By Mike Finn and Kyle Klingman, W.I.N.

Among the greatest wrestling upsets in NCAA history, three stand out: Larry Owings’ 13-11 victory over Dan Gable in 1970, Dwayne Keller’s 4-2 decision over Rick Sanders in 1968 and Steve Marianetti’s 13-10 triumph of Lincoln McIlravy in 1995.

Those memories still burn bright in the victors’ minds and remind fans and wrestlers that no match is predetermined.

Gable’s time to lose?

Larry Owings was not as legendary as Dan Gable in 1970, but the sophomore from Washington was nearly matching the two-time national champion from Iowa State pin for pin — wrestling in a pigtail round gave Gable five falls to Owings’ four — in the 142-pound bracket of the NCAA tournament before their fated meeting in the March 28 finals in Evanston, Ill.

“I pinned mine a little faster and I liked to think that I did a little bit better than he did,” said Owings, who entered the NCAA finals with a 32-2 record in an era when college athletes were not eligible until their sophomore season.

Owings also was not intimidated by Gable’s college resume that included a 118-0 record in nearly three years at Iowa State and an incomparable 181-match winning streak that dated back to Gable’s high school days at Waterloo (Iowa) West High School.

Nearly 37 years later, Owings — now a retired school teacher living in Aurora, Ore. —  agrees that few people believed he could win.

“There was probably one, two or three people who thought I had a chance,” Owings said. “One was myself. One was my brother, John, who lived in California. And I think Dan Gable may have thought that, too. I heard stories later that for the first time he had scouted me wrestling because he heard how I had cut weight to meet him.

“I think I had him a little bit worried.”

If Gable was concerned before the match, the college senior did not show any hesitation in the first period when he scored a takedown and nearly put Owings on his back before the Washington wrestler slipped out and eventually scored an escape.

“Going through the match, there were a lot of points that he scored on takedowns that I got overly offensive and aggressive and didn’t do enough defensive,” Owings said.Owings then took his first lead when he tallied a takedown on a move he tried earlier.

“My first takedown was a single-arm spin in the first round,” Owings said. “It was the same move that I tried to do on him before he scored points. I did it on one side to him and just as I stepped in for a leg trip was the same time he stepped forward for a single leg.”

The first period ended in Owings favor, 3-2, but the Husky quickly built his lead to 7-2.

“I got my escape, then came back for my favorite move, which was a fireman’s carry,” Owings said. “I started on one side of the mat and went clear to the other side. It was as much strength and energy as I’ve ever used any match prior to that.”

After Gable was penalized for fleeing the mat while Owings rode him, the Cyclone fought back with a reversal and takedown to trail 8-6 going into the final period.

“I was trying pinning holds and got too high,” Owings recalled. “I should have played it smart and tough and held back. I wasn’t known as being the smartest wrestler. I was known for being an aggressive pinning-style wrestler.”

Gable then opened the third period with a reversal and became the dominant rider, building up two minutes more riding than Owings. The rules in 1970 gave a wrestler one point for every minute of riding time advantage. That meant that while the scoreboard said that Owings and Gable were tied, the Cyclone would win by two points if he rode out Owings the rest of the match.

Instead, Owings scored an escape to lead 9-8 before tallying the biggest takedown of his or Gable’s career with about 30 seconds left in the match.

“I really wanted a near cradle but I couldn’t get it,” said Owings, who started pushing down on Gable’s head with a front headlock before he decided to go for Gable’s right leg. “I was able to grab underneath his leg with both hands and I did a kind of a sweep, which I had never done previously or after. It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of move.”

This takedown also put Gable on his back, which earned Owings a two-point near fall.

“He went right down on his butt. I fell on top of him with a whizzer and held him, pressed him within two inches of the mat going for the pin,” Owings said.

Gable eventually escaped to cut the margin to 13-9 but could score no more points. Not even the eventual two riding time bonus points could save Gable from this date of infamy. Owings helped Gable to his feet at the bout’s conclusion and he said there was no way he could have heard what Gable’s verbal reaction was to his only college loss.

“You would not have believed the noise,” Owings recalled. “It was phenomenal … like the roar for Roman gladiators. The referee had to be within two feet of us and had to yell in order for us to hear. We could not hear the whistle. We could hear nothing. The roar went on and on and the tournament just stopped for about ten minutes. People were in shock and saying, ‘Did you see what happened?’

Most wrestling fans know how the next 37 years would go for these rivals, who actually got to visit with each other at length in the stands during the 2006 NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City.

“I saw Dan Gable sitting in the same section that we were,” Owings said. “I went down and said hi to him. It was a little bit later in the tournament that he actually came up with his daughter and introduced her to me. He sat down and talked to me for a while. We just sat down and talked like two old wrestlers. I don’t hate Dan Gable. I never have. I think he is a tremendous coach and a tremendous competitor. He’s deserved everything that he’s earned.”

Streak-killer Keller

When top-seeded Rick Sanders took the mat to wrestle in the finals of the 123-pound weight class at the 1968 NCAA Division I tournament, he was as close to a sure thing as you will find in college wrestling. Entering the match, Sanders had done it all: NCAA Division I titles in 1966 and ’67, NCAA Division II titles in 1967 and ’68, an NAIA title in 1965 and a college record of 103-1.

Then there was his international record. Sanders had already made three World teams, earning bronze and silver medals in 1966 and ’67 respectively. He also won the Pan American Games once and the national AAU tournament twice.

Rick Sanders was a lock.

His finals opponent was sophomore Dwayne Keller from Oklahoma State. Keller entered the tournament as the third seed and, like Sanders, had an undefeated record going into the match.

And the two wrestlers shared a history. Although they had never faced each other prior to the match, Sanders had wrestled someone with similar features. At the 1965 and ’66 AAU Nationals, Sanders wrestled Dwayne’s identical twin brother Darrell during both tournaments.

“Going into (the finals match) I don’t think I thought I could beat him but I don’t think I ever thought I couldn’t beat him,” Keller said. “I had never wrestled him, but my brother lost to him twice. But that was freestyle and Rick wrestled freestyle. He was already on World teams. So I knew who he was. I knew he was a national champion.”

If the four matches preceding the showdown was any indication, it was that Sanders would defeat Keller easily. Sanders’ first two matches were falls and his quarterfinal and semifinal bouts were won by scores of 8-0 and 12-2.

Keller, by contrast, barely reached the finals. At the conclusion of his quarterfinal match, Keller was behind 4-3 on the scoreboard. But two points were added to his score for accumulating over two minutes of riding time. Keller won 5-4.

His semifinal match was almost the same. Keller was behind 2-1 when the clock ran out but he had accumulated over two minutes of riding time once again and won the match 3-2.

So entering the finals match, Keller had a plan: stay away from Sanders as long as possible in the neutral position and beat Sanders on top.

“My sophomore year, I was terrible on my feet and I just tried to stay away from people,” said Keller. “I didn’t get good on my feet until after my sophomore year.

“I knew I could ride. I could ride anybody. Once I got on top nobody ever got away. I knew once I got on top, (Sanders) wasn’t getting out. I figured (Sanders) was better on his feet than I was, so what I did in the first period was try to keep away from him.”

The plan almost worked. Keller avoided Sanders the entire first period but was taken down with four seconds remaining on a double-leg. The period ended with Sanders leading 2-0.

But the second period belonged to Keller. Electing the top position, Keller executed his game plan to perfection. Halfway through the period the Cowboy sophomore lassoed Sanders in a cross-face cradle and earned two near fall points.

“It just happened that the match fell just right. I got on top in the second period so I could ride him,” said Keller. “He would try to get away and I kept leaching on to him and sucking him back down and I just wore him out. His tongue was hanging out when the period was over.”

Taking the top position in the third period, Sanders had some work to do. Keller had tied the score at 2-2 but accumulated 2:56 seconds of riding time. This meant Sanders would have to ride Keller the entire period just to send the match into overtime.

“The third period he was on top and he rode me most of the period. I kept on almost getting out but I could never quite get away. Toward the end of the period I reversed him (with 18 seconds left), and once I got back on top I knew I could ride him out the entire period. Once I got on top the score was 4-2 because he rode me and erased my riding time. When I got on top it was over.”

Matching McIlravy’s intensity

This March 18 will mark the 12th anniversary of Steve Marianetti’s 13-10 victory over former Iowa All-American Lincoln McIlravy, who entered the 1995 NCAA final at 150 pounds with two previous national championships and a 58-match winning streak.

For Marianetti, currently the head coach at Div. III Elmhurst College in Illinois, it feels like it just happened.

“I’m still tired from that match,” said the former Illini, who as a senior scored five takedowns that day in Iowa City’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena and upset the junior en route to his first NCAA championship.

Marianetti has no trouble saying that McIlravy should have been favored that night, considering the Illini had never beaten the Hawkeye, including during the Big Ten tournament held two weeks earlier. But he also possessed some other thoughts.

“I had three beliefs going into the tournament: I knew that I could keep the match close; I knew that I could not break under the pressure; on any given day anyone could be beat,” said Marianetti, adding that the two-point loss in the conference finals gave him confidence.

“Going into Nationals, I knew that I had to prepare for that match. (Illinois) Coaches (Mark) Johnson and (assistant Jim) Heffernan put me through a lot of drills to get ready for McIlravy, who had a heart-wrenching intensity. That’s the way he always wrestled and kept the pace moving.”

Unlike the Big Ten final, when Marianetti was penalized for stalling, he kept the pressure on the Hawkeye, who cut the margin to 8-7 before the Illini used an escape and takedown with 42 seconds left to lead 11-7.

“I knew that I had to get the momentum back,” Marianetti said. “He was starting to get on a roll and I could tell that the crowd was getting into the match.”

After the loss, McIlravy took an Olympic redshirt in 1996 and returned a year later to collect his third NCAA championship and later earned a bronze medal as part of the 2000 U.S. Olympic freestyle team.

Marinetti also tried his hand at freestyle and was a national teammate of McIlravy. It was during one of those workouts that McIlravy talked to Marianetti about the match.

“The one thing he told me was that he said that I didn’t look nervous,” Marianetti recalled. “I was plenty nervous.”

So what recommendations would Marianetti make to wrestlers who will face Missouri’s Ben Askren and Minnesota’s Cole Konrad — the latest prohibitive favorites — in this year’s NCAAs

“You better have a good game plan,” the current coach said. “You have to take them out of their match.”

It’s happened before.