NCAA Wrestling : Oklahoma State Wins 28th Title, Its First Since 1971

Oklahoma State ended 18 years of frustration Saturday by winning its 28th National Collegiate Athletic Assn. wrestling championship.

“I can’t even begin to describe this,” Cowboy Coach Joe Seay said. “I came here to win, not so much for myself but for the alumni.”

Arizona State, the defending champion, had the only chance to catch the Cowboys. But Oklahoma State’s Mike Farrell won his consolation match at 177 pounds, and the Sun Devils’ John Ginther was beaten at 190 pounds.

In a fifth-place match at 134, freshman Chuck Barbee won a major decision for Oklahoma State, clinching the title.

Kendall Cross and Chris Barnes won titles at 126 and 177 for Oklahoma State.

Cross, whose 1-0 semifinal victory over Iowa’s Tom Brands was the turning point for the Cowboys, got a 5-2 decision over Michael Stokes of North Carolina State at 126.

Barnes beat top-seeded Brad Lloyd of Lock Haven by a criteria decision in overtime at 177. Barnes and Lloyd had drawn in a match earlier this season.

The Cowboys last won the national tournament in 1971, in Tommy Chesbro’s first year as coach. That was also Chesbro’s last title, and Seay replaced him in 1984.

“It’s been a long drought,” said Myron Roderick, Oklahoma State’s athletic director who coached the Cowboys to seven of their championships in the 1950s and ‘60s.

“We’ve got a good bunch of kids,” Roderick said. “They fought hard and that’s what it takes to win.”

“When you’ve had a tradition like we’ve had . . . it’s good for us and it’s good for Joe.”

The Cowboys won in part because of three freshmen, including Todd Chesbro, the former coach’s son. Chesbro advanced to the semifinals and eventually finished third. Barbee, who was unseeded, came in fifth, while heavyweight Kirk Mammen, also unseeded, was sixth.