By Ryan Schuld
rschuld@indiana.edu | @RSchuld
In its last five seasons, the wrestling team had won just one Big Ten dual match. On Friday, the Hoosiers worked their way to its second Big Ten win of this season alone. The team defeated the Terrapins 26-13.
“It was a hard-fought victory,“ IU Coach Duane Goldman said.“There were a lot of matches that stretched into overtime, or came right down to the end, but we knew it would be like that going in. We expected a dogfight, and we were in one.”
The Hoosiers won seven of the 10 matches, which included one pin and a tech fall victory.
Junior Nate Jackson came away with the tech fall victory, defeating Maryland senior Josh Snook 23-8.
Jackson recently defeated No. 1 Bo Nickal and was awarded Big Ten wrestler of the week. Despite those achievements, he did not let this match be overlooked.
Freshman Elijah Oliver got back to his winning ways, securing a pin over freshman Mike Beck.
Oliver lost a tough match to the No. 4 wrestler against Penn State, and the freshman said that he realized the amount that he still has to learn.
“That loss made me realize a lot of things,” Oliver said. “I’m still learning, and still progressing, and I know what it will take to bring it to a guy like that next time around.”
Both sophomore Luke Blanton and freshman Cole Weaver were down late in their respective matches, but came away victorious.
Blanton found himself down 4-1 heading into the final three-minute period, only to get the match tied with about 50 seconds remaining.
In the tiebreaker period, Blanton outscored his opponent 5-0, taking the match 9-4.
Goldman said he had lots of confidence in Blanton to win that match going into the day, and that he showed lots of courage and competitiveness to come away with a come-from-behind victory.
Weaver trailed by two points halfway through the third period. In that last 90-second span, he outscored Maryland freshman Alfred Bannister 7-0, leading to a convincing victory.
While wrestling is often thought of as an individual sport, IU’s chemistry as a team has led to some of the Hoosiers’ success this season.
Goldman said they compete for more than just themselves, but also for their teammates. He added that everyone believes in one another and that it has been very rewarding throughout the season.
The Hoosiers will look to add another Big Ten win to their resume next weekend when they travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State. The Spartans are currently 0-4 in conference play, but Goldman said that the Hoosiers cannot look past their record.
“They have a lot of great individual talent on that team,” Goldman said. “They have tough competitors, and we can’t overlook them. We have to look at what’s right in front of us and be ready to go.”
