Buckeyes and Notre Dame to Battle on November 4 at Maple Heights

Wrestling junkies looking for an early season fix should plan to head to Maple Heights High School on Sunday, November 4, at 2:00 p.m., to watch the Ohio State Buckeyes battle the Falcons of Notre Dame College. It’s a great opportunity to see some spectacular wrestlers in action including Ohio State’s four returning All-Americans: J Jaggers, Lance Palmer, Mike Pucillo and J.D. Bergman. The eighth-ranked Buckeyes also feature several other terrific wrestlers including Alex Picazo, T.J. Enright, Reece Humphrey, and Jason Johnstone. In addition, several members of their fabulous freshman class — Nikko Triggas, Sean Nemec, John Weakley — might also take the mat. The Bucks’ trip north is a rare opportunity for fans from northeastern Ohio to get a look at one of the fastest rising powers in the division one collegiate ranks. It’s also a chance to see the Ohio State coaching staff up-close, including recent freestyle world championship placewinners, Tom Rowlands and Joe Heskett.

Don’t Count Out NDC

Normally, a second year program versus a solid Big Ten squad might not seem to be a competitive event, but Frank Romano’s team has been sprinting forward since he was hired in April of 2006. Their first season saw them finish 10-6, qualify three wrestlers for nationals, and crown their first All-American, heavyweight Nick Terifaj. Also consider that NDC has a large number of former Ohio high school stars in their lineup. Tyler Savage, Dante Rini, Brett Freeman, Nate Spencer, Jason Spencer, Mike Mahon, Kenny Sanger, Chris Tripp and Justin Tripp are just some of the talented wrestlers competing for NDC. In addition, former Cleveland State standout Victer Crenshaw is now a member of the Falcons squad. Early season dual meets are unpredictable. Expect the unexpected.

Location

Maple Heights High School is located at 5500 Clement Avenue, Maple Heights, 44137.
Driving directions can be found on Mapquest.

How The Coaches View This Match

Tom Ryan: “One of the core objectives of this staff is to serve the Ohio wrestling community. What better way to do that than wrestle another Ohio school in a part of the state that is rich in tradition?” Ryan also mentioned that Frank Romano is a former Buckeye wrestling captain and a friend of the Ohio State program.

Frank Romano: “I see this match as great exposure of Ohio wrestling.” Romano added, “We want to represent ourselves well and help provide a good event for the state.”

Sponseller To Miss A Month

Colt Sponseller, one of Ohio State’s prize recruits and their likely starter at 165 pounds, will not participate in this dual meet. He suffered an injury and is being held out as a precaution. Expect his return by late November.

A Bigger Bergman

Many wrestling fans are aware that Ohio State’s two-time All-American, J.D. Bergman, has moved up to 285 pounds for his senior season after three years spent competing at 197 pounds. The question: “why?” I posed that very question to Buckeye head coach Tom Ryan, via email. This was his response: “He (J.D.) has had a difficult time making weight in the past and he and the staff felt it was in his best interest to wrestle 285 this year. Strategically, J.D. will have to adjust to being the smaller guy on the mat.” But can a guy that was a national title contender at a smaller weight class move up 88 pounds and still win? Coach Ryan thinks so. He points out that Bergman recently weighed out after practice at a healthy 238 pounds. While J.D. may not be large for his weight class, he is most definitely a big man. Incidentally, if Bergman, coming into the season ranked fourth in the nation, is to win a title, he will have to go through another former Ohio standout, #1 ranked Dustin Fox.

Golden Flashes Strike Gold Via Alum

The biggest news for Kent State wrestling does not involve the stellar class of new recruits like Brendan Barlow or Dustin Kilgore, but it does involve a former wrestler. Bruno Santone died on October 12, 2007 in San Francisco at the age of 91. During his time at Kent State, he was a member of the Golden Flash wrestling squad. It was his belief that the discipline of wrestling assisted him as a student and taught him how to be successful. As a result, he was grateful to Kent State wrestling throughout his life. How grateful? He bequeathed the program one million dollars upon his death.

As one might imagine, this large sum of money attracted some attention. Prior to his demise, Mr. Santone contacted Kent State to let them know of his planned donation to the wrestling program. The university felt the money would better serve other uses. At first, a school representative tried to convince him to leave the cash to the general fund campaign. Santone declined. Next, he was contacted by the athletic department, which tried to persuade Mr. Santone to donate the sum to all Kent State sports. Nope. Bruno Santone insisted that the only organization at Kent State that would receive the sum was the wrestling program. In addition to this extraordinary endowment, Kent State will be building a new wrestling room and offices as part of a renovation at the main athletic facility. This project is expected to finish by fall of 2009. So, in two years, Kent State wrestling will have a beautiful practice facility and one million dollars in the bank. Could chartered limousines to away matches be part of their future as well?

Deserving Good Fortune

When Jim Andrassy took over Kent State wrestling in 2003, he felt that success would not be attainable until he changed the culture of the program. He insisted that his wrestlers take a more serious approach to how they practiced and their responsibilities as student-athletes. His way was hard, and by the end of his first season there were only a dozen wrestlers left. But his plan worked. The wrestlers that remained had accepted his philosophy and since that time Kent State wrestling has flourished. Coach Andrassy has been able to hire better coaches and attract better recruits. His program is 6-0 over the last two seasons against Ohio’s other division one schools. Kent State wrestling has earned consecutive top 25 rankings nationally. Academically, last season’s squad ranked 26th in the country with a 2.8 grade point average. Kent State’s athletic department, impressed by Andrassy’s success, has committed to improving their workout facilities. Now, on top of everything else, Kent State wrestling has received an extraordinary financial gift. Not long ago, it seemed possible that the hiring of Jim Andrassy - an assistant in the previous administration - signaled a weakness in the university’s commitment to the program. Some thought he was being set up for failure so the school could cut the squad. Now, Kent State wrestling has to be considered among the most secure programs in the nation. It’s a great turnaround, and Jim Andrassy has been at its forefront.

Expectations Are High For The Season

While a certain would-be journalist thought that this might be a rebuilding year for Kent State wrestling, Coach Andrassy disagreed. “This is the most talent that we have ever had in our room,” he wrote. While he conceded that there were a few weights where inexperience might show, he expressed confidence that the squad as a whole would be competitive. One weight class of interest is 125 pounds, where Kent State has two freshmen - 3x Pennsylvania state placer, Nic Bedelyon, and Ohio state champ, Brian Dean. Coach Andrassy plans to use both of them. “It would be naïve of me to think that either of these guys could make it through an entire season without getting injured, losing focus, or burning out [if the responsibility is placed on only one]… we will wrestle both of them during the first part of the season.” In addition, Kent State returns three national qualifiers: Dan Mitcheff at 133 pounds, Kurt Gross at 157 pounds and Jermail Porter at 285 pounds. Other experienced hands for the Golden Flashes include Drew Lashaway at 141 pounds and Eric Chine at 184 pounds. In addition, Kent State picked up a solid transfer from North Carolina State, Obie Simpson. Simpson, a two year starter, beat two nationally ranked wrestlers last season. He will not be eligible for competiton until the second semester, but will wrestle at 165 pounds. 149 pounds will be a battle between two redshirt freshmen, Jake Kyle and Pat Lanham, as well as the veteran Clint Sponseller. This leaves 174 pounds in the hands of Chris Estep while 197 pounds will be manned by former Beachwood star, Mike Blackwell.

So, Where’s Dustin?

Rumors have swirled that Dustin Kilgore, the marvelous freshman upperweight prospect, is not eligible to compete this season. Those rumors are untrue. Kilgore is eligible and practicing with the squad, however, the plan is for him to redshirt this season.

Blue v. Gold

The program’s annual intrasquad match will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 3. It will be held at the Kent State Field House. The address is: 2213 Summit Street, Kent, Ohio, 44240.

Final Notes

The purpose of the Ohio Collegiate Wrestling Notebook is to publicize the college programs and wrestlers in this state. D1, D2, D3, NAIA, NCWA - it doesn’t matter. I’m interested in bringing attention to Ohio collegiate wrestling. If you are a college coach, wrestler, parent, or fan and have something newsworthy to report (and almost anything qualifies in my opinion), please bring it to my attention via email. My address is: hkornblut@ohiowrestling.net