UCO wrestling places four at Fort Hays

HAYS, Kan. (Dec. 4) – Freshman Cory Dauphin had an impressive outing in his collegiate debut with a runner-up finish at the Fort Hays State Open here Saturday to lead four Central Oklahoma placers in the all-day tournament.

Dauphin won four matches en route to the 157-pound finals before dropping a last-second decision there, with the No. 11-ranked Bronchos also getting third-place showings from 141 Casy Rowell, 165 Derrick Adkins and 197 Jarrett Edison.

“It was a good, tough tournament and we had some guys perform pretty well for us today,” UCO coach David James said.  “A lot of young guys got some valuable experience and we made some positive progress.  We’ve still got to find a way to win some of the close matches, but I like the direction we’re going.”

Dauphin, a four-time state champion at El Reno High School who missed the first three tournaments of the season with injury, made up for lost time with his big day.  The rookie followed an opening-round bye with a second-period fall and a 7-1 rout before winning back-to-back overtime decisions to make the finals.

Dauphin dropped a tough 3-1 decision to Oklahoma State’s Stephen Swan in the title bout, with Swan scoring the winning takedown in the final 10 seconds.

Rowell, UCO’s starter at 125 last year who had been competing at 133, bumped up to 141 and went 5-1 in finishing third.  The sophomore followed a first-round bye with an 8-5 victory before losing in the quarterfinals and then bounced back with four straight consolation wins, capping the night with a 4-3 win over Oklahoma’s Ian Fisher.

Adkins drew an opening bye and then recorded a 16-0 technical fall, 15-2 major decision and 4-3 victory in making the semifinals before losing.  The sophomore came back with a 6-5 win in the consolation semis before scoring a second-period fall in the third-place match.

Edison rolled into the semifinals with two major decisions and a first-period fall before dropping a tough 4-1 decision there to defending national champion and top-ranked Donovan McMahill of Western State.  The fifth-rated Edison rebounded with a 3-2 tiebreaker win in the consolation semis and then scored an 8-0 major decision in the bronze medal match.

UCO had three other wrestlers make the semifinals, but 133 Trison Graham, 141 Kaleb Cradduck and heavyweight Cody Dauphin, but all three lost two straight matches after that.

Ben Morgan (149) and Tanner Keck (184) also had good showings, with Morgan going 4-2 and Keck winning five straight consolation matches after a first-round defeat before being eliminated in a consolation semifinal tiebreaker.

The Bronchos return to dual action Thursday, hosting Oklahoma City at 7 p.m.

Fort Hays State Open
Placement Matches
Championship Finals
157 – Stephen Swan, OSU, dec. Cory Dauphin, UCO (unattached), 3-1.

Consolation Finals
141 – Casy Rowell, UCO (unattached), dec. Ian Fisher, OU, 4-3.
165 – Derrick Adkins, UCO, pinned Jameon Rush, Hastings, 4:07.
197 – Jarrett Edison, UCO, major dec. Jahsua Marsh, Missouri, 8-0.