IU hoping to make run at Big Ten championship

After a loss at Wisconsin to end the regular season, the IU wrestling team is ready to get back on the mat and chase history. \nThe Hoosiers haven’t won a Big Ten title as a team since 1943, and are looking to add to their 13 Big Ten championships March 3-4 at the 2007 Big Ten championships at Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich.\nIU also hasn’t had an individual winner of the Big Ten Conference title since 1997, when Roger Chandler, now an assistant coach at Michigan State, won the 142-pound title. Joe Dubuque wasn’t even able to accomplish this despite winning two national championships in the 2005-06 seasons. \nThe current Hoosier to come the closest to this feat is No. 7 junior Brandon Becker, who placed third at 157 pounds last year. Though he performed well, Becker said he wants to improve on last year’s finish.\n“I’ll do the same thing that got me that third place last year,” he said. “I’m going to wrestle as hard as possible and really get after it.”\nBecker was recently seeded second in the Big Ten standings at 157 pounds.\n“It’s nice to receive such a high seed, but it doesn’t matter until I live up to it,” Becker said. “The seed will be good because it can make your first match a little bit easier, but in the end it doesn’t matter, because everyone’s good.” \nIU coach Duane Goldman said Becker would be among some of the best in the country.\n“Becker’s been an All-American twice, but he’s in a really tough weight class,” he said. “There is a lot of good wrestlers, but that’s what he likes – the big stage.” \nAlong with Becker, the Hoosiers had eight of nine starters seeded in the top eight, with Scott Kelly at 141 pounds being the only one not to place.\nJunior Max Dean, who placed fifth at 165 pounds in last year’s Big Ten championships, is among those nine. Dean was seeded eighth in the tournament and said he plans on improving his position in the championships through the development that comes with another year of wrestling.\n“I think I can place higher through maturity and hard work,” he said. “It’s all about learning and applying new techniques while remembering what you’ve already mastered.”\nThe nine IU team members who will compete in East Lansing also include freshmen Angel Escobedo, who is ranked No. 9 in the nation, and Nate Everhart. They were seeded third at 125 pounds and eighth at 197 pounds, respectively.\nGoldman said he was impressed with the performance of his young grapplers.\n“Everhart got what he deserved, though he still has a lot of work to do,” he said. “It’s nice to see the young guys being successful.”\nThe Hoosiers also have four other wrestlers who placed. Trevor Perry (174 pounds) and Marc Bennett (184) were each seeded fifth in their respective weight classes. Andrae Hernandez (133) and Josh Buuck (heavyweight) each were seeded sixth. Matt Coughlin (149) was seeded eighth.\nGoldman said he is confident in his team, but he isn’t a psychic.\n“I don’t make predictions,” he said. “We’ve been training well and we want to do better than our seeds, and we’ll see what happens.”