Wrestling squad adds youthful talent

IU wrestling coach Duane Goldman announced Dec. 8 the signing of three top recruits to letters of intent last month. The recruits give more depth to a wrestling squad ranked No. 16 in the nation.\n"All three of these individuals are great wrestlers and exceptional students," Goldman said. "They are dedicated, hard-working student-athletes with high goals and great potential -- exactly the kind of people who we want representing Indiana."\nThe recruits -- Joe Fagiano, Matt Ortega and Reece Freeman -- have acquired numerous awards in their prep careers.\nFagiano, of Saint Patrick High School in Chicago, is a decorated member of his school's wrestling team where he won the 215-pound Illinois State Championship last year. Fagiano, in his senior season at Saint Patrick, is working toward his second consecutive championship. He was named the 2006 East Suburban Catholic Conference Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning the ESCC title and is ranked by Wrestling International Newsmagazine No. 10 in the nation at 215 pounds.\nOrtega is a three-time New Mexico state champion in three different weight classes. Ortega, like Fagiano, is seeking another state title.\nWhile leading Rio Rancho High School to a fourth-place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions in December 2005, Ortega garnered a seventh-place finish at 119 pounds in the event. Ortega won the event twice before at 103 and 112 pounds before moving up to 119 last year. Ortega is ranked No. 12 in the 125-pound class by the magazine. \nFreeman is a Bloomington native and attends Bloomington High School South. Freeman's team won two sectional, regional and semi-state championships in his first three years. Freeman went 46-2 and placed fifth in the state as a junior. Freeman has a career record of 134-10 in his three weight classes and is the No. 1-ranked wrestler in Indiana at 119 pounds. \nIU freshmen wrestlers Paul Young and Kurt Kinser, who both attended Bloomington South, are Freeman's former teammates. Kinser said he thought Freeman would be a good fit for the team, but he thought Freeman would need make adjustments from high school to college wrestling.\n"You reach a lot higher level when you make the change to college from high school -- the adjustment tests character -- but I think he'll make the needed changes," Kinser said. \nYoung said Freeman possesses work ethic, toughness and leadership qualities.\n"While at Bloomington South he was always someone that I trusted to lead the team in the right direction," Young said. "He leads by example and motivates his teammates to do better; he's definitely helped me through some of the tougher practices"