IU Faces Two Ranked Foes

1/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

Bloomington, Ind. -The Hoosiers will hit the road this week for a pair of Big Ten matches. It will be Indiana's first Big Ten road matches of the season.

The Big Ten is once again the premium conference in collegiate wrestling having five teams ranked among the top 10 in the country. Indiana will battle No. 3 Ohio State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. IU will then treck to Ann Arbor to wrestle with the No. 6 Wolverines on Friday also at 7:00 p.m.

The Wolverines and Buckeyes both have wrestled tough schedules. Of Michigan's 10 matches, nine have been against ranked opponents. The last time out, Michigan downed No. 7 Illinois, 19-13. Michigan is currently 6-4 on the season and 1-0 in the Big Ten.

Seven of Ohio State's 11 opponents this season have been ranked in the top 25 this season. The Buckeyes have amassed an overall record of 8-3 this season. Indiana will be the Buckeye's first Big Ten opponent this season. OSU is 8-3 and downed No. 6 Cornell, 22-15 on January 26.

Ohio State is ranked third by The Wrestling Mall and fifth by W.I.N. Magazine. Michigan on the other hand is ranked eighth by The Wrestling Mall and sixth by W.I.N. Magazine.

For Complete Weekly Notes click HERE

Projected Lineup - Jan. 30-31
125 Joe Dubuque
133 Greg Schaefer/Cameron Sakon
141 Coyte Cooper
149 Matt Cooper
157 J.P. Stanley/Isaac Knable
165 Alex LaPointe/Isaac Knable
174 Brady Richardson/Andrew Wolf
184 Ty Matthews/Andy Rios
197 Pat DeGain
HWT Joel Powers

Hoosiers Climb The Charts
Pat DeGain is currently the highest ranked Hoosier grappler, ranked sixth by The Wrestling Mall. After going 4-0 on the weekend, DeGain is ranked 11th by Amateur Wrestling News and 10th by W.I.N. Magazine.

After losing to then 10th ranked Scott Moore of Penn State, Coyte Cooper fellow in every poll. Cooper's highest ranking is by W.I.N. Magazine, as they rank the 141 lb Hoosier eighth. Amateur Wrestling News ranks Cooper No. 10, while The Wrestling Mall has him in at 14th.

Redshirt freshman Joe Dubuque continues to be ranked in three polls this week despite his loss against Penn State. The Wrestling Mall ranks the 125 lb Hoosier 17th, while Amateur Wrestling News and W.I.N. Magazine both rank him 17th.

Despite missing last week's matches due to a knee injury, senior Ty Matthews continues to be ranked in four polls. For the first time this season, The Wrestling Mall has ranked Matthews among its top 20, with the 184 lb Hoosier coming in at No. 20. Amateur Wrestling News ranks Matthews 18th, while W.I.N. Magazine has him at No. 11.

Breaking It Down - Pins
Cooper has 15 pins on the season, becoming one of just five Hoosier grapplers to gain 15 or more pins in a season. He is tied for sixth on the all-time pins list with 25 in his career at IU.

Here is a look at individuals' pins on the season and in their respective careers:
Coyte Cooper 15- 25
Pat DeGain 8 -16
Joel Powers 9 -9
Greg Schaefer 6- 18

Caught Streaking
Redshirt sophomore, No. 5 Pat DeGain is on a winning streak as he has not lost in 18 straight contests. He is 18-1 on the season in dual meets and has not dropped a bout since Dec. 7, 2002 in the championship finals of the Northern Iowa Open.

With his victory against Penn State's Ryan Cummins, DeGain set a personal high in wins in a season. As a redshirt freshman in the 2001-02 season, DeGain finished with a 23-11 overall record. After the weekend, he carries an overall record of 26-2.

Cooper Having Stellar Season
Coyte Cooper has already won more matches this season than in either of his previous two seasons as a Hoosier. In both 2000 and 2001 he won a total 22 matches while he has already bested that number by winning 27.Despite dropping his first Big Ten dual meet to Penn State's No. 10 Scott Moore, Cooper is 27-2 on the season with 15 pins to his credit.

About Pat DeGain
He has already won more dual meet bouts this season than he previously had in his career. He is 18-1 on the season while he finished 12-4 in 2002.

Knable Making His Mark
True freshman Isaac Knable, originally expected to redshirt the 2002-03 season, made his debut on the mat for Indiana when he faced Missouri Valley's Pat Giangrosso. Though he didn't grab his first collegiate victory then, the next match he won convincingly, pinning SIU-Edwardsville's Matt Oliva in 1:48. The pin marks the first win by fall at 157 pounds for the Hoosiers this year.

Injury Update
Fifth-year senior Ty Matthews dropped from 197 pounds to 184 for the 2002-03 season. During practice last week, he sustained a knee injury and sat out the Big Ten opener against Penn State and three duals the following day.

Triple Duals
The Indiana wrestling team rebounded from Friday night's loss to No. 16 Penn State by picking up three victories at the University of Indianapolis Triple Dual Meet. Indiana downed Carson-Newman (42-3), Truman State (39-9) and the host Indianapolis (34-12). Indiana improved to 15-4 on the season.

The Hoosiers began the day with a dominating 42-3 victory over Carson-Newman. Indiana won nine of the ten matches, including four by fall. Indiana then downed Truman State 39-9, including three pins. In the final match of the day, IU downed the ninth-ranked team in Division II, Indianapolis, 34-12. Indiana picked up three wins by pin against Indianapolis and one by technical fall.

Dubuque downed Chonci Houston of Carson-Newman, 6-2. Against Truman State's Steve Cox, Dubuque turned in a major decision victory, 19-3. In his final match of the day, he picked up a pin of Indianapolis' Wiley Craft at the 1:12 mark of the first period.

Senior Greg Schaefer followed suit at 133 as he also picked up three victories on the day. Schaefer picked up two major decisions and one pin on the day.

Junior Coyte Cooper rebounded from his second loss of the season at 141 by picking up three victories on Saturday, all by pin. Sophomore Pat DeGain continued his winning streak in picking up three victories at 197. DeGain is currently riding an 18-match winning streak.

Freshman heavyweight Joel Powers also went 3-0 on the afternoon, including two by fall. Powers started the day off by pinning Tommy O'Neil of Carson-Newman. Powers would need everything he could get against Indianapolis' Evan Love as he downed Love 4-2 in overtime.

Redshirt freshman Andy Rios went 2-0 on the day at 184 for Indiana picking up wins over Carson-Newman's Andrey Sharapov and Indianapolis' Mike Jackson. Rios win over Sharapov came by pin, while his win over Jackson was a technical fall, 21-6, win.

Freshmen Matt Cooper and Isaac Knable each went 2-1 on the day for Indiana. Cooper's loss came to the 5th ranked 149-pounder in Division II, Indianapolis' Mitch Napier, by pin.

The Big Ten Opener
The Hoosiers came into Friday nights Big Ten opener with No. 17 Penn State riding a six-match winning streak. The Nittany Lions put an end to the Hoosiers streak with a dominating 37-4 victory at University Gymnasium. Things didn't go the Hoosiers' way early as they dropped the first seven matches of the night. Included in that run was the marquee match-up at 141 between Indiana's #5 Coyte Cooper and Penn State's #10 Scott Moore.

Cooper and Moore split last season with Moore picking up the pin in the dual meet and Cooper picking up the pin in the conference meet. Moore snapped Cooper's 21-match winning streak by pinning the Anacortes, Wash., native 2:48 into the match. Moore improved to 39-6 on the season, while Cooper fell to 24-2.

Sophomore Pat DeGain picked up the Hoosiers' only victory of the night as he dominated Ryan Cummins, 19-5. The win improved fifth-ranked DeGain's record to 23-2.

Freshman Matt Cooper lost a tough match to #18 Nathan Galloway at 149 lbs. Cooper got a take down late in the match, but couldn't over-come a four-point deficit and lost 5-3. Cooper is now 13-11 on the season.

Redshirt freshman Andy Rios looked to pick-up where senior and No. 9 Ty Matthews left off. Matthews sat out with a knee injury. Rios struck with fourth-ranked Mark Becks at 184, but couldn't pull off the upset with a 9-3 loss. Rios fell to 9-6 on the season.

To Lead Into the Big Ten Season...
Indiana wrestling started a long weekend of competition off right, defeating Eastern Illinois by a team score of 35-15.

Starting at 133 pounds, senior Greg Schaefer set the standard as he defeated EIU's Mike Stanley by major decision, 17-5.

Ranked fifth in the nation at 141 pounds, junior Coyte Cooper kept his undefeated streak alive as he pinned Brian Sbertoli in 2:43.

True freshman Matt Cooper gained his third-straight victory over EIU's Chris Jordan convincingly as he got the 13-2, major decision in the 149 pound bout.

Indiana sophomore Andrew Wolf decisioned Tom Tovello in the 174 pound matchup as senior Ty Matthews, ranked 12th in the country, won by pin over Josh Lepper, gaining the victory in 2:37.

Indiana continued their winning ways as they picked up three victories on Saturday. IU downed Missouri Valley (32-12), Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (43-3) and Eastern Michigan (33-12).

Senior Greg Schaefer (133 lbs.), junior Coyte Cooper (141 lbs), freshman Matt Cooper (149 lbs), senior Ty Matthews (184 lbs), sophomore Pat DeGain (197 lbs) and freshman Joel Powers (Hwt) all went a perfect 3-0 on Saturday. Coyte Cooper, DeGain and Powers eached picked up two pins as well.

Freshman Isaac Knable picked up his first dual meet victory and pin against Matt Olvia of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at 157 lbs. Knable went 4-1 earlier in the season at 149 lbs. in Opens.

The Wendy's Duals
The IU wrestling team improved its record with two wins, despite dropping a close battle to Cleveland State, 21-15.

The Hoosiers faced UT-Chattanooga for the first match of the day and pulled out the 30-14 win in the final three bouts.

The Hoosiers then faced Cleveland State and the match came down to the final, heavyweight bout. They lost their first dual meet in seven tries although IU jumped out to an early lead. Matthews decisioned his Cleveland State counterpart, No. 4 Gerald Harris, 3-2 to pull back to within three points as the Hoosiers were down, 12-15. With Pat DeGain's 6-4 decision, the match was even, 15-15. True freshman Powers could not give the Hoosiers the scoring they needed as he lost by fall and IU lost the match, 21-15.

IU took on host Ashland University and came away with a 37-3 win, losing only one match.

Beyond the Wendy's Duals
Indiana took on Gardner-Webb, a participant at the Wendy's Duals, in Ashland, Ohio, on Sun., Jan. 12 and came away with yet another team win, 37-7.

In Other News
While the Hoosier starters were battling at the Wendy's Duals on Jan. 12 in Ashland, Ohio, a host of other IU grapplers participated in the Roger Denker Open. At 133 pounds, Cameron Sakon finished 3rd at 133 pounds, going 5-1 for the tournament. Two Indiana wrestlers placed in the 184 pound bracket as Andy Rios took home second place with a 2-1 record and Jack Barnhisel came in fourth with a 3-2 record. Rounding out the placewinners was freshman Josh Buuck who finished second at 197 pounds, going 3-1. William Campbell and Chad Watson also competed in the Open.

Success at the Buckeye Duals
The Hoosiers won four straight dual meets to finish as the best team in the Duals on Jan. 4.

Five IU grapplers went undefeated individually. Joe Dubuque at 125 pounds, Coyte Cooper at 141 pounds, Andrew Wolf (1-0) at 174, Ty Matthews at 184 pounds and Pat DeGain at 197 pounds defeated each of their opponents en route to extending their team dual meet record to 5-2 on the season.

In the first series IU won 41-3 over the Duke Blue Devils and went on to defeat Buffalo, 19-16, Clarion, 26-12, and Northern Illinois, 18-11.

Big Ten Wrestler of the Week
Indiana's 141-pound Coyte Cooper got an early Christmas gift when he was named the Big Ten's Wrestler of the Week on Dec. 23.

Cooper was instrumental in the Hoosiers' upset of then-No. 9 Missouri in their dual meet home-opener on Dec. 21. Cooper defeated J.P. Reese of Missouri in a 9-2 decision. The win marked the second over Reese this season and extends Cooper's dual meet record to 3-0 on the year.

Cooper also won his first collegiate individual title at the Northern Iowa Open on Dec. 7 and finished second at the Missouri Open.

Cooper is currently ranked in the top 10 by all polling outlets and boasts a perfect 11-0 record in dual meets.