifth, Weitzel will be the favorite to earn an All-American honor.
Flaggert is a two-time All-American, placing fourth and fifth. He’ll enter into his final NCAA Tournament at a disadvantage, having torn an ACL at the Big 12 Tournament. He qualified for the NCAAs as a wildcard.
“You know, two years ago, he placed fifth with a torn hamstring,” Spates said. “He’s capable of extraordinary things.”
As for Rowe, he still has one more year to do extraordinary things. He’s a junior, but he would like those things to happen this weekend.
“I’m excited and ready,” he said. “I’ve been ready for a while. This is my third time. I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what your draw is. If you want to be an All-American, you’re going to have to beat tough wrestlers, anyway. This is what you work for all year.”
Scott Moore
366-3535
sports@normantranscript.com
