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SJSU Wrestling Archives The Spartan Daily 3-7-84 |
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Tsarnas Ready For NCAA Championships |
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by Joe Roderick |
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| Last year at this time, the Spartans' 190-pounder Andy Tsarnas worked and worked some more, sweated and sweated
a little more in preparation for the NCAA wrestling championships. For two weeks leading up to the nationals, Tsarnas did everything in his power to get ready. He lifted weights, he ran after practice, and he wrestled any chance he could. With a 36-12-1 record last year, he thought he was ready to fend off wrestler after wrestler at the nationals. But when he stepped on the mat in the opening round of the NCAAs against the University of Carolina's Bob Snyder, there was something missing. He forgot, unintentionally perhaps, to work on his head game. Physically, he was lean and mean. Mentally, he was fat and lazy. Thus, Snyder pounded Tsarnas for seven minutes. He made mincemeat out of him. "He got beat up," Spartan coach T.J. Kerr said. "The guy took it to him. He got in his face. He wasn't ready." "I didn't plan on losing to him," Tsarnas said with a hint of bitter vindictiveness in his voice. "I wasn't ready for it." Ready or not, it's time again for the NCAAs, which start Thursday and run through Saturday at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. This year, Tsarnas worked just as hard. There have been no changes in his physical preparation. But he's giving his mind a constant workout this time around. "I feel ready for the nationals," Tsarnas said. "I know what i want out of it. I'm more motivated this year." Tsarnas is in the best shape of his life. Mentally, well, we'll find out after the first round. "We were talking about the same things last year," Kerr said. "It was the same Andy last year. He had the same successful season. He's just got to go out and do it this time." The NCAAs are a survival test. Each weight class consists of 32 of the hungriest bunch of tigers in the nation. Nobody has eked in on a fluke. Everybody thinks they belong there. "You can't go back there and overlook anybody," Kerr said. "I've seen too manu upsets before. If you're not careful, you can get beat by some Division III wrestler from never-never land. It's just who's on a roll for three days." If Tsarnas can get by the unknown wrestlers out of nowhereville, then the known wrestlers from bigtimeville will be waiting to ambush him. It's likely Tsarnas, ranked sixth in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News, will be seeded fifth or sixth. Nebraska's Bill Scheer, Iowa's Pete Bush, Oregon State's Jim Baumgartner, and Oklahoma State's Carl Lynes will be seeded ahead of Tsarnas, now 36-4 this year. Of those four losses, three came against Baumgartner, Scheer, and Lynes, all by two points. All four wrestlers are rock-hard bulldogs, "the kind of physical wrestler that keeps coming back and coming back. The brawler type," Kerr said. So it's kill or be killed for Tsarnas. "It's dangerous out there," Kerr said. Tsarnas would love to wipe away the memory of the 1983 NCAA experience. "If i really wrestle good, i could finish in the top four," he said. "The ultimate satisfaction would be to win the damn thing. But finishing in the top four would be nice. Placing (finishing in the top eight) would be OK." But Tsarnas isn't going to carve those predictions in granite. He knows anything could happen. "It's all been worthwhile," he said. "If i don't place, i won't say this has all been a waste of time. These have been the best four years of my life." During those four years, Tsarnas has compiled a 128-43-1 record. He recently moved into second place ahead of Dean Prescott (127) wins on the Spartans' all-time career wins list behind Eddie Baza (134) wins, an All-American two years ago. Tsarnas would meed six wins at the nationals to tie Baza, an unlikely achievement. If Tsarnas were to reel off five straight win, he would remain one shy of Baza. He wouldn't have the record, but he would have the gold medal at 190. |
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