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WIN Pre-Season Rankings Are In!!

Jon — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:03:02 +0000

Yup! It’s that time of year again. WIN has put together their rankings. Take a look below. Be sure to click on read more to see the individual rankings as well. The team rankings are determined by who is wrestling for the team and how they rank; the more ranked wrestlers a team has, the more points it will recieve and the higher it will be ranked.

A couple surprises? I know Cornel finished well last year, but number one is a surprise until you take a look at who they have on their team. Check out the rankings and let us know what you think. WIN will put out more rankings again in October once the coaches announce what weights everyone will be wrestling at officially.

Date Ranked:09/22/2010
Ranked By W.I.N. Magazine

WIN’S 2010-11 PRESEASON NCAA DIVISION I
TOURNAMENT POWER INDEX (TPI)
(September 22, 2010)
Rank School Top 8 TPI
1 Cornell 6 82
2 Boise State 5 73
3 Oklahoma State 6 71.5
4 Minnesota 5 55.5
5 Wisconsin 3 50.5
6 Penn State 5 40
7 Oklahoma 3 39
8 Central Michigan 3 36
9 Illinois 2 33.5
10 Ohio State 3 32
11 Iowa 1 28
12 Missouri 2 26.5
13t Michigan 2 25.5
13t Purdue 2 25.5
15 Edinboro 2 25
16t Arizona State 2 24.5
16t Northwestern 2 24.5
16t Pittsburgh 2 24.5
19 Lehigh 1 22
20 Virginia 1 21.5
21t Binghamton 1 20
21t NC State 1 20
21t Wyoming 1 20
24 Nebraska 1 19.5
25 Kent State 1 18.5
26 Virginia Tech 2 17
27 Penn 1 16.5
28t Iowa State 2 16
28t Cal Poly 1 16
30 Indiana 1 15.5
31 Oregon State 1 15
32 American 1 14.5
33 Maryland 1 14
34 Ohio 1 13.5
35 Stanford 1 12
36 Rutgers 1 11.5
37 West Virginia 1 11
38t Bucknell 1 10
38t No. Colorado 1 10
40 Buffalo 1 9.5
41 Hofstra 0 6.5
42 Utah Valley 0 4.5
43t Cal St. Bakersfield 0 3.5
43t UNC-Greensboro 0 3.5
45 Michigan State 0 3
46 Chattanooga 0 2.5
47t Appalachian State 0 2
47t Navy 0 2
47t North Carolina 0 2
47t Old Dominion 0 2
47t Rider 0 2
52t Boston U. 0 1.5
52t Columbia 0 1.5
52t CS Fullerton 0 1.5
52t Drexel 0 1.5
52t Harvard 0 1.5
52t Lock Haven 0 1.5
52t No. Iowa 0 1.5
59t Citadel 0 1
59t Clarion 0 1
59t Eastern Michigan 0 1
59t George Mason 0 1
59t Liberty 0 1

WIN’s 2010-11 NCAA Division I Preseason Individual Rankings

125 pounds
Rk. Name School Year 2009-10
1. Matt McDonough Iowa Sophomore 1st
2. Brandon Precin Northwestern Senior RS
3. Zach Sanders Minnesota Junior 5th
4. Cashe Quiroga Purdue Sophomore 6th
5. Anthony Robles Arizona State Senior 7th
6. Nikko Triggas Ohio State Junior 8th
7. Brad Pataky Penn State Senior NQ
8. Jarrod Garnett Virginia Tech Junior NQ
9. Rollie Peterkin Penn Senior RS
10. Mike Martinez Wyoming Junior NQ
11. James Nicholson Old Dominion Senior NQ
12. Ben Kjar Utah Valley Senior NQ
13. Frank Perrelli Cornell Junior
14. Nic Bedelyon Kent State Junior RS
15. Joey Fio Boise State Junior Transfer
16. Fred Santiate Boston U. Sophomore NQ
17. Jarrod Patterson Oklahoma Sophomore NQ
18. Jason Lara Oregon State Junior NQ
19. Ryan Mango Stanford Sophomore NQ
20. Frank Lomas CS Bakersfield Junior NQ

133 pounds
Rk Name School Year 2009-10
1. Jordan Oliver Oklahoma State Sophomore 4th
2. Andrew Hochstrasser Boise State Senior
3. Tyler Graff Wisconsin Sophomore 5th
4. Boris Novachkov Cal Poly Junior 7th
5. Mike Grey Cornell Senior NQ
6. Ian Paddock Ohio State Sophomore NQ
7. Kendric Maple Oklahoma Sophomore NQ
8. Kelly Kubec Oregon State Junior NQ
9. Lou Ruggirello Hofstra Senior RS
10. Scotti Sentes Central Michigan Junior NQ
11. Ben Ashmore Arizona State Senior NQ
12. Bryan Ortenzio Penn Junior NQ
13. John Trumbetti Lock Haven Senior NQ
14. Billy Ashnault Rutgers Senior NQ
15. Flint Ray Utah Valley Senior NQ
16. Kevin Smith Buffalo Junior NQ
17. Colin Johnston West Virginia Junior
18. Nate Moore Iowa Junior
19. Zac Stevens Michigan Junior NQ
20. Jimmy Kircher Rider Junior NQ

141 pounds
Rk Name School Year 2009-10
1. Jimmy Kennedy Illinois Senior RS
2. Kellen Russell Michigan Junior RS
3. Zack Bailey Oklahoma Senior 4th
4. Tyler Nauman Pittsburgh Junior 5th
5. Germane Lindsey Ohio Senior 6th
6. Mike Thorn Minnesota Senior 7th
7. Chris Diaz Virginia Tech Senior 8th
8. Levi Jones Boise State Senior NQ
9. Filip Novachkov Cal Poly Senior NQ
10. Jamal Parks Oklahoma State Junior NQ
11. Mike Mangrum Oregon State Sophomore NQ
12. Chris Drouin Iowa State Senior NQ
13. Juan Archuleta Purdue Senior NQ
14. Todd Schavrien Missouri Senior NQ
15. Corey Jantzen Harvard Junior RS
16. Nick Nelson Virginia Junior RS
17. Elijah Nacita CS Bakersfield Senior NQ
18. Cole Schmitt Wisconsin Sophomore NQ
19. Anwar Goeres Binghamton Senior NQ
20. Ivan Lopouchanski UNC-Greensboro Sophomore NQ

149 pounds
Rk. Name School Year 2009-10
1. Darrion Caldwell North Carolina State Senior Injured
2. Kyle Dake Cornell Sophomore 1st at 141
3. Frank Molinaro Penn State Junior 5th
4. Torsten Gillespie Edinboro Senior 6th
5. Kevin LeValley Bucknell Senior 7th
6. Jason Chamberlain Boise State Junior NQ
7. Andrew Nadhir Northwestern Senior NQ
8. Desmond Green Buffalo Junior NQ
9. David Cheza Michigan State Junior NQ
10. Mario Mason Rutgers Sophomore NQ
11. Eric Grajales Michigan RS Freshman
12. Brian Stephens Virginia Tech Sophomore NQ
13. Don Vinson Binghamton Sophomore NQ
14. Dean Pavlou Chattanooga Sophomore NQ
15. Nick Fisher Cal Poly Sophomore NQ
16. R.J. Pena Oregon State Sophomore
17. Justin Accordino Hofstra Junior RS
18. Scott Clymer Liberty Junior
19. Ganbayar Sanjaa American Junior
20. Matt Lester Oklahoma RS Freshman

157 pounds
Rk. Name School Year 2009-10
1. Adam Hall Boise State Senior 3rd
2. Justin Lister Binghamton Junior 4th
3. Steve Fittery American Senior 5th
4. Bubba Jenkins Arizona State Senior Transfer
5. Justin Gaethje No. Colorado Senior 7th
6. Kurt Kinser Indiana Senior NQ
7. David Taylor Penn State RS Freshman
8. Jake Deitchler Minnesota Sophomore
9. Jason Welch Northwestern Sophomore RS
10. Kyle John Maryland Sophomore NQ
11. Bryce Saddoris Navy Senior NQ
12. Derek St. John Iowa RS Freshman
13. Colton Salazar Purdue Senior NQ
14. Joe Booth Drexel Sophomore NQ
15. Daryl Cocozzo Rutgers Senior NQ
16. Neil Erisman Oklahoma State Senior NQ
17. Peter Yates Virginia Tech Sophomore
18. Shawn Harris Virginia Junior NQ at 149
19. James Fleming Clarion Sophomore NQ
20. Anthony Jones Michigan State Senior NQ

165 pounds
Rk. Name School Year 2009-10
1. Andrew Howe Wisconsin Junior 1st
2. Jordan Burroughs Nebraska Senior Injured
3. Tyler Caldwell Oklahoma Sophomore 5th
4. Colt Sponseller Ohio State Senior NQ
5. Josh Asper Maryland Sophomore NQ
6. Justin Kerber Cornell Senior NQ
7. Alex Meade Oklahoma State Sophomore NQ
8. Mike Miller Central Michigan Senior NQ at 184
9. Paul Young Indiana Senior NQ
10. Cody Yohn Minnesota Sophomore NQ
11. Shane Onufer Wyoming Junior NQ
12. P.J. Gillespie Hofstra Junior NQ
13. John-Martin Cannon Buffalo Junior NQ
14. Ross Tice Kent State Sophomore NQ
15. Matt Kaylor Binghamton Junior NQ
16. Eren Civan Columbia Junior NQ
17. Thomas Scotton North Carolina Senior NQ at 157
18. Brandon Hatchett Lehigh Junior NQ
19. Donnie Jones West Virginia Senior NQ
20. Gabe Burak Penn Senior NQ

174 pounds
Rk. Name School Year 2009-10
1. Mack Lewnes Cornell Senior 2nd
2. Chris Henrich Virginia Senior 3rd
3. Jordan Blanton Illinois Junior 5th
4. Ben Bennett Central Michigan Sophomore 6th
5. Scott Giffin Penn Senior 7th
6. Nick Amuchastegui Stanford Junior 4th at 165
7. Mike Benefiel Oklahoma State Junior NQ
8. Jon Reader Iowa State Senior NQ at 165
9. Luke Manuel Purdue Senior NQ
10. Colby Covington Oregon State Senior NQ
11. Mike Letts Maryland Senior RS
12. Scott Glasser Minnesota Senior NQ
13. Dorian Henderson Missouri Junior NQ
14. Ed Ruth Penn State RS Freshman
15. Ethen Lofthouse Iowa RS Freshman
16. Ryan Patrovich Hofstra Junior RS
17. Justin Zeerip Michigan Junior NQ
18. Brad Darrington Utah Valley Junior NQ
19. Bagna Tovuujav George Mason Junior NQ
20. Byron Sigmon UNC-Greensboro Senior NQ

184 pounds
Rk. Name School Year 2009-10
1. Kirk Smith Boise State Senior 2nd
2. Joe LeBlanc Wyoming Junior 4th
3. Dustin Kilgore Kent State Sophomore 7th
4. Chris Honeycutt Edinboro Junior RS
5. Chris Perry Oklahoma State RS Freshman
6. Jerome Ward Iowa State Junior NQ
7. Quentin Wright Penn State Sophomore RS
8. Steve Bosak Cornell Sophomore NQ
9. Grant Gambrall Iowa Sophomore
10. Jeff James Oklahoma Senior NQ
11. Tommy Spellman Virginia Tech Senior NQ
12. Austin Trotman Appalachian State Junior NQ
13. Nick Purdue Ohio Junior NQ
14. A.J. Kissel Purdue Junior RS
15. Josh Ihnen Nebraska Sophomore NQ
16. Andrew Saunders UNC-Greensboro Senior NQ
17. Jason McCroskey Chattanooga Sophomore NQ
18. Eric Cameron Indiana Senior NQ
19. Zac Thomusseit Pitt Junior NQ
20. James Hamel Buffalo Senior NQ at 197

197 pounds
Rk. Name School Year 2009-10
1. Cam Simaz Cornell Junior 3rd
2. Trevor Brandvold Wisconsin Senior 6th
3. Sonny Yohn Minnesota Junior 8th
4. Clayton Foster Oklahoma State Senior 6th at 184
5. Brent Haynes Missouri Sophomore NQ
6. Matt Wilps Pitt Junior NQ
7. Logan Brown Purdue Senior NQ
8. Anthony Biondo Michigan Senior NQ
9. Matt Powless Indiana Junior NQ
10. Zack Giesen Stanford Senior NQ at 184
11. Mike Salopek Virginia Sophomore NQ at 184
12. Erik Schuth Ohio Senior NQ
13. Cody Mangrum Ohio State Sophomore NQ
14. Micah Burak Penn Sophomore NQ
15. Riley Orozco CS Bakersfield Senior NQ
16. Luke Lofthouse Iowa Senior
17. Chad Hanke Oregon State Junior
18. Joe Kennedy Lehigh Junior NQ
19. Tyler Smith Rider Junior NQ
20. Matt Casperson Boise State Senior NQ

Heavyweight
Rk. Name School Year 2009-10
1. Zach Rey Lehigh Junior 3rd
2. Jarod Trice Central Michigan Junior 8th
3. Dom Bradley Missouri Junior
4. Alan Gelogaev Oklahoma State Junior 7th at 197
5. Ben Berhow Minnesota Senior NQ
6. Brandon Williamson West Virginia Senior NQ
7. D.J. Russo Rutgers Senior NQ
8. Cameron Wade Penn State Junior NQ
9. Brendan Barlow Kent State Sophomore NQ
10. Ryan Tomei Pittsburgh Senior NQ
11. Clayton Jack Oregon State Junior NQ
12. Tucker Lane Nebraska Junior NQ
13. Nathan Fernandez Oklahoma Senior NQ
14. Christian Brantley No. Iowa Junior NQ
15. Ricardo Alcala Indiana Senior NQ
16. Kurt Klimek CS Fullerton Senior NQ
17. Ziad Haddad North Carolina Sophomore NQ
18. John Danilkowicz Virginia Senior NQ
19. David Wade Eastern Michigan Senior NQ
20. Odie Delaney The Citadel Junior NQ

Frayer loses appeal; Metcalf remains on world freestyle team

Jon — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 20:13:15 +0000

Jared Frayer’s last-gasp attempt to wrestle a spot on the U.S. freestyle team away from Brent Metcalf is apparently dead.
The former Iowa strength and conditioning coach said Tuesday that he won’t take his challenge to a higher level after losing an appeal with USA Wrestling.
“It’s pretty much over and done with,” Frayer said. “It was more of something I had to do. It wasn’t some-thing I really expected to win, I guess, but it was just to set the precedent that it’s (expletive) the way matches are being decided – mine or anybody’s. It’s just ridiculous the way things are being handled by Fila or whoever it may be.”
Metcalf defeated Frayer on June 12 in the best-of-three 145.5-pound championship series at the World Team Trials in Council Bluffs. The two-time NCAA champion from Iowa earned a ticket to September’s World Championships in Moscow when he claimed the decisive point in the series with a rare defensive point out of the leg clinch after both wrestlers had previously been cautioned for improper starts.
Frayer and his coaches immediately protested that Metcalf should have been cautioned again, but the ruling was upheld after a video review. Frayer filed a grievance with USA Wrestling after the tournament.
“Our bylaws call for the executive director to (lead) an investigation and take steps to settle it without delay, which I did.” USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender said. “Through my investigation, I determined it was a field of play decision.”
Bender said United States Olympic Committee bylaws state that under field of play decisions, the final decision of a referee “shall not be reviewable subject to complaint procedures, unless it’s a decision outside of the au-thority of the referee, a product of fraud, corruption, partiality, or any misconduct of the part of the referee.”
“I determined it clearly fell into the category of a field of play decision and notified (Frayer) that the match will stand,” Bender said.
Frayer, a 31-year-old Wisconsin assistant, won the first match 1-0, 1-0. Metcalf came back to even the series with a 3-0, 3-4, 2-1 win in the second bout. They split the first two periods of the decisive bout with Frayer winning the opening period 6-0 and Metcalf taking the second 4-0 before a scoreless third period left the match and the series riding on the outcome of a leg clinch.
Frayer won the right to take the offensive position after a red ball matching his singlet color was pulled out of a matside bag.
Frayer said he’d like to see USA Wrestling get away from the leg clinch in the future in a similar circum-stance and let matches continue until a wrestler scores on his feet.
“It’s not like we weren’t scoring points,” he said. “At some point, there was going to be a point scored. It’s not like we were going to sit there and let it go 20 minutes and somebody wasn’t going to score. And it’s not like the fans didn’t want to see that.”
USA Wrestling has tweaked its rules in the past and gone outside of the guidelines set by Fila, wrestling’s international governing body. At the 2004 Olympic Trials, Dennis Hall and Brandon Paulson wrestled for nearly 17 minutes in the final match of their 121-pound Greco-Roman championship series after USA Wrestling employed a rule at the tournament allowing matches to go to an unlimited sudden death period if all criteria were tied at the end of a three-minute overtime period.
“I don’t know if I could see us getting away from the rules, (but) we have made modifications in the past,” Bender said. “We’ll continue to look at the situation and make the best possible decision we can for what’s best for our team and winning medals at the World Championships.”

Wrestling is a Numbers Crunching Sport

Jon — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:59:42 +0000

Mike Johnson of Manassas, Virginia has gone way beyond the call of duty. He's put together an incredibly detailed — and fascinating — 18-page analysis of some of the numbers and statistics from the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships which has been posted at the WrestlingReport.com website.

These stats are kept meticulously even in high school. Some wrestlers go crazy for this information, and not just the recruiters. Programs scour the nation for people with large amounts of matches wrestled, massive amounts of pins, technical galore and so much more. Fans automatically are drawn to the wrestlers that have large numbers. Once they’re drawn in, they’ll start researching the numbers. Ask any wrestling fan that avidly follows a wrestler about the persons stats and they’ll be able to tell you how many wins they had, how many losses, how many of those wins were from pins, techs, how long the longest match lasted and how long the shortest match was.

Some people may think that only a mathematician can handle so much numbers and what they mean, but wrestlers, coaches and fans seek them out. They crave them. The championships is no exception. I was able to make it out to Omaha this past year and everyone was talking about Metcalf, Palmer, Ohio, Iowa, Cornell… and their numbers. They talked about Jayson Ness, the 133 pounder from Minnesota who went undefeated the entire season, along with the eight others that came into the three day tournament with an undefeated record. On the way out, they were talking about the five seniors that completed four years as four-time All Americans and the five that became the only ones with an undefeated season.

If you still don’t believe me that wrestlers, fans and coaches are numbers driven, Mike Johnson, of Manassas, Virginia, has compiled an 18 page report of numbers from the NCAA championships in Omaha. I might not be that convincing, but that report will convince almost anyone.

UVU vs Boise St. Upset in Orem

Jon — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:04:46 +0000

Last night unranked Utah Valley University took on 8th in the nation Boise St. And won. UVU pulled ahead in the beginning and never looked back. It was a tough match with the end being the roughest I’ve seen. Casen Eldredge, who normally wrestles at 184 pounds, wrestled up two weight classes Boise State’s heavyweight Sam Zylstra. Going into the match, UVU was up by 5 points, 22-17. Eldredge managed to outlast and out work Zylstra for a bit, but then Zylstra caught him and held on for the win, 7-4. Even though Eldredge lost the match, it gave UVU the win 22-20.

If Eldredge delivered the win, then Freshman 174 lb. Josh Wood set it up. He defeated Levi Holt by decision, 13-8, in the second-to-last match of the dual to increase UVU’s advantage to the 22-17 that made the win possible.

Utah Valley’s Benjamin Kjar opened the dual on a good note for the Wolverines with a 13-4 major decision over Boise State’s Alan Bartelli, who beat Kjar 7-5 earlier in the season at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas invitational. Kjar, ranked 11th in the nation at 125, improved his overall record to 25-6 and his dual record to 9-1. The junior from Centerville, Utah, recorded a takedown and three-point near fall in the opening round to lead 5-1. In the final round he tallied two takedowns, a three-point near fall, an escape and earned one point for riding time en route to the major decision.

But the upset of all upsets in the night came from 174-pound Wolverine Brad Darrington, who recorded a takedown with less than 30 seconds left in the match against No. 11 Nate Lee to win 7-6 to increase UVU’s lead to 19-11.

“It was a great win for our program,” UVU head coach Greg Williams. “First and foremost our guys came in with the mentality to go out and wrestle the best they could. Anytime you go out and beat a team ranked as high as Boise is, it is a huge win for your program.”

UVU travels to Vernal in Eastern Utah today to face #1 ranked Iowa tonight, who is undefeated, at 6:00 pm MST. UVU looks forward to the match. “We will come out against Iowa and wrestle the very best we can,” Coach Williams said. “No matter the outcome, we want to feel like we battled and gave it everything we had.”

You can check out photos of the match in our Facebook page.

The FILA Worlds Are Under Way

Jon — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:14:52 +0000

So in case you haven’t noticed: the FILA Worlds are under way. And the U.S. already has some metal. Jake Herbert pulled off a Silver Medal after coming up short against Zaurbek Sokhiev of Uzbekistan on Tuesday in the 84 kg/185 lbs. It was close, but not close enough. He lost the match 1-0, 1-0.

Jake Herbert was the first U.S. wrestler to advance to a gold medal match at the world championships, where he took a silver.

“It stinks, having to stand on the podium with a silver medal. I came in here to win a gold medal and I believed I could do it,” Herbert said. “Seeing that other guy’s flag go up and hearing that other guy’s anthem being played, and then seeing him get a World Championships belt, that gives me something to shoot for next year. I didn’t know the champion got a belt. I want that belt.” Herbert also said that he had one thing on his mind going into the MesseCenter: walking out of the MesseCenter with a gold medal draping his neck. Next year he’ll have the belt as well as the gold medal.

Heavyweight Tervel Dlagnev capped an amazing tournament by defeating Georiga’s Alex Mobedadze 2-0, 2-0 in their bronze medal match at 120 kilos.

Talking about how he has come from a sixth place finish in the NCAA tourney four years ago, he said “I’ve definitely come a long way. I still have a long way to go. I obviously didn’t get the color I wanted. It definitely was nice to get on the podium though.”

Russia has clinched the team title with 53 points. Azerbaijan is second with 39. The U.S. has jumped up to sixth place with 19 points.

Herbert will receive a $25,000 bonus from the Living the Dream Medal Fund for winning a silver medal while Dlagnev earns $15,000 for capturing a bronze medal.

Day 3 of the seven-day tournament will see three more U.S. wrestlers take the mat. Dustin Schlatter (74 kg/163 lbs.) will compete in freestyle while the women’s freestyle tournament starts with Clarissa Chun (48 kg/105.5 lbs.) and Jessica Medina (51 kg/112.25 lbs.) ready to go. Chun won a World title in 2008.

California Pride: 10 wrestlers in 9 classes Ranked

Jon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:52:52 +0000

I was cruising through TheWrestlingTalk forums and thought I would take a look at the high school wrestling rankings. They’ve got the top twelve of the nation in each weight class listed. Being a typical Californian, I have a little pride, so decided to search for my home-state wrestlers that were ranked.

While there weren’t any first-place finishers, it was good to see that 9 weight classes were represented by good ‘ol California with 10 wrestlers filling the brackets. Their names are below. Good job!

112
9. Zach Zimmer-Jr, Clovis West, CA
125
8. Martin Gonzalez-Sr, Gilroy, CA
10. David Klingsheim-Sr, Brentwood Liberty, CA
135
11. Jose Mendoza-Sr, Selma, CA
140
6. Kyle West-Sr, Oak Ridge, CA
145
5. Vlad Dombroski-Sr, Natomas, CA
160
11. James Cook-Jr, Clovis West, CA
171
8. Ian Daube-Sr, Poway, CA
189
10. Ryan Loder-Sr, Granite Bay, CA
HWT
5. Roger McCovey-Sr, Del Norte, CA

Before Lesnar-Mir, in college it was Lesnar-Hand

Jon — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:03:01 +0000

University of Minnesota’s “Brockfast of Champions”
poster featured Brock Lesnar with “tale of the tape”
call-outs pointing out the measurements of various
body parts.

Think the UFC rivalry between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir is intense?

A decade ago, the current UFC heavyweight champ had a powerful, ongoing rivalry as the University of Minnesota heavyweight vs Wes Hand of the University of Iowa.

In January 1999, Brock Lesnar burst onto the big-time college wrestling scene when the Bismarck State College big man started wrestling for Minnesota, one of the top-ranked NCAA Division I wrestling programs in the nation. He generated considerable buzz because of his muscular physique (6’3”, 265 pounds)… and for dominating opponents of similar poundage.

In that first month at Minnesota, Lesnar gained a headline-making victory that really put him on the radar of wrestling fans outside the upper Midwest. At the 1999 National Duals, held at Carver-Hawkeye Arena — the home for the Iowa Hawkeye wrestling program — Lesnar pinned Iowa’s Wes Hand in front of the home crowd… launching an intense mano a mano between the two warriors that lasted two years.

While Lesnar resembled a bigger, scarier version of blond movie muscleman Dolph Lundgren, Wes Hand looked more like the big, burly Iowa farm boy that he was. The dark-haired, hairy-chested Hawkeye stood 6’1” and tipped the scales at about 250 lbs.

Brock Lesnar’s college rival, Wes Hand of the University of Iowa, shown here with his singlet straps down.

The third mat meeting between Lesnar and Hand had some of the pre-match hype more like WWE or UFC 100 than a typical college dual meet, even between rival schools like Minnesota and Iowa. Before the meet – the last of the 2000 season — Hand had made some bold predictions about what he and the Hawkeyes would do to the Gophers… which riled up Lesnar, his team and its fans. Especially considering Hand had lost to Lesnar in their two previous matches.

On February 20, 2000, over 13,000 fans jammed Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota – at the time, the largest crowd ever to see a college dual meet on that campus. By the time of the heavyweight match – about halfway through the dual – the team score was 13-10 Gophers. The team that won the dual meet also won the Big Ten team title.

Here’s how the Minnesota Daily — the student paper at the University of Minnesota — described the action BEFORE any actual wrestling took place:

Tension in Sunday’s round began mounting before the two even stripped to their singlets. During pregame introductions, Hand walked over to Minnesota’s side of the mat waiting to shake Lesnar’s hand.

Lesnar emerged from behind his teammates and ran past Hand, making his way to center circle while indicating to Hand that center circle was where the two should meet. Hand went to center circle, acting like he would wish Lesnar good luck there and shake his hand.

In a 1999 match, Brock Lesnar (maroon singlet) throws Iowa’s Wes Hand

But Hand fooled all, running to center circle and right past Lesnar. The Gophers heavyweight simply waved good-bye.

It wasn’t all fun and games. In the first period, Wes Hand stunned everyone by scoring a takedown… then putting Lesnar on his back. The Hawkeye wasn’t able to pin his opponent, but held the gigantic Gopher long enough to score near-fall points, and rack up a 4-0 lead at the end of the opening period. Lesnar battled back, but was unable to grab the lead. The third-ranked Hand upset No. 1 Lesnar, 5-3.

Perhaps even more importantly, the rest of the Gophers line-up seemed to have been rocked by Lesnar’s loss, giving up their lead to ultimately lose the dual meet to Iowa 20-12 in their own gym. Thanks in large part to Wes Hand’s upset, the Iowa Hawkeyes won the 2000 Big Ten team title.

Brock Lesnar and Wes Hand wrestled two more times in college. Two weeks after the Minnesota-Iowa dual meet, the two met in the heavyweight finals at the 2000 Big Ten conference championships… with Lesnar avenging the loss, beating Hand, 2-1, in a bruising bout. Two weeks later, at the 2000 NCAA Division I championships at St. Louis, the two battled again, this time for the national heavyweight title. This time, the match went into overtime, but Lesnar came out on top, 3-2 OT.

Final score of the Lesnar-Hand rivalry: 4-1 for the Minnesota muscleman.

A few months after winning the NCAA crown, Brock Lesnar signed a developmental deal with the WWE… and, the rest is history.

Resources
Examiner.com: Brock Lesnar’s college days
Minnesota Daily write-up of the February 2000 Lesnar-Hand bout
Original post

Henderson vs Bisbing UFC Knockout Punch

Jon — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:33:05 +0000

If you weren’t able to watch the fights this past weekend, you missed out. Here is the knockout round of the Henderson vs. Bisbing fight. First off, notice it’s in the second round at about 3:10 into it (each round lasts five minutes).

[flashvideo file=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzUYUhjoAuY /]

When I saw this, I think it’s one of the sickest KO’s I’ve seen. I think mostly because of the back history. Henderson is from the US. Bisbing is from the UK. They were the coaches on the ninth season of the TV reality show The Ultimate Fighter. The people from the show came up with the idea back in season one to have the coaches fight each other at the end of the season, so here’s the fight. Bisbing, though, has a big mouth; he said that he thought that American fighters weren’t tough (I’m paraphrazing the quote).

Henderson was asked after the fight about the second punch and if he knew that Bisbing was out. He replied that he knew that he was out, but he wanted to try to shut his mouth up for him, going back to the only comment Henderson said about Bisbing during season nine “I have the chance to shut his mouth with my fist.”

I think next time you better not open your mouth…

What It Takes – Northwestern’s 184 lb Jake Herbert

Jon — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:15:52 +0000

Most Batman actions figures have an eight pack, rippling arms and a cape.

Jake Herbert, Northwestern’s senior 184-pound wrestler, doesn’t have a cape, but he does have two national championships, a Hodge Trophy (given to the most outstanding wrestler in the NCAA) and the eight pack.

On March 21, Herbert capped off his Northwestern wrestling career with a second undefeated season, a second national championship and the Heisman trophy of wrestling. Call him the Batman of wrestling – he’ll kick your trash.

In the NCAA finals Herbert took on the 2008 national champion, Mike Pucillo of Ohio State. Before the match began, Herbert paced around the mat starring at his opponent. Veins practically came out of his arms and shoulders; his fists clenched so tight the knuckles turned white; Batman was beyond focused – he was dialed in. Herbert was letting Pucillo know that the Buckeye was about to become the 2009 NCAA runner-up and that the Wildcat would be the dominator.

When the whistle blew Herbert’s entire 184-pound body moved faster than Christian Bale in a Dark Knight fight sequence. Nine seconds into the match he initiated the first take down with what appeared to be ease, and it didn’t get any easier for Pucillo. “At the NCAAs I wrestled fantastic,” said Herbert. “I mean, I went out there, I dominated everybody.” After seven minutes – three two minute periods and a minute overtime – Herbert was a two-time national champion by virtue of a 6-3 decision. Even though the final score seemed close, and was the closest that Herbert had throughout the season, only one of the wrestlers who stepped off the mat actually wrestled. And yes, he dominated the match and his opponant.

” I didn’t give up a take down and I didn’t give up an offensive point the whole time.”

The 2008 NCAA tournament was not an aberration, but rather a representation of his entire Northwestern career. Herbert is a four-time All-American. He is undefeated at Welsh-Ryan Arena – his home away from home, and he’s only lost four collegiate matches the most recent was in way back in 2006. Everyone knew he was going to have another undefeated season. Even his opponants feared him. “All my opponents basically knew before I wrestled them that they were going to lose, and I think most of their goals were just to not get embarrassed and keep it a close match,” said Herbert. But most of his opponents didn’t even accomplish that. Before Herbert’s finals match — where he made Pucillo look like a second-tier grappler with a 6-3 victory — Herbert’s closest match was 8-0.

He hasn’t always been such a prodigious force. At age eight, when the Wildcat started wrestling, he also played soccer and football. Since Herbert couldn’t focus on a single sport, he wasn’t dominant in any of them, so in 10th grade he decided to become a full-time wrestler.“I realized you can be the jack of all trades or you can be the ace of spades,” said Herbert. “I just started working with it year round, and I saw a lot of improvement in my wrestling once I started doing that.”

Year round wrestling helped him earn a Pennsylvania state title and number one ranking nationally in his high school weight class, but his focused mindset is the primary reason Herbert had such an illustrious college career. From the day he stepped into the Northwestern wrestling room, Wildcat head coach Tim Cysewski knew Herbert was going to be something special.“He had a certain aura about him,” said Cysewski. “He’s very confident about himself and his ability, but yet not cocky. He’s kind of in-between there.”

Many casual wrestling fans disagree with Cysewski, because Herbert isn’t afraid to tell the world what he’s capable of accomplishing. The 184-pounder doesn’t think he’s going to do anything — he knows.

He already knew he was going to win every single match before the NCAA tournament started. He knew he was going to go undefeated before wrestling season started. Ever since sixth grade, Herbert has known he was going to win every single one of his matches.

The thing that actually bothers most of his opponents isn’t that Herbert says he can do something he can’t. It’s that when Herbert says he’s going to do something, they can’t stop him.

“If you’re going out there and you already know you’re going to win, that’s more than half the battle,” he said. “That’s 95 percent of it. The rest of it is just taking it away, and making sure that they know that I’m dominant, that they know that they don’t have a chance to score.”

It’s that attitude that makes Cysewski think Herbert’s list of wrestling accomplishments is still incomplete. The former Wildcat grappler definitely has the physical ability to win a gold medal in the 2012 Olympic Games, but Cysewski thinks it’s Herbert’s mindset that will allow him to become the best wrestler in the world.

“I’ve met a lot of guys who are capable of doing a lot of things like that,” said Cysewski. “It’s a combination of saying it and doing it. He has a tendency to say something and do it at the same time. It’s not all talk. He’ll back it up.”

Before Herbert starting training to become the best in the world, he took a break to let his body heal from the five month collegiate wrestling season. That break is already over. Herbert went to California with some other Northwestern wrestlers for a four day spring break, and then went right back to training.

“I don’t think I’d ever in my entire life, even when I’m retired, be able to stay out of the wrestling room for more than a week,” he said.

Herbert’s training has given him one of the most successful careers in NCAA history, but he’s not content with what he’s already accomplished. He’s not ready to retire, enter the workforce or become a coach. He’s ready to dominate the world.

“I want to make some world teams and win some world medals to prove that I’m the best in the world, not just in the nation,” said Herbert.

He had a chance to do that in 2007, when he took a year off academically and athletically to train for the 2008 Olympics. But he failed to qualify for the games in Beijing because he didn’t win the Olympic qualifier. However, Herbert is 2-0 all-time against Andy Hrovat, the 2008 Olympian in his weight class. Wins like that show that Herbert is capable of representing the United States in London in 2012.

“When I’m on, I can beat every single guy,” he said. “It’s just a matter of making sure that when those World and Olympic team trials come up, I’ve got to make sure I’m wrestling my best on those days.”

Herbert’s recent string of post-collegiate victories may have him on his way to London. On April 13, he captured the U.S. Nationals Freestyle Championship in Las Vegas. That victory gives Herbert an automatic bid to the best-two-out-of-three finals of the World Team Trials. He already knows how those matches will turn out.

“Once I win those two out of three matches, I go on to wrestle in the World Championships in Denmark,” said Herbert.

And when he says he’s going to do something, he’s usually right.

But even if Herbert wins the 2009, 2010, and 2011 World Championships, he won’t have proven he’s the best in the world yet. He’ll have to wait until the 2012 Olympics to legitimately own that title. But even an Olympic gold medal isn’t Herbert’s ultimate goal. He doesn’t just want to be the best in the world when he’s on top of his game.

“I want to train so that when I’m wrestling my worst I can still be the best,” said Herbert.

It might seem cocky, but when you look at his track record, it’s hard to say that he won’t do it. It’s like saying Batman won’t save the world.

Your Thoughts on Ben Askren’s Second MMA Fight

Jon — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:11:27 +0000

Check out his second professional MMA fight. Dude taps out in the first round. Thoughts?