EDMOND (Dec. 4) – Luke Elmore had a memorable Hamilton Field House debut in sparking No. 6-ranked Central Oklahoma to a 35-6 romp past Oklahoma City Thursday night.
A senior 149-pounder wrestling in his first-ever home match for the Bronchos, Elmore scored a 34-second fall to help UCO take a quick 18-0 lead and the Stars never recovered.
The Bronchos won eight of the 10 matches, also getting a fall from heavyweight Dustin Finn and major decisions from 165 Mikey Morgan and 184 Daniel Morrison in easily avenging a 24-21 loss to OCU last year.
“Luke's a guy who can really help us this year and he came out and got a big win,” UCO coach David James said. “He hasn't seen a lot of mat time for us in his career, but he came out tonight ready to wrestle and did a great job.
“I thought we wrestled with a little fire in our belly tonight. “We need to do a better job with our management and positioning, but overall I thought we wrestled hard and did some good things.”
A two-time junior college All-American at Labette (Kan.) Community College, Elmore redshirted in 2006-07 and went 2-3 in limited duty last year for the Bronchos. Off-season shoulder surgery slowed him in preseason drills and he entered the match with an 0-2 record, but quickly improved to 1-2 with his first-period pin of Will Shelton.
Elmore threw Shelton to his back just 13 seconds into the bout and scored the fall 21 seconds later.
The top-ranked Finn also had a first-period fall as he was impressive in his first appearance of the season. Finn, who joined the team late after starting on the offensive line for the UCO football team, pinned Corey Johnson in 2:37.
Morgan had three near-falls and two takedowns in cruising to a 12-2 major decision at 165, while Morrison had three takedowns and three-near falls in a wild 19-7 rout at 184.
The Bronchos also got wins from 133 Tim Elliott, 141 Colby Robinson and 197 Zach James, while 125 Willie Gunter picked up a forfeit.
Elliott picked up a tough 6-5 win over Mitch Fenton, controlling Fenton the entire two-minute third period to earn a riding time point that broke a 5-5 tie, while Robinson used a first-period takedown and riding time point to blank Justin Blumer.
The rookie James had a pair of takedowns in a 6-1 triumph over Collin MacMillan in his first dual appearance for the Bronchos.
UCO returns to action Saturday at the Fort Hays State Open.
UCO 35, Oklahoma City 6
125: Willie Gunter, UCO, won by forfeit.
133: Tim Elliott, UCO, dec. Mitch Fenton, 6-5.
141: Colby Robinson, UCO, dec. Justin Blumer, 3-0.
149: Luke Elmore, UCO, pinned Will Shelton, 0:34.
157: Nik Turner, OCU, dec. Kelly Henderson, 5-3.
165: Mikey Morgan, UCO, major dec. Andrew Pontikes, 12-2.
174: Dillon Blackmon, OCU, dec. Cody Rowell, 6-3.
184: Daniel Morrison, UCO, major dec. Jake Mabry, 19-7.
197: Zach James, UCO, dec. Collin MacMillian, 6-0.
Hvy: Dustin Finn, UCO, pinned Corey Johnson, 2:37.
