The NCAA News - News and Features

March 2, 1998

Division I Wrestling

It isn't safe to count out Iowa, despite three losses at home this season

Event: 1998 Division I Wrestling Championships.

Overview: Legendary Iowa coach Dan Gable is taking the year off from coaching and may retire. The three-time defending champion Hawkeyes have lost at home three times. Before this year, Iowa had not lost at home since 1988. The latest defeat came against undefeated and top-ranked Oklahoma State in front of a season-high crowd of 13,240. The Cowboys posted their 42nd straight win and 17th straight this season, 22-18. Penn State, the team that won at Iowa in 1988, ended the Hawkeyes' home-mat string with a 25-17 victory in the home debut of Iowa head coach Jim Zalesky. Less than two weeks later, Minnesota, which joins Oklahoma State and Iowa as top contenders, handed the Hawkeyes another home loss (18-17) January 18 in the final of the Cliff Keen National Dual Meet Championships. Five days later, Iowa gained revenge in Minnesota, claiming a 17-12 win in Min-neapolis in front of a record Gopher crowd of 11,283 .... Oklahoma State is led by returning 126-pound champion Eric Guerrero and last year's 134-pound finalist, Steven Schmidt, who is wrestling in the 142-pound class this year .... Despite their troubles, no one is counting out the Hawkeyes. That lesson was learned last year when Iowa rang up a record 170 points as an underdog .... Iowa has four returning champions, including two-time 158-pound winner Joe Williams, Mark Ironside (134 pounds) and Lee Fullhart (190 pounds). Jeff McGinness, who won at 126 pounds in 1995, wrestles at 142 pounds this season .... Advance all-session tickets are sold out for the third consecutive year, but the attendance records set last season at Northern Iowa are safe because Cleveland State's Convocation Center is a smaller arena than the UNI Dome.

Field: A total of 330 wrestlers will compete for 10 individual weight-class championships. The team champion is determined by adding the team points scored in those individual matches.

Dates and site: March 19-21 at Cleveland State.

Television coverage: ESPN2 will air a highlights show at 12:30 a.m. (Eastern time) March 23 (9:30 p.m. Pacific time March 22).

Information/results: The fax-on-demand number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1905). The request number for qualifiers, current brackets and team scores is 5336. The request numbers for play-by-play are 5337 (semifinals) and 5338 (finals). Championships results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Results will be published in the March 30 issue of The NCAA News.