Iowa Central Returns to the TOP; NJCAA wrap up in Rochester, Minn.
Rochester, Minn -- Iowa Central
literally rode their way to National Title at the NCJAA National Wrestling
Championships held at the Mayo Civic Center on February 16th. The
Tritons lead by head coach Mark Ostrander, saw his the team title come down to
the heavy weight match in whIowa Centralh #6 rated Cain Valasquez defeated
Neosho Panther Dean Taylor, rated 2nd, 2-1 in the final match of the night to
give Iowa Central a 134-130 margin of vIowa Centraltory over Neosho.
The defending NJCAA Champions, North Idaho, finished 3rd with 166.5 points.
Having finished 2nd the past 2 season, the third time truly was a charm for the
Tritons of Fort Dodge, Iowa. Coming in to the 2001-2002 season, Iowa
Central had the 1# recruiting class in non-Division I schools, however
they were battling the returning National Champions from 2001 North Idaho, and
the champs from 2000, Neosho, who also boasts the 1# recruiting class from 2
years ago as compiled by Wrestling USA magazine.
In the final NJCAA team ratings, Iowa Central was rated 3# as a team heading
into the NJCAA tournament and Neosho and North Idaho were rated 1st and 2nd.
Neosho qualified all ten of their wrestlers for the NJCAA tournament as did Iowa
Central. However, the Tritons 7# rated wrestle at 149, Kevin Contos, was
left at Ft. Dodge for breaking team rules, leaving Iowa Central with 9
qualifiers.
Following the semi-final round, Iowa Central held a 9 point lead over Neosho,
128-119. The final round would determine the national championship, as Iowa
Central and North Idaho both had 4 finalists and Neosho had 3.
At 125 pounds 1# rated James Rollins from Gloucester use a pair of wins over
seeded opponents to reach the finals. In the second round of preliminaries,
Rollins defeated the 2001 National runner-up NIowa Centralk Voss of Waldorf
7-3, and pinned #6 Andrew Bradbury of William Rainey Harper in the semi-finals
to advance to the finals against Nick Vogt of Meremec. Vogt the 5# rated
wrestler at 125 topped the #4 wrestler Derek Jones of Colby, 13-4, in the
semi-finals. The 1# rating of Rollins held true as he defeated Vogt 8-5.
Rollins one of three Gloucester wrestlers in the finals helped his team capture
the NJCAA Division III National Title with 101.5 points followed by runner-up
Nassau who had 65.5 points.
In the 41 years of the NJCAA Championships, only 40 wrestlers have won titles
in both tries at JUCO's and 133# Ozzie Saxon of North Idaho became the 41st
wrestler to do so. It is not an easy task to do, and it was not easy for Saxon.
In the semi-final round Saxon need double over time and the luck of the final
flip to score a 2-1 decision over 3# rated Pat Garcia of Western Wyoming. Saxon
then faced Jafari Vanier, one of Iowa Central's four finalists for the
championship. In what was a matter of dejavu for Saxon, he found himself in the
same situation as his semi-final match. Tied with Vanier of Iowa Central 1-1
after the first over time, Saxon won the flip, chose down and escaped to win the
national title at 133#, his 2nd in two years.
At 141# Neosho's Bogdan Ciufulescu was not to be out done by Saxon of North
Idaho, as Ciufulescu also had a chance to become a 2 time NJCAA national
champion. The Panther won the title in 2000, and made the 2002 finals by
defeating 4# rated Nick Holt of North Idaho 14-4 in the quarters, and Paul
Collum from Iowa Central 11-4 in the semi-finals. In the finals at 141#,
Ciufulescu faced Peter DeLacruz of Pima. Delacruz, unrated, downed 5th, 6th,
and 7th rated wrestlers to make the finals. In the final match
Ciufulescu took an early and strong lead, but Delacruz kept battling to the
point that the Neosho wrestler was two warning away from disqualification. In
the end, Ciufulescu won the title 18-8. Ciufulescu, 32, has
competed 5 times in the world championships for Romania, placing 4th in the
worlds at one point, as well as being a 1996 Olympian. DeLacruz was
awarded the sportsmanship award for his valiant effort against a two time JUCO
champion and Olympian. Ciufulescu win helped close the gap between Neosho and
Iowa Central.
The number one and number two ranked wrestlers were beaten at 149# in the
semi-finals to set up a finals match between the number 8 and 4 seeds. Keri
Stanley(4#) of North Idaho topped the returning national champion and 2# ranked
Bart Mahlert of Ellsworth 5-3 to reach the finals, and Ryan Mauer(8#) of Nassau
downed the top seeded Patrick Williams(1#) of Neosho 4-3 in the semis. In the
finals, Mauer downed the Cardinal's Stanley by the score of 8-5 securing an
individual title while helping his Nassau team to a 2nd place finish in
division-III.
157# B.J. Wright rated 3rd of Ricks pinned the number two rated wrestler, Nick
Rausenberger of Nassau to advance to the finals against the 1# rated wrestler
at this weight in Israel Martinez of North Idaho. Wright dropped a close 5-4
decision to the Cardinal wrestler, closing the chapter on Ricks wrestling.
Ricks College who qualified 7 wrestlers for the NJCAA tournament has joined
forces with BYU to become BYU-Idaho, and will discontinue wrestling at the
college.
Long time coach Bob Christensen stated that," I am devastated and
disappointed that Ricks is discontinuing the wrestling program. This is my 34th
year of coaching and wrestling has been a large part of my life for many years,
I have seen many changes in junior college wrestling in my time. I have made a
great number of friends with wrestling, and I will miss the sport. I guess I
will have to find something to do on weekends."
Entering the 2002-2002 season, his 18th season, Christensen has compiled a
202-62 Career Record at Ricks. In 2000-2001, Christensen's team recorded an
18-5 record, the most dual meet wins ever in a single season for the coach. The
18 wins also pushed Christensen over the 200 win mark for his career.
During his tenure, 40 Viking wrestlers have won Region 18 championships.
Sixty-four of Coach Christensen's wrestlers have won All-American honors. Eight
of Bob's teams have finished in the top four at the NJCAA finals. He won Coach
of the Year honors in 1988 and Region 18 Coach of the Year in 1999.
Christensen's career dual meet record at Ricks College now stands at 202-62-2. Probably the best know wrestler to come out of RIowa
Centralks is Olympian Rulon Gardner, which is just another example of
the importance of junior college programs in developing wrestlers and the sport.
Bob was a state heavyweight wrestling champion at Missoula County High School
in Montana. He won an NJCAA championship as a heavyweight at Ricks College in
1964. He finished third in the Western Athletic Central Conference in 1967 and
1968 as a heavyweight at Brigham Young University. Christensen first became a
head wrestling coach in 1968 at American Falls High School in Idaho. He moved
to North Fremont High School in Ashton in 1971 where he won two Idaho state
championships in 1978 and 1980. He moved to Ricks College in 1984 Bob is
married. He and his wife Marcy have five children. Coach Christensen will stay
on with BYU-Idaho in Ricks as a full-time faculty member.
AT 165# Neosho's 1# rated J.J. Homes gave the Panther followers something to
cheer about as he pinned Lassen's David Hilliard in a spladdle at the 5:17 mark
giving Neosho a 130-128 lead over Iowa Central. Heading into the 174# finals
trailing by 2 points in the team race, Iowa Central had a 1# rated wrestler
taking the mat in Kenyatta Carter, who was a national runner-up in 2001.
In the 2002 finals Carter faced 2# rated Brian Brittingham of Gloucester.
Brittingham would take an early lead on take downs and back points, but Carter
battled back to tie the score in regulation time at 13-13. The first period of
over-time saw both wrestlers taking good shots, but Brittingham came up with
the winning take down for the 15-13 overtime win. Carter finishes as the
runner-up for the second year in a row, although Iowa Central still trailed by
two points in the team race, the Tritons still had two wrestlers left, but the
challenge was great! At 184# Willie Parks (IOWA CENTRAL) rated 2# faced the
returning national champion Josh Birt from North Idaho, and at heavy weight,
the Tritons faced tough odds where Cain Velasquez (IOWA CENTRAL) 6# rated faced
Neosho's 2# rated Dean Taylor who owned a previous win over the IOWA CENTRAL
wrestler.
Birt looking to become the 3rd wrestler of the night to join the elusive NJCAA
double champion roster took to the mat with Parks. With the national champion
still on the line, Iowa Central's Willie Parks went out and wrestled a strong
match and scored a 9-4 victory over the defending champ. With this win, Iowa
Central moved ahead in the team race 132-130 over Neosho, but the Tritons still
had a head-to-head match where Neosho was favored.
The Championship would come down to the heavy weight finals. While the
heavyweights waited to determine the national championship, the 197# finalists
took to the mat. Gloucester would go 3-for-3 in the finals as NIowa Centralk
Vinciquerra would decision Pat Bennett of SUNY Morrisville 6-5 for the title.
Now it was time fore the heavy weights! It what will be one of the closest
finals in NJCAA history, Neosho's favored Taylor and IOWA CENTRAL's Velasquez
face off for the individual and team title. The first period saw several
attempts by both wrestlers to secure a takedown, but both were unsuccessful. In
the 2nd period, IOWA CENTRAL's Valasquez would take down and secure an escape
for a 1-0 lead by the end of the period. In the 3rd, Neosho's Taylor would take
down and secure an escape but not before Valasquez compiled over one minute of
riding time.
With the score tied 1-1 both wrestlers worked for the decisive takedown, but
when time expired, Valasquez still had riding time and Iowa Central had their
first championship in 21 years.
Neosho's coach Terry Peck stated," This was a great tournament, and obviously
we wanted to win the title, but this is was its all about, coming down to the
final match of the finals." Coach Peck has led Neosho to a 7th, 1st, and
2nd place finish in 3 seasons. Of interest in the fact that Peck was an
assistant at IOWA CENTRAL before taking the Neosho job.
A far as Coach Mark Ostrander goes and his take on the championship,"
Exhausted! The past two years we were out of first by 20 points and we were
just trying to hold on to 2nd place. This year, we have 4 in the finals and Neosho
has 3 and IOWA CENTRAL 4. We loose the first 2 in overtime, and Parks has to
take on the returning national champ and Valasquez has to take on a kid that
has beaten him. Knowing that we had tough matches ahead and with two loses we
already had, I needed some Tums."
But, after it was all said and done Parks and Valasquez. Both won. Ostrander
stated "Our kids really wrestled their hearts out. I think one of the keys
to our title is that I told the kids the importance of extra points for
advancement and bonus points. We brought 9 guys and walk away with 8
all-Americans, a record for Iowa Central. But, we have 35 guys in the room and
they all help in getting this title. I am so thankful for all the support that
I have gotten from the IOWA CENTRAL fans, coaches, administration, and
community. I wouldn't have done it without them. I also owe thanks to Dennie
Fredriecks, who established a great foundation for the program. We have always
tried to make strides to improve each year, and I think we have shown that this
year."
Iowa Centrals all-Americans are-
q Justin McClintock, 5th at 125,
q Jafari Vanier, 2nd at 133,
q Paul Collum, 5th at 141,
q Tim Springs, 3rd at 157,
q Kenyatta Carter, 2nd at 174,
q Willie Parks, 1st at 184,
q Brenon Chema, 5th at 197, and
q Cain Valasquez, 1st at heavyweight. J
q John Hegarty was a national qualifier for IOWA CENTRAL at 165.
By defeating the
defending national champion, IOWA CENTRAL's Parks was named the tournament's
outstanding wrestler.
Top ten team finish: NJCAA National Wrestling Tournament
Divison I Division
III
Iowa Central 136 Gloucester
101.5
Neosho 130 Nassau 65.5
North Idaho 116.5 Ridgewater
55.5
Pima 77 Wm Rainey Harper 52
Ellsworth 71 MN West 26
Colby 51.5 SUNY- Morrisville 22
Highline 51.5 Itasca 16.5
Muskegon 45 Thaddeus Stevens 15
Northwest 43.5 Middlesex
12
Lassen 42 Williamson Free 9