The Spartan wrestling team suffered a setback last Friday when they lost a dual meet to Cal State Bakersfield,
a meet they lost handily, 27-14.
The loss dropped the Spartans in the national rankings from 15th to 17th place.
Cal State Bakersfield made some lineup switches that helped strengthen their individual matchups. The home mat
advantage was also a factor in Bakersfield's victory, according to Spartan wrestling coach T.J. Kerr.
"They changed their lineup a bit which made the way they matched up individually a little bit more solid,"
Kerr said.
Kerr went on to say that senior John Middlestead (134) was the Spartan's strongest wrestler and freshman Don Knox
was also impressive despite a loss to a Bakersfield opponent.
"Don Knox did an excellent job," Kerr said, "but he made one mistake and it cost him the match."
Kerr said Bakersfield moved two of their wrestlers to different weight classes in order to get some kind of advantage
over the Spartans. In addition to this, the team brought Craig Noble (158) out of his redshirt year to wrestle
freshman Darryl Pope.
This was an extreme move, according to Kerr, because there are only three weeks left in the season and Noble has
used up his redshirt year by wrestling in the match. A redshirt year concerns players who sit out a year of a sport
because of injuries or grades. However, the player doesn't lose that year, having five years to play four seasons.
"I think the momentum of them being at home and a pretty good crowd gave them an advantage," Kerr said.
"otherwise it was a little bit of a closer meet than the score indicates."
Following the Bakersfield meet, the Spartans placed third in the Biola Invitational tournament at La Mirada last
Saturday.
Out of the 14 teams participating, Cal Poly_San Luis Obispo took first place while Bakersfield took second. A mere
20 points separated the Spartans from the first place SLO team and 13 points separated SJSU from the second place
finishers.
Middlestead had another excellent night, avenging an earlier dual meet loss to Chris DeLong, beating him to take
first place in his division.
The Spartan wrestlers had to overcome two bad calls by the officials during Middlestead's match, according to Kerr.
Al Perez, a 126-pounder who overcame weight problems, placed second for the Spartans during the tournament.
Heavyweight Jerry Morrison also managed to take a second place finish.
Kerr felt pretty good about the team effort overall, however there were a few problems.
"We placed a lot of people," he said, "but we had a couple of letdowns. We failed to place at 158
and 167, which hurt the team points. Basically, not placing at 158 and 167 and Andy (Tsarnas) taking third hurt.
Otherwise we would have been right in there."
Friday, Feb. 11, the Spartans face the Stanford Cardinals at SJSU.
Stanford has been relegated to a club sport previously.
"They have good wrestlers at 142, 177, and heavyweight. And there will probably be a lot of local Stanford
people watching," Kerr said.
"Coach Horpel has built up his program within the last couple of years, so it's become a pretty good rivalry,"
Kerr added. |
