Oliver’s Notoriety Growing With Each Match
12/14/2015 10:00:00 AM | Wrestling
By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Elijah Oliver's match begins 30 minutes before ever taking his stance.
The freshman starts pacing behind Indiana's bench like a prizefighter as his teammates begin competing against Eastern Michigan 20 yards away at Indiana's University Gym. He jabs the air and simulates his footwork in spurts as he repeats his path back and forth, stopping only briefly to crouch and say a prayer. He kisses his fingers and points to the ceiling as he finishes.
Then Oliver goes back to pacing. He's always pacing.
He bobs his head along to the sound of G Herbo and The Game playing through his black and red Beats by Dre headphones. He likes listening to music to separate himself from all the commotion around him.
This is Oliver's routine. It makes him comfortable before heading onto the mat and into battle where he's started the season 11-1. The Alabaster, Alabama native is quickly making a name for himself in Bloomington where he's added stability at the 125-pound spot that Indiana was forced to forfeit virtually every match last season.
"I definitely am starting to feel that separation between the best guys and the okay, mediocre guys," Oliver said. "I feel like I'm right there with those number one guys. I know I'm right there. I've just got to believe it."
Oliver keeps an eye on the mat as he prepares, ducking and weaving as he paces back and forth. With each passing match, he sheds a layer as an internal clock of sorts. He's maintained the same schedule for as long as he can remember.
His Indiana windbreaker is the first to come off before the dual even begins. He ditches his crimson Indiana sweatshirt as the referee raises Matt Irick's arm after winning the opening match and putting three points on the board for the Hoosiers.
Then Oliver returns to pacing. He's always pacing, jabbing the air in front of him as he goes.
"Each day, I got into the practice room finding a way to get better," Oliver said. "When I go out there, I really don't think about winning or losing or this guy is this, this guy is that. That doesn't really matter. I'm just trying to make a name for myself."
His warmup pants are the next to go as Jake Masengale walks off the mat after the second match of the day. After another ten minutes of pacing, Oliver ditches his long-sleeve shirt seconds after the buzzer sounds on Garret Goldman's match.
Then the pacing stops.
Oliver's up next.
The headphones come off and the headgear goes on. Thirty minutes of preparation are about to be tested by Eastern Michigan's Vincent Pizzuto, who entered the match with one lone loss on the season—it came against Oliver a few weeks earlier.
Down by three points through three matches, Indiana needs Oliver's result. He's become a consistent scorer for the Hoosiers already this season and has aspirations to be one of the Big Ten's best wrestlers.
He doesn't have a national ranking yet, but it may not be too far off if he continues the way he's been wrestling.
"He has good technique and he's got his God-given skills. He's a good student of the sport," head coach Duane Goldman said. "He's ready. Wrestling at this level isn't something that he's not used to, per se. It's more just the maturity and age factor that he's stepping into. As far as being in big environments or wrestling tough opponents, he's been doing that for a long time."
The match has just begun and Oliver already has Pizzuto helplessly on his head. Oliver draws first blood, getting on the board with a 2-point takedown not even 30 seconds into the match.
Everything Oliver does is fast. Goldman describes him as a "gifted athlete" with a compact 5-foot-5 frame. He shows little sign of a torn meniscus from almost one year ago to the day that nearly cost him his senior season of high school wrestling.
After tearing his meniscus—during a match he won, by the way—Oliver had it completely removed and spent weeks doing squats, stretching his legs and visiting with doctors. He somehow managed to return to the mat in time to win conference, sectional, regional and state titles at Washington Community High School in Washington, Illinois.
It was Oliver's fourth state championship in as many years, but his first in Illinois. His previous three titles had come at Tennessee before moving to Illinois between his junior and senior seasons.
The schools have changed, but the results haven't.
"As long as I'm wrestling, they've got to keep up," Oliver said, smiling. Teammates talk about a quiet confidence he carries himself with. It's obvious in the way he speaks and the personal goals he's set.
A little over two minutes into his match with Pizzuto, Oliver strikes. If you were looking the other way for even a second, you'd have missed it as Oliver grabbed his opponent's leg and twisted it hard, causing the referee to stop the match.
Pizzuto's leg was too injured to continue. Oliver won by default.
"He's a goer," Oliver's teammate Luke Blanton said. "He knows when he needs to pick it up another notch and he does it."
Oliver's celebration is reserved. He walks off the mat and high-fives a few teammates before taking off the top of his singlet and running into the locker room. He emerges a few minutes later and heads straight for the clothes he spent 30 minutes shedding earlier in the day.
He picks up his shirt, pants and headphones before heading to the bench to watch the remainder of the matches. Indiana goes on to defeat Eastern Michigan with relative ease, 25-9. But Oliver wasn't done yet.
An hour passes before he returns to his spot behind the Indiana bench with his long-sleeve shirt, sweatpants and sweatshirt back on. His Beats headphones start playing The Game's "El Chapo" as he gets back into his zone before taking on Manchester's Alan Mock in his second and final match of the day.
Oliver starts pacing. He's always pacing, jabbing the air as he goes and simulating his footwork. He sheds a layer of clothes with each passing match to find comfort in repetition before heading into battle.
As the third match ends and Oliver's is set to begin, he tosses his long-sleeve shirt to the side and trades his headphones for headgear before taking the mat. Thirty more minutes of preparation are about to be put to the test with Mock lined up opposite him.
Oliver needed just 28 seconds to get the pin.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Elijah Oliver's match begins 30 minutes before ever taking his stance.
The freshman starts pacing behind Indiana's bench like a prizefighter as his teammates begin competing against Eastern Michigan 20 yards away at Indiana's University Gym. He jabs the air and simulates his footwork in spurts as he repeats his path back and forth, stopping only briefly to crouch and say a prayer. He kisses his fingers and points to the ceiling as he finishes.
Then Oliver goes back to pacing. He's always pacing.
He bobs his head along to the sound of G Herbo and The Game playing through his black and red Beats by Dre headphones. He likes listening to music to separate himself from all the commotion around him.
This is Oliver's routine. It makes him comfortable before heading onto the mat and into battle where he's started the season 11-1. The Alabaster, Alabama native is quickly making a name for himself in Bloomington where he's added stability at the 125-pound spot that Indiana was forced to forfeit virtually every match last season.
"I definitely am starting to feel that separation between the best guys and the okay, mediocre guys," Oliver said. "I feel like I'm right there with those number one guys. I know I'm right there. I've just got to believe it."
Oliver keeps an eye on the mat as he prepares, ducking and weaving as he paces back and forth. With each passing match, he sheds a layer as an internal clock of sorts. He's maintained the same schedule for as long as he can remember.
His Indiana windbreaker is the first to come off before the dual even begins. He ditches his crimson Indiana sweatshirt as the referee raises Matt Irick's arm after winning the opening match and putting three points on the board for the Hoosiers.
Then Oliver returns to pacing. He's always pacing, jabbing the air in front of him as he goes.
"Each day, I got into the practice room finding a way to get better," Oliver said. "When I go out there, I really don't think about winning or losing or this guy is this, this guy is that. That doesn't really matter. I'm just trying to make a name for myself."
His warmup pants are the next to go as Jake Masengale walks off the mat after the second match of the day. After another ten minutes of pacing, Oliver ditches his long-sleeve shirt seconds after the buzzer sounds on Garret Goldman's match.
Then the pacing stops.
Oliver's up next.
The headphones come off and the headgear goes on. Thirty minutes of preparation are about to be tested by Eastern Michigan's Vincent Pizzuto, who entered the match with one lone loss on the season—it came against Oliver a few weeks earlier.
Down by three points through three matches, Indiana needs Oliver's result. He's become a consistent scorer for the Hoosiers already this season and has aspirations to be one of the Big Ten's best wrestlers.
He doesn't have a national ranking yet, but it may not be too far off if he continues the way he's been wrestling.
"He has good technique and he's got his God-given skills. He's a good student of the sport," head coach Duane Goldman said. "He's ready. Wrestling at this level isn't something that he's not used to, per se. It's more just the maturity and age factor that he's stepping into. As far as being in big environments or wrestling tough opponents, he's been doing that for a long time."
The match has just begun and Oliver already has Pizzuto helplessly on his head. Oliver draws first blood, getting on the board with a 2-point takedown not even 30 seconds into the match.
Everything Oliver does is fast. Goldman describes him as a "gifted athlete" with a compact 5-foot-5 frame. He shows little sign of a torn meniscus from almost one year ago to the day that nearly cost him his senior season of high school wrestling.
After tearing his meniscus—during a match he won, by the way—Oliver had it completely removed and spent weeks doing squats, stretching his legs and visiting with doctors. He somehow managed to return to the mat in time to win conference, sectional, regional and state titles at Washington Community High School in Washington, Illinois.
It was Oliver's fourth state championship in as many years, but his first in Illinois. His previous three titles had come at Tennessee before moving to Illinois between his junior and senior seasons.
The schools have changed, but the results haven't.
"As long as I'm wrestling, they've got to keep up," Oliver said, smiling. Teammates talk about a quiet confidence he carries himself with. It's obvious in the way he speaks and the personal goals he's set.
A little over two minutes into his match with Pizzuto, Oliver strikes. If you were looking the other way for even a second, you'd have missed it as Oliver grabbed his opponent's leg and twisted it hard, causing the referee to stop the match.
Pizzuto's leg was too injured to continue. Oliver won by default.
"He's a goer," Oliver's teammate Luke Blanton said. "He knows when he needs to pick it up another notch and he does it."
Oliver's celebration is reserved. He walks off the mat and high-fives a few teammates before taking off the top of his singlet and running into the locker room. He emerges a few minutes later and heads straight for the clothes he spent 30 minutes shedding earlier in the day.
He picks up his shirt, pants and headphones before heading to the bench to watch the remainder of the matches. Indiana goes on to defeat Eastern Michigan with relative ease, 25-9. But Oliver wasn't done yet.
An hour passes before he returns to his spot behind the Indiana bench with his long-sleeve shirt, sweatpants and sweatshirt back on. His Beats headphones start playing The Game's "El Chapo" as he gets back into his zone before taking on Manchester's Alan Mock in his second and final match of the day.
Oliver starts pacing. He's always pacing, jabbing the air as he goes and simulating his footwork. He sheds a layer of clothes with each passing match to find comfort in repetition before heading into battle.
As the third match ends and Oliver's is set to begin, he tosses his long-sleeve shirt to the side and trades his headphones for headgear before taking the mat. Thirty more minutes of preparation are about to be put to the test with Mock lined up opposite him.
Oliver needed just 28 seconds to get the pin.
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