OU GYMNASTICS

Oklahoma sophomore gymnast Yul Moldauer pulled an upset over an Olympic silver medalist Friday in the American Cup, boosting an already impressive resume. Moldauer became the first American to win the event since 2013.

As the final seconds of the third period counted down in the 141-pound NCAA wrestling championship semifinals Friday night, Oklahoma State coach John Smith raised a single fist in the air.

Dean Heil’s reaction was equally subdued. The OSU junior defeated Rutgers’ Anthony Ashnault with a 4-2 decision victory, giving Heil a repeat bid to defend his NCAA title, and he put an index finger to his lips as he calmly walked toward his corner.

Put simply, Heil told more than 18,000 inside the Scottrade Center to hush up. The champ is back. “I guarantee that if you aren’t an Oklahoma State fan you probably want me to lose,” Heil said. “That’s how I view it. Everybody is waiting for me to lose, and they keep doubting me, and I’m here to prove them wrong.”

Dating back to last season, Heil has now won 40 consecutive matches. His latest reflected a strategy, while often nervewracking, has proven fruitful. The first period began with a series of defensive moves by both wrestlers, broken only when Heil used a singleleg takedown with under a minute left for the first two points of the match.

It was more of the same in the second, with no score until a Heil escape with 1:12 remaining. Ashnault began the third period in attack-mode, earning a two-point takedown right out of the gate. But Heil managed another escape, then went back on the defense to run out the clock.

It marked the 10th time this year Heil has won a match by two points or less.

“I do what I need to win, maybe not the best mindset, you know,” Heil said. “It may not be pretty. Gives my fans a heart attack. It makes people not like the way I wrestle. One thing I was told was don’t care what anybody thinks about how you wrestle, and that’s what I focus on.”

Now, Heil advances the NCAA finals starting 7 p.m. Saturday where he’ll face a familiar opponent in Virginia redshirt senior George DiCamillio. The pair attended rival high schools in Northern Ohio — Heil at St. Edward and DiCamillio at St. Ignatius — for blue-blood wrestling programs separated by just five miles.

The pair has competed since their youth-league days, and back in January, they met at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn., with Heil earning a 2-1 decision victory.

“It’s special,” DiCamillio said. “Dean is the reason I train as hard as I do. It’s simple. He’s the defending champ. We have history. We have bad blood. We’ve wrestled since he were little kids. He took away my dream of a high state championship when I was a sophomore and he took away my dream of a scuffle championship this year. So I’m coming after him.”

Heil expects nothing less.

There’s only one more person he’s aiming to silence.

“As far as I can remember, we’ve grown up scrapping with each other,” Heil said. “I think what makes this extra special is after I beat him at scuffle he gave me a shove after my match and said, ‘See you in March.’

“Going to see him tomorrow. Excited about it.”

Entering the sixth and final rotation of the American Cup, Oklahoma sophomore gymnast Yul Moldauer finally allowed himself to look at the scoreboard.

He knew he’d been doing well, earning scores to keep him competitive with Rio silver medalist Oleg Vernlaiev. Until he looked at the scoreboard, however, he didn’t realize that he was ahead of Vernlaiev by less than a point — .99 — and had been ahead of him for most of the day.

But the gymnasts were entering the high bar rotation, Moldauer’s weakest element. Suddenly, a difficult task felt even more momentous.

“It definitely added pressure,” Moldauer said. “I had to re-control myself and re-control my thoughts. I can’t get too nervous, because high bar, if you get nervous, you can be late on a tap and go over on a release or something like that. So I just tried to go in there and do my own routine and see what happens.”

To clinch the top spot, Moldauer needed at least a 13.501. He took a deep breath and performed his routine. When he was done, he looked at the

Oklahoma State tied a school record Friday with eight wrestlers earning All-American honors at the NCAA championships: (125),

(157), (165),

(133),

(141), (174) and (184). Final team scores had yet to reach their completion by the print deadline of this edition of The Oklahoman, but at last check the Cowboys sat tied for second place with Ohio State and Missouri at 81.5, second only to Penn State at 117.5. Check newsok.com/sports for the most up-to-date results.

COLLICA AND SCHAFER ELIMINATED IN THIRD SESSION

The careers of two senior OSU wrestlers ended with disappointment on Thursday.

the second-seed at 149 pounds, and the sixthseed at heavyweight, were both eliminated with losses in wrestlebacks.

Collica — only the eighth OSU wrestler in OSU history to win four Big 12 titles — won his first-round match Thursday with an 11-2 major decision against Wyoming’s but was upset in the second session by Rutgers’ No. 15-seed 9-3, in sudden victory overtime. Collica appeared on track to rebound Friday morning, leading Arizona State’s

4-2, with ridingtime advantage in the third period, but fell victim to a takedown and four-point near fall in the final seconds to lose 8-5.

“It kinda goes back to his first loss,” OSU coach

said, “aggressive mistakes.”

Schafer, who also went 1-1 after two sessions, was defeated Friday by Lehigh’s

5-1. scoreboard. 13.733. Just like that, the college sophomore who had been passed over for an alternate spot on the USA’s Olympic Team for his inexperience became the first American to win the event since 2013.

“It certainly was an upset,” OU coach Mark Williams said. “The guy he beat was the Olympic silver medalist in Rio. It’s a little bit the off season internationally, so maybe he wasn’t in his best form, but they both went six routines and neither one of them had a fall, so straight up, Yul just had a better day.”

The American Cup win is just another line on an impressive resume for the young gymnast. In his freshman season at Oklahoma, Moldauer captured the NCAA AllAround title en route to Oklahoma’s 10th team national championship.

This time around, Mouldauer enters Oklahoma’s final meet of the regular season against

SOONERS FINISH WITH ZERO ALL-AMERICANS

For the first time since 2009, the Oklahoma wrestling team will not finish with an All-American at the national tournament.

OU advanced four wrestlers to the second day of competition in wrestlebacks — (197),

(141), (165) and (285) — but each was eliminated in secondday defeats. In 2016, the Sooners featured a pair of All-American performances from (125) and

(133). No. 4 Illinois as second in the country in his four score average according to RoadToNationals.com. At 86.450, his average is just shy of Stanford’s Akash Modl, who’s averaging 87.050.

Repeating as the NCAA All-Around champion won’t be an easy feat as Moldauer spent his summer training trying to up his difficulty. In doing so, his scores got a little worse before they began to climb back to his normal standard.

“It’s sometimes harder to stay there than to get there,” Williams said. “Over the summer Yul’s worked real hard on upping difficulty and trying to gain in strength and make it so that his start values are a little bit higher. In doing that, it often makes your gymnastics more difficult to

ST. LOUIS EARNS HIGH MARKS AS HOST SITE

The Scottrade Center has now played host to the NCAA wrestling championships eight different times. The 12-strory glass and concrete building is located in downtown St. Louis and is home to the Blues hockey team of the NHL.

“It’s been a great place to have it over the years,” Smith said. “They put on a good show for the student athletes. They really do go out of their way to create a good environment for them. It’s a great place to have it.”

Big 12 commissioner do and you tend to score lower for a while until you eventually adjust to all that.”

Moldauer’s mark at the American Cup proves that he’s adjusting to the increased difficulty, and the win has given him an increased confidence entering the end of the regular season. More than that, the exposure from the competition sets him up for a run at making the 2020 olympic squad.

“I see the qualities where in time I’m hoping he can compete right up with those guys,” Williams said.

“Obviously, beating Oleg already is a huge confidence boost to him. I think he has the attributes, very artistic, beautiful lines, very consistent and he’s a great competitor.”

who spent seven years on the NCAA Wrestling Committee, explained why it keeps coming back to the arena while in attendance on Thursday.

“I think the reason it keeps coming back to St. Louis is because it’s a good venue,” Bowlsby said. “You almost have to have a hockey team in order have a big enough floor. They do a great job here. There is lots to do in the area and around the venue.”

The 2018 NCAA wrestling championships will be held in Cleveland.