Michigan State Open Results and Comments

[Wisconsin Wrestling Fan]

Summary:

4 Champs
125 Eric Barnett, 165 Dean Hamiti (Open Division)
133 Nicolar Rivera, 174 Luke Condon (Freshman / Sophomore Division)

* Hamiti and Condon wrestled like absolute mounters
* Barnett had some closer matches; his toughness and savviness prevailed.
* Rivera had 4 nice wins after missing  the dual last weekend.

2 - 2nd's
149 Joe Zargo (Open Division)
133 Zan Fugitt (Freshman / Sophomore Division)
* Zargo led in the finals. he beat a Top 20 wrestler in the semis.
* Incredible start to the season for Fugitt. Had to comeback in one match - he is a tough ridder.

1 - 4th
157 Cody Goebel (Open Division)
* Excellent tournament for Goebel. Wrestled much better than he did at the Stevens Point Open

2 - 5ths
157 Royce Nilo (Freshman / Sophomore Division)
197 Michael Tal-Shahar (Freshman / Sophomore Division)
* Nilo wrestled 145 last year, so bumping up to 157 and placing is a nice accomplishment.
* Tal-Shahar lost a couple tight matches, but did bounce back to win after both losses.

1 - 6th
184 Shane Liegel (Open Division)
* Two early wins got Liegel to the semis. Nice start to his D1 career!

2-2 Did Not Place
149 Aidan Medora (Open Division)
157 Luke Mechler (Open Division)
174 Cale Anderson (Open Division)
* Nice couple of wins by Medora.
* Mechler beat a Top 20 wrestler (Hill) who placed 5th.
* Anderson Lost by 1 Point to the Top Seed/2nd Place Finisher. Had the comeback of the season to win a 14-13 thriller! Needs work on the bottom position.

1-2 Did Not Place
141 Felix Lettini (Freshman / Sophomore Division)
157 Gavin Model (Open Division)
174 Josh Otto (Open Division)
285 Gannon Rosenfeld (Open Division)
* So-so tourney for Lettini. Needs to step it up to secure the 141 spot. I think he can do it!
* Model lost by 2 points to the champ (Lovett) and by 6 to the 2nd seed who placed 5th.
* Otto lost by 5 to the eventual champ (Picklo). Was ahead in the 3rd against Shannon but gave up the takedown and could not escape. Okay tourney, but I believe he can and will do better.
* Rosenfeld lost to the 3rd and 4th place finishers, including a close one to the 4th placer. Needs to keep improving to build on last season.

In the Open Division,165 Graham Calhoun lost two tight matches. 165 was a pretty tough weight. Klarkowski and Empey did not win any matches at Heavyweight

In the Freshman Sophomore Division, 149 Danny Sheen lost won 1 match by a point and then Med Forfeited out of the tourney. 133 Simon Kruse lost twice.

Overall Comments:

* The big guns did well.
* Some of the newer starters and those vying for varsity showed some flashes.
* Rivera solidified the spot at 133; Fugitt is a great option as well.
* 141 and 285 looks unsettled. Need someone to step up!
* At 157, you can make an argument for Goebel, Mechler or Model. Needs some consistency.
* At 174, looking forward to Maylor wrestling. Anderson looks strong on the feet. Otto needs to win those tight battles. This weight is closer than expected.
* At 184 and 197, Liegel and Tal-Shahar both placed; I think they will keep improving.
* Coach Bono accomplished the goal of getting a lot of matches for everyone.
* Hopefully the guys who did not wrestle this week can see some action soon!

Overall, if I could sense an area the Badgers really need to work on, it is the bottom position. Our inability to escape at key moments cost us a few matches. While I realize we  are going against the best of the best riders at the NCAA D1 level, if you want to win, if you want to start, if you want to be an All-American or NCAA Champion, you have to find a way to get out from the bottom.

Duane Kleven has a great story he tells about this topic. In 1977, Jim Haines finished 2nd at the Big Tens to Minnesota's Mike McArthur 4-0. Haines could not get loose on the bottom. Over the next couple of weeks, working with Russ Hellickson, Jim Haines practiced reps over and over and over again to counter McArthur's ride. Kleven said Haines was almost became like a machine perfecting his moves. Haines and McArthur met again in the NCAA Finals. Haines defeated McArthur 8-7 to win the title!

If Jim Haines was able to do it, so can you!

[CLC FAN]

Great recap

[PAUL]

Thank for the post and the comments!  Seems like it was an excellent scheduling decision to go to this event - a good level of competition for everyone and the entire team under the same roof.  Scheduling good and reasonable events is so important with such a young team, especially when they are in such a tough conference.  Guys like Barnett and Dean will be fine either way, but other guys need to get wins (and feel success) when they can - as once Big Ten starts it will get so much tougher to do so.  Building a winning foundation is so necessary and it can take time.  I think and hope that days like yesterday will help to do that. 

[npope]

Duane Kleven has a great story he tells about this topic. In 1977, Jim Haines finished 2nd at the Big Tens to Minnesota's Mike McArthur 4-0. Haines could not get loose on the bottom. Over the next couple of weeks, working with Russ Hellickson, Jim Haines practiced reps over and over and over again to counter McArthur's ride. Kleven said Haines was almost became like a machine perfecting his moves. Haines and McArthur met again in the NCAA Finals. Haines defeated McArthur 8-7 to win the title!

If Jim Haines was able to do it, so can you!

Not meaning to take this thread off topic, but I had the good fortune to wrestle on the same UW team as Haines in 1975 as well as wrestle McArthur in a match the next year. Not to suggest that I was in either of those two's league (I was regularly beaten badly by the top level wrestlers in the Big Ten), but during my wrestling career, I have never experienced anyone ride as tough as McArthur. While he only weighed 118 pounds he managed to feel like 300 pounds sitting on top of you - he was incredibly vice-like when he was on top and simply exhausted me while I crawled around looking for a club that I could use to beat him on the head. I'd be curious as to the strategy Hellickson and Haines developed to counter-act McArthur's ride. I can also say without hesitation that Haines was far better on his feet than Mac was. Put it together and I guess that's how you get an Olympian. Sadly, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics Haines only had one match (I could be wrong on that one, though) where the other guy got Haines in a gut-wrench roll and just ran up the points by continuing the motion and tech-falled Haines really quickly. Very disappointed that Haines wasn't able to get more mileage out of his great skills on his feet.

[Sudden Death]

Great recap..Thank you

[Wisconsin Wrestling Fan]

Duane Kleven has a great story he tells about this topic. In 1977, Jim Haines finished 2nd at the Big Tens to Minnesota's Mike McArthur 4-0. Haines could not get loose on the bottom. Over the next couple of weeks, working with Russ Hellickson, Jim Haines practiced reps over and over and over again to counter McArthur's ride. Kleven said Haines was almost became like a machine perfecting his moves. Haines and McArthur met again in the NCAA Finals. Haines defeated McArthur 8-7 to win the title!

If Jim Haines was able to do it, so can you!

Not meaning to take this thread off topic, but I had the good fortune to wrestle on the same UW team as Haines in 1975 as well as wrestle McArthur in a match the next year. Not to suggest that I was in either of those two's league (I was regularly beaten badly by the top level wrestlers in the Big Ten), but during my wrestling career, I have never experienced anyone ride as tough as McArthur. While he only weighed 118 pounds he managed to feel like 300 pounds sitting on top of you - he was incredibly vice-like when he was on top and simply exhausted me while I crawled around looking for a club that I could use to beat him on the head. I'd be curious as to the strategy Hellickson and Haines developed to counter-act McArthur's ride. I can also say without hesitation that Haines was far better on his feet than Mac was. Put it together and I guess that's how you get an Olympian. Sadly, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics Haines only had one match (I could be wrong on that one, though) where the other guy got Haines in a gut-wrench roll and just ran up the points by continuing the motion and tech-falled Haines really quickly. Very disappointed that Haines wasn't able to get more mileage out of his great skills on his feet.

I believe the plan Russ Hellickson developed for Jim Haines was to work everything off of a sit out instead of a standup.