Wrestling Begins Home Season With MSU Open
11/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Nov. 10, 2011
| This Week in Spartan Wrestling: Michigan State Open | |
| Date | Saturday, Nov. 12 |
| Time | All day. Preliminary matches begin at 9 a.m.; finals and medals matches to run from approximately 6-8 p.m. |
| Location | East Lansing, Mich. | Jenison Field House |
| Internet Coverage | Live brackets at www.trackwrestling.com |
| Tickets | Available at the door. Adults: $15. High School and younger: $5. Children 8 and under: free. |
| Multimedia | Coach Minkel Podcast | Tyler |
EAST LANSING, Mich.- The Michigan State wrestling team will host the annual MSU Open Saturday Nov. 12 at Jenison Field House. There will be both an open division and freshman/sophomore division held at the event, which is one of the largest tournaments in the nation.
"It's a good chance to see a lot of competition," said head coach Tom Minkel. "We have over 600 wrestlers entered; it's our largest event ever. We have competition from all over the country and it will be a good opportunity to see a lot of different guys."
Preliminary matches begin at 9 a.m. and will run until approximately 5:30 p.m., while the finals and medal matches are scheduled to take place between 6-8 p.m. Live brackets of the tournament will be posted at www.trackwrestling.com.
"It's always fun to compete in your own venue," Minkel said. "This tournament in particular is very, very strong. It's going to be a good event."
ELEVEN WRESTLERS PLACE AT EMU OPEN
Eleven Michigan State wrestlers placed at the Eastern Michigan Open last Saturday (Nov. 5) in the first competition of the 2011-12 season.
"We wrestled unattached at Eastern Michigan and we need to see some improvement," said Minkel. "We need to wrestle with a little better position. There are some technical areas that we worked on and we just need to see improvement week after week."
In his first collegiate tournament, true freshman Roger Wildmo won all six of his matches, including two falls, to claim first place at 149 pounds in the freshman/sophomore division. Wildmo defeated Nick Hodgkins of Central Michigan, 9-4, in the championship match.
In the open bracket, Curran Jacobs led the way for the Spartans with a third-place finish at 174 pounds. Jacobs posted a 6-1 record on the day and defeated Phillip Joseph of Eastern Michigan in the third-place match, 8-5. Jacobs won first two matches in the winner's bracket, but lost in the quarterfinals Oscar Huntley of Navy, 3-2.
Dan Osterman placed fifth at 149 pounds with a 5-2 record; he won by injury default in the fifth-place match. Two Spartans placed at 184: Ian Hinton took fourth, while John Rizqallah took sixth.
Hinton won his first two matches to reach the semifinals, but lost to Cody Magrum of Ohio State in a close battle, 3-2. Hinton then defeated Casey Newburg of Kent State, 3-2, but took an injury default in the third-place match to take fourth. After losing in his first match, Rizqallah won his next three in the consolation bracket before eventually losing in the fifth-place match to Newburg, 5-2.
Two Spartans also placed at 197 pounds, as 16th-ranked Tyler Dickenson took fourth and Nick McDiarmid took fifth. Dickenson reached the semifinals, but lost to No. 14 Andrew Campolattano of Ohio State, 5-3. Dickenson won one more match in the consolation bracket but elected to take an injury default in the third-place match. McDiarmid advanced to the quarterfinals but also lost to Campolattano, 10-3. McDiarmid bounced back to win his next two matches, and eventually beat Paul Rands of Navy in the fifth-place match, 8-3.
Steve Andrus took fifth at heavyweight. After falling to No. 10 Brendan Barlow of Kent State, 4-2, in the semifinals, Andrus defeated Wes Schroeder of Eastern Michigan in the fifth-place match, 5-4.
Back in the freshman/sophomore division, Brian Gibbs went 5-2 to place fourth at 141 pounds. Gibbs won his first four matches and reached the semifinals, but fell to Donnie Watkins, 9-7. He responded with one more win in the consolation round before losing in the third-place match to Camryn Jackson, 12-3.
At 133 pounds, Terry Turner went 6-1 to place third. Turner won his first two matches on the day, and after falling in the quarterfinals, he won four straight in the consolation bracket to claim third.
Nick Proctor won three matches in the tournament and took sixth in the 165 freshman/sophomore bracket.
A LOOK BACK AT THE 2010 MSU OPEN
A total of 12 Spartan wrestlers placed in the top-six in their respective weight classes last year. Individual titles were won in the freshman/sophomore division by Troy Lamson (157 pounds) and Nick Kaczanowski (174).
David Cheza was the top finisher for MSU in the open division last season, placing third in the 157-pound bracket. He opened the tournament with a 15-7 major decision over Josh Demas of Ohio State, then recorded an 8-4 decision over Illinois' Jackson Morse before falling in the semifinals to Virginia Tech's Jesse Dong, 7-4. Cheza bounced back with decisions over Demas again, 11-5, and Bryan Deutsch of Northern Illinois, 4-1, to take third place.
Dan Osterman went 3-2 in the open division at 149 pounds to take fourth. Osterman began with decisions over Bucknell's Eric Harris (10-6) and Purdue's Sam Patacsil (6-3), but lost to sixth-ranked Kurt Kisner of Indiana by fall in the semifinals. Osterman rallied to defeat Vince Castillo of Northern Illinois, 4-0, before dropping a hard-fought, third-place match, 5-4, to Nick Walpole of Indianapolis.
At 165 pounds, Ben Boudro placed sixth with a 4-3 record.
Two Spartans placed in the 197-pound open division: Tyler Dickenson (4th) and Nick McDiarmid (6th). Both wrestlers advanced to the semifinals before dropping into the consolation bracket. Dickenson beat Northwestern's Alex Polizzi, 8-5, to advance to the third-place match; however, Dickenson lost to Bucknell's Jay Hahn, 7-6, to claim fourth place. McDiarmid started by winning his first three matches before losing his next two.
Heavyweight Mike McClure went 3-2 to claim fourth place. McClure won his first two matches but fell in the semifinals to Northwestern's Mike McMullan. McClure came back to beat Ohio's Jeremy Johnson, 3-1, but fell in the third-place match to Joe Fagiano of Indiana, 3-2.
In the freshmen/sophomore division, two Spartans claimed individual titles, as Lamson won at 157 pounds, and Kaczanowski won at 174. Lamson won all five of his matches and defeated teammate Nick Humes in the championship match, 4-2. Kaczanowski cruised through the tournament, recording a 17-1 tech fall over Kalvin Argueta of Harper College, a 9-0 major decision over Jake Johnson, and a fall over Central Michigan's Anthony Bill in 2:50. Kaczanowski went on to top Jacob Dorulla in the first-place bout, 1-0.
At 149 pounds, Ryan Watts won his first three matches, but lost in the semifinals. He went on to place sixth. At 165, Kevin Nash went 3-2 to take fourth, while Eric Ford went 4-1 to place third at 174.
NEXT UP
Michigan State will host Eastern Michigan in the season's first dual on Friday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The match will be wrestled at IM West.
Players Mentioned
