Wrestling: All-American Lebe Takes Seventh
March 19, 2005 12:55 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
March 19, 2005
ST. LOUIS – West Virginia University junior Matt Lebe earned seventh-place honors at 157 pounds on Saturday morning with a 6-5 decision over 11th-seeded Chris Horning of Clarion at the 2005 NCAA Wrestling Championships held at the Savvis Center.
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| Matt Lebe gets a hug from Zeke Jones after locking up seventh place at the 2005 NCAA championships in St. Louis Saturday.
Bill Greenblatt photo |
Lebe took an early 2-0 lead on a takedown just 28 seconds into the match. WVU’s 157-pounder increased his lead to 4-1 with a double-leg takedown on the edge of the mat in the opening period. Horning escaped to start the second period before a third Lebe takedown put the score at 6-3. Lebe chose down to start the final stanza and was called for stalling with seconds remaining where the bout ended at 6-5.
“I felt very relaxed coming into this morning’s match,” said Lebe. “After talking with my coaches last night, my goal was to finish the tournament with a win. Whitey (Chlebove) talked about finishing with a win and not sitting on a loss to end the season. Becoming an All-American was one of my goals coming to the season. I’m happy that I could achieve it.“
The two wrestlers have now met on five occasions with Lebe winning four of the five career bouts. Horning’s lone win came at the 2004 Eastern Wrestling League Championships. Lebe won all three regular season matches by a 3-2 score.
“These matches are a little tough because we know each other so well,” added Lebe. “I felt more pressure at the EWL tournament than I did here this morning. This tournament is a building block for next season. I’m happy but not satisfied. Becoming a national champion is the next step for me.”
The Jeannette, Pa., native earned All-America honors the hard way as he dropped his opening bout on Thursday before storming back through the consolation bracket to post five wins. Lebe’s win on Friday night over Stanford’s Matt Gentry, the defending national champion, made him the 20th different wrestler in school history to earn All-America honors.
Lebe’s 37 wins this season are the most by a WVU grappler since All-American Mike Mason finished 39-6 in 1998. His 37 wins are good enough for second most all-time by a West Virginia junior.
The Mountaineers have now crowned at least one All-American in seven of the last eight years.
Senior Greg Jones will face Cornell’s Tyler Baier in the championships finals later today at 4 p.m. CST. Jones looks to become just the 39th wrestler in NCAA history to win three national titles. The finals will be televised live by ESPN.
Lebe Match-by-Match:
157: Nate Galloway (Penn State) DEC No. 7 Matt Lebe (WVU), 7-4
157: No. 7 Matt Lebe (WVU) DEC James Strouse (Hofstra), 2-1
157: No. 7 Matt Lebe (WVU) DEC Chris Bitetto (Northern Iowa), 6-2
157: No. 7 Matt Lebe (WVU) DEC No. 12 Jim Medeiros (Fresno State), 4-1
157: No. 7 Matt Lebe (WVU) DEC Matt Gentry (Stanford), 5-3 SV
157: No. 10 Brian Stith (Arizona State) DEC No. 7 Matt Lebe (WVU), 4-2
157: No. 7 Matt Lebe (WVU) DEC No. 11 Chris Horning (Clarion), 6-5
