EDMOND – With five returning national runners-up in the lineup, Central Oklahoma entered the 1985-86 wrestling season as the overwhelming favorite to claim a third straight NAIA national title.
And the Bronchos of fourth-year head coach David James did just that, but it was far from easy.
"Our goal is, naturally, to win a third straight championship with 10 All-Americans," James said in the media guide's season outlook. "No team has ever won three consecutive NAIA championships and we'd like to be the first."
UCO opened the dual season strong, getting off to a 5-0 start with wins over two Division I teams. A strong schedule and some injury problems led to a rough stretch before the Bronchos finished with three straight routs, outscoring a trio of NAIA opponents a combined 115-19 in finishing 12-7.
Central also competed in six tournaments, coming in second in the Stetson Open as Kevin Freeman and Howard Seay won individual titles with Freeman earning Outstanding Wrestler honors.
All that preparation set the stage for the NAIA National Championships, which were held March 6-8 in Minot, N.D. The top-ranked Bronchos qualified all 10 individuals for the three-day meet and were expected to cruise to their record-setting third straight title.
"The team has worked hard and I think we are prepared to do well," James said in the Vista's national tournament preview. "We can't go up there trying to defend our title. We have got to be ready to go win and take what we want – the title. It's important we forget the past and be hungry, excited, motivated and enthused."
All 10 individuals scored and six returned as All-Americans, but UCO didn't run away with the crown. Instead it was won in dramatic fashion, with Joe Starzenski's finals fall at 134 pounds the difference between a championship and a runner-up finish for the Bronchos.
"Naturally it feels great to win the team title, especially us being the first team to win three straight," James told the Vista. "It was close all the way and it could have gone either way. Joe came through for us when we had to have it. It was a total team effort. Everybody on the team scored and contributed."
Starzenski was Central's lone champion and his first-period pin of Southern Oregon's Tim Satre in the title match ranks as one of the most clutch victories in the program's storied history. Down 4-1 and about to be taken down again late in the first period, Starzenski used a neck wrench to put Satre on his back and got the fall seconds later.
It was a nine-point swing in the team standings and allowed the Bronchos to hold off Southern Oregon 98.5-91.25 for their sixth national championship in eight years.
"I told him (Starzenski) he had to win for us to win the team title," James told the Vista. "And he said 'Good, I like it that way.' Then he told me he was going to pin the guy."
"I'm just glad I had the opportunity to be in the situation that it depended on me," Starzenski said. "Then to do it with a pin is extra special."
UCO also got runner-up finishes from Billy Reid (126) and Stoney Wright (150), while Kevin Freeman took third at 142, Howard Seay fifth at 167 and Jack O'Connor sixth at 158.
Starzenski was the No. 1 seed and followed a first-round bye with a 17-0 superior decision, fall and 12-2 major decision to make the finals, where the senior capped his stellar career with the fall over the second-seeded Satre.
Reid, seeded second, pulled out a wild 11-10 semifinal win in making the finals before dropping a tough 6-5 decision to the No. 1 seed for his second straight national runner-up finish. Wright survived a 12-10 second-round thriller en route to advancing to the title bout, but the third-seeded sophomore fell 7-2 to the top seed.
The top-seeded Freeman was upset in the semifinals, but rebounded strong with a 14-2 major decision and first-period fall to take third in scoring crucial team points for the Bronchos. The second-seeded Seay suffered a first-round loss before also coming up big in the consolations, winning five matches in coming back to take fifth. O'Connor, seeded second, was knocked off in the quarterfinals and wound up sixth.
It all added up to a third straight national title and grew UCO's reputation as a dominating national power that could never be overlooked.
