Michigan State University Athletics
No. 20/18 Wrestling Heads To Big Ten Championships
3/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 2, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
A LOOK AT THE WEEK AHEAD- With the dual-meet season completed, Michigan State will now focus on the 2005 Big Ten Championships, March 5-6, hosted by the University of Iowa. The top six placewinners in each weight class will advance to the NCAA Championships, March 17-19, in St. Louis, Mo. The Spartans have not had a Big Ten Champion since Nick Muzashvili won at 197 lbs. in 2000, but MSU has sent at least four wrestlers to the NCAA tournament for the past seven seasons.
THE 2004 BIG TEN TOURNAMENT AT OHIO STATE- The Green and White qualified four wrestlers for the NCAA tournament last season, all but Nate Mesyn (fourth at 184 lbs.) were underclassmen. Darren McKnight (fifth at 149 lbs.), Jeff Clemens (sixth at 197 lbs.) and Andy Simmons (seventh at 141 lbs.) all earned their first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament. Simmons' seventh-place finish was good for an alternate position. Alternates advance if one of the top six wrestlers cannot compete due to injury. Day one of last year's tournament saw all three wrestlers suffer opening-round losses, but each rallied to advance to the medal round on Sunday. On day two, Simmons defeated Penn State's Dewalt Driscoll in a thrilling overtime match, 12-10, while McKnight defeated Dan Jankowski of Purdue, 6-5. Clemens dropped both of his matches to Indiana's Pat DeGain and All-American J.D. Bergman of Ohio State.
Nick Simmons AT THE 2003 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS- Nick Simmons is the Spartans' only other placewinner at the Big Ten Championships, but he did not compete in 2004 due to an Olympic redshirt season. In 2003 as a redshirt freshman, Simmons notched third place in the Big Ten. He lost his first match of the tournament to Wisconsin's Tony Black, but rallied to claim his next four decisions. After pinning John Velez of Northwestern and Adam Smith of Penn State, he defeated 2002 NCAA runner-up Luke Eustice of Iowa, 4-2, then redeemed himself against Black in the consolation finals, 6-2. Simmons went on to take seventh at the NCAA Championships, earning All-American honors.
THE SPARTANS ALL-TIME AT THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT- Although it has not won the Big Ten tournament title since 1972, MSU has finished in the top half of the most competitive conference in the nation five times in the Tom Minkel era. Its best finish came in 1995 when State qualified seven wrestlers for the NCAAs and five wrestlers went on to earn All-American honors, including national champion Kelvin Jackson at 118 lbs.
R.J. Boudro EARNS FIRST-CAREER BIG TEN WRESTLER OF THE WEEK HONORS- Junior R.J. Boudro earned his first-career Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors after dominating in an 18-5 major decision over Oklahoma's Brad Martens, Feb. 25. Boudro was leading 2-0 going into the third period, when he went on a tear, recording six takedowns and three near-fall points. The 18-point performance is the most points by Boudro since he scored 24 in a technical-fall victory over Eastern Michigan's Ben Best on Nov. 30. Boudro finishes the regular season 16-5, going 7-2 in dual meets and pacing the team with three technical falls. He is ranked as high as No. 12 in some polls and is seeded third at 174 pounds for the Big Ten Championships March 5-6.
PRE-SEEDS ANNOUNCED FOR BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS- The preliminary seeds for the 2005 Big Ten Wrestling Championships were announced by conference officials Monday and four Spartans were ranked in the top five in their respective weight classes, led by Nick and Andy Simmons, who both earned No. 2 seeds. Juniors R.J Boudro and Darren McKnight also earned seedings, as Boudro is No. 3 at 174 lbs., and McKnight is No. 5 at 149 lbs.
THE LATEST RANKINGS- When the new rankings come out Tuesday, don't expect many drastic changes involving MSU wrestlers. Despite their losses, Nick and Andy Simmons should remain at No. 3 and No. 6, respectively. Darren McKnight and Joe Williams did not compete this weekend, and should not move. With his convincing win, R.J. Boudro may jump up a spot or two, but will remain somewhere between No. 11 and No. 14. Additionally, only a handful of teams were in action this past week.
MSU DROPS FINAL DUAL-MEET OF THE SEASON TO NO. 7 OKLAHOMA, 31-10- No. 12 R.J. Boudro scored his sixth victory in seven matches by major decision as the No. 20/17 Michigan State wrestling team (7-6-1 overall, 4-3-1 Big Ten) closed out its regular season with a 31-10 loss Friday, Feb. 25 at Jenison Field House. In the two highly-anticipated match-ups of the night at 125 and 141 lbs., respectively, No. 1 Sam Hazewinkel defeated Nick Simmons, 2-0, and No. 6 Andy Simmons defaulted to No. 2 Teyon Ware.
NO. 5 MICHIGAN CLINCHES THE PONTIAC CHALLENGE CUP, 34-8- Wrestling against his former team, junior R.J. Boudro picked up an electrifying, overtime victory at 174 pounds. The No. 16/19 Michigan State wrestling team wrapped up its conference dual-meet season with a loss to No. 5 Michigan, 34-8, Friday, Feb. 18 at Jenison Field House. Nick Simmons also picked up his 24th victory of the season, defeating Jim Shutich by technical fall, 15-0, just 4:19 into the match. Simmons scored an early takedown then rolled off 13-straight near-fall points to get back on the winning track.
NO. 19 INDIANA DEFEATS AN INJURED, FLU-STRICKEN SPARTAN WRESTLING TEAM- No. 15 Darren McKnight claimed his 28th victory of the season, and seventh win in eight matches as an injured Michigan State wrestling team, marred by the flu, fell to No. 19 Indiana, 33-4, at University Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 12. In the featured match-up of the afternoon at 125 lbs., No. 3 Nick Simmons, who wrestled sick, fell to No. 5 Joe Dubuque, 6-4. The loss was Simmons' first of the season.
