February 2007 Wrestling Articles

PARK RIDGE, Ill. ? The preliminary seeds for the 2007 Big Ten Wrestling Championships were announced today by conference officials. The pre-seeds are determined by a vote amongst the conference?s head wrestling coaches after consideration of regular-season results. The 2007 Big Ten Wrestling Championships will take place on Saturday, March 3, and Sunday, March 4, at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. The official Big Ten Championships bracket will be set on Friday, March 2.

Top-ranked Minnesota leads all Big Ten teams with four top pre-seeds, as Jayson Ness… more »

This is Part 3 of 3 on the series on proper mechanics. Watch the very best officials be it college or high school and will see the proper mechanics being used from the first match to the last.
When asked how do I keep the same tempo through a match or a tournament, I do this: Before every match, I look at the crowd and I pick one person, doesn?t matter who it is, but to me?that is the person who I imagine is not only is evaluating me, but ?can on the spot? give me the D1?s… more »

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. ? The No. 16 Oregon State University wrestling team captured the Pac-10 Championship for the first time since 1994, edging the host Cal State-Bakersfield Roadrunners at the Icardo Center Sunday. The Beavers finished the tournament with a team score of 110 points, while the Roadrunners had 105 and UC Davis 96.5.

?This is a big step for this program,? first-year head coach Jim Zalesky said. ?We train all year for this time of the season. We talk about being champions and today we accomplished a big goal. I?m very proud of this team and I… more »

Senior records 46th-career pin in final home dual match.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The setting couldn?t have been more perfect. Wrestling in his final home dual on Senior Night, in the last match of the evening at 133 pounds, senior Nick Simmons became MSU?s new all-time falls leader by pinning Oklahoma?s Henry Roman in just 58 seconds Friday at Jenison Field House. It gave Simmons 46 falls for his illustrious career, passing Jim Mason, who collected 45 from 1980-84.

"I just wanted to go out there and get it done with, get it out… more »

The Pac 10s are the first of 11 conference tournaments. From here on out the intensity of every match is turned up across the nation. Cal Poly started out as the front runner in this years Pac 10s but has been shaken by All American Chad Mendes deciding to sit this year out and a lack luster dual meet performances.

Jim Zalesky has transformed Oregon State in what seems like a heart beat. If there is a front runner for this years tournament it is Oregon State. They are narrow favorites over Cal Poly and UC… more »

The 100-win plateau is a special mark for any collegiate wrestler, one that signifies sustained excellence throughout an entire four-year career. So if a wrestler wins just seven matches in his freshman campaign, reaching 100 career wins might seem impossible. But for University at Buffalo senior captain Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville), that is exactly what happened.

After struggling to make an impact early in his career, the Orrville, Ohio native has developed into one of the best 133-pound wrestlers in the nation.
On February 17, Budd joined Kyle Cerminara, Gary Cooper and Josh Slate in the… more »

IRVING, Texas ? Paul Donahoe (Nebraska) has been named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for his performances of Feb. 12-18, the conference announced. Donahoe receives this recognition for the first time in his career.

Paul Donahoe, Nebraska, So. at 125 pounds.

Donahoe went 3-0 on the weekend including an 8-2 win over No. 20 Matt Eveleth (Penn) at 125 pounds. He has won six of his last seven matches including two against ranked opponents. The Davison, Mich., native started out the season by winning 23 of his first 24 matches. He is… more »

In the continuation of this series on proper mechanics, officials should strive to work on the proper mechanic on calling a match, versus their ?own style?. There is room for ?personal style? but not at the expense of proper mechanics.

2nd Period - 3rd Period

? Have a system to know proper choices
? Flip and let the disk hit ? Don?t catch it
? Kneel to pick it up (saves your back)
? Verbalize so the table and both teams know who chooses what
? Do it same way… more »

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Despite owning a significant advantage at the midway
point, the No. 23-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team could not
hold on, falling to No. 14 Northwestern 20-14 in its regular-season
finale Sunday evening (Feb. 18) at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

The dual came down to the final match, as the Wildcats rallied late with
four straight wins to claim a narrow three-point advantage entering the
133-pound contest. Freshman Chris Diehl (Burton, Mich./Flint Kearsley
HS) could not find a way to score and had difficulty getting out from
underneath as… more »

The top-ranked University of Minnesota wrestling stormed into Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday night and rolled over the 10th-ranked Hawkeyes with a convincing 29-13 victory. Iowa fans were encouraged to wear all black in an attempt to create a hostile environment, but the Gophers made the announced crowd of 8,274 mostly a non-factor, winning seven of 10 matches on the night.

With the win, the Golden Gophers reached 20 wins for the fifth time in Head Coach J Robinson?s tenure and finished the Big Ten dual meet season with an unblemished record for the fourth time in his… more »

MOUNT PLEASANT - Central Michigan University locked up its ninth consecutive Mid-American Conference title with a convincing 34-3 win over Kent State Sunday afternoon in Rose Arena.

The Chippewas won 9-of-10 individual bouts in extending their winning streak to 10 consecutive duals. The victory was CMU's 23rd straight in conference action and secured the program's 11th MAC title overall. It was also CMU's 17th victory this season, establishing a new single-season school record.

After splitting the first two matches, CMU went on to post wins in each of the final eight individual bouts.
… more »

No. 21 Ohio State Wrestling Drops 19-18 Decision to No. 7 Illinois
Buckeyes next head to 2007 Big Ten Wrestling Championships in East Lansing, Mich.

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? The 21st-ranked Ohio State wrestling team lost a heartbreaker to No. 7 Illinois, 19-18, Sunday in Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill. After four lead changes, the Buckeyes (8-6; 4-4 Big Ten) held the 18-15 advantage going into the final match at 174 pounds, but were unable to hold on, as Illinois? Matt Winterhalter recorded a 9-0 major decision.

Up next for Ohio State is… more »

NIU Wrestling Team Goes 3-0 on Sunday in DeKalb Huskies score 99 points en route to sweeping the competition on senior day

DeKalb, Ill. ? It was big day for the NIU wrestling squad on Sunday as the Huskies sent the Senior class out in style with three consecutive wins against
Eastern Michigan, Southern Illinois ? Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois en route to an undefeated day of wrestling. Huskie seniors Mike Grimes, Johnny
Galloway and Danny Burk along with junior Pat Castillo each recorded three victories on the day to lead NIU. The Huskies finish… more »

Columbia, Mo. ? With several members of Missouri?s third-ranked wrestling team (12-3) plagued with the flu, the Tigers fell to UTC (16-1), 40-8, in the Hearnes Center. Missouri Head Coach Brian Smith was forced to forfeit at five weight classes giving the Mocs of UTC an automatic 30-point advantage.

?This sickness has been a nightmare,? Smith said. ?We?re slowly getting guys healthy, but it?s been hard training with so few bodies in the room.?

After forfeiting at 125, 133, 141 and 149 pounds, redshirt freshman Dane Espinosa (Neosho, Mo.) made his debut in… more »

Sooners Upset No. 6/8 Hofstra, 21-13
Oklahoma ends three-match skid

NORMAN, Okla., ? The No. 11/15 Oklahoma Sooners (10-7, 0-5 Big 12) upset the No. 6/8 Hofstra Pride (17-4-2, 7-0 CAA) Saturday night at the Howard McCasland Field House, 21-13.

"This is a real big win for our team and a lot of guy?s stepped up tonight to help us get the victory," head coach Jack Spates said.

The Sooners recorded their first win since defeating Arizona State, 31-9 on Feb. 2. It is the team?s first win over… more »

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Despite a strong performance at the middle weights and bonus win at 165 and 184 pounds, the No. 23-ranked University of Michigan wrestling team fell one match short in a 21-16 loss against No. 11 Penn State in the home finale on Friday evening (Feb. 16) in front of 706 fans at Cliff Keen Arena.

Senior/junior captain Eric Tannenbaum (Naperville, Ill./North HS) claimed his 100th career win in strong fashion with a 12-3 major decision over Dave Rella at 165 pounds. Tannenbaum, ranked second nationally, converted on five takedowns and added 1:58 in… more »

NORMAN, Okla. The No. 11/15 Oklahoma Sooners (9-7, 0-5 Big 12) host the No. 6/8 Hofstra Pride (17-3-2, 7-0 CAA) Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Howard McCasland Field House.

"Hofstra comes in with a great team and they are the only team to beat top-ranked Minnesota," head coach Jack Spates said.

Hofstra enters the match with nine of its 10 starters ranked in the top 20 of their individual weight classes. The Sooners come in with five wrestlers ranked in the top 20 of their respective weight classes.
Last season Oklahoma… more »

The No. 22 Michigan State wrestling team (3-8, 2-4 Big Ten) returns home after a long road trip to Minnesota and Iowa last weekend to host No. 18 Indiana on Friday at 7 p.m. and No. 11 Penn State on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Spartans fell to the top-ranked Gophers, 35-4, and lost at No. 10 Iowa, 33-9.

Second-ranked Nick Simmons won both of his matches over the weekend to improve to 30-1 for the season. He notched a major decision (13-0) over Minnesota's Mike Thorn for MSU's only win of the dual, then won by… more »

We are at the start of the post season tournaments. How do you know if a referee at this level is doing a good job? Well, it really is all about proper mechanics. In my referee classes that I teach, I tell my students to always be a duck. If you walk like a duck, and quack like a duck and look like a duck, people will naturally think you are a duck. Same way with being an referee. If you are doing the things that make you look like you are a referee people will believe you are.
… more »

Missouri Closes Regular Season Sick and With Loss

?Tigers Forfeit Five Weight Classes, Fall, 40-8 to No. 13 UTC?

Columbia, Mo. ? With several members of Missouri?s third-ranked wrestling team (12-3) plagued with the flu, the Tigers fell to UTC (16-1), 40-8, in the Hearnes Center. Missouri Head Coach Brian Smith was forced to forfeit at five weight classes giving the Mocs of UTC an automatic 30-point advantage.

?This sickness has been a nightmare,? Smith said. ?We?re slowly getting guys healthy, but it?s been hard training with so few bodies… more »

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- North Dakota State jumped out to an early 11-3 lead but No. 18 Oregon State won the final six bouts to defeat the Bison 29-11 at the Gill Coliseum in front of 1,246 spectators on Sunday, February 11.

North Dakota State (8-4) got victories in three of the first four bouts, beginning with Eric Hoffman defeating Jake Gonzales 8-2 at 125 pounds. Hoffman's victory pushes his personal winning streak to five and he has now won seven of his last eight matches.

Oregon State (16-2) tied the match in the next… more »

IOWA CITY, IA -- University of Iowa Head Wrestling Coach Tom Brands picked up his 30th career victory as Iowa pounded Michigan State, 33-9, Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes improved to 13-4 (4-2 in the Big Ten) with wins at eight bouts in front of 5,035 fans, including an upset by sophomore
Charlie Falck (125) and a pin by sophomore Jordan McLaughlin (197) in his Iowa wrestling debut. Michigan State fell to 3-8 (2-4 in the Big Ten).

Falck handed Spartan redshirt freshman Franklin Gomez his second dual loss of the season with a… more »

...Second-Ranked Missouri Wrestling Team Returns to Mats Wednesday...

Columbia , Mo. ? The second-ranked Missouri wrestling team and third-ranked Iowa State Cyclones put their 3-0 Big 12 records on the line in front of a record-setting 2,772 fans in the Hearnes Center, with the Tigers falling short of the victory, 27-12. Competing without two starters, Missouri managed only three wins on the day at 141, 174 and 184 pounds. The televised dual will be rebroadcast on Fox Sports Midwest, Saturday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m. (CT) and Friday, Feb. 23 at Noon.


… more »

No. 20 Patrick Bond Scores Second Upset of the Weekend to Seal the Win

MADISON, WIS. - The No. 9 Illinois wrestling team finished its Big Ten road slate with a dramatic upset over the sixth-ranked Badgers, 21-16. The Illini picked up their sixth road victory of the season to stay perfect on the year. Sophomore #20 Patrick Bond sealed the victory for the Illini with his win at 197-pounds and recorded his second upset victory of the weekend. On Friday, he took a 9-5 decision against #13 Nathan Moore of Purdue. Illinois took six out of… more »

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.
The Indiana wrestling team scored its second straight win, upsetting No. 12 Northwestern on Sunday, Feb. 11, 28-11. Redshirt freshman Trevor Perry scored the decisive victory at 174, pinning No. 15 Nick Hayes in 22 seconds to clinch the dual meet victory for the Hoosiers.

The Hoosiers (12-4, 3-3 Big Ten) came fast out of the gate, with No. 7 Angel
Escobedo and No. 20 Andrae Hernandez scoring victories at 125 and 133, respectively. Escobedo scored a takedown with 13 seconds remaining in the match to earn a 4-2 victory over No.… more »

Redshirt freshman has worked from unheralded high school career to national ranking in first year



WASHINGTON - It was early November in the Meltzer wrestling room when AU redshirt freshman Mike Cannon found out, much to his and head coach Mark Cody's surprise, that he was voted as one of the 2006-07 wrestling team captains. Through all the teams and programs Cody had been a part of in more than 25 years, a freshman had never been named team captain. Luckily for AU, the 165 lb. Maryland native has proven his teammates' intuition… more »

NORMAN, Okla.

The No. 8/14 Oklahoma Sooners were defeated by the No. 21/22 Nebraska Cornhuskers, 21-15, Friday night in front of 393 fans at the Howard McCasland Field House.

Brian Shelton got the Sooners on the board in the team race with an 8-2 decision win over Patrick Aleksanyan of Nebraska at 133-pounds. Shelton scored once in each of the first two periods and added an escape and a takedown with riding time tacked on at the end of the third period.

"We hate that we lost and we… more »

MOUNT PLEASANT ? For the second consecutive season, Central Michigan University?s wrestling program has moved into the
top five in national rankings released by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and InterMat.com.
The Chippewas (14-4-1 overall, 2-0 Mid-American Conference), winners of seven straight duals, will carry a No. 5 ranking
into Friday?s conference dual at Northern Illinois. Last season, CMU
climbed as high as fourth in the NWCA/InterMat poll; prior to the
2005-06 campaign, CMU had never moved higher than sixth in the
national rankings.

Friday?s match begins a stretch of three… more »

J.D. Bergman defeats second-ranked Mike Tamillow; Buckeyes improve to 8-4
COLUMBUS , Ohio ? The Ohio State wrestling team defeated No. 10 Northwestern, 18-16, Sunday at St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio. The Buckeyes' record improved to 8-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten Conference. This is the third-consecutive match in which the Scarlet and Gray has topped a ranked opponent and fourth time this season. Northwestern stands at 11-7 overall and 1-4 in the league.
The match came down to the final bout at 141 pounds with the Buckeyes trailing the Wildcats, 16-15. J… more »

A few years ago at the Districts, I saw a young man crying in the hallway. This boy was devastated. As I walked past, he looked up at me and I saw his eyes. I recognized the kid because I had just officiated the match that had eliminated him from going to the state tournament; he had lost 4-3. His eyes were tearstained and bloodshot. His heart broke. I know that look. I know those feelings, both as a wrestler and as a dad of a wrestler.
I stopped and asked if he was ok or was there anything… more »

...No. 2 Missouri Takes 17-16 Victory over Cowboys...

Stillwater, Okla. - Recording their second win of the season over the defending National Champion Oklahoma State Cowboys, second-ranked Missouri bested No. 4 OSU, 17-16, in front of 3,125 fans in Gallagher Iba Arena. The Tigers overcame a 10 point OSU lead to take the eventual win, splitting the dual with the Cowboys at five wins a piece.

Junior Josh Wagner (Milton, Wis.) came up with Missouri's first win of the night, dropping Dakotah Simpson, 15-4. Dominating his opponent, Wagner earned nine backpoints and tallied over… more »

T.J. Enright upsets No. 1 Nick Simmons at 133 pounds; Buckeyes improve to 7-4 overall, 3-1 in Big Ten Conference
COLUMBUS , Ohio ? For the second-consecutive match, the Ohio State wrestling team defeated a ranked opponent in No. 19 Michigan State, 19-14, Friday in its home finale at St. John Arena. The Buckeyes improved to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten Conference. The Spartans are 2-6 overall and 1-2 in the league.
It was in the 133-pound bout the Scarlet and Gray received a crucial 4-2 overtime win from Buckeye T. J. Enright (Jr.… more »

Dual No. 13:

No. 22/20 Nebraska (7-5) vs. No. 4/4 Oklahoma State (12-4)

NU Coliseum?Lincoln, Neb.?Thursday, Feb. 1

Nebraska Returns Home to Take on Cowboys on Dollar Days

The 20th-ranked Nebraska wrestling team returns home to the NU
Coliseum for Dollar Days on Thursday, Feb. 1 as the Huskers take on
defending national champion Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. Both teams are
coming off road Big 12 losses, as NU fell to second-ranked Missouri,
31-11, and the Cowboys lost to third-ranked Iowa State,… more »

The Gophers hit the road for the first time during the Big Ten season
this weekend to face a pair of ranked conference opponents. Minnesota
will meet the 18th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers on Friday, Feb. 2 at 7
p.m., in Bloomington and stop in Champaign, Ill., on Sunday, Feb. 4 to
take on No. 11 Illinois at 1 p.m.

Gopher Wrestling Notebook

Streaks, streaks and more streaks...

...Konrad Goes for 63 In a Row
Senior heavyweight Cole Konrad is currently riding the second-longest
winning streak… more »