Indiana University Athletics
Indiana Set to Host Big Ten Championships
2/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
2006 Big Ten Championships Notes in PDF Format
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Feb. 28, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The No. 17 Indiana wrestling team is set to host the 2006 Big Ten Wrestling Championships March 4-5 at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. The Hoosiers are prepared to participate in one of the league's toughest championships in years, with nine of the teams ranked among the top 25, four among the top 10 and is led by No. 1 Minnesota and No.2 Michigan.
BIG TEN PREVIEW
Indiana is looking for a solid finish in one of the nation's toughest conference tournaments. In last year's championships, head coach Duane Goldman led the Hoosiers to a tied for fifth-place finish, Indiana's highest finish since 1994.
Minnesota highlights the field, finishing the regular season with one loss and ranked No.1. The Golden Gophers became the first team in three years to hold the top spot in the polls, twice defeating three-time defending national champion Oklahoma State this season.
Also contending for the team crown is No. 2 Michigan. The Wolverines captured the regular-season team title after handing the Golden Gophers their first loss of the season, 19-15, on Feb. 17.
No. 9 Illinois and No. 14 Iowa are also teams to watch, as Illinois looks to defend its title from a year ago, while Iowa has won the championships a league-best 31 times.
A LOOK INTO BIG TEN HISTORY
The Big Ten Wrestling Championships are making their third stop in Bloomington. Indiana has previously hosted the championships at Assembly Hall in 1972 and 1995. The championships feature three sessions over two days.
All 11 teams participate in the championships, each sending one competitor per weight class. The official brackets will be released after the coaches seeding meeting held on Friday, March 3 at Noon.
The history of the championships dates all the way back to the early 1900's. Early champions during the 1913-21 seasons were determined by the "Western Intercollegiate Gymnastics and Fencing Association" in an open meet (1918 and 1919: no meet held). Beginning in 1922, the league began crowning team champions based on dual meet records. The practice did not last long, as in 1926 the Big Ten began determining individual champions in a closed meet format. In 1934, the conference finally ushered in a point system that is still used today in crowning team champions.
Overall, Iowa leads the conference with 31 Big Ten titles, while Illinois (17), Indiana (13), Michigan (11) and Michigan State (eight) round out the top five.
Iowa also holds the lead in individual titles with 180, while Michigan (114), Minnesota (77), Indiana (68) and Michigan State (63) round out the top-five programs.
Iowa holds the longest win streak of conference championships with 25 titles from 1974-1998. Michigan State won seven consecutive from 1966-72, while Illinois captured five straight from 1924-28 and Indiana claimed four straight titles from 1931-34. Illinois looks to become only the fifth Big Ten program to repeat as champions.
The Big Ten currently boasts nine teams ranked among the top 25 and over 50 wrestlers ranked among the top 20.
2005 BIG TEN WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Indiana finished tied for fifth in last year's conference championship, tying head coach Duane Goldman's highest finish since taking over the program 14 years ago (fifth in 1994). Five Indiana grapplers finished in the top-five at Big Tens, while two Hoosiers wrestled to a top-five performance. Hoosier finishes include senior Pat DeGain (heavyweight) in second, senior Joe Dubuque (125) in third, senior Brady Richardson (174) in third, sophomore Isaac Knable (149) in third, while sophomore Brandon Becker (157) tallied a fifth-place finish.
HOOSIERS AT A GLANCE
The Indiana wrestling team finished the regular season 11-6, with all six of its losses coming against teams ranked among the top-15.
IU opened the season with 11 straight wins, the best start since the 1995-96 campaign when it won 12 straight. The 11-0 start also marked the second-best start for head coach Duane Goldman since he took over the program in 1991.
In the Hoosiers' 11 victories, they defeated their opponents by an average of 25 points. Indiana disposed of two ranked foes during its non-conference slate, dominating then-No. 21 Northern Illinois, 28-9, in its first ranked matchup on Dec. 18, followed by a victory over then-No. 25 Penn, 18-15, on Jan. 14.
