NCAA Championships: OSU moves into third; Flaggert, Bailey eliminated
Matt Patterson
Staff Writer
ST. LOUIS — Oklahoma State moved into third place with 47 team points as of 2 p.m. CST Friday. Iowa is running away from the pack with 67 points.
Coleman Scott (133), Nathan Morgan (141) and Jared Rosholt (HWT) all won their quarterfinal matches. Newly McSpadden (157), Brandon Mason (174) and Jack Jensen (184) all won their consolation matches Friday. Jake Dieffenbach (165) and Tyler Shinn (125) were eliminated after consolation round losses.
For OU, Will Rowe (149) and Josh Wetizel (184) get to keep wrestling after winning both their consolation matches this morning. Joey Fio (125) was eliminated Thursday and Joel Flaggert (197) lost in a decision this afternoon, ending his OU career.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: OSU’s Dieffenbach loses, Rosholt gets first round win
Matt Patterson, Staff Writer
ST. LOUIS — It’s clear now that OSU 165 pounder Jake Dieffenbach’s late season struggles go beyond the senior NAIA transfer adjusting to the length of a Division I season.
Dieffenbach lost his opening match by decision while sporting a heavy knee brace. His defeat spoils a potential rematch with Iowa’s Mark Perry whom Dieffienbach defeated during the season.
Sophomore heavyweight Jared Rosholt got a first round fall. Rosholt has answered the bell this season and may now be a darkhorse to make it to the finals.
After round one OSU is in sixth with 14.5 points. OU is at 34th with just three points. The Sooners went 2-3 in the first round.
NCAA Wrestling: OU’s Bailey scores upset
By Matt Patterson, Staff Writer
ST. LOUIS — The NCAA Wrestling championships are in full swing at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis and it didn’t take long for one area wrestler to make news.
OU’s Zack Bailey scored an 8-7 first round upset over Iowa’s Dan Leclere. Fellow freshman Joey Fio fell by major decision in the first round 14-6. OU 149 pounder Will Rowe was pinned in his first round bout and Josh Weitzel (184), a fifth seed, was upset in his first round match 9-4.
OSU’s Nathan Morgan (141) won his first round match by tech fall. Coleman Scott (133) won 4-0 and Brandon Mason (174) won by decision. Jack Jensen (184) picked up a first round fall. Newly McSpadden won his first round match 2-0, giving the Cowboys five wins out of six weights so far.
Big 12 Wrestling: Tough semi-final round for Cowboys
By Matt Patterson, Staff Writer
STILLWATER — . The Cowboys advanced four wrestlers to tonight’s Big 12 Wrestling Championship finals. Tyler Shinn (125), Nathan Morgan (141), Brandon Mason (174) and Jared Rosholt (HWT) all won their semi-final matches. Rosholt pinned his opponent in the third period.
Mason won a 4-2 decision over Iowa State’s Aron Scott. Shinn beat OU’s Joey Fio 4-2. Morgan won his match over OU’s Zack Bailey by decision.
But it was the matches that got away that have virtuall eliminated OSU from the team race. Coleman Scott (133) was upset in overtime, Newly McSpadden lost a 7-2 decision at 157 and Jake Dieffenbach fell to Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska 3-1. At 184, Jack Jensen wrestled top ranked Jake Varner of ISU tough but fell 2-1.
OU’s Josh Weitzel (184) advanced to the finals with a 7-3 win over Mizzou’s Raymond Jordan. OU’s Joel Flaggert lost to Nebraska’s Craig Brester 6-2.
With the consolation round set to begin at 4 p.m., the team standings are as follows:
1-ISU 48
2- Nebraska 41.5
3-OSU 34
4-Mizzou 32
5-OU 8
Big 12 Wrestling: Scott upset in first round
STILLWATER — Mizzou’s Tyler McCormick stunned Oklahoma State’s Coleman Scott 5-3 in overtime in the semi-finals at the Big 12 Wrestling Tournament Saturday.
Scott (133) and McCormick battled into overtime before McCormick won on a takedown. Scott was assesed a 1 point penalty in the first period for unsportsmanlike conduct. He led at one point in the last overtime, but couldn’t seal the win.
In first round action, OSU’s Tyler Shinn (125) and Newly McSpadden (157) won their first round matches. Max Dean and Will Rowe also won their openers.
A Big League City
9:59 p.m.
It’s official: the Ford Center will get its upgrade and the city’s all but assured of getting its first NBA team.
The mood here at the Big League City watch party was ecstatic in the hour following the announcement. One man jumped in the air mimicking a fadeaway jump shot when Mayor Mick Cornett announced that the sales tax would pass.
But now, things are winding down. Nonna’s owner Avis Scaramucci is enjoying a glass of red wine and a few dozen others are quietly conversing while the restaurant’s staff picks up from the watch party. The mood now is that of proud relief.
A few parting shots from the Big League City watch party here at Nonna’s in Bricktown:
-Mayor Mick Cornett’s 8-month-old granddaughter, Lily, has a Big League City bumper sticker stuck on the back of her shirt.
-There’s more talk at the bar about basketball than politics, even as presidential primary results scroll across the bottom of television screens.
-At the table where the evening’s food was served, the trays are mostly empty but the decorations remain. There’s a toy basketball hoop, Big League City buttons and a pennant that reads: “Slam Dunk.” I think that pennant sums up how most folks here felt about the night.
That’s it for me. I’m going to duck out so I’m not in the way of these television reporters’ live shots. Thanks for reading.
John Estus, staff writer
Results coming
7:25 p.m.
Chamber President Roy Williams and his staff are making calls to the county election board to get the first round of results. Williams just told the growing crowd he’ll break the news to them in about five minutes.
More city council members have showed up, and rumors of Mayor Mick’s arrival are floating around - but no sighting yet.
John Estus, staff writer
Familiar faces, fancy foods
7:07 p.m.
No sign of Mayor Mick Cornett yet, but a few familiar city government faces have shown up.
City Manager Jim Couch, Ward 1 Councilman Gary Marrs, some city planners and even former Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent John Q. Porter are milling about the Purple Bar here at Nonna’s.
The crowd – about three dozen right now – is sipping drinks and trying out the contemporary gourmet appetizers spread out across the bar.
There’s cheese trays, chicken wrapped in artichoke hearts with an orange marmalade, Nonna’s famous meatball, Mediterranean breads, sirloin strips, pineapple trees and all manner of colorful treats ready for tasting.
I had a Sonic shake on the way down here. Not hungry anymore.
OK. Off to mingle.
John Estus, staff writer
Signs, signs – everywhere, signs
6:52 p.m.
We’re in Bricktown now, and you can’t turn a corner down here without seeing a gaggle of Big League City campaign signs. No surprises there, considering the bundle of money the campaign has spent thus far. More than $100,000 was spent, mostly on advertising, in just the first few weeks of the campaign.
Yard signs, full page advertisements, television commercials, billboards — the campaign’s handlers have made it nearly impossible to escape Big League City. And that’s been their aim: To get to the big leagues.
There has been a tenacious group of citizens campaigning against the Big League City folks, but their “Vote No Sales Tax March 4″ signs are nowhere to be seen here in Bricktown. The opposition didn’t have the money for the big-budget ad campaign that the Big League City campaign did, but they did manage to get plenty of signs up across the city and wage a spirited Internet campaign.
In the next few hours, we’ll find out if it mattered.
John Estus, staff writer
Big league watch party
Hey, sports fans. We’ll be blogging from the Big League City watch party tonight in Bricktown. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Big League City is the campaign that supports the plan to spruce up the Ford Center to lure an NBA team here.
The shindig isn’t open to the public, but the campaign is letting us media types in for what they hope is a celebration of Oklahoma City’s biggest step yet toward landing a professional sports team.
That, of course, would be today’s vote on whether to extend a penny sales tax to pay for giving the Ford Center a nearly $100 million facelift and building an NBA practice facility. The stakes were set about six weeks ago, when Mayor Mick Cornett announced the vote with a blunt proclamation: “This is a choice. We can choose to be an NBA city, or we can choose not to be. We’re not going to get a franchise if we don’t pass it.” If the vote passes, all signs point to the Oklahoma-owned Seattle Supersonics moving into a state-of-the-art Ford Center someday soon.
The polls close at 7 p.m., and sports columnist Jenni Carlson and myself will set up in Bricktown shortly before that. There’s sure to be no shortage of colorful and notable personalities at the watch party. We’ll be in their ears all night as the returns come in and report what they’re thinking back to you.
No matter how you voted, you’ve got to admit this is a historic day for the city. Tonight should be fun.
John Estus, staff writer
