By: Craig Phillips & Rich Herman

KANSAS CITY -- Clarion University seniors Rad Martinez and John Testa will return to Pennsylvania as All-Americans after earning medals Saturday in the 73^rd NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Kemper Arena.

Both earned All-American honors for the first time. Martinez placing fifth at 133 pounds and Testa picking up eighth place at heavyweight.

Martinez, who lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to defending champion Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State in Friday's semifinals, started off slowly in the wrestlebacks.

Paired against Penn State's Josh Moore, the Golden Eagle traded takedown attempts with the Nittany Lion before Moore connected on a headlock for five points with :37 remaining in the first period.

Moore escaped to open the second period before disaster struck Martinez, just when it seemed he was about to make a breakthrough on scoreboard.

Martinez, getting in deep on a double-leg shot, appeared to have Moore in trouble before the Penn State junior locked up a leg cradle for a takedown and two near-fall points to increase his lead to 10-0 after two periods.

Moore, taking a cautious approach, was warned for stalling with 1:04 left in the bout and penalized one point with :22 remaining. Martinez completed the scoring by converting a low single-leg shot for a takedown with:12 left on the clock.

Martinez admitted his controversial defeat to Thompson may have had an affect on his performance against Moore.

"I only got a hour and a half of sleep (Friday night), it wore on my mind," Martinez said. "I kept thinking what I could have done different. It was tough."

In Martinez's bout for fifth place, he once again faced a Moore -- this time Iowa's Cliff Moore, a returning All-American and the second seed entering the tournament.

"I felt I couldn't come this far and settle for sixth," Martinez said.

He didn't settle for sixth, wrestling with technical skill and inspired hustle on his way to a 4-0 shutout victory.

Martinez escaped :15 into the second period and stuck with a double-leg shot later in the stanza before getting the takedown at the buzzer to lead 3-0.

The final two minutes of his collegiate career were a textbook example of riding tough as he controlled Moore to earn 1:48 riding time and lock up the win.

"It's bittersweet," Martinez said of his finish. "I'm happy to be an All-American, but I was so close to being in the finals. I thought I wrestled well, but I could be wrestling (tonight).

"In looking at my previous years in the NCAAs, this is far better," he continued. "I'm happy with the way I wrestled."

Martinez completed the season with a 41-10 record and his career as a Golden Eagle with a 98-27 mark.

"(Josh) Moore's style didn't match up with Rad's," Clarion coach Ken Nellis said. "He's a hard kid to wrestle."

"(Cliff) Moore's style was more to Rad's liking," he continued. "(Rad) did a nice job. It was a good way to finish, beating an Iowa kid. I'm really happy for him."

Testa met a familiar opponent in Matt Feast of Penn in the battle for seventh. They had wrestled twice prior to nationals with Testa winning the most recent bout, 3-1 in the Penn State Open.

Feast opened the scoring with a takedown with 1:20 remaining in the first period and Testa managed an escape to close within 2-1 entering the second.

Testa escaped via a standup :30 into the period to knot the bout at 2-2, but Feast used a snap-and-spin takedown with :59 left to go up 4-2. Once again, Testa escaped and trailed 4-3 going into the third.

Testa released Feast on the whistle in the last period and made his move with a low double-leg takedown to tie the bout at 5-5 with :52 left.

Feast escaped six seconds later to go up 6-5. Testa, pursuing Feast in search of the winning takedown, took an ill-advised shot with :25 left and Feast spun behind for the a takedown of his own and an 8-5 lead.

Testa escaped with :10 remaining to set the final at 8-6.

The Clarion heavyweight completed the season with a 43-5 record and career mark of 134-29.

"I don't think John shot enough after the Lowney match," Clarion coach Ken Nellis said, referring to Testa's win in the second round.

"Giving up the first takedown hurt (Testa)," he continued.

Nellis was proud of the accomplishments of both of his All-Americans.

"They had outstanding careers and I'm happy they're All-Americans," Nellis said. "Those two and Eric Mausser have been the core of our team. We'll miss them in a lot of ways -- work ethic, leadership, involvement with the community. They rubbed off on a lot of our guys."

FRIDAY NIGHT

MARTINEZ & TESTA ALL-AMERICANS

MAUSSER ELIMINATED AT 197

By Craig Phillips & Rich Herman

KANSAS CITY -- Clarion University's Rad Martinez can only think what could have been, but he knows one thing for certain -- he's an All-American wrestler.

Teammate John Testa, who came within a win of achieving All-American honors a year ago, came through with a pivotal victory in the wrestlebacks and will join Martinez as an All-American.

Martinez, a senior, claimed All-American honors in Friday's quarterfinals of the 73^rd NCAA Division I Championships at Kemper Arena with a solid 8-3 decision over Brandon Lauer of West Virginia.

The Clarion matman, 3-0 against Lauer prior to their quarterfinal bout, took control early with a first-period takedown and increased his margin to 5-0 with an escape and counter takedown with :59 left in the second.

Martinez then put an exclamation point on his quest for victory buy burying the Mountaineer with a dominating ride.

Lauer did manage an escape and meaningless reversal in the third, but Martinez countered with a takedown and added 1:51 riding time.

Martinez entered the semifinals against defending champion Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State with a 40-8 record, which tied him for third with Wade Schalles, Bill Simpson, Jim Beichner and Mark Angle on Clarion's single-season win list.

Thompson, 27-2, was the top seed in the weight class and advanced with a 3-2 win over Mark Jayne in the quarterfinals.

Thompson posted a 4-2 victory over Martinez early in the season in the Reno Tournament of Champions at Reno, Nev.

What transpired in their semifinal bout not only surprised the crowd of 17,000, but infuriated most -- other than the Oklahoma State faithful.

Thompson struck first following a scoreless first period with an escape :04 into the second and held a 1-0 lead entering the third.

Martinez, needing one point to tie the bout, caught Thompson's attempted grapevine coming in, turned into Thompson and executed a double-leg tackle to perfection to gain a reversal with :52 into the period.

Leading 2-1, Martinez maintained his top position, but was warned for stalling when he was unable return Thompson to the mat after he stood up.

The key call in the bout came with :23 remaining and Martinez in complete control when he was penalized one point for stalling while countering a switch attempt by Thompson. The penalty evened the bout at 2-2, was met with thunderous boos from the crowd and gave the Cowboy a new start.

Thompson took advantage by standing up and escaping with :11 left for a 3-2 win.

Martinez will wrestle back on Saturday morning and can finish no worse than sixth at 133-pounds.

Testa saw his hopes of winning a national title dashed in a 7-1 loss to Iowa's unbeaten Steve Mocco in the quarterfinals.

Testa, 42-3, simply could not penetrate despite several legitimate takedown shots at the unbeaten Hawkeye.

Mocco, 33-0 and a returning runner-up, scored a takedown :45 into the bout and added a point for stalling when Testa was warned and then penalized for inactivity in the bottom position.

Testa picked up his only point of the bout with an escape to open the second period, but Mocco netted a takedown and added a third-period escape and riding time point to complete the scoring.

Faced with the task of getting a win to clinch All-American honors and avoid elimination, Testa repeated his performance of Thursday night by wrestling with enthusiasm in a five-takedown, 15-5 major decision over Paul Hynek of Northern Iowa.

He followed with a 12-4 loss to Boe Rushton of Boise State and will wrestle in the consolation finals today against Penn's Matt Feast for seventh place.

Clarion's Eric Mausser, who dropped his opening-round 197-pound bout Thursday to second-seeded Muhammed Lawal of Oklahoma State, rallied for a pair of wrestleback wins and picked up his third Friday morning when he was awarded a medical forfeit over Anton Talamantes of Ohio State.

Talamantes had been injured during his 6-5 loss to Lock Haven's Morgan Horner in the second round.

Mausser's path to All-American status would be blocked, though, by Marcio Botelho of Fresno State.

Betelho, 34-8 on the season, favored wrestling in the neutral position and opened with a takedown and three-point near fall before Mausser managed a reversal.

Betelho, leading 5-2 after one period, effectively took Mausser out of his offense the remainder of the bout on his way to a 9-6 win.

Mausser, who ironically finished the bout in the top position trying to score near-fall points, completed his career as one of Clarion's top all-time winningest wrestlers.

He was 37-9 on the season and logged a career record of 125-45, which ranks him fifth on the all-time school list for victories with Chuck Coryea and Jim Beichner.

Mausser, a four-time national qualifier, also was one of Clarion's most durable matmen with 170 bouts, second only to Mike Cole's 183.