OCU Wrestler Zach Skates Wins Oklahoma City Open

Zach Skates' 165-pound open title highlighted Oklahoma City University's effort in the Oklahoma City Open on Sunday at Abe Lemons Arena.

Monday, November 5th 2012, 3:59 pm

By: News 9


Zach Skates' 165-pound open title highlighted Oklahoma City University's effort in the Oklahoma City Open on Sunday at Abe Lemons Arena.

Kidd Gomez at 125 took runner-up honors in the open division, while Cody Sivertsen at 184 picked up a second-place finish in the freshman-sophomore division for the Stars, ranked 14th in NAIA wrestling.

Other OCU placers were Michael Brown, third at 197; Mark Meyer, fourth at 157; and Teagan Franco, fourth at 174. Finishing fourth at their respective weight in the freshman-sophomore division were Casey Powell at 149 and Michael Conner at 174.

In the open division, OCU's Jared Steinbach at 125 and Stanley Lattimore at 285 reached the consolation semifinals before being knocked out. Among the freshmen and sophomores, Alvie Killingsworth at 125, Jacob King at 165 and Derek Locust at 285 advanced to the consolation semifinals before being eliminated.

Skates, a redshirt freshman from Broken Arrow, triumphed 7-4 over Gian Traverso of Missouri Valley to capture his first open tournament championship with the Stars. Skates held the 13th spot among NAIA 165-pounders, while Traverso stood 10th in the national rankings. Skates edged Zach Aylor of Central Oklahoma 6-5 to make the title match.

Gomez, a senior from Noble, Okla., fell to Jared Patterson, competed unattached from Oklahoma, 14-3 in the 125-pound final. Gomez, ranked ninth in the NAIA, pinned Jeremy Schwiesow of New Mexico Highlands in 2:59 in the first round of the tournament.

Brown, a sophomore from Noble, defeated Znick Ferrell, wrestling unattached from Central Oklahoma, 4-0 in the third-place 197-pound bout. Brown is the top-ranked 197-pounder in the NAIA.

Meyer, a senior from Midwest City, fell 8-4 to Derek Geiges, an unattached Oklahoma individual, in the 157-pound third-place match. Meyer, rated 16th nationally, routed Bernie Gonzales of Wayland Baptist (Texas) 16-0 in the consolation semifinals.

Franco, a junior from Spanaway, Wash., lost by fall to Reece Wright-Conklin of Newman (Kan.) in the 197-pound third-place contest.

OCU takes on Arkansas Baptist at 7 p.m. Thursday in Little Rock, Ark.

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