Michigan State University
Michigan State Open
Sixteen Wrestlers Place at MSU Open
11/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Nov. 15, 2009
Coach Tom
Final MSU Open Brackets | MSU Open Top Six Finishers by Weight Class
EAST LANSING, Mich. - A total of 16 Michigan State wrestlers picked up top-six finishes at the MSU Open on Sunday (Nov. 15) as the Spartans hosted the annual event at Jenison Field House. Leading the way for the Green and White were freshman Dan Osterman, redshirt-freshman Bryant Craft and senior Franklin Gomez, as all took home first-place medals.
"Overall, I thought the team wrestled hard and they wrestled well," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "We had some outstanding individual performances. Franklin had an outstanding tournament; Bryan Craft stepped up to get his first tournament win as a Spartan and Danny Osterman, winning his second in a row, was great."
For the second consecutive weekend, Osterman claimed a title in the 133-pound freshman/sophomore division. Wrestling unattached, Osterman pinned his opponents in the quarterfinal and semifinal bouts and then claimed the title via injury default in the finals. Last weekend, Oseterman won the 133-pound title at the EMU Open.
Also wrestling unattached at 133 pounds was fellow freshman Levi Stace, who placed sixth in the freshman/sophomore division.
In the 174-pound class of the freshman/sophomore division, Craft took home first place, defeating J.T. Jenkins of the University of Indianapolis with a 4-2 decision.
Also placing in the freshman/sophomore division and wrestling unattached from MSU were: Neil Hyska at 184 pounds (sixth place) and Steve Andrus (fourth place) and Michael McClure (fifth place), each at 285 pounds.
In his first action of the season, defending national champion Gomez cruised through the open bracket and defeated Tristen DeShazer of Northern Illinois, 6-2, in the finals to claim first place in the 133-pound open division.
Sophomore David Cheza made his way to the finals of the 149-pound finals in the open division, but lost a hard-fought 8-7 decision to Steve Zimmerman of Northern Illinois. A pair of seniors - Kyle Bounds and Nick Palmieri - picked up third-place finishes in the open divisions of the 165 and 184-pound weight classes, respectively.
Eric Olanowski at 125 pounds (third place), Ben Boudro at 165 (sixth place), Ian Hinton at 174 (fifth place), Tyler Dickenson at 197 (sixth place) and Alan O'Donnell at 285 (fourth place) rounded out the group of Spartans that placed in the open division in Sunday's meet.
"I thought we wrestled really hard today, but we still have some work to do," Minkel said.
The Spartans will return to action next Sunday (Nov. 22) at the Sprawl and Brawl in Binghamton, N.Y.
Players Mentioned
