Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers' 1-2 Punch a Family Affair
3/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 30, 2007
Momentum is everything in college athletics. If you have it, you do everything you can to sustain it. If you don't have it, you do everything you can to snatch it back. It's no different in college wrestling, where it carries a specific name - the 1-2 punch.
"Momentum is always an issue in all of athletics, and if you can start with momentum and build on it, then that's the key in a match," Indiana wrestling assistant coach Mike Mena says. "The 1-2 punch is a situation where you get your first two guys to come out strong, making it hard for the opponent to get back into the match. The whole mystique is the momentum aspect that the two guys have when they get the ball rolling. They act as a tool for the other wrestlers to see the standard that they need to live up to in the competition. A lot of great teams have this. It's a situation based on momentum."
In wrestling, the traditional 1-2 punch comes from the first two weight classes, 125 and 133 pounds, and IU has one of the top tandems in the nation in redshirt freshman Angel Escobedo and sophomore Andrae Hernandez.
Both grapplers earned All-America honors in 2007, with Escobedo taking third at 125 and Hernandez earning eighth at 133. IU was the only program in the country to place wrestlers from both weight classes on the stand this year. Add to that the fact that the two are cousins, have wrestled together on every level and are still partners in the wrestling room, and you have a recipe for success from the lower weight classes on the Hoosiers.
"It's great to have strength there and it shows that a team can't build momentum against us," Escobedo says. "Having the two cousins start out helps the team because we help bringing everybody together."
However, rules have changed in the past few years, and not every coach wants to start at 125.
"Most of the time coaches will agree to start at 125 because of tradition," Mena says. "Most people have good 1-2 punches, but the rule is that you can draw for weight. In that situation, most of the time opposing coaches want to do that because of the momentum. They don't want to dig out of a hole. I think there are a lot of coaches that would want to start somewhere else against us.
"The other thing is that if you start at 141, in that situation, the dual meet comes down to your 1-2 punch at the end," Mena adds. "So they can serve as a punch whether they are winning to start or finishing at the end."
In Mena's opinion, the Hoosiers are blessed to not only have two of the top wrestlers in the country at 125 and 133, but to have two wrestlers who work together and endlessly drive each other to succeed.
"They have worked together their entire lives and are a lot more compatible as they thrive off of one another," he says. "History is a part of their success, but they have also brought their skill to a new level where they are keeping the intensity and making the transition toward success. It's a unique situation to see them extend their success together from high school into college. To both be All-Americans this year validates what they have done in the past, the present and their future. They both can thank each other for that."
According to Hernandez, the cousins learn from one another and make each other better wrestlers on a constant basis.
"It's a huge benefit because we know how each other wrestles," Hernandez says. "We know what we need to work on and to watch the success we have both had gives us even more confidence. We both give advice, but I tell him what I learned in my first year when [two-time national champion] Joey [Dubuque] was here and he wasn't. He helps me out technique-wise and he knows how to handle success and he helps me with that."
Having both wrestlers on the stand at the NCAA Championships was not just special for the Indiana wrestling program, but for the family as well. The wrestlers had a large throng of fans in the stands in Auburn Hills, and they did not disappoint with their finishes.
"It was a great feeling to have my younger cousin as an All-American his freshman year," Hernandez says. "My whole family was there, my grandpa was there, and it just felt really good to have him see both of us on the podium, the two cousins."
With two young, up-and-coming stars at 125 and 133, the Indiana wrestling team has a bright future ahead of it. Add to that the fact that of the Hoosiers' three All-Americans, two were redshirt freshmen and one was a sophomore, and the outlook gets even sunnier. And with a cousin to push him, each member of IU's 1-2 punch likely has even more greatness ahead of him.
"Right after I won my match to be an All-American, I was supposed to go back and sit in the bleachers, but I refused to," Escobedo says. "The security guards were telling me to leave, but I said no. I was right there sitting next to Mike by the mat rooting for Andrae, and it was a close match. I was tired, but I was pumped up and yelling and screaming for him."
If Escobedo and Hernandez continue their upward trend, all the fans of Indiana wrestling will soon be yelling and screaming too.
