Mar. 21, 2003
KANSAS CITY, MO – Hawkeye sophomore heavyweight Steve Mocco advanced to Saturdayafternoon’s championship finals with a 10-2 major decision over Arizona State’s Kellan Fluckiger in thesemifinals Friday night at the NCAA Championships in Kansas City, MO. It was the fifth win of Mocco’scareer over Fluckiger and his third win of the tournament.
Mocco, the 2002 NCAA runner-up and the topseededheavyweight of the 2003 tournament, will face Kevin Hoy of Air Force in the finals. Hoy scored aninjury default over defending NCAA Champion Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State in the other heavyweightsemifinal. ESPN will air a tape delayed broadcast of the championship fina ls at 6 p.m. (CT).
In the team race, Iowa is in sixth place with 50 points after the second day of competition. OklahomaState is leading the team race with 109 points, advancing two wrestlers to the finals. Defending teamchampion Minnesota is in second place with 90.5 points and three finalists.
The Hawkeyes have three wrestlers still competing in the tournament, including Mocco, and all threeare assured all-America status. Junior Cliff Moore and senior Jessman Smith will be wrestling in theconsolation semifinals Saturday morning. Moore lost a 13-3 major decision to Minnesota’s Ryan Lewis inthe 133-pound semifinal, dropping his career mark against the Golden Gopher to 3-6. Moore will face ZachRoberson of Iowa State in the consolation semifinals. Smith picked up his second loss of the season in thesemifinals, losing a 9-4 decision to Missouri’s Scott Barker at 184. Smith will face Clint Wattenberg ofCornell in the consolation semifinals.
In the consolation bracket Friday night, redshirt freshman Ty Eustice was eliminated from thetournament with a 6-3 loss to Dustin Manotti of Cornell. Eustice ends the season with a 29-9 season record.
