March 22, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - A day after earning their first All-American honors with the Arizona State wrestling team, Curtis Owen (Sr., Coeur D'Alene, Idaho) and Kellan Fluckiger (Sr., Preston, Idaho) concluded their collegiate careers with fourth and fifth-place finishes, respectively, at the 2003 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Kansas City, Mo., Saturday. Both of the Sun Devil grapplers went 1-1 on the day to place in the national event.
Owen opened action with a 6-2 revenge victory over No. 7 seed Brad Dillon of Lehigh in the consolation semifinals. Dillon handed Owen his first loss of the event in the second round of the championship bracket. In the battle for third place, Owen lost a 17-4 major decision to No. 2 seed Chris Pendelton of Oklahoma State.
Fluckiger dropped his second match in a row as No. 7 seed Pat Cummins of Penn State nipped the Sun Devil heavyweight, 5-4, in the consolation semifinals. Fluckiger fell to the fifth place bout where he won by medical forfeit over Ohio State's No. 3 Tommy Rowlands, the defending national champion.
Only one Sun Devil remains in action this year and he is Eric Larkin (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) at 149. Larkin, a four-time All-American, will face No. 2 Jared Lawrence of Minnesota for the 2003 national title Saturday at 1:30 p.m. local time. Fans that would like to view his match can tune their televisions to ESPN2 at 5 p.m. local to see the tape delayed match.