Hoosier wrestlers to take on Manchester

Saturday at IU’s University Gym, No. 24 IU will take on Division III Manchester.
 
“It is one of our lighter duals of the season, so we all want to go out and make sure that everyone gets good wins, and hopefully some people can get some bonus points this weekend,” junior Taylor Walsh said.

Walsh, 157 pounds and No. 5 in the nation, has 17 pins, which puts him two away from tying the single-season school record.

“I feel like every match, no matter easy or hard, you try to look for it,” Walsh said.

IU Coach Duane Goldman said when a wrestler is on a pin streak like Walsh’s, opponents are aware of it and try to avoid it.

Goldman attributes some of Walsh’s success to his noticeable improvement.

“For him, I think it’s just a question of going out and staying aggressive,” Goldman said. “He has always been a pinner, but before he used to sit back and wait for opportunities, and now he is creating and going after his opportunities.”

This week the team has been working hard and focusing on conditioning since it does not have to rest as much as it would for a Big Ten match, Walsh said.

“Our goal for the week is to have no setbacks,” Goldman said. “Aside from winning all of our matches, we want to come out of it with no injuries.”

Staying healthy against Manchester remains a focus for the Hoosiers, who saw two of their own, including sophomore Garret Goldman, suffer injuries against the Spartans last season.

“That was a pretty unfortunate circumstance, and we just want to avoid that,” Goldman said.

With final exams approaching, the Hoosier players have more to focus on than Manchester. The staff made some adjustments to tailor to the wrestlers’ schedules.

“As far as our practice schedule, we change that up a little,” Goldman said. “We make it a little more open, obviously, if guys have to study and all. We try to be intense when we can, but probably on a more individual basis.”

The team went 4-1 last weekend at Hoosier Duals and four wrestlers went 5-0.

This week the team’s mentality is that the Manchester meet is another opportunity to get in the rhythm of the dual-meet format, Goldman said.

Wrestlers will have another opportunity to continue to improve before the Midlands Tournament over winter break and then the Big Ten season.

“We had five matches last week, two weigh-ins, we got a lot accomplished and had a lot of competition,” Goldman said. “This is the time to get another one-hour weigh-in and hopefully have a good result and kind of come down off last week. Then, our guys have finals after that and go home for Christmas, and hopefully we can just go off on a good note.”

Follow reporter Brody Miller on Twitter @BrodyMillerIDS.