Wrestling champion KINGPIN

As the last match of Joe Dubuque's collegiate wresting career came to a close, the IU senior flexed his arms as he walked around the mat and then raised two fingers in the air, presumedly to signify his back-to-back national championships.\nDubuque defeated Troy Nickerson of Cornell 8-3 at the NCAA Championships in Oklahoma City on Saturday to capture the 125-pound title once again. Dubuque is the second Hoosier wrestler in the program's history to win two national titles, but the first to do it in consecutive seasons. Charlie McDaniel captured titles for IU in 1935 and 1938.\n"I was a little conservative last year, just trying to get my first title and trying not to make any mistakes," Dubuque said. "This final I was just going out there to really try to open it up, and try to have some fun out there."\nIn addition to Dubuque's national title, sophomore Brandon Becker also earned his second All-American award. Becker, who finished fifth at last year's NCAAs, defeated Wisconsin's Craig Henning 9-6 after falling to No. 1 seed Trent Paulson of Iowa State in the consolation to finish in seventh place at 157 pounds.\nWith Dubuque and Becker leading the way, the five Hoosier grapplers in the tournament went a combined 13-8 on their way to 35 team points, good for an 18th place tie with Michigan State.\nIn the semifinals, Dubuque faced Oklahoma State's Sam Hazewinkel in a rematch of last season's finals -- a 2-1 Dubuque win. The first period was scoreless as both wrestlers were able to counter attacks from the other. Hazewinkel won the toss and chose to start the second period on bottom in an attempt to score an escape point. But he was unable to do so as Dubuque kept him down the entire period to earn the full two minutes of riding time. In the third period, Dubuque took only 33 seconds to escape from Hazewinkel to go on top 1-0. \nHe had the bonus point for riding time locked up and was trying to avoid a takedown which would have forced the match into overtime. Dubuque was backing up toward the end of the period and was called for stalling -- his second of the match -- giving Hazewinkel one point. But with the riding time, Dubuque was still able to walk away with a 2-1 victory.\n"We came out of a scoreless first period," Dubuque said. "Coach really emphasized keeping him down in the second period. That really worked well, just trying to keep him down and just trying ride him really hard, and I wound up keeping him down the whole time."\nThe finals pitted Dubuque, the fifth-year senior, against Nickerson, a true freshman. Dubuque's win against Nickerson was a bit more dominant than his one over Hazewinkel. \n"I really wasn't nervous at all going into my final match," Dubuque said. "I've been there, I was there last year and I wrestled a true freshman who's never wrestled on this sort of scene before. And he's probably going to be nervous and a little bit tense."\nDubuque was able to score the first points of the match, taking down Nickerson, and then staying ahead for the rest of the match. A late takedown and a bonus point for riding time sealed the deal and once again Dubuque ended the season on top.\n"He's been in such a loaded weight class his whole life, and he's always been the underdog, always been overlooked, and yet he comes away with title after title," IU coach Duane Goldman said in a statement about the graduating Dubuque. "With the quality of wrestlers, it's probably the toughest weight class at the national championship and (the toughest to) walk away with two national titles. He has to be categorized as one of the best of all time"