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March 3, 2012

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Kendric Maple earned an individual title for the Sooners at 141 pounds as 12th-ranked Oklahoma finished third at the 2012 Big 12 Championships inside the Hearnes Center on the campus of the University of Missouri on Saturday night.

Additionally, Jarrod Patterson (125 pounds) and Matt Lester (157) claimed silver medals after falling to Missouri's Alan Waters and Drake Houdashelt, respectively.

“There was some good and some bad today,” Mark Cody said. “There were a couple matches in the semis that I thought could have gone a bit different. Fast forward to the finals and at 125 we don’t attack. If you don’t attack, you don’t win. Kendric Maple goes out and he is so relentless in his attack that even when he doesn’t get it you know he is going to go again. We are never in a panic in the corner because we know he is going to give himself more opportunities to score.

“Then we go to 157 where we took one shot. You can’t take one shot, not get that shot, and expect to win. That goes for any competition. You have got to wrestle solid and that is what we have to make sure we work on in the next couple of weeks.”

Final Brackets | Match-By-Match | Championship Central | Photo Gallery | Final's Results

OU finished third overall with 60.5 points after being edged out by Oklahoma State (73). Missouri claimed the title with 77 points, while Iowa State (24) placed fourth.

Maple, who boasts a 28-1 record on the year, became OU's 177th Conference Champion as he claimed his first conference title.

“It feels great,” Maple said. “It is a stepping-stone heading into next week’s NCAAs. This is what we have been planning on all week and not something we are shocked by. Coach has been telling us the same thing and that is we are going to be champs. It’s all falling in place now.

“It adds a little momentum, but I still have a lot of work to do. Even in today’s matches I saw a lot of areas I need to work on. Hopefully, I can get it all worked out before nationals.”

Cody believes that the future is bright for the redshirt sophomore from Wichita, Kan.

“Kendric Maple has set a benchmark for this program in what he has done this year. He is incredible and an amazing human-being. He does everything the right way and I’ve got a handful of guys that do things right. He bought in 100 percent from the start and I think that is why he is where he is now as a Big 12 champion. I will be shocked if he’s not an NCAA champion in two weeks.”

Additionally, seven OU wrestlers -- Jordan Keller (133), Nick Lester (149), Bubby Graham (165), Kyle Detmer (174), Erich Schmidtke (184) and Kyle Colling (184) -- finished third in their respective weight classes, which helped OU stand second heading into the finals.

Under the qualifying criteria for the NCAA, eight Sooners -- Patterson, Keller, Maple, Nick Lester, Matt Lester, Graham, Detmer and Schmidtke -- automatically punched their tickets to the National Tournament held in St. Louis, Mo., March 15-17.

FINALS

125 Pounds: Jarrod Patterson, ranked No. 9, challenged the No. 1 seed and third-ranked Alan Waters of Missouri. The two went scoreless for the first two period before Waters took control in the final period. In the third period, Waters chose the bottom position where he reversed Patterson 1:14 into the period. With the reversal in hand, Waters added five near fall points to close out the period and claim the 125 pound title, 7-0.   

141 Pounds: Kendric Maple became OU's 177th Conference Champion after he earned a convincing 11-5 victory over OSU's Josh Kindig, ranked No. 11. Maple, ranked No. 2, tallied three takedowns and an escape in the first period, but gave up a reversal and two escapes to Kindig. Kindig chose the bottom position to start the second where he earned an escape at the 1:19 mark. Maple added a takedown to close out the second period and earned the only point in the third with an escape. Maple added 1:26 of riding time to run away with the win.

157 Pounds: Matt Lester dropped a 3-1 contest to Missouri's Drake Houdashelt in the finals. Lester held a 1-0 advantage heading into the third period where Houdashelt chose the bottom position. Nine seconds into the final period Houdashelt reversed Lester and added riding time to earn the win.

TEAM SCORES

1. Missouri (77)
2. Oklahoma State (73)
3. Oklahoma (60.5)
4. Iowa State (24)

CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

125 - Alan Waters (MU) dec. Jarrod Patterson (OU), 7-0
133 - Jordan Oliver (OSU) MD. Nathan McCormick (MU)
141 - Kendric Maple (OU) dec. Josh Kindig (OSU), 11-5
149 - Jamal Parks (OSU) dec. Kyle Bradley (MU), 8-3
157 - Drake Houdashelt (MU) dec. Matt Lester (OU), 3-1
165 - Zach Toal (MU) dec. Andrew Sorenson (ISU), 3-2
174 - Chris Perry (OSU) dec. Dorian Henderson (MU), 8-2
184 - Mike Larson (MU) dec. Boaz Beard (ISU), 5-4
197 - Cayle Byers (OSU) dec. Brent Haynes (MU), 5-0
HWT - Matt Gibson (ISU) dec. Austin Marsden (OSU), 8-3