Auburn Riverside grad Mangrum earns wrestling All-American nod at OSU

It took three tries, but Auburn’s Michael Mangrum is finally a collegiate All-American wrestler. Mangrum, the Pac-12 Conference’s 141-pound champion from Oregon State, took fifth place at the NCAA Wrestling Championships last weekend in St. Louis.

By Shawn Skager • March 21, 2012 6:18 pm
Auburn Riverside graduate Michael Mangrum in action for the Oregon State Beavers. Mangrum earned an All-American nod for his fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division I tourney.
Auburn Riverside graduate Michael Mangrum in action for the Oregon State Beavers. Mangrum earned an All-American nod for his fifth-place finish at the NCAA Division I tourney.

It took three tries, but Auburn’s Michael Mangrum is finally a collegiate All-American wrestler.

Mangrum, the Pac-12 Conference’s 141-pound champion from Oregon State, took fifth place at the NCAA Wrestling Championships last weekend in St. Louis.

“It feels great to finally be an All-American,” said Mangrum, an Auburn

Riverside graduate. “I feel like I should have been an All-American two years in a row. This should have been my third, but it’s awesome to finally get there.”

It was Mangrum’s third appearance at the NCAAs. He went 3-2 at the 2010 and 2011.

This time out he put together a 5-2 record, finishing the season 40-6 overall.

No. 4-seeded Mangrum opened up with a 6-4 overtime decision over Oklahoma State’s Joshua Kindig, following with a 6-4 decision over Rutgers’ William Ashnault.

After dropping a 6-5 decision to Ohio State’s Hunter Stieber, Mangrum defeated Edinboro University’s Mitchell Port and Cornell’s Michael Nevinger, 6-4 and 9-3, respectively, in consolation bouts.

No. 2-seeded Kendric Maple of Oklahoma pinned Mangrum at the 4-minute, 9-second mark. But Mangrum battled back, pinning Stieber at 4:14 for fifth place.

“It felt awesome (to pin him),” Mangrum said. “He’s a great wrestler. Whenever you face a really good wrestler it’s nice to come out on top. And this time, I got the pin.”

Mangrum, a three-time state champion in high school, was pleased with his performance, but feels he could have done done better.

“I feel like I should have been higher up, and my coaches do, too,” Mangrum said. “I’m wrestling, I personally think, in one of the toughest weight classes in this tournament. So it’s awesome to get up on that podium, and it’s awesome to have that last win there.”

ALSO: Auburn graduate Shane Onufer missed out on his second consecutive All-American finish, failing to place in the 165-pound division. Onufer, a redshirt senior at Wyoming, went 2-2 at the tourney. He was fifth last year. … Boise State redshirt sophomore Jake Swartz (below), an Auburn Riverside graduate, went 3-2 at 184 pounds, narrowly missing an All-American nod.