A Day Of Dominance For Spartan Wrestling
1/21/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 21, 2001
EAST LANSING, MICH. - The No. 9 Michigan State wrestling squad pummeled Findlay, 45-3 and Grand Valley State, 42-0 in Sunday's double-header at Jenison Field House. The Spartans lost only one match between the two dual matches and recorded five falls and five technical falls.
"We definitely accomplished the two objectives that we had set out there to do," said coach Tom Minkel. "One was to perfect some of those technical errors that we had been making and the second was to go out and wrestle very aggressively. I was very pleased with this effort and we really went out and did what we wanted to."
The Spartan squad ran through the two duals, allowing only three points to Findlay on a decision by Marc Bullard over Mike Woodward at 141 and recording three tech falls, three major decisions and a pin in the Grand Valley State outing.
The Spartan opened the afternoon with Findlay, started the dual at the 165-pound weight class. Alec Kowalewski (So./Augusta, Mich.) set the pace early scoring a decision over Lucas Mackesy, 6-4. Nate Mesyn (Fr./Clinton Twp., Mich.) scored a 10-2 decision over Brandon Cooper at 174 , putting the Spartans up, 6-0 in the match.
John Wechter (So./Saginaw, Mich.) controlled his match at 184 pounds from the start scoring five near fall points with less than a minute to go in the first period, bringing the score to 9-2. The match was called with 1:24 left in the second, as Wechter scored eight unanswered, on an escape, two takedowns and three near fall points.
No. 15 Nik Fekete (So./Cranford, N.J.) started his match at 197, sluggish falling behind 6-1, before coming back to score on two escapes, closing the score to 7-6 at the end of the first period. Fekete went on to score three more takedowns, before pinning Justin Groll with a little under a minute left in the second period.
With the match score now at 18-0, Mike Keenan (So./Columbus, Ohio) added to the Michigan State romp, winning his decision over Ray Bond, 6-3.
No. 12 Chris Williams (Jr./Fowlerville, Mich.) and No. 6 Pat McNamara (Sr./Jordan, Minn.) both received forfeits at 125 and 133 pounds, taking the Spartans lead to 33-0.
Mike Woodward (So./Lansing, Mich.) dropped a tough decision to No. 5 (Division II) Marc Bullard, 15-8. Charlie Sageman (So./Saginaw, Mich.) came out at 149, taking an early lead 2-1 at the end of the first. Sageman went on to score on two takedowns before pinning Joe Caprino in the Spartans second fall of the day.
No. 13 Gray Maynard (So./Las Vegas, N.V.) topped off the Spartans win pinning Wes Sindlinger in 2:55.
The Spartans started the Grand Valley State match just as they had left off in the Findlay dual. No. 12 Chris Williams gave up only two points on escapes in his 13-2 major decision over Eric Gervis. No. 6 Pat McNamara never faltered in his match at 133 pounds, scoring six takedowns in the first three minutes of action, taking a commanding 12-5 lead at the end of the first period. McNamara went on to score nine more points in under a minute, to seal his 22-7 technical fall.
Mike Woodward bounced back in his second match at 141, winning his decision over Alan Smith, 11-4. At 149, Charlie Sageman controlled his match-up with Eric Smith, allowing only Smith only an early takedown and escape in the match. Sageman outscored Smith 12-1, after Smith's takedown. Sageman scored a major decision, 12-3.
No. 13 Gray Maynard struggled through the first period of action falling behind Jeremiah Gitchell, 10-9. Maynard stepped up his offensive action, scoring 13 unanswered points in the last two periods, taking the major decision, 23-10.
Alec Kowalewski won his second decision of the day, taking the 165-pound match, 16-7, against Kyle Kreiger.
"These matches were a great opportunity for us," said Kowalewski. "It gave us a taste of what it was like to wrestler on the platform and felt great to be at home wrestling in front of our crowd. Hopefully I can build on this opportunity that I got."
Freshman Nate Mesyn took care of his match quickly at 174 pounds, pinning Rick Bolhuis in 1:35. Mesyn, who stepped in for injured Scott Owen at the beginning of the season, recording his first two dual wins of the year against Findlay and Grand Valley State.
"It felt good to get these first dual wins out of the way," said Mesyn. "Wrestling against these top guys at 174 has been really tough on me, but has also taught me and allowed me to learn what I need to do."
John Wechter dominated his match at 184, scoring his second technical fall of the afternoon. Wechter set the tempo early against Kelly Krepps, scoring two near fall points at the end of the first period. Wechter had four takedowns and two near fall points to take a commanding 14-3 lead by the end of the third. Scoring three more takedowns in the third, Wechter put the match away, winning 21-5.
No. 15 Nik Fekete scored 11 takedowns in rout to his 27-10 technical fall over Bill Stouffer, while heavyweight Mike Keenan sealed the 42-0 Spartan victory with a 10-3 decision over A.J. Cook.
"It was like wrestling in a tournament," said Keenan, who also wrestled in an exhibition match between the dual meets, "it was exhausting, but gave me a really good opportunity. It was nice to wrestle at home and to hear the people supporting you. I could hear my mom the whole time."
"We wrestle one of the toughest schedules in the country," said Minkel. "So it's nice to get a break from having to wrestle at the highest level, week in and week out. But this was great because we have kids that come in everyday and work and lift and run and never get a chance at the line-up. It allowed them to perform somewhere else besides our wrestling room and I was very impressed with their efforts."
The Spartans will next face a hard weekend squaring off against No. 5 Illinois on Jan. 26 and intrastate rival No. 7 Michigan on Jan. 28.