JUST ONE OF THE 'BOYS
Mocco earning black and orange stripes after leading Oklahoma State to key wins, National Duals title
CLEVELAND — It’s one thing to be an Oklahoma State wrestler. It’s another thing to be called a “Cowboy.”
That honor, which comes with making a significant impact on the most storied college wrestling program in the country, was bestowed on OSU’s “rookie” heavyweight Steve Mocco by his new head coach John Smith.
“This was (Mocco’s) first chance to be part of a national championship dual meet team and I hope he’s excited,” said Smith, who led his team their third consecutive NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals title and eighth all-time after OSU’s 22-15 victory over Illinois in Cleveland State’s Convocation Center.
For it was Mocco — in his first year with the Cowboys after transferring from Iowa where he was a two-time All-American and 2003 NCAA champion — who clinched the championship by pinning Illinois’ Mike Behnke in 1:18.
And it was Mocco whose pin of Lehigh’s Tom Curl in :56 seconds clinched OSU’s 20-18 semifinal win over the Mountain Hawks.
And it was Mocco’s 24-9 technical fall over Cornell’s Matt Bogumil that guaranteed the Cowboys a 23-12 victory over the Big Red in the quarterfinal round.
Overall, Mocco, who also had a pin in the 45-3 opening-round demolition of The Citadel, accounted for over 20 percent of the points scored by the Cowboys, Jan. 22-23, in snowy Cleveland. So in a sense, Mocco finally etched his name in OSU’s wrestling folklore that has produced 32 national team champions, 125 individual titlists and 396 All-Americans.
Does Mocco really feel like he’s a part of this legendary program?
“Yeah,” said the top-ranked Mocco, who stood 21-0 on the season with 13 falls after the Duals. “I feel like Oklahoma State has done a tremendous job of welcoming there and making sure that I feel a part of their program and not just some guy who wrestles for them.”“This was the first time we’ve been tested in a dual meet,” said defending NCAA champion Chris Pendleton, whose inside trip for a takedown led to a :56-pin of Pete Friedl at 174 pounds and gave the Cowboys their first lead (13-12) in the Duals final. “(Mocco’s) become a great teammate where he’s talking to the younger guys trying to build them up.”
And those younger Cowboys do lack collegiate experience, especially a pair of true freshmen in Coleman Scott at 125 pounds and Nathan Morgan at 133. In the four duals in Cleveland, this pair combined to win just three of eight matches and Morgan lost all three of his bouts against Cornell’s Travis Lee, Lehigh’s Matt Ciasulli and Illinois’ Mark Jayne.
There were three other weights for OSU which looked soft in Cleveland: 141, where Ronnie Delk and Daniel Friskhorn each went 1-1; 157, where Kevin Ward was 1-3 and the only Cowboy to lose in the dual with The Citadel; and 184, where Clay Kehrer was 1-2.
But it was a redshirt freshman, Jack Jensen, who in his first varsity action defeated Lehigh’s Matt Cassidy, 6-3, at 184 after the Mountain Hawks built a 15-11 lead.
Smith said he doesn’t look think he has “holes” in his line-up.
“I just think it is really competitive,” Smith said. “We just match up with teams where their strength is on the flip side of our strength. In the end, it’s about an effort by the team.”
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