NCAA DIV. I Nationals - Kemper Arena - Kansas City, MO.

Martinez & Testa Win - On To Quarterfinals

Mausser Alive in Wrestle Backs

By CRAIG PHILLIPS - O.C. Derrick & RICH HERMAN - Clarion SID

Staff writer

KANSAS CITY -- As opening days go, one Golden Eagle yearned for an instant replay, another dreaded it and yet another accepted it as part of how the story goes at nationals.

Clarion's Rad Martinez transformed a previously disastrous exercise into a cause for celebration Thursday with a pair of wins to advance to the quarterfinals of the 73^{rd NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Kemper Arena.}

He will be joined by teammate John Testa, who posted a pair of wins on opening day for the second-straight year.

Martinez, who injured his elbow prior to competing in the nationals his sophomore year, had an 0-4 record in the NCAA tourney before last night's success. He also was 0-2 as a junior, but there was no injury to blame.

"It don't know what is different from last season," Martinez said. "I guess I'm more prepared."

Martinez advanced in the opening-round at 133 pounds with a dominating 9-0 triumph over Jason Harless of Oregon.

Martinez, who improved to 39-8, set the tone for the win in the first period with a takedown :18 into the bout before grinding Harless into the mat with a tight waist and bar arm to accumulate 2:32 in riding time.

He added an escape and takedown in the second period and used a tilt for a three-point near fall in the third.

He followed with a convincing 5-2 win over North Carolina's Evan Sola, which got off to an inauspicious start.

Sola opened the tournament by logging a 6-2 victory over returning third-place finisher and fourth-seeded Witt Durden of Oklahoma and began his bout with Martinez with a leg shot for a takedown :52 into the bout.

"I was getting frustrated when he was riding me, but when I got the escape, I was confident I could even the score."

Martinez did just that with an escape with :18 left in the first and went ahead to stay with :40 remaining in the second period. The Golden Eagle stood and turned into Sola, clutching him for a reversal before he went out of bounds.

Martinez will face West Virginia's Brandon Lauer in today's quarterfinals which begin at 10 a.m. The second-round wrestlebacks will be contested at the same time.

Martinez earned his automatic berth at nationals with a 7-4 win over Lauer in the Eastern Wrestling League consolation finals.

"I just have to be aggressive (against Lauer) … I can't hold anything back," Martinez said.

"I think Martinez is wrestling with a lot of confidence and is solid," Clarion coach Ken Nellis said. "He's 3-0 against Lauer, but of course Lauer is hot with two pins. Rad needs to control the style of the match."

Testa, the ninth seed at 285 pounds, joined Martinez in the second round with a 7-4 triumph over Tomas Rodriguez of Kent State.

Testa,, 42-2 on the year, surpassed Wade Schalles, Bill Simpson, Jim Beichner and Mark Angle into second place on the single-season win list at Clarion. Mike Cole set the standard with 48 in 1989.

He followed with an inspiring 7-3 victory over two-time All-American Garrett Lowney of Minnesota.

Lowney, a bronze medalist in the 2000 Olympics, handed Testa a 6-2 loss in last year's quarterfinals and went on to place fifth. Testa lost his next bout and was eliminated.

"It feels good," Testa said of the win. "It was one of my better matches. Everybody says 'just go out there and have a good time,' well I did. I have nothing to lose. I have no nerves."

Testa will face returning runner-up and top seed Steve Mocco of Iowa in the quarterfinals. Mocco is 32-0 on the season.

"(John) wrestled excellent against (Lowney)," Nellis said, adding, "if he wrestles like that, it will be a great match with Mocco."

Clarion's Frank Edgar, a wild-card entry, gave fourth-seeded Jason Mester of Central Michigan a game battle in a 3-2 loss at 141 pounds. It was Edgar's second appearance at nationals and he gave a good account of himself.

Mester, a junior with a 22-1 record and the champion of the Mid-American Conference, made a takedown stand up in thee victory.

Edgar, who took the action to Mester most of the match, just missed on three double-leg takedown attempts. He had deep penetration on all three shots, but was turned away a final time at the buzzer after collecting a point when penalized for stalling.

The Clarion redshirt sophomore was then eliminated from the competition when he lost the battle of takedowns in a 5-3 loss to Pitt's Ron Tarquinio.

Edgar finished the season with a 26-18 record.

Eric Mausser, whose bad luck during the seeding meeting continued when he drew second-seed Muhammed Lawal of Oklahoma State in the opening round at 197 pounds.

Lawal, an NCAA Division II champion last year and 25-3 on the year, combined for three takedowns and five near-fall points on his way to a 12-3 win.

Just as he did a year ago, Mausser rallied for two straight wins in the wrestlebacks.

He posted a 6-0 win in the first -round consolations over Greg Sawyer of Rider and came back with a pair of clutch takedowns in a 5-0 victory over Chris Jones of Drexel.

Mausser, 36-8 on the year, will meet Antone Talamantes of Ohio State in the consolations.