Three OU wrestlers finished the 2010-11 season honored as All-Americans on Saturday at the NCAA tournament in Philadelphia at Wells Fargo Arena.
Penn State won the team national championship, and Oklahoma finished 15th overall in the team standings.
Sophomore Jarrod Patterson (125 pounds) and senior Zack Bailey (141) finished seventh each at the tournament.
Patterson earned the first All-American distinction of his career in a victory over No. 4 James Nicholson of Old Dominion University. Bailey earned his second All-American honors with a win over No. 12 Zack Kemmerer of Penn.
Sophomore two-time All-American and third-ranked Tyler Caldwell (165) earned the highest individual placement of any Sooner with a second-place finish.
Caldwell won a semifinal match in overtime over second-ranked Andrew Howe of Wisconsin to earn another chance to avenge losses against No. 1 Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska. But Burroughs’ power and technique once again proved too much for Caldwell and beat the Sooner, 11-3.
Burroughs, a fifth-year senior, also beat Caldwell in the finals of the Big 12 championship.
OU coach Jack Spates retires from Oklahoma having coached 56 All-Americans and six individual national champions. His 243 wins rank second all-time in OU history.
“I am so grateful for all the many experiences, all the great people and these kids that are so wonderful,” Spates said in a press release. “Sooner wrestling is going to be upward and onward, and I’ll be following it with pride.”
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