Big Ten Wrestling Brackets are up
The Big Ten has released the brackets for this weekend's conference tournament and for the most part, IU has made out about as favorably as could be reasoonably expected.
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The Big Ten has released the brackets for this weekend's conference tournament and for the most part, IU has made out about as favorably as could be reasoonably expected.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Half of the IU wrestling lineup will step on the mat Saturday knowing that any match could be their last.For seniors Kurt Kinser, Paul Young, Nick Avery, Eric Cameron and graduate student Ricky Alcala, this weekend’s Big Ten Championships in Evanston, Ill., are a must-win situation if they hope to prolong their careers a few more weeks.“There’s nothing else after this unless you earn it,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “It’s every man for himself. They need to go up there with their individual goals and do everything they can to achieve them. There’s nothing to hold back from. There’s nothing to pace themselves with. It’s all about going up there and trying to get it done.”With the exception of Alcala, who is in his first season in the Big Ten, all of the seniors have competed in the conference tournament at least once before and know what to expect and how to either ignore the reality that it is their last time there or harness it to their advantage. “It’s a double-edged sword,” Kinser said. “On one hand, you’re a senior. You’re confident. You’ve done it all before, so you sort of know what’s going to happen. On the other hand, it’s your last chance. For me, it’s given me a little bit of extra motivation.”In preparation for the tournament, the team’s training has been modified the past two weeks.“Practices are probably more intense, but shorter and less focused on learning and more focused on peaking and doing what each individual does best and trying to get each guy on an individual basis ready,” Goldman said.The shorter practices have allowed wrestlers to rest the nagging injuries accumulated throughout the season, as well as refocus their technique and mentality.“Everybody just tries to peak skill-wise, conditioning-wise, mentally-wise,” Kinser said. “I feel really good. I feel like I’ve definitely been building up this year. Hopefully I’ll be at my best at Big Tens. Being a senior, too, that gives you just a little bit more motivation. I feel like I’m definitely ready.”While dual meets and other tournaments throughout the year certainly impact seeding and wildcard slots for the national tournament, ultimately it is a wrestler’s performance at the conference tournament that typically determines if his season continues. As such, preparing for the Big Ten Championships has been a team focus throughout the entire season.“I think I’m very ready,” Cameron said. “Our head coach does a great job getting us in shape all year. Our past four months of training all come down to this weekend and how we do.”Goldman said he believes the shorter practices have worked and the team is where it should be at this point in the season.“We’re as ready as we’re going to be,” Goldman said. “You can’t do anything about certain little nagging injuries. Our preparation has been good, and we’ve taken the time to heal as best we can. We’re in good shape. Our attitude is good. I think it’s just a question of going up there and doing the best we can and seeing where the chips fall.”
The Big Ten Championships are this Saturday and Sunday. Bragging rights and automatic qualifier berths for the national tournament are at stake. I will be posting updates throughout the weekend, and you can catch the finals live from 4 to 7 on the Big Ten Network on Sunday. Here is how I see the Hoosiers stacking up against the competition this weekend:
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior Kurt Kinser returned to action from an injury Friday, but upsets of senior Paul Young and junior Matt Powless cost the Hoosiers as they fell to rival Purdue 21-12 in the final dual of the regular season.IU jumped out to an early lead after freshman Justin Brooks’ third straight victory, but losses in the next two matches, including one by pin, gave Purdue the lead for good.Kinser’s first match in two weeks resulted in a 9-2 win that pulled the team score within three points, but Young, impaired by a knee injury, was upset by Purdue’s Colton Salazar. Redshirt freshman Ryan LeBlanc brought the deficit back down to three with a win at 165 pounds.The Boilermakers won as expected in the next two tilts, then Logan Brown handed junior Matt Powless his fourth loss of the season at 197 pounds to clinch the match. Graduate student Ricky Alcala’s win at heavyweight only served to narrow the deficit.IU is now off for two weeks before the Big Ten Championships on March 5 and 6 in Evanston, Ill.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the first of two matches in two nights, the IU wrestling team fell to Illinois on Thursday evening 23-12.IU dropped four of the first five matches, including one by pin at 184 pounds, to find itself in a 15-3 hole it could not climb out of. Junior Matt Powless, graduate student Ricky Alcala and redshirt freshman Justin Brooks notched three straight wins for IU to pull the team score to 15-12, but a decision and a technical fall by Illinois in the final two bouts sealed the win for the Illini. The Hoosiers return to the mats Friday against Purdue to close out the regular season on the road.“Against Purdue, there are a number of matches that are big,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “Seven of the matches are going to be pretty hotly contested. (In) most of them, they feel like they should win those. I feel like we can hang in there pretty well and hopefully get a victory.”Like the Hoosiers, the Boilermakers sport a lineup heavy with upperclassmen.“Purdue has a real mature team,” Goldman said. “This is one of the strongest teams they’ve had in a while.”— Max McCombs
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fresh off their first conference victory of the season, the IU wrestling team members return to the familiar position of underdog when it travels to No. 25 Illinois at 7 p.m. today in a dual meet.IU head coach Duane Goldman said he expects a closely-contested dual that the Hoosiers, despite not being favored, can still win.“There are a number of matches we can be in,” Goldman said. “We’re going to need to win them to come away with a victory.”One such match that may yield a major sway in the overall outcome is at 125 pounds, as IU freshman Justin Brooks, coming off a win against Michigan State, faces freshman Logan Arlis. With no matchups pitting two ranked wrestlers against each other, matches at 125, 165, 174 and 184 pounds with unranked wrestlers could likely determine the overall outcome.Another matchup of unranked foes could be at 149 pounds if senior Kurt Kinser is unable to go for the Hoosiers, as he was against Michigan State. Sophomore Geno Capezio would likely fill in again, if necessary.Kinser is not helped by the quick turnaround between matches for the Hoosiers. The team will close the season with three meets in eight days, including today’s meet with Illinois and another match against Purdue on Friday.“It’s a pretty quick turnaround,” Goldman said. “Making weight two days in a row is a pretty big challenge. We need to refocus and be ready to compete again. It’s good tournament preparation as well.”With the Big Ten tournament on the horizon, the matches this weekend also carry implications for the postseason.“It comes down to individual matchups as far as it will work out for seeding for various guys at various weights,” Goldman said. “It will affect their seeding in the Big Ten, which could determine whether or not their season continues at the nationals.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Favored for the first time this season in conference action, the IU wrestlers lived up to expectations.On Friday, the Hoosiers took seven of 10 matches and never trailed, defeating Michigan State 22-9 on Senior Night at University Gym.“It was good to get a Big Ten win,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “We’ve wrestled some pretty tough competition. Michigan State does have a pretty good team this year. The dual meet was a lot like I foresaw. There were a lot of close matches, and we were fortunate to win a majority of those.”IU got off to a quick start as freshman Justin Brooks used a series of reversals to notch an 8-3 victory in the opening match.“We needed our lighter weights to come through,” Goldman said. “Even at 125 (pounds), that was sort of a toss-up. For Justin to come through and win that, sort of break the ice, was good for everybody.”A major decision by junior Matt Ortega at 133 pounds and a decision by true freshman Mitchell Richey at 141 pounds — the first conference wins of the year for each wrestler — put the team up 10-0. Ortega’s major decision produced the only bonus points for either team in the match.For the first time this season, senior Kurt Kinser did not take the mat for the Hoosiers at 149 pounds as he was forced to sit with an injury. Sophomore Geno Capezio, normally a 141 pound wrestler, filled in against No. 20 Dan Osterman. Capezio lost, but the 7-4 margin was close enough to not allow bonus points.“With Geno filling in for Kurt Kinser, he took that match right down to the wire against a ranked kid,” Goldman said. “He did a nice job of keeping it a competitive match and keeping us in the game.”Wins at 157 and 165 pounds gave IU a commanding 16-3 lead, though the Spartans pulled to within seven points with wins at 174 and 184 pounds. In the 174 pound match, IU senior Nick Avery sent the back-and-forth match to overtime with a takedown of Curran Jacobs seconds before the buzzer, though he eventually lost after allowing an escape in the third overtime period.Matt Powless’ 31st win of the year at 197 pounds clinched the match for IU.In the most anticipated match of the evening, featuring two ranked grapplers at heavyweight, graduate student Ricky Alcala scored a takedown in the second period to make the score 2-1. Alcala then defended against Michigan State’s No. 20 Joe Rizqallah in neutral for the entire third period to win the match 2-1.The dual was the final match at home this season for the Hoosiers, and a Senior Night ceremony took place before the meet.“We’re proud of (the seniors) and the effort they put in,” Goldman said. “Wrestling is a very tough sport. To put in five years in the room and to get to this point, I tip my hat off to them. We had a great crowd tonight. For Paul and Ricky to win was obviously a really neat thing. Even Nick Avery, Eric Cameron, they lost, they didn’t win their matches but they wrestled well.”The Hoosiers will look to build off of the win with back-to-back road matches Thursday and Friday against Illinois and Purdue, respectively, to close out the regular season.“We’re still trying get back where we want to be and where we think we can be,” Goldman said. “It’s not going to change the difficulty of what we have (left).”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Facing a lower-ranked conference opponent for the first time this season, the No. 33 IU wrestling team will look to close out its home wrestling season with a win against No. 54 Michigan State at 7 p.m. Friday in University Gym.“It will be a good duel,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “I think both teams are pretty evenly matched on paper.”As it is the last home match of the season, a Senior Night ceremony will take place before the match. Six seniors will be honored, including five of the team’s regular starters.However, one of them, senior Kurt Kinser at 149 pounds, has been nursing an injury this week and may be unable to go Friday. His possible replacement has yet to be determined.“Right now we’re just motivated trying to get our first win,” Goldman said. “We’re pretty motivated regardless (of Senior Night).”— Max McCombs
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Defending champions do not rebuild. They reload, which the IU wrestlers found out the hard way against Iowa.In their most lopsided defeat of the season, the Hoosiers fell 35-6 to the three-time defending champion Hawkeyes on Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.Against an Iowa lineup featuring seven ranked grapplers, IU managed only two wins, and all but three of its losses were by major decision.In the first Hoosier victory, 149-pound senior Kurt Kinser racked up an entire period of riding time in the second period, then escaped at the beginning of the third, leading to a 2-0 win with riding time against Iowa’s Matt Ballweg.At heavyweight, graduate student Ricky Alcala continued his recent successes with snatch singles, taking a 6-1 lead in the first period before holding on to win 6-5 against Blake Rasing.For the first time in a dual meet this season, junior Matt Powless did not get his hand raised. In just his third defeat of the year, Powless, ranked fifth in the latest Intermat rankings, lost to 12th-ranked Luke Lofthouse, 10-5. His record now stands at 30-3 on the year.The Hawkeyes took a commanding lead early with pins by defending national champion Matt McDonough against IU redshirt freshman Justin Brooks at 125 pounds and Tony Ramos against IU junior Matt Ortega at 133 pounds.Throughout the meet, Iowa recorded 32 takedowns to five for IU.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Penn State visited University Gym two weeks ago, it looked nearly unbeatable.Last week, Iowa proved otherwise, defeating the Nittany Lions 22-13 and proving that the team is reloading rather than rebuilding after losing the core of last season’s national champion squad.On Saturday, IU will attempt to mimic the Hawkeyes’ upset of Penn State and end Iowa’s 73-dual unbeaten streak.“They might not be number one, but they’re defending national champions, and we wrestle them on the road,” IU coach Duane Goldman said.The match was originally scheduled for Sunday, but was moved to Saturday so as not to conflict with the Super Bowl.The only blemish on the Hawkeye’s dual record this season was a 15-15 draw on the road against longtime rival Oklahoma State.Iowa is led by defending 125-pound national champion Matt McDonough, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the latest Intermat rankings and is favored to repeat.The marquee matchup will likely be at 157 pounds where senior Paul Young, ranked fifth, will face Iowa freshman Derek St. John, ranked ninth. Young battled nagging injuries throughout the season and was forced to sit out IU’s home loss to Michigan on Sunday.The 197 pound class will also feature a pair of ranked wrestlers as junior Matt Powless, 30-2 on the year and ranked fifth, faces No. 12 Luke Lofthouse.— Max McCombs
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Wrestling without senior captain Paul Young, the IU wrestling team dropped Sunday’s match against Michigan 23-9 on Alumni Day at University Gym.“We’re just spending too much time on bottom and not finishing hard enough,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “We’re going to address it. Whether it gets fixed or not, time will tell.”Freshman Justin Brooks dropped a 9-1 major decision at 125 pounds to start the meet, but when junior Matt Ortega opened the 133 pound match with a quick single-leg takedown, the Hoosiers looked to be right back in it. However, a pair of controversial takedown calls on the edge of the mat for Michigan’s Zac Stevens swung the match back in the Wolverines’ favor en route to an 8-5 win for Stevens.With Young out due to injury, IU dropped the 157 pound match and trailed Michigan 14-3, entering the intermission ceremony honoring the 1990 IU wrestling team. The Hoosiers’ only points at that time came from a decision by senior Kurt Kinser at 149 pounds. Three more decisions after the intermission clinched it for Michigan.At heavyweight, graduate student Ricky Alcala avenged an earlier loss to Michigan’s Ben Apland in which he had not scored by taking down the Wolverine four times using snatch singles.“Me and Nate Everhart worked on the match, the strategy to beat him, and all week, that’s all I did,” Alcala said. “He would wrestle like Apland and I would wrestle him and work on takedowns and it ended up working. Everything he told me to do worked.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As it approaches the halfway mark of the conference season, the No. 20 IU wrestling team still finds itself winless in Big Ten action having wrestled three top-15 conference foes.Perhaps the fourth time will be the charm this weekend, as No. 12 Michigan comes to town.“It’s a tough test,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “They’re another top team. It will be a challenge.”As opposed to previous matches, where IU’s opponent has featured as many as eight ranked wrestlers, both teams on Sunday will have four grapplers ranked in the most recent Intermat rankings.Two weight classes will feature matchups of ranked wrestlers, and both will be rematches from earlier this season. Junior Matt Powless defeated the Wolverines’ Anthony Biondo 8-3 at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at 197 pounds, while graduate student Ricky Alcala lost to Ben Apland at heavyweight 2-0 at the Southern Scuffle.“Hopefully we can rise to the occasion and pull off some upsets,” Goldman said. “If you go with the favorites, they’re favored at most of the weights, but I think we can compete pretty well in there and hopefully do well. We’ve been practicing well. We’ll see what happens.”Michigan will certainly be favored at 141 pounds, where they feature Kellen Russell, the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at that weight.The IU team, meanwhile, is not yet sure who it will be sending out to face him. True freshman Mitchell Richey, the regular starter at the weight, was replaced by sophomore Geno Capezio on Sunday against Penn State due to a nagging injury. There is a similar case at 165 pounds, where redshirt freshman Ryan LeBlanc sat out in place of sophomore Ryan Konz.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Upon first glance, it may be easy to dismiss Ricky Alcala as no match for the tall, lean heavyweights he often faces. Opposing wrestlers, coaches and even fans often have.Alcala does not blame them.“I’m unpredictable, in a way,” Alcala said. “Looking at me, you wouldn’t expect me to be as good as I am or as fast as I am. I’m 275 pounds, but I’m pretty quick. I surprise a lot of people.”Most recently, Alcala surprised Minnesota’s Tony Nelson, the then-seventh-ranked heavyweight in the country. The win vaulted Alcala (22-6) to 14th in the latest Intermat rankings.As the lone graduate student on the IU wrestling roster, Alcala has taken a roundabout path that no one, including himself, saw leading to this year, his first and only year as a Hoosier.***As one of 11 children born to Mexican immigrants, Alcala was encouraged by his father, a former professional boxer in Mexico, to take up a sport. Boxing, however, was not an option, so Alcala turned to football, joining his school’s team in sixth grade.“My family had a bad rep in the town,” Alcala said. “The teachers and principal already had a bad perspective of my last name. My principal told my coach not to rely on me making grades just because of who I was.”With the help of his coach, whom Alcala called ‘a new father figure,’ Alcala stayed eligible the entire season. With football season finished, the same coach suggested he try wrestling.“I didn’t do well in sixth, seventh, eighth grade, even my freshman and sophomore years of high school,” Alcala said. “My junior year of high school, everything just clicked and I started winning.”Denied a chance to place at the state meet his junior year due to being late to weigh-ins the second day, Alcala nonetheless began to realize that his athletic future lay on the mat instead of the gridiron. He turned down inquiries from Tyrone Willingham, then head football coach at Washington, to play defensive tackle for the Huskies.“As a senior in high school in football, I played fullback for the first three games of the season,” Alcala said. “I scored a game-winning touchdown in the first game. Other coaches started scouting me and telling players to take out my knees, chop me, tackle me low. My coach said, ‘We’re going to take you out and put you back at lineman. I don’t want to risk your wrestling career.’”The 5-foot-11-inch Alcala was moved back to defensive tackle but knew his days in football were numbered.“I felt like I wasn’t tall enough to play football,” Alcala said. “I played d-tackle, but I still felt like I was shorter than the average d-lineman.”On the wrestling mat, though, Alcala’s career was just taking off as he placed third at the state meet that season.“There hasn’t been a year I’ve regressed,” Alcala said. “Every year I’ve gotten better. Every year I’ve had a better record. I wish I had one more year.”***Football and wrestling kept Alcala busy and his grades up, but the two sports also kept the self-described childhood “troublemaker” from living up to the negative expectations his teachers and principals once had for him. But the “bad rep” that followed his family wasn’t built off of rumors. Only three of Alcala’s 11 siblings graduated from high school, and money was so tight that some mornings, he would have to do laundry just so he would have clothes to wear to school that day. When Ricky was in seventh grade, one of his older brothers was sentenced to 35 years to life and later was killed in prison.“It messed my entire family up,” Alcala said. “My brothers started doing really bad stuff. My mom and dad were sad, and I didn’t want to put them through that again. Doing sports kept me away from everything else: drugs, gangs, violence, all the things that had been prevalent in my town. I would stay in school even after practice, stay in the library and study and not go home, just because I enjoyed school.”Alcala said he never planned to go to college, but after graduating from Arvin High School in Bakersfield, Calif., his good grades and emerging wrestling prowess took him to the University of California at Davis. As a wrestler at UC Davis, Alcala qualified twice for the NCAA championships, made public speaking appearances and served as a representative on the school’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Entering this year, Alcala was set to be president of the SAAC, primed for a big senior season and planned to attend graduate school for physical therapy after graduation.One afternoon at 2 p.m., that all changed.***Rumors swirled that budget cuts would force the cancellation of some athletic programs at UC Davis, but Alcala was sure wrestling would not be one of them. After all, in 2007, UC Davis wrestler Derek Moore became the school’s first national champion in any sport and according to Alcala, the team had been named the best team on campus four out of the past six years up to that point. “They had already told a few teams that they were being eliminated, but our team was never brought up,” Alcala said. “It was a last-minute decision to eliminate our program. That day our coach texted us and told us they eliminated our wrestling program and that we had to meet up at 2 o’clock in the wrestling room to talk about it, pretty much out of the blue. I knew they were going to eliminate some teams, but I really didn’t think it was going to be the wrestling team.”Despite the plans he had made, Alcala knew as soon as he heard the news of the cancellation that he would be going elsewhere. He had a year of eligibility left and had no plans to waste it.“It wasn’t even a question,” Alcala said. “I told the coaches, ‘I’m out of here.’ They told me it was my decision. I didn’t know what my options were at the time. I knew I wanted to wrestle my last year.”After exploring his options and receiving interest from “20 or 25 schools,” Alcala narrowed his choices to Appalachian State, Old Dominion and IU — all schools that are in a different time zone than California. He was ready to see a new part of the country. Alcala said he chose IU because of the academics and the opportunity to work with heavyweight coaches such as Pat DeGain and the man he replaced as IU heavyweight, Nate Everhart, now a student assistant. Kevin Stanley, a 2001 IU All-American, was Alcala’s upper-weight coach at UC Davis and encouraged him to attend IU.“When he came in on a visit, he was very personable and seemed like a guy with very high goals and a guy with a good head on his shoulders,” IU wrestling coach Duane Goldman said. “We just felt he would be a good fit on our team.”Taking summer classes at UC Davis allowed Alcala to graduate and then transfer as a graduate student. He is now seeking a master’s degree in Athletic Administration/Sports Management.***Joining a close-knit program as an outsider appeared difficult and unenviable at first, but Alcala quickly succeeded in carving out a niche on the team.“I lighten the mood a little bit,” Alcala said. “Everybody’s sad and cutting weight, and I’m the heavyweight who doesn’t have to cut weight, so I’m trying to bust jokes and make people laugh and forget about cutting weight. I’m just social.”This year, for the first time, Alcala has had top-notch heavyweights to wrestle in practice, and both he and his coaches have seen the benefits.“He really creates the right opportunities for himself and utilizes the coaching staff,” DeGain, a former IU All-American heavyweight, said. “He’s picking everyone’s brain. He’s the reason he is as good as he is.”Alcala’s future could be in a number of places or professions. Teaching, coaching or returning to physical therapy are all options, as is continuing with sports management. Right now, though, he said his focus is on his last season of wrestling, the sport that helped him escape from the perils of his hometown and gave him the options he now has before him.“Once you’ve done it for as long as I’ve done it, it becomes part of your identity, so to speak,” Alcala said. “It becomes how you define yourself, as a wrestler. It’s a huge part of my life.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Despite opening the meet with a win, the IU wrestling team fell to No. 1 Penn State 36-8 Sunday afternoon at University Gym as the Nittany Lions took eight of 10 matches, notching bonus points in six of them.“Some of our guys competed hard even in their losses,” IU coach Duane Goldman said. “I think in a couple areas, guys got discouraged as the matches went on and didn’t maintain their focus.”Redshirt freshman Justin Brooks recorded his first career Big Ten win in the opening match against Penn State’s Eric Caschera with a 5-1 decision. Caschera was a late addition to the lineup after No. 11 Brad Pataky was scratched.IU had some lineup changes of its own as sophomore Geno Capezio filled in at 141 pounds for true freshman Mitchell Richey and sophomore Ryan Konz replaced redshirt freshman Ryan LeBlanc at 165 pounds. Goldman said following the match that both starters simply had minor nagging injuries and were withheld as a precaution.Following Brooks’ win, IU lost seven straight matches, clinching the match with a 33-3 margin before junior Matt Powless, ranked sixth nationally, gave the Hoosiers their second and final win of the meet with a 19-4 tech fall at 197 pounds. His record now stands at 29-2.The team will look to bounce back and record its first Big Ten win of the year when No. 13 Michigan comes to town next Sunday.“We just have to go back and try to get each guy ready,” Goldman said. “A lot of it is in the individual matchup and who they’re going to compete against. We’re just going to continue to move forward and see what happens.”— Max McCombs
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU wrestling team is not getting much of a break.Just a week after dueling No. 5 Minnesota, IU will play host to Penn State, currently tied for the top ranking in the nation.“We need to go in and still have high expectations of ourselves and try to win as many matches as we can,” IU coach Duane Goldman said.“Penn State’s got a great team. We have our work cut out for us, but we need to go in there like we do for every match and try to win the individual matchups and not worry so much about the team score.”Nearly every individual matchup will pose a challenge for the Hoosiers. The Nittany Lions bring ranked wrestlers in eight of 10 weight classes and are undefeated on the year in duals.Among the highly ranked wrestlers for Penn State are a pair of freshmen: David Taylor, who defeated IU senior Paul Young (17-2) earlier this season, at 157 pounds and Ed Ruth at 174 pounds.“They have a young group but they’re a very, very talented team,” Goldman said. “I don’t think youth is really a factor. Even though they’re young, they have a lot of experience.”Despite losing 25-14 to Minnesota, Goldman said he was pleased with his team’s performance in the match but that it is an indication of how the team is wrestling rather than a source of momentum.“We wrestled real well against Minnesota, and I expect us to wrestle well this week,” Goldman said. “It doesn’t really play out momentum-wise match-to-match because each match is different. It turns out this match this weekend, every one of our guys has a very difficult matchup, so we’ve been watching film and working in the room, and hopefully our guys can compete well and hopefully win some matches.”— Max McCombs
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Despite wins in the final two matches of the evening, the IU wrestling team fell at No. 5 Minnesota on Friday 25-14, to drop to 0-2 in the Big Ten.“We knew what we were up against,” IU wrestling coach Duane Goldman said. “We wrestled well, probably our best meet of the year.”The Hoosiers found themselves in an early 14-0 hole after dropping the first three matches. Underdogs in all three, the team allowed bonus points at 125 pounds and 141 pounds.At 133 pounds, the only match of the night without a ranked wrestler, junior Matt Ortega led until the end of regulation when the Gophers’ David Thorn tied the score at five apiece. Thorn won with a takedown in overtime.IU also narrowly lost at 165 pounds, where freshman Ryan LeBlanc was unable to escape from the bottom in the third period to even the score and prevent his foe, No. 7 Cody Yohn, from clinching the riding time point. LeBlanc fell 2-0.“When you have a close match, a ‘could-have, should-have, would-have’ mentality kicks in,” Goldman said. “Hopefully, we can make up the ground by the Big Ten Tournament. It’s better to win then than win now.”The Hoosiers’ other four losses each yielded bonus points for the favored Gophers, allowing them to clinch the meet by the end of the eighth match at 184 pounds, when the score stood at 25-7. IU’s only points up to that face-off came from a decision by senior Kurt Kinser at 149 pounds and senior Paul Young’s major decision at 157 pounds. Young was considered questionable to go before the match due to a minor injury but showed no sign of pain once he stepped on the mat.“The main thing that cost us was giving them some bonus points,” Goldman said. “We probably still would have lost on bonus points (had we won at 133 pound or 165 pounds). They had some returning All-Americans against some of our freshmen. (They) were a little outmatched. It was hard for us to overcome.”IU closed the score to the final margin with a major decision by junior Matt Powless, his nation-leading 12th of the season, and a 3-1 upset win in overtime by senior heavyweight Ricky Alcala, ranked 19th nationally, over No. 7 Tony Nelson.“I don’t think anything happened that cost us the duel,” Goldman said. “They’re ranked (fifth) in the country and have a great tradition. We wrestled a good duel, not well enough to win and that’s our goal.”
125 lbs.: Zack Sanders tech fall 22-7 over Justin Brooks
Pulling the upset tonight will still be a tall order for IU wrestlers, but tonight's match against mighty Minnesota just got a little more interesting with the news that Sonny Yohn, ranked 5th nationally by Intermat at 197 for the Golden Gophers, will probably not be in the lineup tonight. What would have likely been the closest match of the night just turned into a big opportunity for bonus points for Matt Powless and IU. Here's how the two teams stack up against each other and how I think tonight's action might pan out:
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a trio of decisive meet victories last weekend, the IU wrestlers resume their Big Ten season Friday at Minnesota.Ranked fifth nationally in the latest Intermat rankings, the Golden Gophers will be heavily favored against the visiting No. 24-ranked Hoosiers. However, IU coach Duane Goldman said that means it is very clear what his team will need to do to win.“We’re going to have to win the three matches or so that we’re probably favored (in) and then pull off some upsets,” Goldman said. “All the matches are going to be tough, regardless.”IU senior Paul Young, coming off a knee injury suffered against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, and senior Kurt Kinser will be favored at 157 and 149 pounds, respectively.A key match for both teams could be at 197 pounds where IU’s highest-ranked wrestler, junior Matt Powless — 27-2 for the year and currently ranked sixth nationally — could face the Gophers’ fifth-ranked junior Sonny Yohn. However, Yohn was injured recently and his status for the match is uncertain.Provided Yohn is healthy for the match, Goldman said he believes that the match alone will not determine the team’s overall outcome. Each team also has a ranked heavyweight, who will face off, as well.“One upset isn’t necessarily going to do it,” Goldman said. “There’s 10 individual matches. It’s not just having one extra win here or there. If their regular starter is in at 197, they’re going to be favored in eight matches. One upset (is not) going to do it. We’re going to have to pull several.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____> Despite being in the midst of the Big Ten season, the Hoosiers wrestling team ventured outside its conference’s Midwestern confines to compete in the Southern Scuffle tournament in Greensboro, N.C., on Dec. 29 and 30.The team took 13th place overall, a result that fell short of IU coach Duane Goldman’s expectations.“It was a very competitive tournament, but as a whole for the team, it was a disappointing performance, I felt,” Goldman said. “We had some good individual showings, but as a team, across the board, we had some things we needed to improve upon.”Several wrestlers managed strong showings at the event, most notably senior Paul Young in the 157-pound weight class. Young reeled off five straight victories, including a major decision in the opening round, en route to reaching the 157-pound championship match. He ultimately fell to Penn State freshman David Taylor in the finals.Young’s semifinal match paired him against Navy’s Bryce Saddoris for the second time this season. After dropping the initial meeting, Young rebounded to take a 5-2 decision.“I wanted to wrestle my kind of style and my match,” Young said. “In the finals, it slipped away, and that’s why I lost and took second, but up until that point, I was pretty confident and doing my style of wrestling, which worked for me.”Young credited several adjustments that allowed him to turn the tables on Saddoris in their second matchup.“On bottom I didn’t stop moving. I was constantly trying to escape,” Young said. “My riding on top was a lot better. I think that those two things carried me and especially helped me mentally. I finished my shots, which is another thing I didn’t do the first time that we wrestled.”With his performance in Greensboro, Young rose several spots in the most recent Intermat rankings and now resides at No. 7.Junior Matt Powless, wrestling at 197 pounds, also rose as a result of his showing at the tournament. Powless’ third place finish propelled him up to No. 6 in the rankings. His only loss of the tournament came against top-ranked Cam Simaz of Cornell, the only wrestler Powless has lost to this year.