Note: Writer Mark Palmer attended the Big 10s and contributed the great article below. However, we do not have any photographic coverage of the event. All photos are from past events this season.

Elements of Surprise Electrify 2003 Big Ten Championships
By Mark Palmer

Luke Becker's 1st place performance at 157 lbs helped Minnesota capture the Big Ten team title

It wouldn’t be accurate to say the earth was rocked to its core by seismic upsets at the 2003 Big Ten wrestling championships. However, there were some noteworthy surprises to make things very interesting for the 4,200 fans packed into the venerable University of Wisconsin Fieldhouse at Madison on March 8 and 9:

• Minnesota takes the team title: The Golden Gophers earned 126.5 points to edge out the Iowa Hawkeyes by five points for the team championship… Minnesota’s third straight. (In fact, in the long history of the Big Ten championships, only one other school has won three consecutive team titles: Iowa won nine straight with Dan Gable as coach.) This top-place finish might be considered something of a surprise, especially with Minnesota’s rocky early-season performance, and three losses to cross-border rival Iowa during the regular season.

Minnesota had three individual champions. Two of them -- Jared Lawrence at 149 lbs, and Luke Becker at 157 — are defending NCAA champions. (In the finals, Lawrence topped Ty Eustice of Iowa 4-0; Becker beat Michigan’s Gray Maynard 6-3.) The third -- Damion Hahn at 197 — turned around what had been an injury-plagued season to beat top-seeded Nik Fekete of Michigan State 8-3, getting revenge for a regular-season loss.

Iowa also crowned three champs. Top-ranked heavyweight Steve Mocco defeated defending NCAA champ Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State 4-1, and earned Outstanding Wrestler of the Season honors. In the 184 lb finals, Jessman Smith won over Penn State’s Mark Becks 2-1, thanks to 1:01 of riding time — one second more than the minimum. Cliff Moore served up Iowa’s surprise, upsetting number-one-ranked Ryan Lewis of Minnesota with a 3-1 sudden victory win.

Scott Moore, 141 lb Champion from Penn State, upset #1 seed Coyte Cooper of Indiana

• Penn State places third: The Nittany Lions have a long legacy of wrestling excellence that has suffered somewhat in recent years. This season, Penn State was 3-5 in the Big Ten conference, tied for seventh. At Madison, the Lions roared back to their winning ways, with one individual champion (Scott Moore at 141 lbs, who surprised Indiana’s top-seeded Coyte Cooper in the finals 8-5), one runner-up, two third-place finishers, three in fourth, and one each in seventh and eighth. In fact, no Penn State wrestler lost to a lower-seeded wrestler during the entire tournament. For these reasons, Troy Sunderland was named Big Ten Coach of the Year.

 

• Purdue picks up two individual championships: Although they came in seventh in the overall team scoring, the Boilermakers were stoked by the efforts of two titleists. The phenomenal Chris Fleeger started the finals in electrifying style by pinning Michigan’s A.J. Grant at 125 lbs, and took home the Outstanding Wrestler of the Big Ten tournament trophy. Getting into the spirit of surprises, Ryan Lange upset Iowa’s Tyler Nixt by the score of 4-3 in the 174 lb finals… helping Minnesota secure its first-place position.

The 2002-2003 season may be the year of Matt Lackey. The Illinois 165-pounder — who made headlines at Christmastime by avenging repeated losses to long-time rival Joe Heskett at the 2002 Midlands finals -- continued his unbeaten streak this season with a 5-3 win over Minnesota’s Jacob Volkmann.

What happened in Madison has impact beyond mere mat bragging rights in the Midwest. The Big Ten is allotted 72 places at the 2003 NCAA Division I wrestling championships -- the top seven placers at the 2003 Big Ten tournament, along with two wild cards, Purdue’s Clovis Clark at 157, and Wisconsin’s Ed Gutnik at 149. In addition, if one of the qualifiers is unable to compete, there are three alternates: Adam Smith at 125 from Penn State, Iowa’s Matt Anderson at 165, and Matt Delguyd at 197 for Northwestern.

Cliff Moore of Iowa defeated top seeded Ryan Lewis of Minnesota in overtme during the 133 lb finals match

Here’s who will be making the trip to the NCAAs at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri (listed in order of team standings):

1. Minnesota — 126.5 points/8 qualifiers: Bobbe Lowe (125 lbs), Ryan Lewis (133), Derek Phillips (141), Jared Lawrence (149), Luke Becker (157), Jacob Volkmann (165), Damion Hahn (197), Garrett Lowney (heavyweight).
   
   
2. Iowa — 121 points/7 qualifiers: Luke Eustice (125), Cliff Moore (133), Ty Eustice (149), Joe Johnston (157), Tyler Nixt (174), Jessman Smith (184), Steve Mocco (hwt).
   
   
3. Penn State — 111.5 points/8 qualifiers: Josh Moore (133), Scott Moore (141), Nathan Galloway (149), Nate Wachter (157), Doc Vecchio (165), Mark Becks (184), Ryan Cummins (197), Pat Cummins (hwt).
   
   
4. Michigan State — 92.5 points/6 qualifiers: Nick Simmons (125 — named Big Ten Freshman of the Year), Ryan L’Amoreaux (141), Karl Nadosky (149), Gray Maynard (157), Rashad Evans (174), Nik Fekete (197)
   
   
5. Illinois — 92 points/8 qualifiers: Twan Pham (125), Mark Jayne (133), Tony Pedrosa (149), Alex Tirapelle (157), Matt Lackey (165), Brian Glynn (174), Pete Friedl (184), Tyrone Byrd (197).
   
   
6. Michigan — 90.5 points/8 qualifiers: A.J. Grant (125), Clark Forward (141), Ryan Churella (149), Ryan Bertin (157), Mike Kulczycki (165), Pat Owen (174), Kyle Smith (197), Greg Wagner (hwt).

   Purdue's Ryan Lange upset Tyler Nixt of Iowa 4-3 in the 174 lb finals

   
   
   
7. Purdue — 84.5 points/8 qualifiers: Chris Fleeger (125), Rene Hernandez (133), Dan Jankowski (149), Clovis Crane (157), Oscar Santiago (165), Ryan Lange (174), Ben Wissel (184), Israel Blevins (hwt).
   
   
8. Ohio State — 84 points/7 qualifiers: Jeff Ratliff (141), Keaton Anderson (157), Johnny Clark (165), Blake Kaplan (174), Casey Kapusktka (184), Anton Talamentes (197), Tommy Rowlands (hwt).
   
   
9. Wisconsin — 71.5 points/7 qualifiers: Tony Black (125), Tom Clum (133), Tyler Laudon (141), Ed Gutnik (149), Brady Reinke (174), Ralph DeNisco (184), Lee Kraemer (197), Justin Staebler (hwt).
   
   
10. Indiana — 36 points/3 qualifiers: Greg Schaefer (133), Coyte Cooper (141), Ty Matthews (184).
    
    
11. Northwestern — 12 points/1 qualifier: Jason Erwinski (165).