By Bob Hersom
Staff Writer

To finish first, you have to start fast.

That's what Oklahoma State wrestling coach John Smith has been drilling into the mind of Mark Munoz, OSU's star 197-pounder.

The drilling paid the highest dividends possible Saturday, when Munoz won his second Big 12 title by beating Nebraska's No. 1-ranked Brad Vering 5-3, a day after beating Iowa State's No. 2-ranked Zach Thompson 4-2.

Munoz followed Smith's simple orders: Don't wait until the third period to win. Win the first and seconds periods, too.

"That's what Coach has been stressing to me throughout my whole career," said Munoz, an unusually articulate senior from Vallejo, Calif. "That was one of my mental lapses, where I couldn't get the ball rolling, and it was just like a snowball effect throughout the match.

"Whenever I feel threatened, that's when I kick it into gear, and Coach always stressed, ŒFeel threatened, right off the bat,' and I had to do that."

Vering, the defending NCAA champion, had decisioned Munoz in a 5-4 tiebreaker the last time they met, ending Munoz's four-bout winning streak over Vering.

On Saturday, Vering took down Munoz for a 2-0 lead with just eight seconds left in the first period.

"I felt threatened when he took me down," Munoz said. "I thought, ŒOK, now it's time to kick it into gear.' "

Seven seconds after Vering's takedown, just one tick from the end of the first period, Munoz escaped, cutting Vering's lead to 2-1 after one period.

"Instead of letting the takedown let the air out of his tank," Smith said, "Mark ended up turning the momentum to his side. It was a fine example of never quitting and always looking to score, regardless of what happens in the match."

For Munoz, beating Thompson may have been even more impressive than beating the defending national champion. Because while Munoz is 7-4 overall against Vering, he had been 0-4 against Thompson.

"He was always a mental block for me," the lithe Munoz said of Thompson, who has the thick thighs of an Olympic weight lifter. "I've always had mental lapses against Thompson. He is a good competitor, a very intense competitor, but I know that if I just got over that hump that I could beat him, and that's exactly what happened."

Tall order. That's what Smith called the third-ranked Munoz having beaten Nos. 1 and 2 on successive days.

"He's battled some of his demons that he's needed to battle in order to make that next step," Smith said. "Now, the next step is dealing with the success of this week, focusing on what he needs to do next, and being as hungry or hungrier than he was this week."

Next up: Munoz's final trip to the NCAA Championships, March 15-17 in Iowa City.