|
Wrestlers Pinned In NCAA Tourney
|
| |
|
by Mike McGuire
|
| |
| The Spartan wrestling team journey to Oklahoma City Thursday to participate in the NCAA wrestling tournament at
the Marriott Hotel. |
| |
| Out of the 120 teams participating, the Spartans were only able to finish 41st or 42nd. Final NCAA results were
not available at press time. |
| |
| "We didn't do well at all," said coach T.J. Kerr. "It was very disappointing...we should have done
better." |
| |
| Out of the six wrestlers that raveled to the NCAAs, the best finish was John Middlestead who wrestled through the
consolation bracket, where he was eliminated. Placings were not available past eighth place. |
| |
| Middlestead, 38-8 for the season, lost his first round match, but then struggled back and made it to the semi-final
match against Kris Whelan (Missouri), the number one seed. |
| |
| "John was leading 3-0 with 15 seconds in the match against the number one seed, and John had him on the ropes.
Then all of a sudden, Whelan reversed John onto his back and held on until the match was over," said Kerr. |
| |
| Whelan received four points for reversing Middlestead, insuring a 4-3 victory. |
| |
| "I know how much effort he put into this," Kerr said of Middlestead. "He put five real strong years
in, 150 percent of his ability went into his matches...when you work that hard and fall short, it's crushing." |
| |
| "He needs to be proud of himself because he put the effort out," Kerr added. |
| |
| Kerr said that the team should have done better considering that they won the conference and sent six wrestlers
to the championships. |
| |
| "I was embarrassed for the conference," Kerr said, "and i was embarrassed for SJSU because we had
six guys and we didn't produce an All-American. There's no reason we shouldn't be in the top 20 every year." |
| |
| Kerr also reserved praise for Al Perez, 126, who was making his first trip to the NCAAs. Perez, 16-2 for the season,
lost his first match 3-7 to Scott Barrett from Boise State. |
| |
| "Al did a good job," Kerr said. "He wrestled one tough kid and it was just a matter of being in
the wrong place at the wrong time. He just didn't get off the ground, but he wrestled well." |
| |
| Kerr said that Perez and the others can wrestle better and that now it is just a matter of working on their weaknesses.
Kerr said that going back to the NCAAs will provide good experience for Perez. |
| |
| "He definitely has the capability to be an All-American," Kerr said. |
| |
|
Click here for .pdf
|
