I have to start with a mea culpa. I was under the impression that during my trip to New York to ring in 2010 with my family, I would have internet access and a working computer. Alas neither was the case, and I was stuck waiting to post of all of my notes from Terrapin wrestling program’s trip to Evanston, Ill. to compete in the Midlands Championships. The tournament took place on Northwestern’s campus on Dec. 29 and 30, so this is late, hence the apology.
Now onward with wrestling.
This tournament is considered one of the toughest tournaments in the country, and annually attracts some of the top teams in the country. This year was no exception as four top 10 teams were represented in Evanston, including No. 1 Iowa, No. 2 Iowa State, No. 6 Central Michigan, and of course the No. 7 Terps. The rest of the field was dotted with talented programs as well.
Quick note about the tournament set-up. It was an individual tournament, or each weight class has its own tournament, yet wrestlers were also scoring points for their team. It was also an open tournament, which meant that although many programs competed as a team, any wrestler was allowed to compete, including high-school and post-graduate wrestlers as well.
This year the Terps finished sixth, which is better than their ninth-place finish last season, and is particularly impressive considering only eight of their wrestlers competed. Coach Kerry McCoy had originally planned to have all ten starters at his disposal this weekend, and none of the rest of the squad even traveled.
But 174-pounder Mike Letts, who finished third at the tournament the year before as a red-shirt, had a skin condition that tournament officials refused to clear, and heavyweight Pat Gilmore became sick at 11:00 p.m. on the eve of the tournament. Thus, two of the team’s better wrestlers were out of commission.
With those two guys out you are talking about a 15-20 point loss at least,” McCoy said after his team finished 16 points behind Wisconsin for fifth. “That combined with a few breaks that didn’t go our way and a few things we know we can do better, definitely makes us think about what could have been. But this is our best finish in the tournament ever and the first time we have ever had an individual champion, so its still a big weekend for our program.”
Krom rebounds with a title
The individual champ McCoy spoke of was 141-pounder Alex Krom, who has struggled early in the season with two losses already, but dominated the competition in his weight class going 5-0 with three pins, one major decision and a 9-2 decision victory over the No. 1 seed from Illinois. Krom had started the season in the Top 5 at 141 pounds, but fell all the way down to No. 9 with losses to Cornell freshman Kyle Dake, and Northern Colorado’s funky-styled Kenny Hashimoto. But McCoy said he wasn’t even remotely worried, remembering that one of his fifth-year senior leaders slumped early last season before going on a tear after the break.
“We never lost faith in him,” McCoy said. “He is one our studs, it was just a matter of time before he got going. We know what he is capable of doing when he steps on the mat but it was still great to see him get out there and perform.”
Krom’s road to the title included two ranked wrestlers, albeit lower ranked ones, and the No. 1 seed Jimmy Kennedy, an All-American last year at 133 pounds who is redshirting for the Illini. But what was most impressive was the manner in which he won. Typically a guy who doesn’t go for pins and prefers to wrestle his opponent into submission, Krom pinned No. 19 Trevor Melde of Rutgers in the quarterfinals, and No. 16 Ryan Prater of Illinois in the semi-finals before handling Kennedy.
If I were a betting man, which I am not, I would be willing to risk a lot to say that Krom is poised for a monstrous second half of the season.
Taylor wrestles and deals with tragedy
On Saturday, just two days before the start of the Midlands, Cornell wrestler Adam Frey passed away from testicular cancer. Apart from the obvious reverberations being felt around the Cornell and collegiate wrestling community, Frey was also a top national recruit coming out of Blair Academy, where his high-school roommate was Terp star Hudson Taylor. I have not had the opportunity to speak with Taylor, but McCoy speculated that the loss of a close friend probably affected the 197-pounder adversely.
Taylor finished fifth, losing in the semi-final to post-grad Wynn Michalak, a former All-American at Central Michigan, and then lost to Wisconsin’s Trevor Bandvoid, who beat him last season. He rebounded to pin Patrick Bond of Illinois to finish fifth, but for a competitor such as Taylor it is easy to deduce that the finish is not what he hoped for. Taylor was the No. 2 overall seed and many were hoping to see him square-off with No. 1 Jake Varner of Iowa State. But McCoy said Taylor clearly wasn’t wrestling up to his capabilities, and guessed that the terrible tragedy had played a role.
Frey is a story worth noting himself just for his sheer courage. Having never had the opportunity to meet the man, I will defer to a story that does a much better job than I could. But it is hard not to applaud someone who had such a promising career cut short, yet still found enough strength to coach younger wrestlers, and start his own cancer foundation. The website for his foundation can be found here.
Bell comes oh so close
The Terps were just one match away from having two champions in Evanston on Thursday. 133-pounder Steven Bell won his first four matches, although just one was against a ranked opponent, before he fell in disappointing fashion to No. 12 Tyler Graff from Wisconsin. Bell had been the favorite entering the match, but, as he has tended to do early this season, Bell got off to a slow start and quickly found himself on the mat and then on his back, and facing a quick 0-5 hole.
“What was most disappointing is that once he got aggressive he took the kid down easily,” McCoy said. “But facing that deficit he was trying to go for the pin to catch up, and sometimes when you try to do that you use some not-so strong technique. I guarantee he was upset, he hates to lose, but he will be back I am sure.”
Once that started to happen Bell quickly lost his grasp on the match and found himself on his back again. The final score was 18-5 in favor of Graff obviously. Bell pinned his first opponent, but managed just an 11-5 decision over an unranked second round opponent. Then against a lower-ranked wrestler from Oregon State, Bell had to battle hard for a 9-6 victory. Bell was another of the three-headed monster of All-Americans Coach McCoy has in his stable, and like Krom, he has struggled in the early portion of the season.
They haven’t needed him yet, but once ACC play begins, the Terps will need Bell at his best if they hope to repeat.
The Terps will resume their schedule on Jan. 9 when they travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa for the National Duals, another tournament that should feature some very difficult competition. But until then, enjoy the first few moments of 2010, and may it be better than ‘09.
Michael Lemaire is the Terrapin Wrestling beat writer. He can be reached at lemairedbk@gmail.com.