Indiana University Athletics
Becker, Escobedo Lead Hoosiers to NCAA Championships
3/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 14, 2007
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SETTING THE SCENE
Eight Indiana wrestlers will take part in the 2007 NCAA Championships, to be held at the Palace at Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Mich., from March 15-17. Hoosiers Brandon Becker, Marc Bennett, Josh Buuck, Matt Coughlin, Max Dean, Angel Escobedo, Andrae Hernandez and Trevor Perry will participate in the event. Becker (sixth) and Escobedo (seventh) are the only two Hoosiers seeded for the event.
The Hoosiers have won one team national championship, in 1932, and have finished in the top 10 at the national tournament 13 times. Indiana has won 11 individual titles among nine wrestlers, with Joe Dubuque (2005, 2006) and Charlie McDaniel (1935, 1938) the only two-time champions.
LAST TIME OUT
Andrae Hernandez (133) and Brandon Becker (157) took home second-place finishes to lead the Indiana wrestling team to a fifth-place finish at the 2007 Big Ten Championships. It marks Indiana's highest team finish since the 2004-05 season, when the Hoosiers tied for fifth. Angel Escobedo finished third at 125 in his first appearance at the championships.
The Hoosiers tallied 86 points in the tournament. Minnesota won the team championship with 156 points, followed by Wisconsin (99.5 points), Iowa (91 points), and Penn State (90.5 points).
Becker, who was seeded second in the tournament, was upset by fourth-seeded CP Schlatter of Minnesota in his title match, 1-0. Hernandez' run at the championship ended with a 6-4 loss to top-ranked defending champion Nick Simmons at 133. Hernandez had defeated the second- and third-seeded wrestlers in his bracket en route to the championship bout.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Indiana Athletic Media Relations Staff Assistant Matt Brady is the primary media relations contact for the wrestling team. He can be reached 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 in the conference 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. The Hoosiers matched that finish at Big Tens this year.
RECAPPING THE 2007 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Indiana placed nine of its 10 wrestlers at the Big Ten Championships to finish in fifth place in the conference on the strength of second-place finishes by Brandon Becker and Andrae Hernandez. Angel Escobedo showed his strength at 125 in finishing third at the event, while four others earned automatic qualifiers to the NCAA Championships. Trevor Perry (174) earned his ticket with a fifth-place finish, while Josh Buuck (HWT) and Matt Coughlin (149) each picked up sixth in their weight classes. Max Dean (165) earned IU's final automatic qualifier by winning the seventh-place match. Marc Bennett (184) finished eighth, but was awarded one of two at-large NCAA bids from the conference. Freshman Nathan Everhart (197) came up just shy, losing a one-point decision to Purdue's Nathan Moore for the second time this season to finish eighth.
A LOOK BACK AT THE 2006 NCAA ChAMPIONSHIPS
In senior 125-pounder Joe Dubuque's last stand as a collegiate wrestler, the Bloomfield, N.J., native dominated from the opening whistle to claim his second consecutive national title. Dubuque overcame Troy Nickerson (Cornell), 8-3, to become the first Indiana grappler to win back-to-back national titles, and the second two-time champion since Charlie McDaniel captured a pair of titles in 1935 and 1938.
Sophomore 157-pounder Brandon Becker grappled his way to a seventh-place finish at the 2006 NCAA Championships on March 18, in Oklahoma City. Becker became just the 16th Hoosier to achieve the honor twice in his career, rolling through Craig Henning of Wisconsin, 9-4, to claim the top-eight finish.
IU finished tied for 18th with 35.0 points, the 15th time it finished in the top 20 at NCAAs, and the fourth under Goldman's leadership.
STRONG FINISH
Junior Brandon Becker came up just a point short of becoming Indiana's first Big Ten champion since Roger Chandler in 1997, falling 1-0 to C.P. Schlatter of Minnesota in the championship bout. On the way to the championships, Becker toppled Purdue's Jake Murphy and Wisconsin's Craig Henning. THe win over Henning marked Becker's third over the Badger this season, as Becker has dealt Henning all three of his losses this season. Becker also defeated Henning in the seventh-place match at the 2006 NCAA Championships.
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.
BACK ON TRACK
After a slow start to his 2006-07 campaign, Andrae Hernandez showed strong improvement over the second half of the season and continued that success into the Big Ten Championships. Hernandez shocked the field in dispatching the second and third seeds to reach the title bout at 133 pounds before succumbing to Nick Simmons, 6-4. As a sixth seed, Hernandez was the lowest-seeded wrestler to reach the finals at the event.
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 14th, has a 26-13 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.
ANGEL IS A DEVIL
Redshirt freshman Angel Escobedo (125) turned in a strong performance at the Big Ten Championships, matching his seed with a third-place finish. Escobedo was topped in the semifinals by Charlie Falck of Iowa, 2-1, but rebounded to win his final two matches to take third. In the third-place match, he bested Illinois' Gabe Flores 4-1 in the first tiebreak period to enter the NCAA Championships with a 34-5 record.
His 34 wins are the most since Pat DeGain won 34 in 2004-05 at heavyweight, while his 13 pins on the season are the eighth-most in history. In his five losses he has lost by a total of just eight points and he has not allowed an opponent to score more than seven points on him this season. That came when Escobedo bested Michigan State's Franklin Gomez 11-7 on Feb. 16.
All five of Escobedo's losses this season have come to wrestlers ranked in the top 10. His 34 victories are the most by an IU wrestler in his first year since Brian Dolph won 39 in 1987-88.
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.
At the Big Ten Championships, Perry was defeated by a pair of ranked wrestlers, Minnesota's Gabriel Dretsch and Iowa's Eric Luedke, and went 4-2 to finish fifth in his first foray into the Big Ten Championships.
Perry clinched IU's victory over Northwestern on Feb. 11 by pinning No. 20 Nick Hayes just 22 seconds into the 174-pound bout. Perry is now 23-9 with four pins and four major decisions this year.
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 went just 4-9 over his next 13 matches, with seven of those losses coming to ranked wrestlers. Coughlin posted a 2-3 record at the conference championships to grab a sixth-place finish at the event. All three losses at the championships came to wrestlers ranked in the top 16. Of Coughlin's 42 matches this season, 22 have been decided by two points or fewer, with six going to overtime. He is 27-15 on the year.
BUUCK IS BACK
Senior Josh Buuck (HWT) finished the season with a 4-3 conference record and a 12-8 record overall in his final collegiate dual action. Buuck went 1-2 at the conference championships, taking a medical forfeit in the sixth-place match. He lost his second one-point decision to Northwestern's Dustin Fox of the year in the championship bracket and was topped by Iowa's Matt Fields in the wrestleback. Buuck has a career mark of 50-32 over his four years with 16 pins.
DEAN OF STUDENTS
Junior Max Dean earned a seventh-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, shaking off a tough conference season to earn his third consecutive trip to nationals. Dean went 1-2 at the event, earning his ticket to Auburn Hills with a 3-2 victory over Penn State's Dave Rella in the seventh-place match.
He turned in a fourth-place finish at Midlands, rebounding from a second-round loss to advance all the way to the third-place bout in the wrestleback. Dean, who placed third at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (12/2) and at the Michigan State Open (11/12), has a 27-14 record on the year and a career mark of 78-45. He is a two-time NWCA Scholar-Athlete and a two-time Academic All-Big Ten choice.
MAKING HIS MARC
Junior Marc Bennett (184) has been a standout for the Hoosiers so far this season, posting a 30-11 record. His 2007 Big Ten Championships were slightly disappointing, though, as he finished 1-3 and took eighth place at the event in a very strong weight class. Bennett earned one of two wild-card berths to the NCAAs from the conference.
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.
A year ago, the Martinsville, Ind., native finished his year with a 12-16 record at 174 pounds. He is 6-7 on the year against ranked wrestlers, including two wins over grapplers who were ranked in the top seven.
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 finished as the state runner up after an overtime loss in the finals in 2007. He was named the 2006 East Suburban Catholic Conference Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning the conference title.
Ortega won his fourth straight state title in 2007, setting a school record alongside teammate Vicente Valera. He helped Rio Rancho to a 2007 state championship, winning the title at 125 pounds, his fourth different weight class. 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 won the state championship at 125 with an undefeated 48-0 season after going 46-2 and placing fifth in Indiana last year. He wraps up his career with a record of 182-10 over four weight classes.
