Holidays mean working days for Hoosiers

The holiday break is a time for rest, relaxation and being lazy. Students travel away from Bloomington to distance themselves from the responsibilities of the past semester. \nThe IU wrestling team had a different schedule. \nAfter a few weeks off for finals and the holidays, the team returned to campus to prepare for holiday meets.\n"The team returned on the 27th and we had two-a-days or three-a-days depending on the day," said IU coach Duane Goldman. "When winter break comes, we usually have shorter practices, but more practices."\nThe practices were necessary because the team had two meets to compete in over the break. The Buckeye Duals were held the weekend after the first of the year and the team came right back the next weekend to compete in the Wendy's Duals. \nOver break, the Hoosier wrestling team prepared for future foes. The break allowed for total focus without the stress of academics and other distractions. \n"It is an important time of year for them to get a little jump start on their conditioning," Goldman said. "They have plenty of time to recover from injuries, and they don't have to worry about getting up for class."\nThe grapplers agreed with the advantage winter break gives to the team, but didn't think student life was such a bad thing.\n"I think it is real helpful to get extra workouts so we can come back in and get in shape," said sophomore Matt Cooper. "But it is actually nice to come back to school and get back to a more structured environment because when you are not in school there is a lot of downtime."\nBloomington also changes over break. The mass exodus of students makes this usually busy college town barren and deserted. \n"The town is definitely dead," said junior Pat DeGain. "There is no traffic so you can sleep more when you have to go somewhere in the early morning. It is definitely more relaxed than when school is going on." \nThe team took advantage of this relaxed atmosphere and extra practice time efficiently, as shown by the results of the two meets over break. IU went 2-1 in both dual meets, improving their record to 9-3, on the year. Included in those wins was a victory over 24th-ranked Pittsburgh. \n"We did fairly well and it was a good break for everybody," Cooper said. "We got a couple guys back in our lineup and it feels good to have our normal lineup in there. I think we're starting to come around more, and more."\nThe team comes out of the holidays happy with its performance. The two-a-day practices are over, and two convincing victories this past weekend showed this team is ready for upcoming Big Ten action. \n"We're still trying to sort things out in a couple weight classes," Goldman said. "We hope we come through healthy, and with everyone ready to go because next week we start Big Ten competition."\n--Contact staff writer Colin Burns at coaburns@indiana.edu.