Can the University of Minnesota repeat as NCAA Champions and win their third consecutive title at the 73rd annual NCAA Wrestling Championships which will be held at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 20-22. The Golden Gophers edged Iowa at the Big Ten Championships, 126.5 to 121, but have been beaten by the Hawkeyes twice in duals, the recent one a close 22-18 verdict. Minnesota has eight qualifiers while Iowa will send seven to the NCAA meet. Top-ranked Oklahoma State dominated the Big 12 Championships as they amassed 101.5 points and crowned six champions, including defending NCAA champion junior Johnny Thompson (23-2) at 133 pounds. The Cowboys will send ten qualifiers to the championships. Those three teams should be embroiled in a tight race for the NCAA title but other top squads appear to be Ohio State, Oklahoma, Cornell, Michigan, Arizona State, Illinois and Lehigh.
Ther are six defending champions and 44 returning All-Americans at the 2003 Championships. The champions are the aforementioned Thompson, Aaron Holker (141) of Iowa State, Minnesota's tandem of Jared Lawrence (149) and Luke Becker (157), along with sophomore Greg Jones (174) of West Virginia and junior Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State at 285 pounds.
A weight by weight preview along with a look at New York State (in bold) prepped products:
125 Pounds- Sophomore Chris Fleeger (Purdue) hopes to improve on his third-place finish at the 2002 meet, he is top ranked and was the OSW winner at the Big 10 Championships. NCAA runner-up Luke Eustice (Iowa) will challenge along with returning All-Americans, Ben Vombaur (4th) of Boise State, Jason Powell (5th) of Nebraska, Skyler Holman (6th) of Oklahoma State, Cornell sophomore Travis Lee (7th) and Chris Rodrigues (8th) of North Carolina. Others include New York natives George Cintron (William Floyd HS) of North Carolina State, freshman Pat Flynn (Huntington HS) and Rocco Mansueto (Middletown HS). Flynn was a two-time NYS champion and Mansueto won one title.
133 Pounds- A possible rematch of the 2002 final, as defending champion junior Johnny Thompson (Oklahoma State) could meet Minnesota senior Ryan Lewis, last year Thompson edged Lewis, 5-4. Other returning All-Americans are Witt Durden (3rd) of Oklahoma,highly-touted Cliff Moore (6th) of Iowa and Zach Roberson (7th) of Iowa State. Cleveland State's Phil Mansueto is here, he is Rocco's twin and also a NYS champion. |
