Just Ware.
Ware ready for title rematch
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
3/18/2006
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OU's two-time champ gets Iowa State's Nate Gallick in Saturday's 141-pound final.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Teyon Ware, for one, wouldn't have it any differently. Neither would Nate Gallick.
When Ware and Gallick take center mat Saturday night at the Ford Center, their rivalry will crescendo. Between them stands college wrestling's 141-pound national championship.
Ware, a senior from Oklahoma, is the No. 2 seed. Gallick, a senior from Iowa State, is the No. 1 seed.
"Couldn't have been any other way," Ware said. "That's what everybody expected. I just have to come out and wrestle. He's hungry, and I'm hungry."
Said Gallick, "Every time I wrestle him, there's no easy train of thought. He's a tough competitor. No matter how many times I beat him, he's a threat."
The Sooners go into Saturday in third place in the team standings with 64 1/2 points, behind Oklahoma State (106) and Minnesota (72 1/2).
Two OU semifinalists -- second-seeded Sam Hazewinkel at 125 pounds and fourth-seeded Matt Storniolo at 149 -- were beaten.
Two other Sooners who lost key Bedlam quarterfinals Friday
morning -- fifth-seeded Joel Flaggert at 197 pounds and seventh-seeded Jake Hager at heavyweight -- prevailed in evening consolation matches to join Ware, Hazewinkel and Storniolo as All-Americans. Flaggert won again to make the consolation semifinals, but Hager lost his late match to fall to the seventh-eighth matchup.
Hazewinkel, Storniolo, Flaggert and Hager wrestle Saturday morning. Ware waits until Saturday night's finals.
Ware won both matches Friday -- 12-4 over Iowa's Alex Tsirtsis and 2-1 over third-seeded Cory Cooperman (26-2) of Lehigh. Ware is a two-time national champion, winning in 2003 and 2005.
But this season, Ware's 26-2 record is blemished only by two losses to Gallick. Gallick also beat Ware in an exhibition. In the Big 12 Tournament final, Gallick broke a tie with a controversial takedown in the final seconds.
"We have it on film, and it wasn't a takedown," said OU coach Jack Spates. "It was after the buzzer."
Ware called the 5-3 loss on March 4 a "questionable call," but admitted the difference with Gallick this year has been "him scoring on the edge and me relaxing.
"Every time I've wrestled Nate, it's been close (a Jan. 28 decision was 4-3). I might have come up short, but tomorrow there's no doubt. I go out there thinking I can win the match every time."
Ware is 1-7 all-time against Gallick. That lone win came in last year's 141-pound title match.
Hazewinkel lost 2-1 to Indiana's Joe Dubuque. Dubuque (27-1) is the third seed at 125 but is also the defending national champion. On his road to the crown last March, Dubuque eliminated Hazewinkel in the semifinals. Hazewinkel now hopes to finish third for the third year in a row.
Hazewinkel (30-2) wasn't at his best after a bout of food poisoning Thursday kept him up most of the night.
"He just wasn't as sharp," Spates said. "He still battled hard, but he wasn't as sharp as he normally is. You can't be up half the night barfing your lungs up and not have it impact you."
Hazewinkel refused any excuses, but said he "felt real tired" in his 5-0 quarterfinal win over Nebraska's Paul Donohoe, but not so much against Dubuque.
Hazewinkel and Dubuque were tied 0-0 entering the third period, but Dubuque scored an escape to go up 1-0. Hazewinkel got a point for Dubuque's excessive stalling, but riding time gave Dubuque the win.
"My goal this year was no mistakes. Not escaping on bottom, that was a mistake," Hazewinkel said. "It's upsetting. It's just . . . it's upsetting."
Storniolo (26-5) was a heavy underdog to top-seeded Dustin Schlatter (41-1) of Minnesota, but found himself down just 2-1 before a takedown with 33 seconds left. Schlatter, a freshman, won 5-1.
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John E. Hoover 581-8384
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