MARSHALL, Mo. (Feb. 7) – Tommy McCarty captured Outstanding Wrestler honors as one of three Central Oklahoma champions at the Missouri Valley Open here Saturday.

McCarty claimed the 174-pound title, with the Bronchos also getting gold medal efforts from 125 Tim Elliott and 149 Luke Elmore in the all-day tournament. Dustin Finn was the runner-up at heavyweight, while 141 Colby Robinson and 174 Derrick Adkins came in fourth.

“We got a lot of quality mat time and it was a good year-end tournament that will help us get ready for the stretch run,” UCO coach David James said. “We had some guys step up and do some good things that hopefully will help them the rest of the way.”

McCarty, ranked third in NCAA Division II, completed a four-match run through the tournament with a 6-2 finals win over defending NAIA national champion and top-rated Matt Cauley of Lindenwood to claim OW honors.

Elliott had a dominating day with four bonus-point wins, capped by a first-period fall in the finals over Meramec’s Eric Prayther. Elmore also won four matches on the day, ending it with a tough 5-3 triumph over Meramec’s Eddie McCray.

Finn waltzed into the finals before dropping a controversial 2-1 decision to McKendree’s Dan Moore, with a penalty point called against Finn for fleeing the mat the difference.

Robinson lost two matches to Farinella in the tournament, losing to him in the quarterfinals and again in the third-place match. Adkins, a true freshman wrestling unattached, went 5-2 on the day in finishing fourth.

The Bronchos finish their dual season with three matches in five days next week, hosting Newman Tuesday before going to Central Missouri Thursday and then returning home to take on Truman State in the finale.

Missouri Valley Open
Championship Finals
125: Tim Elliott, UCO, pinned Eric Prayther, Meramec 1:10.
149: Luke Elmore, UCO, dec. Eddie McCray, Meramec, 5-3.
174: Tommy McCarty, UCO, dec. Matt Cauley, Lindenwood, 6-2.
Hvy: Dan Moore, McKendree, dec. Dustin Finn, 2-1.

Consolation Finals
141: Cody Farinella, Missouri, dec. Colby Robinson, 3-0.
174: Jared Price, Cal State-Bakersfield, dec. Derrick Adkins, UCO (unattached), 3-1 (SV).

MARSHALL, Mo. (Feb. 7) – Tommy McCarty captured Outstanding Wrestler honors as one of three Central Oklahoma champions at the Missouri Valley Open here Saturday.

McCarty claimed the 174-pound title, with the Bronchos also getting gold medal efforts from 125 Tim Elliott and 149 Luke Elmore in the all-day tournament. Dustin Finn was the runner-up at heavyweight, while 141 Colby Robinson and 174 Derrick Adkins came in fourth.

“We got a lot of quality mat time and it was a good year-end tournament that will help us get ready for the stretch run,” UCO coach David James said. “We had some guys step up and do some good things that hopefully will help them the rest of the way.”

McCarty, ranked third in NCAA Division II, completed a four-match run through the tournament with a 6-2 finals win over defending NAIA national champion and top-rated Matt Cauley of Lindenwood to claim OW honors.

Elliott had a dominating day with four bonus-point wins, capped by a first-period fall in the finals over Meramec’s Eric Prayther. Elmore also won four matches on the day, ending it with a tough 5-3 triumph over Meramec’s Eddie McCray.

Finn waltzed into the finals before dropping a controversial 2-1 decision to McKendree’s Dan Moore, with a penalty point called against Finn for fleeing the mat the difference.

Robinson lost two matches to Farinella in the tournament, losing to him in the quarterfinals and again in the third-place match. Adkins, a true freshman wrestling unattached, went 5-2 on the day in finishing fourth.

The Bronchos finish their dual season with three matches in five days next week, hosting Newman Tuesday before going to Central Missouri Thursday and then returning home to take on Truman State in the finale.

Missouri Valley Open
Championship Finals
125: Tim Elliott, UCO, pinned Eric Prayther, Meramec 1:10.
149: Luke Elmore, UCO, dec. Eddie McCray, Meramec, 5-3.
174: Tommy McCarty, UCO, dec. Matt Cauley, Lindenwood, 6-2.
Hvy: Dan Moore, McKendree, dec. Dustin Finn, 2-1.

Consolation Finals
141: Cody Farinella, Missouri, dec. Colby Robinson, 3-0.
174: Jared Price, Cal State-Bakersfield, dec. Derrick Adkins, UCO (unattached), 3-1 (SV).

http://www.bronchosports.com/news/2009/3/1/WREST_0301094013.aspx

Elliott, Finn Win Regional Titles


KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (March 1) – Tim Elliott and Dustin Finn claimed individual titles for Central Oklahoma in the NCAA Division II Super Regional Two Wrestling Tournament here Sunday as the No. 7-ranked Bronchos struggled through a tough day in the national qualifying event.

UCO tied for second in the nine-team regional with Central Missouri behind top-ranked Nebraska-Omaha and advanced six individuals to the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships, set for March 13-14 in Houston, Texas. UNO had five champions and qualified all 10 individuals in racking up 162.5 points, while the Bronchos and UCM finished with 99 points apiece.

Elliott was barely pushed in rolling to the 125-pound championship, while Finn pulled out back-to-back tiebreaker decisions in his last two matches to win at heavyweight. Also qualifying for the national meet were 174 Tommy McCarty, 133 Scott Berens, 141 Colby Robinson and 149 Luke Elmore.

McCarty forfeited in the finals to finish second, while Berens came in third and Robinson and Elmore fourth. UCO also got a fifth-place showing from 184 Daniel Morrison and sixths from 157 Kelly Henderson and 165 Mikey Morgan, though they failed to advance to the national tournament.

“There were a lot of ups and a lot of downs,” UCO coach David James said. “It was a little brutal for us at a couple of weights where we thought we were in pretty good shape and then we didn’t come through. Our goal is always to qualify all 10 guys and so it’s disappointing to have not done that, but you have to give a lot of credit to the six that are going.

“Scott Berens really wrestled tough and obviously our two champions did a great job. All six guys we’re taking to the national tournament have a chance to do something and hopefully they’ll be ready to take advantage of the opportunity.”

The fourth-ranked Elliott continued his dominating ways in winning three times to take the crown at 125. He had a first-period fall in his opening match, cruised to a 10-2 major decision in the semifinals and blanked No. 7 Cody Zimmerman of Wisconsin-Parkside 3-0 in the finals.

Elliott ran his winning streak to 13 straight and improved to 40-10 on the season in becoming just the 12th individual in school history to reach the 40-win plateau.

The fourth-ranked Finn went overtime in earning his second straight regional title, following a 9-3 first-round win with a 4-3 tiebreaker victory over No. 5 Cody Beck of Central Missouri before ending the tournament with a 4-2 tiebreaker triumph over No. 2 Tony Lewis of Nebraska-Omaha.

Finn, who had lost to Lewis twice in the regular season, broke a 1-1 tie early in the first tiebreaker period with an escape and got a takedown with eight seconds left in the stanza to take a 4-1 lead. Lewis got loose in the opening seconds of the second 30-second tiebreaker period, but Finn held him off to secure the win.

The second-ranked McCarty, who battled illness throughout the day, started his tournament with a 12-2 major decision and followed with a 3-0 shutout before trimming No. 7 Justin Ferguson of Ashland 1-0 in the semifinals. With his national tournament berth secure, UCO elected to forfeit the finals match.

Berens had two clutch consolation wins in coming back from a semifinal loss to take third, scoring a second-period fall in the consolation semis and following with a 3:12 pin over Ashland’s Jake Bartley in the third-place bout.

Robinson earned his qualifying berth the hard way, winning a true fourth-place challenge match to punch his ticket to Houston.

The fifth-ranked junior lost a 6-4 sudden-victory decision in the semifinals to Indianapolis’ Matt Irwin and was upset again in the consolation semis, but earned a default win the fifth place match and then beat Ashland’s Scott Meyer

NCAA Division II Super Regional Two
Championship Finals
125: Tim Elliott, UCO, dec. Cody Zimmerman, Wisconsin-Parkside, 3-0.
174: Ross Taplin, Nebraska-Omaha, by medical forfeit over Tommy McCarty, UCO.
Hvy: Dustin Finn, UCO, dec. Tony Lewis, Nebraska-Omaha, 4-2 (TB2).

Consolation Finals
133: Scott Berens, UCO, pinned Jake Bartley, Ashland, 3:12.
149: William Forrest, Central Missouri, dec. Luke Elmore, 9-7.
184: Travis Barbarick, Central Missouri, dec. Daniel Morrison, UCO, 2-1 (TB2).

Fourth-Place Challenge Matches
141: Colby Robinson, UCO, dec. Scott Meyer, Ashland, 5-2
184: Hiram Smith, Findlay, dec. Morrison, UCO, 11-4.

Fifth Place
141: Robinson, UCO, by default over James Fox, Newman.
157: Eddie Stefonek, Wisconsin-Parkside, dec. Kelly Henderson, UCO, 6-1.
165: Anthony Bradberry, Ashland, by default over Mikey Morgan, UCO.