Every match counts at NCAA wrestling tournament

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By Jon Gremmels | Thursday, March 20, 2008 1:03 AM CDT | () comments

ST. LOUIS — The focus is on winning, but how wrestlers handle losing probably will decide the team title this week at the NCAA Wrestling Championship at Scottrade Center.

“We won a national title one year (2001) without a national champion,” Minnesota All-American Jayson Ness said at a Wednesday news conference. “Every match is going to count; every point is going to count. Any time you lose, you’ve got to know third place is still there, and you can get big points for your team.”

That’s how Iowa won the Big Ten Conference title two weekends ago, their first since 2004. The top-ranked Hawkeyes put two wrestlers in the finals, but four others bounced back from losses and placed third, and another was fourth as they finished with 127 points and beat the Gophers by 14.5 points.

They would just as soon not win nationals that way.

“Third would be a disappointment for a lot of guys on my team,” Iowa’s Brent Metcalf said. “In the Big Ten semifinals, a lot of our losses were upsets.”

But, typically, national titles are won on the back side of the draw.

“Really, coming back and placing third is on you,” Metcalf, the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 149 pounds, said. “It’s on you as a competitor to perform.”

It’s also “on” the coaches to get their wrestlers                 refocused after a loss.

“You have to think about that,” said Quad-City native Mark Johnson, the coach at Illinois. “That’s why you go to tournaments throughout the year. You’ve got to be able to come back. You have to prepare (each wrestler) for the next round.”

The wrestlebacks might take on extra importance this season because the team race appears so wide open. Four teams — defending national champion Minnesota, Iowa State, Iowa and Penn State — each has held the No. 1 spot at various times this season.

“I don’t think rankings mean anything now,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said. “We have to take care of each individual match, starting tomorrow morning at 125 pounds.”

The Hawkeyes have the most top-five seeds (six), including Metcalf and No. 2 seed Mark Perry, the defending national champion at 174 pounds. Minnesota, Michigan and Nebraska have four top-five seeds apiece.

Besides those teams,            Central Michigan is ranked second in the nation, host Missouri was third last year, and Oklahoma State has won more titles than any other team, including four in a row from 2003 to 2006.

So, while Iowa might be the favorite, it is anything but a shoo-in for the top spot. The wide-open aspect should make for an interesting three days in St. Louis.

“I think it’s simple,”            Minnesota’s J Robinson said. “It’s one match at a time. It doesn’t matter if its consolations or the finals. Invariably you’ve got to win in the consolations or finals. The bottom line is you’ve got to win.”

Ex-Q-C wrester in tournament as wild-card entry

ST. LOUIS — Tyler Clark looked good enough in his first year at Iowa State to convince the coaches to put him in the starting lineup at 125 pounds. This weekend, he hits the big time when he competes at the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

Clark (19-9), who received a wild-card entry into the tournament after taking fourth in the Big 12 Tournament, opens competition this morning against the winner of a preliminary round match between Virginia’s Ross Gitomer and Central Michigan’s Luke Smith.

“We’ve been real proud of Tyler; he’s done a great job,” Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson said Wednesday. “He has competed well against some of the best competition in the nation.”

Competing well against top competition is nothing new for Clark, though. He won a state title as a sophomore at Orion, was second twice in Illinois and finished his career with a runner-up finish in the Iowa state tournament for Bettendorf. He made an immediate impression on the Iowa State coaches, and they decided to take him out of a redshirt year and put him on the mat.

“It was something we had been thinking about,” Sanderson said. “He won the intrasquad (event). It’s a tricky thing pulling a kid out of a redshirt, though. You want to make sure it’s the right decision. Clark brings a little extra to the table.”