Wrestling Set for Big Ten Championships
2/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Feb. 28, 2007
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SETTING THE SCENE
Indiana heads to East Lansing, Mich., to compete in the 2007 Big Ten Championships on March 3-4. The Hoosiers finished the regular season with a 13-5 mark in dual meets, including a 4-4 mark in conference action. The Hoosiers won 10 of the first 20 Big Ten titles, but have not won as a team since taking the title in 1943. Indiana has had 40 different wrestlers take Big Ten titles, winning 52 championships in total, but has not had an individual take a conference title since Roger Chandler in 1997.
The history of the championships dates back to the early 1900s. 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 Minnesota (nine) round out the top five.
LAST TIME OUT
The Indiana wrestling team got a crucial victory from No. 7 Brandon Becker, but came up short at No. 9 Wisconsin, 21-13. Becker got IU's first victory of the day, when he shut out No. 5 Craig Henning at 157. The two-time All-American scored a second-period reversal after starting down, then rode Henning for the entirety of the third period to notch a 3-0 victory. It marked the second time Becker has topped Henning this season, as the junior beat his adversary 4-2 in the semifinals at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 2, 2006. Becker is now 25-5 heading into the Big Ten Tournament.
In its previous dual, Indiana scored its third straight victory with a 23-15 triumph over Big Ten foe Michigan State on Friday, Feb. 16. In the most anticipated matchup of the night, No. 9 Angel Escobedo scored a late comeback to score an 11-7 victory over No. 7 Franklin Gomez at 125 pounds.
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).
HEAD COACH Duane Goldman
Duane Goldman is in his 15th season at the helm of the Hoosier program. He has a career record of 188-101-4 over his 15 years and has posted 10 or more wins in each of the last nine seasons. Goldman led IU to a 4-4 record this season in conference action, the second time in the last three years that IU has finished .500 in the top college wrestling conference in the nation. The last time IU finished .500 was in 2005, when the Hoosiers went 4-4 in dual-meet action and posted their top finish at Big Tens (5th) and NCAAs (9th) in Goldman's tenure.
RECAPPING THE 2006 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Hoosiers took a 10th-place finish at the 2006 Big Ten Championships with 43.5 points. Joe Dubuque (125) and Brandon Becker (157) each took third place at the tournament for IU, while three others advanced to NCAAs by placing at the event. Max Dean (165) took a fifth-place finish, Andrae Hernandez (133) grabbed third and Dave Herman (HWT) finished seventh. Four Hoosiers who competed in the tournament last season will be returning for the 2007 edition. In addition to Becker, Dean and Hernandez, Marc Bennett competed at 174, but lost in each of his two matches.
INSIDE THE SEEDINGS
The preliminary seeds for the 2007 Big Ten Wrestling Championships were announced on Monday, Feb. 26. Nine of the 10 Hoosier starters earned top-eight pre-seeds, with 157-pound Brandon Becker being seeded second.
Angel Escobedo (125) was picked as the third seed in his class, behind Minnesota's Jayson Ness and Iowa's Charlie Falck. Trevor Perry (174) and Marc Bennett (184) were each seeded fifth in their respective weight classes, while Andrae Hernandez (133) and Josh Buuck (HWT) each were seeded sixth. Matt Coughlin (149), Max Dean (165) and Nathan Everhart (197) were each seeded eighth in their classes, while Scott Kelly (141) is the only Hoosier who is not seeded.
A year ago, six of the 10 Hoosier starters were seeded, with Joe Dubuque leading the way as the No. 1 seed at 125. Becker was seeded fifth a year ago, Hernandez sixth and Dean eighth.
STRONG FINISH
Junior Brandon Becker finished off his 2007 Big Ten regular season with a 3-0 victory over Wisconsin's Craig Henning, who was ranked fifth in the nation at the time. The victory vaulted Becker all the way to the No. 4 slot in the NWCA/Intermat poll, as he improved to 25-5 on the season. It marked the second time this season that the Mickelton, N.J., native has downed Henning, as he earned a 4-2 decision in the semifinals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 2. Becker has dealt Henning his only two losses of the season.
Becker finished his junior year with a 12-2 mark in dual-meet competition, including a 6-2 record in the Big Ten. He had seven major decisions, four technical falls and four pins and is looking to become the fourth wrestler in IU history to earn three straight All-America selections.
PERRY IMPRESSIVE
Redshirt freshman Trevor Perry (174) posted the top conference record out of any Hoosier this season. Perry finished 7-1 in Big Ten bouts after finishing his season with a major decision of Wisconsin's Mike Felling on Sunday, Feb. 18. On Friday, Feb. 16, Perry lost his bid to finish the season a perfect 8-0, when he was topped 8-4 by MSU's John Murphy.
Perry clinched IU's victory over Northwest-ern by pinning No. 20 Nick Hayes just 22 seconds into the bout. Perry is now 19-7 with three pins and three major decisions this year.
ANGEL IS A DEVIL
Redshirt freshman Angel Escobedo (125) swept both his matches in his final weekend of the season, including an impressive, 11-7 decision over Michigan State's Franklin Gomez on Feb. 16 and a 2-0 decision of Colin Cudd of Wisconsin on Feb. 18.
Against MSU, Gomez scored a takedown in the final seconds of the first period to go up 2-0. Escobedo started on top in the second, but Gomez scored a reversal 30 seconds in. Escobedo posted an escape of his own, but Gomez escaped to enter the third up 5-2. Then in the third, Escobedo started down and scored a reversal and a two-point near fall. After Gomez scored a reversal of his own to go up 7-6, Escobedo posted a reversal and a three-point near fall in the final 10 seconds to notch an 11-7 victory for the Hoosiers.
The two victories moved the Griffith, Ind., native to 30-4 on the season with a team-leading 13 pins. He became the first wrestler since Pat DeGain (HWT) in 2004-05 to win 30 matches in a season. All four of Escobedo's losses this season have come to wrestlers ranked in the top 10. His 30 wins are the most by an IU freshman since Viktor Sveda went 33-2 in 1998-99.
MAKING HIS MARC
Junior Marc Bennett (184) has been a standout for the Hoosiers so far this season, posting a 29-8 record. Bennett started the year by taking the Michigan State Open title (11/12), and has also placed in Las Vegas (12/2) and at Midlands (12/30) this season. Bennett entered the final weekend of the year having lost four of five matches - to the top four wrestlers in the country at 184 - but bounced back with an 8-7 victory over No. 17 Trevor Brandvold of Wisconsin on Sunday, Feb. 18. Bennett scored the deciding points on a third-period reversal for his second victory over Brandvold this year. He beat Brandvold 9-6 in Las Vegas on Dec. 1.
A year ago, the Martinsville, Ind., native finished his year with a 12-16 record at 174 pounds, but he has blossomed at 184 this year. Bennett is 6-5 on the year against ranked wrestlers, including two wins over grapplers who were ranked in the top seven.
BACK ON TRACK
After a slow start to his 2006-07 campaign, Andrae Hernandez showed strong improvement over the second half of the season. The sophomore nearly scored an upset against Wisconsin's 14th-ranked Zach Tanelli on Sunday, Feb. 18. Hernandez held a late 4-2 lead, but Tanelli scored a reversal late in the third, then was able to pin the sophomore to take away the dual-meet victory from the Hoosiers.
Hernandez broke the 50-win mark for his career on Sunday, Feb. 11, helping secure a victory for the Hoosiers over Northwestern with a 7-3 victory over Eric Metzler. The Griffith, Ind., native, who is currently ranked 19th, has a 23-12 record with a team-leading six technical falls, having posted a 5-3 mark in the Big Ten. Last season, Hernandez went 28-11 and qualified for the NCAA Championships.
TEN AGAIN
The Hoosiers tallied win number 10 of the season against Purdue, as Indiana now owns a 13-5 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.
FRESH RETURNS
After suffering close defeats in each of his first five Big Ten duals, redshirt freshman Matt Coughlin got his first conference win with a 5-3 decision against Marty Gould of Northwestern. After starting the season 21-2, Coughlin has gone just 4-9 over his last 13 matches, with seven of those losses coming to ranked wrestlers. Of Coughlin's 36 matches this season, 20 have been decided by two points or fewer, with six going to overtime. He is 25-12 on the year.
True freshman Nate Everhart has put together a solid debut campaign at 197, posting a 19-14 record overall and a 6-7 mark in dual meets. Against Minnesota on Friday, Feb. 2, Everhart earned his first Big Ten victory, posting a major decision over Yura Malamura. Of his 14 losses, 10 have been by one or two points.
BUUCK IS BACK
Senior Josh Buuck (HWT) finished the season with a 4-3 conference record and an 10-6 record overall in his final collegiate dual action. Buuck posted a major decision, 13-3, over MSU's Alan O'Donnell on Feb. 16, but was topped 13-6 by Kyle Massey on Feb. 18. Buuck now has a career mark of 48-30 over his four years with 16 pins to his credit.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Players Mentioned
