Grappler Hughes wins NCAA title

By JONATHAN BOMBULIE
Collegian Sports Writer

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Last December, it seemed impossible. In February, it was unlikely at best. Saturday, it became reality.

Embattled 142-pound Lion wrestler John Hughes won a national championship, defeating Fresno State's Gerry Abas, 7-0, in the NCAA wrestling championships at Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Hughes was suspended for the Iowa dual-meet on Dec. 2 and talked about transferring. Last month, academic difficulties sidelined the redshirt junior. Hughes' season was plagued by a number of off-mat problems.

Now, those problems are secondary.

"All that motivated me in a way," Hughes said. "And I owe a lot to (Lion Assistant Coach) Troy Sunderland and my brother (Russ). (Assistant Coach) Hachiro Oishi helped me out, too. There were times when he could have turned his back on me, but he stuck with me and so did (Lion Coach) John Fritz. I appreciate that."

Fritz was equally appreciative of Hughes' efforts.

"There were times this year when I'm sure when he had his head down," Fritz said. "But he picked it up and he kept working at it. This is a culmination of it."

On the mat, Hughes was nearly flawless Saturday. He dominated No. 1 Abas, forcing him to wrestle Hughes' conservative style.

"Usually, he's a lot more explosive and quicker, jumping around more in the first period," Hughes said. "In the third period, he didn't have anything left. He was mentally and physically fatigued."

On the heels of Hughes' win, the Lions finished in fifth place overall with 60.5 points. Iowa won the team title with a total of 134. Penn State's fifth-place finish came without the benefit of titles from the Lions' other two All-Americans.

Heavyweight Kerry McCoy's 88-match win streak was snapped in the semifinals by Northern Iowa's Justin Greenlee, 4-3. McCoy was victimized by a controversial takedown late in the second period and was unable to score despite numerous shots in the third.

"I don't really think I wrestled a bad match," McCoy said. "If we wrestled 10 matches, nine would go my way. But for some reason it was his night."

Lion 126-pounder Sanshiro Abe also failed to bring home an NCAA crown. He was defeated for the third time this season by Iowa's Jeff McGinness. Abe had two takedowns in the match to McGinness' one, but still lost, 6-4.

The turning point in the match came after Abe had taken a 2-1 lead in the first period. McGinness scored a takedown and rode Abe out the remainder of the period.

"That was the match," Abe said. "He rode me the whole entire time. That's that."

But McGinness' title would be the only one for the No. 1 Hawkeyes, who fell prey to two upsets.

At 150 pounds, two-time champion Lincoln McIlravy was shocked by Illinois' Steve Marianetti, 13-10. Previously unbeaten and defending 190-pound champion Joel Sharratt was also upended, losing 8-6 to Oklahoma State's J.J. McGrew.

The losses made the team trophy presentation to Iowa a somber affair.

"When you're a team that has won as much as Iowa," Iowa Coach Dan Gable said, "it's tough to stand up and cheer."

Notes:

-- T.J. Jaworsky of North Carolina (134 pounds) was named outstanding wrestler and Oregon State's Glenn Nieradka (126 pounds) won the award for most pins (three).

-- Illinois was the only school to have multiple champions, with Marianetti winning at 150 and Ernest Benion at 158.

-- The Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd set a new attendance record with an overall crowd of 81,028 fans for the three-day tournament. It broke the record of 70,023 set here in 1991.