Indiana University Athletics
Three Earn Bids To NCAA Championships
3/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Heading into Sunday's championship finals, Coyte Cooper had not known losing since January 24 when Indiana squared off against Penn State in a regular season, Big Ten match. Then ranked 10th in the nation to Cooper's top five ranking, Moore pinned Cooper in the 141 pound junior's second loss of the season.
In the first period, both wrestlers battled through a stronghold as neither could get on the board. Moore got the first points of the match with the takedown with a minute remaining. Moore then got the three-point near fall at the end of the first to take the 5-0 advantage. Cooper got the escape with 40 seconds left in the second period to get on the board. The second period ended with the score at 5-1. Cooper let Moore up to begin the third, giving Moore the escape point. With Moore's second stalling warning, Cooper was awarded a point and then got the two-point takedown to take the match to 6-4. He let Moore up, again giving him the escape point.
Though Cooper battled through all three periods, he could not get the final takedown to send the match into overtime. Regulation ended with the score 7-5 and Moore received an additional point for the riding time advantage. This marks just the third loss for Cooper this season and the second straight loss to Moore.
"Coyte got away from his game plan for just one shot," said head coach Duane Goldman. "He dominated 90 percent of the match, but he's just got to stick with the game plan. It was good, though. It will keep him motivated for nationals."
Cooper maintains a No. 6 national ranking while Moore is ranked 17th. Cooper's only dual meet loss this season came at the hands of Moore in the Big Ten regular season on Jan. 24 when Moore won, pinning Cooper in 2:48. In the 2002 season, Moore bested Cooper by pin in the regular season, but Cooper went on to pin Moore in 1:58 in the Big Ten Championships en route to a third place finish, a team best. When Moore defeated Cooper in the 2003 Big Ten season, it put an end to Cooper's 18-match undefeated streak. Before facing Moore, Cooper had won 18-straight matches. Cooper also won the first collegiate title of his career earlier this season at the Northern Iowa Open.
The Road To The Finals
141 - Coyte Cooper, Second Place @ Big Ten Championships
First Round
Bye
Quarterfinals
Win vs. Cal Ferry (Illinois), Major Decision, 11-1
Semi-finals
Win vs. Jeff Ratliff (Ohio State), Sudden Victory, 7-5
Finals
Loss vs. Scott Moore (Penn State), Decision 8-5
The first Hoosier to take the mat for the day was senior Ty Matthews. Matthews only had to show up to earn the win by medical forfeit over Wisconsin's Ralph DeNisco. Fellow senior Schaefer then took the mat in the seventh place match against Michigan State's Shane Martin.
It was all-or-nothing for Schaefer. A loss would negate any chance of going to the NCAA Championships and a win would secure an automatic berth into the Championships. Schaefer looked to go for the technical fall early after putting all 12 of his points on the board in the first period. Both grapplers battled through a scoreless second period as Martin got the only points of the final third period with a two-point takedown to make the score 12-4. Martin owned the riding time advantage at the end of the match but it was not enough as the final score showed 12-5.
This is the third time Schaefer has qualified for the NCAA Championships. His previous two season he qualified at 125 pounds and this season he moved up to 133 pounds for the season.
Ty Matthews took the mat against Illinois' Pete Friedl in the 184 pound, third place match and came away with third place honors at 184 pounds. Friedl opened with the takedown, but by the end of two periods, Matthews owned the scoring advantage, 7-4. Matthews got the two-point, insurance takedown with ten second remaining in the second period. The two battled through the final period with Friedl gaining the two-point takedown and Matthews the one-point escape. Friedl shot late, but it was not enough to even the match and send it into overtime. Matthews won the decision, 8-7.
"Ty lost a tough, close match in the championship bracket, but he rebounded well to finish third," said Goldman.
With an automatic berth going to the top seven finishers in each weight class, this is the third time that Matthews has qualified for the national championships as he was an NCAA qualifier in both 2000 and 2001 at 197 pounds. After filling in at heavyweight in the 2002 Big Ten Championships, Matthews searched for a weight class. He began the season at heavyweight and then dropped to 184 pounds where we went 18-straight matches without a loss until facing Iowa's No. 1 Jessman Smith.
Matthews, Schaefer and Cooper will travel to Kansas City, Mo., for the NCAA Championships March 20-22.
Full brackets of the Big Ten Championships can be found at www.bigten.org on the wrestling website.
The Big Ten Championship Finals will be aired on tape delay Tuesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. CST on Fox Sports Chicago.
The Results
133 - Greg Schaefer, Seventh Place @ Big Ten Championships
First Round
Bye
Quarterfinals
Loss vs. Josh Moore (Penn State), Decision, 7-0
Consolation Second Round
Win vs. Shaun Newton (Michigan), Decision, 10-6
Consolation Quarterfinals
Loss, Rene Hernandez (Penn State), Decision 6-3
Seventh Place Match
Win vs. Shane Martin (Michigan State), Decision 12-5
184 - Ty Matthews, Third or Fourth Place @ Big Ten Championships
First Round
Bye
Quarterfinals
Win vs. Ben Wissel (Purdue), Decision, 3-2
Semi-finals
Loss vs. Mark Becks (Penn State), Decision, 3-2
Consolation Semi-finals
Win vs. Ralph DeNisco (Wisconsin), Medical Forfeit
Third Place Match
Win vs. Pete Friedl (Illinois), Decision, 8-7
Day One, Session I & II Results
149 - Matt Cooper
First Round
Loss vs. Ryan Churella (Michigan), Fall, 1:27
Consolation Second Round
Loss vs. Ed Gutnik (Wisconsin), Decision, 8-3
157 - Isaac Knable
First Round
Loss vs. Joe Johnston (Iowa), Major Decision, 19-10
Consolation Second Round
Loss vs. Alex Tirapelle (Illinois), Major Decision 16-3
165 - Alex LaPointe
First Round
Loss vs. Jacob Volkmann (Minnesota), Major Decision, 10-0
Consolation Second Round
Loss vs. Doc Vecchio (Penn State), Major Decision, 12-4
174 - Brady Richardson
First Round
Bye
Quarterfinals
Loss vs. Blake Kaplan (Ohio State), Decision, 7-3
Consolation Second Round
Loss vs. Brady Reinke (Wisconsin), Decision, 9-4
197 - Pat DeGain*
First Round
Win vs. Ryan Cummins (Penn State), Decision, 5-3
Quarterfinals
Loss vs. Anton Talamantes (Ohio State), Sudden Victory Decision, 4-2
Consolation Second Round
Loss vs. Lee Kraemer (Wisconsin), Fall, 2:46
* DeGain was injured in the overtime of the Quarterfinal loss
Heavyweight - Joel Powers
First Round
Loss vs. Pat Cummins (Penn State), Fall, 2:31
Consolation Second Round
Loss vs. Justin Staebler (Wisconsin), Decision, 4-2
