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Moore and Cummins fall in NCAA Wrestling Championship finals
St. Louis, Mo., March 20, 2004 – Penn State’s first NCAA finalists in four years ended outstanding careers in bitter fashion Saturday night at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Mo., as senior All-Americans Josh Moore and Pat Cummins both fell in their championship matches.
Neither man had their best night on the mat as Moore fell 7-3 to No. 5 seed Zach Roberson of Iowa State and Cummins dropped a 6-2 decision to now two-time NCAA Champion and four-time All-American Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State, the No. 1 seed. Moore and Cummins did take home their second All-America honor after posting 4-1 records in the tournament and exit Penn State having left a proud mark on the tradition rich program. Penn State finished 12th in the team standings with 46.5 points. Penn State has now finished in the Top 20 in 22 of the last 25 tournaments. Oklahoma State ran away with the team title scoring 123.5 points. Iowa (82) was second. Lehigh (77.5) and Ohio State (77.5) tied for third and Nebraska (74.0) was fifth. Moore was the aggressor early on in his 133-pound final match-up with Roberson. The two had battled earlier in the year at the Midlands Tournament with Roberson coming out on top with a third period fall in an exciting match and also had a history in the NCAA Tournament as Moore beat Roberson by a major decision in last year’s third place match. This time Roberson fed off of Moore’s attacks shrugging the Nittany Lion twice on first period takedown attempts and recording a pair of his own to hold a 4-2 lead going into the second period. Moore, the No. 6 seed, chose down in the second and escaped to close the gap to 4-3, but was unable to get in on any shots on the Cyclone and that was the score going into the third period. Roberson, owning a riding time advantage over a minute, took neutral in the third. Moore shot several times but was unable to convert and Roberson once again caught him with a counter late in the period to seal the match. The Cyclone took a 7-3 victory and claimed his first NCAA title to go with his three All-America honors. Moore closes out his final season with a 44-8 record, good for third-best all-time, and an outstanding career mark of 146-38, also third-best all-time. The two-time All-American will leave Penn State as the all-time leader in career falls (53), single-season falls (24) and matches wrestled (184). Cummins, who battled the flu during the tournament losing 10 pounds over the course of four days, never got the match going his way against Rowlands. The Buckeye took him down early in the first period and Cummins, the No. 2 seed, was not able to get off the bottom giving up over two minutes in riding time advantage. Rowlands then took down to start the second and quickly escaped to take a 3-0 lead. He then got in deep on a single leg and converted the takedown to go up 5-0. During the exchange, Cummins injured his right knee that was later diagnosed as a third degree MCL tear. Cummins eventually got out, but trailed 5-1 going into the third period. Cummins started down in the third and escaped to close the margin to 5-2, but was unable to get in on any serious takedown attempts and Rowlands took a 6-2 victory with the riding time point. Cummins ends a terrific senior season with a 38-5 record. The former walk-on reached his 100th win in the tournament and ends a career that exceeded all expectations with a 100-37 record, just the 23rd Nittany Lion to post 100 career wins. He also ranks fifth all-time with 30 career falls and went 10-5 in three NCAA Tournament appearances. Penn State’s Tournament: 13-10 125 – Adam Smith – DNP 133 – (6) Josh Moore – NCAA Runner-up - All-American 149 – (8) Matt Storniolo – DNP 157 – (7) James Woodall – DNP 184 – (4) Eric Bradley – DNP Hwt. – (2) Pat Cummins – NCAA Runner-up - All-American NCAA: 4-1 Season: 38-5
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