Spartans Host MSU Open on Sunday in Jenison Field House
11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Live Streaming - FloWrestling.org
EAST LANSING, Mich. â€" The Michigan State wrestling team will host the annual MSU Open on Sunday, Nov. 15 at Jenison Field House. Action for one of the most competitive open tournaments in the country, which will feature 31 teams including eight Big Ten schools, will begin at 9 a.m.
The finals and medal matches are slated to start at approximately 6 p.m. More than 500 wrestlers will compete in two divisions (freshman/sophomore and open) on 10 to 12 mats. The tournament is a double-elimination event and no team scores are kept.
Live brackets of the entire tournament will be available at TrackWrestling.com and live streaming will be available at FloWrestling.org.
Tickets for the MSU Open, which are available at the door, are $15 for adults and $5 for high school and younger. Children ages 8 and younger are free.
"As I look at it, at first glance, it looks like the toughest tournament in the 20-some years I've been working it," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "There are several Big Ten teams here, the best teams in the MAC, and really good teams from all levels of competition. I don't remember a field any better than this one, in terms of up and down."
To be successful in such a tough tournament, Minkel said the mental approach toward every match is key.
"Mostly it's a matter of if you get ready each time," he remarked. "That you understand that you can't be sitting on a chair somewhere and go, ‘I'm up,' and go out and wrestle. You have to prepare for each match as if it's the match of the day. It's can get by you because you're wrestling five or six times, and it's easy to go, "Oh, well, I'm up." But you've gotta be mentally ready and really sharp and focused so when you go out there you're really wrestling well the whole time rather than having to get into the match as you go. So those are some things we're talking about a lot this week."
The Spartans are looking to bounce back this weekend after falling in all three of their matches at the EMU Duals last Saturday.
"It really started with an evaluation of last weekend, what we need to do to improve," said Minkel. "I have a lot of kids in the lineup that are kind of new to this level of wrestling, and it's kind of a shock, but the team's worked hard this week, and our goal is to be better than we were last week. We had some pretty intense practices, and we talked a lot about what we can do to improve. So the goal here is that we want to be a step better this week than we were last week, and I think we are."
MSU OPEN QUICK FACTS
DATE: Sunday, Nov. 15
WHERE: Jenison Field House, Michigan State University, 223 Kalamazoo St., East Lansing, MI 48824
ADMISSION: Adults - $15; High school and under - $5; 8 years old and under - free
DIVISIONS:
Freshman/Sophomore Division - open to wrestlers with-in two years of high school.
Open Division - open to all college wrestlers and any post high school graduates.
Both divisions are limited to a maximum of 250 wrestlers.
High school wrestlers are not eligible to compete.
WEIGHTS: NCAA weights: 125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 165, 174, 184, 197, 285
LIVE SCORING: TrackWrestling.com
WEIGH-IN: Weigh-ins will be held at Jenison Field House at 7 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15. Wrestlers must make scratch weight.
SCHEDULE:
6:30 a.m. - 7:00 a.m.: Registration
7:00 a.m. - 7:15 a.m.: Skin check and weigh-in
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.: Preliminary matches
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.: Finals and medal matches (time approx.)
Both divisions will run simultaneously on the same schedule.
FORMAT: The tournament will be a double elimination event. No team scores will be kept. Wrestle to six places on 10 to 12 mats.
RULES: NCAA rules will be followed.
CHECK-IN: Coaches should pick up their team packets at registration. Packets will contain passes for coaches, wrestlers, and trainers.
THIS YEAR'S ENTRIES: Appalachian State, Ashland, Bucknell, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Davenport, Eastern Michigan, Edinboro, Findlay, Grand Valley State, Harper College, Indiana, Indiana Tech, Jamestown Community College, Kent State, Lindsey Wilson College, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Navy, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame College (OH), Ohio University, Ohio State, Olivet College, Purdue, Tiffin University, West Virginia, Wisconsin