JOHNY HAS WINNING LOOK
There is something familiar about Hendricks
Johny Hendricks sure felt welcome when he arrived on the Oklahoma State campus over a year ago.
"The first year I got there, I was walking up to the wrestling room and some woman comes up and says, ‘Hey John,’ " recalled Hen-dricks, a native of Edmond, Okla. "Since I go by John sometimes, I didn’t think much of it and I thought she was just being friendly.
"But she stopped, came back and said, ‘Hey, you’re not John Smith,’ " recalled Hendricks, whose facial features are strikingly similar to that of his OSU coach. "People call him me all the time. It’s a weird deal."
But Hendricks also has learned in the year and one-half that he’s been in Stillwater that an Oklahoma State wrestler has to do a lot more than look like the
Cowboys’ most-heralded wrestler.For in his first year as a member of the Oklahoma State varsity, redshirt freshman Hendricks’ inconsistency had led to him spending as much time out of the line-up as he has in it; sharing the 157-pound spot with sophomore Kevin Ward this season. In fact, Hendricks even lost to Ward, 3-2, during the Missouri Open in late November.
And it was Ward who started in OSU’s first match with Cornell during the recent Cliff Keen NWCA National Duals in Cleveland, Ohio. But after Ward lost his match to Scott Roth, Smith inserted Hendricks back into the Cowboy line-up, just in time for Oklahoma State’s quarterfinal match with Oklahoma.
Hendricks, in turn, responded by pinning the Sooners’ Matt Grice in four minutes. Later that day, Hendricks, who stood 22-4 before the Duals, tallied perhaps his biggest victory in his young OSU career, upsetting Michigan’s defending NCAA champion Ryan Bertin, 6-5, in overtime.
That victory also cut the Wolverines’ lead over OSU to 13-6, and propelled the Cowboys to four more victories and a 20-10 triumph over Michigan; sending Oklahoma State to the National Duals finals for a second straight year.
And just like 2003 — as well as five other times since the National Duals began in 1989 — Oklahoma State earned the right to be called the best dual meet team in the nation as the top-ranked Cowboys avenged their only loss of the season and defeated fourth-ranked Missouri, 24-12.
Against the Tigers, Hendricks won again, defeating Kenny Burleson, 3-1. And while that score was not as impressive as this Cowboy’s earlier wins in Cleveland, it was indicative of what may be Oklahoma State’s biggest strength this season: winning the close matches as the Cowboys settled for normal decisions. For in winning 25 of 40 individual matches during the Duals, OSU settled for 17 decisions and 11 ended up being decided by two points or less. Six of those close victories came against Missouri, which had defeated OSU, 21-17, in late November.
"It’s kind of frustrating for us," said Missouri senior Jeremy Spates, who lost 4-3 to Zack Esposito at 149 pounds. "We came in here expecting to win this thing. But we lost a lot of close matches."
So too did Michigan, which led 10-0 after winning the first three matches against OSU.
"We have to learn how to win the close matches and Oklahoma State is really good at that," said Michigan coach Joe McFarland, whose Wolverines came back after their semifinal loss to OSU and finished third. "They have tough competitors on their team. It’s just experience and I thought we gained a lot of experience (this weekend)."
And so did Hendricks, who moved up to No. 7 in the national rankings after not even being ranked before the Duals.
"At the beginning of the season, I was cutting a lot of weight and a lot of things were not going my way," said Hendricks. "Coach and a lot of people were saying that I could do it.
"Now coming out of here and having my weight under control, I’m trying to do all those things right. I beat a guy who was No. 1 (Bertin) and then wrestled a guy who was No. 5 (Burleson) and I beat him. I just like to thank God and everyone who has stayed with me."
"We weren’t sure (if he was going to be in line-up) either," Smith said. "We were trying to build his confidence a little bit. He’s a young kid, a freshman who is at a very tough weight. He showed a lot of courage this week."
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