Muzashvili Places Third at NCAA Wrestling Championships
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 20, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State wrestling concluded its season Saturday at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in University Park, Pa. Nick Muzashvili (Unadilla, NY) was the only Spartan to see action on the final day as he finished 3rd at 197 pounds, earning All-America honors.
In his first match of the afternoon, Muzashvili squared off against Cal-State Bakersfield's Raphael Davis for the right to advance to the third-place match. Muzashvili immediately took charge with two first-period takedowns to lead 4-1 after one period. In the second, the only scoring was a Davis escape to narrow Muzashvili's lead to two. Muzashvili sealed his victory with two more takedowns in the third period. Davis was never able to score an offensive point as Muzashvili cruised to a 10-3 win.
The third-place match at 197 featured a rematch of the quarterfinals as Muzashvili met up with Pennsylvania's Andrei Rodzianko. In the quarterfinals, Muzashvili handed Rodzianko his only loss of the season, taking a 5-4 decision.
For Muzashvili, having to wrestle Rodzianko again was not something he welcomed or dreaded.
"He is one of the toughest guys out there," explained Muzashvili. "He was unbeaten coming into the tournament and had beaten [Iowa's Lee] Fullhart and [Northwestern's Sam] Neider this year. But I didn't look at the match and say that since I beat him before that I will beat him again. I always try to take one match at a time and always wrestle hard."
The rematch began with a scoreless first period. Muzashvili scored the first point with an escape 17 seconds into the second period to take a 1-0 lead into the third. After a quick Rodzianko escape to start the third both wrestlers fought hard for the deciding points. Each man took several shots but could not complete them. Finally, with seven seconds remaining in the third, Muzashvili overpowered Rodzianko and scored a takedown to win 3-1 and earn 3rd place honors.
"It feels great to win after all the hard work," explained Muzashvili. "I had a couple of nice shots early in the match and got in pretty deep, but could not finish. I got a little disappointed, but I stayed patient and that was key. Finally I took another deep shot and was able to finish. Then I looked up and saw the clock count down 3,2,1 and I felt great."
Michigan State coach Tom Minkel was extremely proud of Muzashvili's effort throughout the tournament.
"For Nick to place third is outstanding for him and for the team," said Minkel. "He's worked long and hard throughout the season. He's had his struggles, but he's come a long way.
"There were two keys to his victory. The first is that he made good decisions on his shots. In the past he would lose discipline when he got fatigued, but this week he was disciplined tactically. Second, he now has the stamina to physically hold up throughout a tournament of this length."
With the season now over for Michigan State, Minkel also commented on the season.
"It was a difficult year because we were young and we redshirted some people. I am also disappointed in our finish here. We were very close to having three semifinalists. But everyone knows that we are building and building quickly. We are starting a brand new era here and it starts tomorrow. We are not building from scratch and we all know that we will be a very strong team next year."
