EVANSTON, Ill. — NCAA champion and three-time All-American Jake Herbert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) has been named BigElevenWrestling.net Wrestler of the Year. Herbert shares this year’s honor with Minnesota’s two-time national champion Cole Konrad.
Herbert won his first career title and Northwestern’s first individual title since 1990 — and its seventh in program history — as the ‘Cats tied a program-best with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Herbert wrestled a dominating final match, downing Iowa State’s Jake Varner by 6-1 decision.
He is Northwestern’s first individual champion since Jack Griffin won his crown in 1990. The fourth-place finish matches NU’s finishes in 1932 and 1990 for the highest ever in program history.
Herbert came out like a man with a plan in his 184-pound championship match, scoring a takedown over Iowa State’s Varner a little less than one minute into the opening frame. He rode Varner for the rest of the period.
The Wildcat started in the down position for the second and he escaped quickly to extend his lead to 3-0. He added another takedown in the second and Varner received a point when Herbert pushed him out of bounds near the end of the period.
No more points were scored in the third and the riding time advantage gave Herbert the 6-1 decision.
The junior won his four matches leading up to the finals by major decision. He downed fourth-seeded Tyrel Todd of Michigan, 13-4, in the semifinals.
Herbert ended the year a perfect 32-0 with nine falls, 10 major decisions and four victories by technical fall.
Northwestern earned four All-America honors for the first time since 1990 as Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward) placed second at 141 lbs., Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) finished third at heavyweight and Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick) finished seventh at 197 lbs.
After completion of the season, two wrestlers clearly stand out above the crowd in the Big 10 conference, as Jake Herbert of Northwestern and Cole Konrad of Minnesota are co-winners of this seasons Wrestler of the Year award. These two wrestlers compiled two dominating seasons that ended this past Saturday on the top step of the All-American podium at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Let’s take an in-depth look at the resumes of these two outstanding wrestlers.
Jake Herbert, the redshirt junior out of Wexford, PA tore through his opposition all season, completing the year with a 32-0 record and his 1st national title after prior NCAA finishes of 2nd and 3rd. The national title was the school’s 1st since 1990 when Jack Griffin took home championship hardware. Recapping Herbert’s NCAA run, his 1st round opponent was Arizona State’s Greg Gifford and Jake would proceed to roll to an 11-3 major decision and then followed that bout in the 2nd round with another major decision, this time 16-6 over Navy’s Antonio Miranda. In the quarter-finals, Jake would take care of the #9-seed in Central Michigan’s Christian Sinnott 11-1 and then head into the finals with his 4th consecutive major decision in the semi-finals, 13-4 over Michigan’s Tyrel Todd. Another dominating performance in the finals as Jake staked his claim to the championship in a 6-1 win over Iowa State’s Jake Varner. In the final Herbert would establish himself early with an immediate takedown and 1st period ride-out, and then complete his scoring with a 2nd period escape and takedown with his final point in the bout coming via a riding time advantage.
The win in the finals was also huge for Herbert’s teammates as the 4 additional team points earned would vault Northwestern to 4th place overall in the team standings, passing Oklahoma State. The 4th place team finish ties the schools highest ever finish, matching the tournament results of the 1932 and 1990 Wildcats. During the season, Jake earned titles at the Eastern Michigan Open and the Big Ten Championships and was 19-0 in dual meet competition. Also of note is that in 26 of Herbert’s 32 wins he recorded bonus points for his team, including 9 wins by fall and 4 wins by technical fall. His overall career record now stands at 101-4, a 96.2 winning percentage, and is Northwestern’s current all time winning percentage leader over Don Evans, who won bouts at a 89.6% clip in his career.
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