Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Set to Host Pair of Duals
2/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 1, 2007
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SETTING THE SCENE
Indiana hosts a pair of dual meets this weekend at University Gym. The Hoosiers will face top-ranked Minnesota on Friday night at 7 p.m., then host ACC foe North Carolina State on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Hoosiers hold a 10-2 overall record and a 1-2 mark in conference competition after a 19-14 loss to Ohio State on Sunday, Jan. 28.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The Hoosiers and Golden Gophers will meet for the 46th time on Friday, with Minnesota dominating the all-time series 40-4-1. Last year, the Gophers took a 25-13 victory in Minneapolis on Sunday, Feb. 5, taking seven of the 10 bouts. Joe Dubuque and Andrae Hernandez earned bonus points for the Hoosiers at 125 and 133, while Brady Richardson won the 197-pound battle. Indiana has faced NC State four times, with the Wolfpack taking all four matchups. The last time the two teams squared off was Jan. 11, 1991, with NCSU grabbing a 25-12 victory.
LAST TIME OUT
The 16th-ranked Indiana wrestling team was bested for the second straight dual meet, falling on the road to Ohio State, 19-14, on Sunday, Jan. 28. The Hoosiers moved to 10-2 on the season and 1-2 in the Big Ten, while Ohio State upped its record to 6-4 with a 2-1 conference mark. The Hoosiers won four of the 10 matchups on the day, with redshirt freshman Trevor Perry earning the only bonus points for Indiana, at 174. No. 7 Brandon Becker (157), No. 9 Angel Escobedo (125) and Andrae Hernandez (133) also were victorious for IU on the day. The Buckeyes jumped out to a 9-3 lead before Perry earned a 19-4 technical fall of Tommy Priestly at 174 to trim the deficit to one, but OSU took the next three matchups to claim the victory.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Indiana Athletic Media Relations Staff Assistant Matt Brady is the primary media relations contact for the wrestling team. He can be reached at his office (812-856-0215), via cell phone (413-222-2788) or e-mail (mlbrady@indiana.edu).
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
Top-ranked Minnesota enters the weekend with a 14-1 mark, including a 3-0 record in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers have won 14 straight dual meets since a season-opening, 18-17 loss to Hofstra on Saturday, Nov. 25. Last weekend, Minnesota swept a pair of Big Ten matchups, topping Michigan 29-6 and Purdue 32-9. Minnesota has six wrestlers ranked in the top four of their weight classes, led by top-ranked Dustin Schlatter (149) and Cole Konrad (285). Each grappler won national championships a year ago and is undefeated this season. No. 2 Manuel Rivera (141) is also undefeated with a 29-0 mark on the year, while No. 2 Roger Kish (184) sports a 23-1 mark on the season. No. 4 Jayson Ness (125) and No. 3 C.P. Schlatter (157) are also ranked in the top four for the Gophers this season.
SCOUTING THE WOLFPACK
The Wolfpack enters this weekend with a 7-7 record and a 1-2 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference action. After opening the season with a 7-4 record, NC State has lost its last three duals, falling to North Carolina, Navy and Maryland. The Wolfpack has already faced three Big Ten foes, falling to Wisconsin (29-9), Purdue (24-12) and Iowa (38-9) on Saturday, Nov. 18. NCSU has three ranked wrestlers in No. 19 Kody Hamrah (157), No. 13 Ryan Goodman (197) and No. 9 Jainor Palma (285).
INSIDE THE MATCHUPS
No Indiana wrestler has faced a member of the Gophers or Wolfpack in tournament action so far this season, but the Hoosier with the tallest task is heavyweight Josh Buuck, who faces defending national champion Cole Konrad on Friday night and 10th-ranked Jainor Palma on Saturday. Konrad has won a school- record 61 straight matches dating back to the 2005 NCAA Championships. Palma is 17-5 on the season, including a defeat of Wisconsin's Kyle Massey on Nov. 18.
Seventh-ranked Brandon Becker is the only other Hoosier slated to face a pair of ranked wrestlers this weekend, including 2006 Big Ten champ C.P. Schlatter, who is currently third in the country. Becker will face No. 19 Kody Hamrah on Sunday. The Mickelton, N.J., native is 1-3 against ranked opponents this season, with two of his losses coming to foes ranked in the top two.
At 149, redshirt freshman Matt Coughlin will face his fourth consecutive ranked opponent on Friday when he faces No. 1 Dustin Schlatter (24-0). Schlatter is now 66-1 in his career and has not lost since Nov. 26, 2005, when he was defeated 1-0 by then-No. 7 Mark DiSalvo. Coughlin is 5-4 this season against ranked wrestlers.
No. 8 Angel Escobedo squares off with No. 4 Jayson Ness in the 125-pound bout on Friday night, while No. 11 Marc Bennett is slated to face No. 2 Roger Kish at 184. Unranked Trevor Perry (174) is 3-0 in Big Ten bouts this season, and could jump into the rankings with a victory over Minnesota's Gabriel Dretsch, currently ranked 12th.
PERRYING HIS OPPOSITION
Redshirt freshman Trevor Perry (174) is the lone Hoosier that remains undefeated in conference action this year. Perry is 3-0 in Big Ten bouts with the technical fall of Tommy Priestly to his credit. He will face his toughest opponent of the conference slate against Minnesota in No. 12 Gabriel Dretsch, who is 21-8 on the season and earned his first pin of the season against Purdue's Jason Martin on Sunday, Jan. 28. Perry is now 14-6 on the season with a 7-2 mark in dual meets.
ANGEL IS A DEVIL
Redshirt freshman Angel Escobedo (125) has posted an impressive debut season for the Hoosiers in 2006-07, carding a 25-3 record and a team-leading 11 pins on the season. With his victory at the Midlands Championships (12/30), he became the first Hoosier to take the title since Pat DeGain (HWT) in 2004 and the first freshman to win at Midlands since Mark Perry of Iowa and Jake Herbert of Northwestern won in 2004. Escobedo has a 2-1 mark in conference action, with his only loss coming to undefeated Gabe Flores of Illinois on Jan. 21. He rebounded from that loss with a 7-3 decision against Ohio State's Will Livingston on Jan. 28.
BUUCK IS BACK
Senior Josh Buuck (HWT) saw his first action of the season as an attached wrestler at Midlands (12/29-30), going 2-2 and coming up one win shy of earning a place at the prestigious tournament. Buuck's loss in the championship bracket came at the hands of No. 4 Matt Fields of Iowa. Buuck is one of five IU grapplers with a 2-1 conference record, as he was defeated for the first time in dual-meet action by Corey Morrison of Ohio State on Sunday, Jan. 28. Buuck faces a pair of grapplers in the top 10 this weekend - defending national champ Cole Konrad of Minnesota and No. 9 Jainor Palma of NC State.
MAKING HIS MARC
Junior Marc Bennett (184) has been a standout for the Hoosiers so far this season, posting a team-leading 27 wins on the year. Bennett started the year by taking the Michigan State Open title, and has also placed in Las Vegas (12/2) and at Midlands (12/30) this season. A year ago, the Martinsville, Ind., native finished his year with a 12-16 record, including a 2-6 mark in the Big Ten, while competing at 174. Bennett suffered his first defeat in dual-meet action against No. 3 Mike Pucillo of Ohio State on Jan. 28. The task gets no easier for the junior against the Gophers, as he will square off with No. 2 Roger Kish, who sports a 23-1 mark on the year.
BACK ON TRACK
After a slow start to his 2006-07 campaign, Andrae Hernandez has shown significant improvement at 133 as of late. The sophomore has gone 10-3 over his last 13 matches, with the losses coming to No. 1 Nick Simmons (2-0), No. 14 Robbie Preston (6-0) and No. 9 Jimmy Kennedy (5-4). On the year, the Griffith, Ind., native has posted a 20-9 record with a 10-2 mark in dual meets and a 2-1 slate in Big Ten action. Hernandez leads the Hoosiers with five technical falls on the season and is tied for the team lead with six major decisions.
TEN AGAIN
The Hoosiers tallied win number 10 of the season against the Boilers, as Indiana now owns a 10-1 dual meet record on the year. IU has won 10 or more meets in each of the last nine years dating back to 1998-99. 2006 also marks the second straight season that Indiana entered the Big Ten schedule 9-0. The 2005-06 Hoosiers also won their first two duals of conference action to begin the season 11-0, including a 31-7 victory over the Buckeyes.
HOOSIERS INK THREE RECRUITS
The Indiana wrestling team has signed three grapplers to National Letters of Intent. The Hoosiers will add Joe Fagiano (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick), Matt Ortega (Rio Rancho, N.M./Rio Rancho) and Reece Freeman (Bloomington, Ind./South) for the 2006-07 season.
"All three of these individuals are great wrestlers and exceptional students," Goldman said. "They are dedicated, hard-working student-athletes with high goals - exactly the kind of people who we want representing Indiana."
Fagiano was the 2006 Illinois state champion at 215 pounds in 2006 and will be gunning for his second straight championship in 2007. He was named the 2006 East Suburban Catholic Conference Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning the conference title, and was is currently ranked 11th in the nation at 215 by Wrestling International Newsmagazine.
Ortega is a three-time New Mexico state champion and will seek a school-record fourth title in as many years in 2007. He helped Rio Rancho to a fourth-place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions in December 2005, finishing seventh at 119 pounds in the event. Ortega won his first championship at 103 pounds and his second at 112 before moving up to 119 for his junior campaign. Ortega is currently the 13th-ranked wrestler by W.I.N.
Freeman was a teammate of current Hoosier freshmen Paul Young and Kurt Kinser at Bloomington South, helping the team to two sectional, regional and semi-state championships in his first three years. Freeman is the top-ranked wrestler in the state at 119 after going 46-2 and placing fifth in Indiana last year. He entered his senior campaign with a career record of 134-10 over three weight classes.
EARNING WOWS
Redshirt freshman Angel Escobedo was named Big Ten Co-Wrestler of the Week on Wednesday, Nov. 29, after going 5-0 at the Hoosier Duals on Nov. 25. Escobedo is the only Hoosier to earn the honor this season and he became the first IU wrestler to garner WOW honors since Joe Dubuque (125) won the award on Dec. 22, 2004.
BOUNCE BACK BECKER
After injury defaulting out of the Midlands Championships, No. 7 Brandon Becker sat out Indiana's meet against Eastern Illinois, but returned to action by splitting his first two matches of conference action, topping Jacob Murphy of Purdue by major decision, then being topped 9-4 by top-ranked Mike Poeta of Illinois. Against Ohio State's Jason Johnstone, Becker jumped out to a 3-0, second-period lead and held on for a 4-2 victory to move his conference mark to 2-1 on the year
Becker has a 20-4 record on the season, 9-1 in dual-meet competition, wth six major decisions, four technical falls and three pins. He is looking to become the fourth wrestler in IU history to earn three straight All-America selections.
TOUGH DRAWS
Redshirt freshman Matt Coughlin had a tough opening weekend in conference action, as the Evansville, Ind., native faced No. 11 Jake Patacsil on Friday night and No. 12 Troy Tirapelle on Sunday. Coughlin lost each match by a single point, with the loss to Patacsil coming in the tiebreak period. Against Tirapelle, Coughlin entered the third period down 1-0, but scored a takedown early in the frame to go up 2-1. Tirapelle escaped, though, and a takedown with 37 seconds to go sealed the match.
Coughlin is now 23-6 on the season and is ranked 12th by Intermat/NWCA. Coughlin has faced nine ranked opponents so far this season and has a 4-5 record against opponents in the top 20. His only loss this season to a non-ranked opponent was in the semifinals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 2, when J.P. O'Connor took a 2-1 decision. O'Connor is currently ranked sixth in the nation after winning the SKLV Invite. Coughlin placed fifth at the prestigious event.
