Michigan State University
Michigan State Open Tournament
Nine Spartans In Semifinals At MSU Wrestling Open
11/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Nov. 17, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State wrestling team opened its home season Saturday (Nov. 17) at Jenison Field House with the Michigan State Open. Nine wrestlers advanced to Sunday's (Nov. 18) semifinals. The semifinals will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the finals, which are scheduled for 1 p.m.
Senior Chris Williams (Perry, Mich.) and freshman Nick Simmons (Williamston, Mich.) each advanced to the 125-pound semifinals. Williams began the day with a first round win over Northwestern's Robert Potashnich. In the second round, Williams defeated Eric Gervais of Grand Valley State, which advanced him to a quarterfinal match against Kevin Linich of Kent State. Williams defeated Linich in the match. Williams will face Jason Borrelli of Central Michigan in the semifinals.
Simmons began the day with two victories, each resulting in a fall. His first-round fall (5:40) was against Doug West of Kent State while his second-round fall (3:15) was at the expense of Northern Illinois' Marlon Felton. Simmons won his quarterfinal match against Jared Opfer of Kent State. He will face Michigan's A.J. Grant in the semifinals.
In the 141-pound bracket, Charlie Sageman (Jr., Saginaw, Mich.) advanced to the semifinals along with fellow teammate Shane Martin (Fr., DeWitt, Mich.). Sageman's recorded a fall (5:27) in the first round against Ohio State's Chad Redmond.
Karl Nadolsky (Jr., Holland, Mich.) will represent Michigan State in the 149-pound semifinals. Nadolsky's strong performance began in the first round where he recorded a fall (5:37) over Michigan's James Gonzalez. Nadolsky will face Ohio State's Keaton Anderson in the semifinals.
Gray Maynard (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.) defeated Greg Spivey of Ohio State to advance to the semifinals in the 157-pound division.
Anton Hall (Jr., Ada, Mich.), Rashad Evans (Jr., Niagara Falls, N.Y.) and Nik Fekete (Jr., Cranford, N.J.) also advanced to the semifinals. At 165 pounds, Hall will face Kevin Carr of Central Michigan while Fekete will face Kyle Smith of Michigan at 197 pounds.
"For the most part, we wrestled very well," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "We were disciplined and wrestled hard all day. It really heats up tomorrow. The competition is going to be tough, and I'm looking forward to it."
