Michigan State University Athletics
Javier Gasca Making First Trip to NCAA Wrestling Championships
3/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
| 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships | |
| Location | New York, N.Y. | Madison Square Garden |
| Brackets | Complete Brackets |
| Session 1 | Thursday, 12-4 p.m. ET (first round) |
| Session 2 | Thursday, 7-11 p.m. ET (second round, consolations) |
| Session 3 | Friday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET (quarterfinals and wrestlebacks) |
| Session 4 | Friday, 8-11:30 p.m. ET (wrestleback semifinals, medal rounds) |
| Session 5 | Saturday, 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET (wrestleback semifinals, medal rounds) |
| Session 6 | Saturday, 8-11 p.m. ET (finals) |
| Notes | Michigan State |
| Internet/TV Coverage | All matches available live at WatchESPN.com |
| Social Media | @wrestlingmsu  |
| Live Brackets | TrackWrestling.com |
Javier Gasca TO REPRESENT MICHIGAN STATE AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Redshirt sophomore 141-pounder Javier Gasca will be making his first appearance at the NCAA Wrestling Championships this week (Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19) at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Kingsburg, California, native automatically qualified for nationals with his sixth-place showing at the Big Ten Championships in Iowa City.
Gasca, who leads the team in wins (21), falls (7), dual wins (9) and dual points (37), will face top-seeded and Big 12 Champion Dean Heil of Oklahoma State in the first round on Thursday afternoon. This will mark the first career meeting between Gasca and Heil, who is also a sophomore and earned All-America honors in 2015 after placing fourth as a redshirt freshman. Gasca owns a 21-8 record on the season, while Heil enters the NCAA Championships with a 27-1 mark.
"Javier has made some huge strides from last year to this year," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "His growth emotionally from a wrestling maturity standpoint has really been quite remarkable. He's in every match with everybody, it doesn't matter who they are. That's huge. I don't think there's anyone he can't beat. Now, he has to wrestle well and he still has to make some improvements from the Big Tens to the NCAAs, but he understands wrestling well, he understands himself pretty well. He needs to make a little progress this week. He will be in the mix.
"He aspires to be an NCAA champion. He's not a kid that says well, down the road I'm going to be good. He plans to be good right now. He's a guy who could step up and have a great tournament and be a player right out of the gate."
Gasca began the season at 133 pounds and won the MSU Open on Nov. 15, but moved up to 141 pounds for the Michigan dual on Dec. 10 and has stayed there ever since. Gasca also split time at 133 and 141 pounds as a red-shirt freshman last year in his first season in the starting lineup, compiling a 15-8 record. He owns a 36-16 career record for the Spartans.
At the Big Ten Championships, Gasca punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships early with two victories in session one, defeating Indiana's Tommy Cash by major decision, 15-4, in the first round, and fourth-seeded Jameson Oster of Northwestern in the quarterfinals, 7-2.
Gasca fell in a hard-fought match in the semifinals, 6-5, to Penn State's Jimmy Gulibon. On day two, Gasca dropped an 11-6 decision to second-seeded Tommy Thorn of Minnesota in the consolation semifinals, and lost a narrow 3-2 decision to Danny Sabatello of Purdue in the fifth-place bout. The top-seven finishers at 141 pounds at the Big Ten Championships were guaranteed bids to the NCAA Championships.
The NCAA Championships will also mark the final tournament for Minkel, who is retiring following his 25th season leading the Spartan program.
"I don't think about it a lot, because you get into a routine, and it's the same routine I've been in for a long, long time," said Minkel. "I tend to kind of stay in that and really don't think about it. I'm just going to enjoy the NCAAs, and do all we can to get Javier to be as successful as he can. Down the road, I'll be able to look back, and I'm certainly appreciative of the opportunities I've had in coaching. But it's going to be nice to take a deep breath and look at some other things to do."
Every match of the NCAA Wrestling Championships is being streamed live on WatchESPN. Sessions 1-3 and 5 will be broadcast on ESPNU, and sessions 4 and 6 will be on ESPN.
MICHIGAN STATE: NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
• Spartan wrestlers have won 25 individual NCAA titles.
• MSU's last National Champion was Franklin Gomez, who won the 133-pound title in 2009.
• Michigan State won the 1967 National Championship and is one of just 12 Division I wrestling programs to win a national title, along with Arizona State, Cornell College, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Northern Iowa, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Penn State.
• MSU has placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships 24 times in program history.
• Coach Minkel's highest finish at the NCAA Championships was third in 1995; Minkel has placed in the top 25 at the NCAA Championships 13 times during his career at MSU.
MINKEL SET TO RETIRE FOLLOWING SEASON; CHANDLER NAMED HEAD COACH DESIGNATE
Michigan State Athletics Director Mark Hollis announced a coaching succession plan for the Spartan wrestling program on June 30, 2015. Tom Minkel, who has directed the program since 1991, will retire following his 25th season at Michigan State in 2015-16. Roger Chandler, who is in his 19th season on the Spartan wrestling staff and was promoted to associate head coach in 2011, was named head coach designate and will assume the head coaching duties following Minkel's retirement. Chandler will become the ninth coach in the history of the program, which dates back to 1886 and has generated 25 NCAA Champions, 68 Big Ten Champions, eight Big Ten Championships and one NCAA Championship.
Chandler has helped produce 10 different All-Americans and six Big Ten Champions for a total of 22 All-America selections and nine Big Ten individual titles during his time at Michigan State. He also coached three-time All-American Franklin Gomez, who won a national title in 2009 at 133 pounds. In addition, he handles a variety of administrative duties for the program. Chandler, who began his coaching career as an assistant at MSU in 1997, was promoted to associate head coach in 2011.
FURTHER LOOK AT Tom Minkel'S CAREER
• During his tenure, Tom Minkel has produced 38 All-Americans, 13 Big Ten Champions and two NCAA Champions. His direction has also led to team success as his squads have placed in the Top 25 at the NCAA Championships 13 times.
• Minkel will retire as the second-longest tenured coach in program history (Fendley Collins, 32 seasons from 1930-62) and also with the second-most wins (currently with 173) at MSU (Grady Peninger, 213). Minkel's student-athletes have also shined in the classroom, as his teams have earned National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic Team honors 11 times.
• Minkel led the Spartans to a third-place finish at the 1995 NCAA Championships, the highest place of any MSU team since 1972, and Kelvin Jackson claimed the 118-pound title, the first Spartan to win a national title in 21 years. The following year, Minkel guided MSU to a seventh-place NCAA finish. The back-to-back top eight finishes at the NCAA Championships hadn't been accomplished at Michigan State since the 1971-72 seasons, when the Spartans placed in the top five for six consecutive years. Minkel coached his second National Champion in 2009 as Franklin Gomez, a three-time All-American, won the 133-pound title.
• Minkel's resume is one of the most impressive in the country, highlighted by numerous international coaching experiences. After serving as head coach for two U.S. World Teams (1989 Switzerland, 1991 Bulgaria), two U.S. National Teams (1986 Cuba, 1989 Cuba) and one U.S. Pan-American team (1991 Cuba), Minkel was named the Greco-Roman head coach for the U.S. Team at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. He also was a Greco-Roman assistant coach for Team USA at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was a staff member at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Overall, Minkel's travels have taken him to more than 40 countries and have cemented his reputation as one of the top coaches in the sport.
• For all of Minkel's coaching credentials, his career as a wrestler is just as impressive. His vast knowledge of the sport stems from his own career as a world-class wrestler. Minkel, a four-time U.S. National Greco-Roman Champion at 149 pounds, was a member of the 1980 Olympic Team and wrestled for seven U.S. teams that competed internationally.
• Minkel arrived at Michigan State in 1991 from his alma mater, where he was the head coach for two seasons and served as an assistant coach for 12 years (1977-89).
• In addition to his coaching duties, Minkel has been on several wrestling committees. He was the second vice president for USA Wrestling from 1984-86 and the group's president from 1986-90. Minkel was also an athlete's representative to the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1984-86. He recently completed a four-year appointment on the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee (2011-15).
• As a collegiate wrestler at Central Michigan, Minkel was a three-time All-American -- twice in Division II and once in Division I -- and is the only wrestler in school history to go through an entire career undefeated in dual meets (35-0-1). He was the conference champion in 1969 and 1970, and earned the conference's Outstanding Wrestler Award in 1970. His overall career mark was 73-13-1, and his accomplishments landed him in Central Michigan's Hall of Fame in 1985. Minkel was also a Michigan High School State Champion at Williamston High School in 1967.
