Hipps Toss: Weekly College Recap Features Midseason Awards
1/4/2005 2:40:00 PM
2004 Midseason Awards Doled Out
By Andrew Hipps – Staff Writer
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Midseason Awards
Now that we have reached the midpoint of the collegiate season, I will hand out my midseason awards.
Division I Coach of the Year: Tom Ryan, Hofstra
Ryan, in his tenth year at Hofstra, has done an outstanding job this season guiding the 11th ranked Pride. Hofstra dropped their first dual of the season to Nebraska, but rebounded and shocked the college wrestling world by toppling then second-ranked Lehigh, 23-10, on November 28th. The Pride also finished third place at the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Hoftsta has won nine of its last 11 dual matches dating back to last season.
Division II Coach of the Year: Ray Kowatch, Ashland
Kowatch has guided fifth ranked Ashland to a 2-0 start this season while outscoring the opposition 81-6. One of those wins was a 33-3 thumping over eighth ranked Mercyhurst on December 17th. At the eighth annual Simonson Invitational, Ashland advanced a wrestler to the finals in all 10 weight classes and claimed eight titles while piling up 230.5 points. They dominated a six team field that included two other nationally-ranked teams in addition to the Eagles.
Division III Coach of the Year: Steve Marianetti, Elmhurst
Marianetti, a third year head coach and former NCAA Champion for Illinois, is quickly turning Elmhurst into a Division III national power. After finishing 24th in the country last season, the Blue Jays are off to a 9-3 start and ranked 13th this season. They dropped their first dual of the season to Wabash on November 12th, but have since outscored their opponents 302-127 with their only other losses coming to second-ranked Wartburg, 26-13, and fifth-ranked Wisconsin-LaCrosse, 32-11.
NAIA Coach of the Year: Franky James, Campbellsville
James has guided first year wrestling program Campbellsville to 3-0 start this season. Most recently, the Tigers defeated eighth ranked Cumberland, 30-16, on December 9th. Prior to coming to Campbellsville, James coached at Virginia Military Institute and the University of Tennessee where he was the 2002 Southern Conference Coach of the Year.
Junior College Coach of the Year: Pat Whitcomb, North Idaho
Whitcomb, who has twice been named National Coach of the Year, has his top-ranked North Idaho squad off to a 9-0 start this season. The Cardinals, who finished fourth in Division I at the 2004 NJCAA Tournament, have completely dominated their competition this season. In fact, the most points they have surrendered in a dual this season is 10, which came in a 17 point victory over Southwestern Oregon.
Freshman of the Year: Andrew Hochstrasser, Boise State
Hochstrasser, a 125 pound true freshman from Tooele, Utah, is 21-3 this season and ranked fifth in the country. He won tournament titles at the Southern Oregon Open and Reno Tournament of Champions, placed second at the Cowboy Open, and fourth at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Last week, he petitioned into the Midlands and reached the semifinals, but failed to make weight on the second day and was forced to withdraw from competition.
Division I Wrestler of the Year: Matt Gentry, Stanford
Gentry, who claimed the 2004 NCAA Champion at 157, has begun his season 18-0 and most recently claimed a Midlands title in the toughest weight class of the tournament. He defeated seventh ranked Trent Paulson of Iowa State, 5-1, in the semifinals. And in the finals, Gentry defeated third-ranked Alex Tirapelle of Illinois, who entered the match undefeated and as the defending Midlands champion.
Division II Wrestler of the Year: Donald Lockett, San Francisco State
Lockett is 21-4 this season wrestling at 141 for ninth ranked San Francisco State. Three of Lockett’s losses this season have come at the hands of Division I wrestlers ranked in the top eight in the country before he suffered a rare pin in a loss to Juan Mora of Cal State Fullerton last night. He has competed in two of the two most prestigious college tournaments in the country, the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and Midlands Tournament, placing fifth and third respectively.
Division III Wrestler of the Year: Marcus LeVesseur, Augsburg
LeVesseur, a junior 157-pounder, is 11-0 this season and 95-0 in his career at Augsburg. LeVesseur has won by pin or technical fall in eight of his 11 matches this season. His closest match was a 12-6 decision over Mathias Bitz of Minnesota State-Mankato at the Saint Cloud State Invitational.
NAIA Wrestler of the Year: Stryder Davis, Montana State-Northern
Davis, the defending NAIA national champion at 157, is 18-1 this season and has beaten several of the top wrestlers in the country this season. His most impressive performance, though, came at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational – where he placed second in a weight class that included nine of the top 20 Division I wrestlers at 157. Davis, who was unseeded, reeled off four straight wins before losing in the finals to 2003 NCAA Champion Ryan Bertin of Michigan, 9-0.
Junior College Wrestler of the Year: Damian Swietlik, Ellsworth
Swietlik, a sophomore 149-pounder, originally from Sicienko, Poland, is 13-1 this season and has claimed tournament titles at the Auggie Open and Harold Nichols Open. Swietlik placed fourth in the 2004 NJCAA Tournament. He is also an Academic All-American with a 3.75 G.P.A.
Two Former Top Recruits Changing Schools
Willie Parks and Todd Meneely, both former top recruits, will be entering new environments next season.
Parks, a 2001 graduate of Calvary Chapel High School in California and the 2002 NJCAA Champion at 184 for Iowa Central, recently left Iowa State and will be enrolling at Dana this semester. Since leaving Iowa Central in 2003, Parks has spent time at both Iowa and Iowa State, but never appeared in a varsity collegiate match. He will compete unattached for the Vikings this semester and plans to make his varsity debut next season.
Meneely, who was enrolled at Iowa from 2002-2003 and most recently at Nebraska-Omaha, has decided to enroll at Nebraska this semester. Meneely hails from Omaha and was one of the prized recruits from the class of 2002 after finishing his prep career with a 145-3 record and four state titles. He also won Junior Nationals in both Greco-Roman and freestyle the summer of 2002. Meneely spent a year and a half in Iowa City, redshirting one season and wrestling as the starter for half of the 2003-04 season. He will begin taking classes at Nebraska in this month and will have two years of college eligibility left. According to NCAA rules, Meneely will not be eligible at Nebraska until January of 2006.
Moos moving up to 133
Mark Moos of Michigan, who was 11-0 this season at 125, has decided to move up to 133 for the rest of the season.
Moos claimed the 125 pound title at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and was ranked fourth in the nation by The Wrestling Mall. He made his debut at 133 on Sunday in a dual against Central Michigan and lost to Jason Borrelli of Central Michigan, 10-8.
With Moos moving up to 133, it will help strengthen a weight class that has already lost two wrestlers that were expected to challenge for national titles this season, Darrell Vasquez and Chris Fleeger. Vasquez, from Cal Poly, has withdrawn from school while battling a sickness. Fleeger, a two-time All-American at Purdue, has been ruled academically ineligible for the spring semester and will not compete with the wrestling squad.
Nebraska Starts Tough Week with Dual Against Minnesota
Nebraska, ranked fourth in the country by The Wrestling Mall, began a tough four-dual week with a 21-12 win over Minnesota this afternoon.
The Gophers, who narrowly defeated Nebraska 17-16, last season, will be the first of four straight ranked opponents for the Huskers in the week. After the dual with Minnesota, Nebraska travels to the Lone Star Duals in Grand Prairie, Texas. There, the Huskers will take on their greatest test in the first of three duals on Saturday, January 8th, as they take on Michigan, Navy and Wisconsin.
Minnesota Wins Southern Scuffle
With the aid of four individual titles, the Golden Gopher wrestling team captured first place at the second annual Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, North Carolina. Minnesota finished with 169 points, while Cornell placed second with 161.5. The Golden Gophers won four of their six championship matches, while the Big Red managed just two titles out of seven championship matches.
Earning tournament titles for Minnesota were Bobbe Lowe at 125, Matt Nagel at 165, Roger Kish at 184, and Cole Konrad at HWT. Redshirt freshman C.P. Schlatter advanced to the finals at 149 pounds in his first action of the season, but he was defeated by second-ranked Dustin Manotti of Cornell in the championship match by the score of 10-2. Fellow freshman Gabriel Dretsch placed second at 174 pounds after dropping an 8-2 decision against Cornell,¹s Joe Mazzurco.
Illinois Repeats as Midlands Champion
Illinois, ranked sixth in the country by The Wrestling Mall, defended the school’s first-ever Midlands title a year ago with a convincing team win, finishing ahead of seventh-ranked Iowa and third-ranked Iowa State at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Illinois used a championship win by 133-pounder Mark Jayne to clinch the title. Jayne was one of nine Illinois to place at the tournament out of 10 weight classes.
Kauffman Named Iowa Conference Wrestler of the Week
Wartburg College junior Scott Kauffman went 4-0 at the Desert Duals on December 20th, two victories over ranked opponents and two pins. He won by decision over Elmhurst’s Matt Sassolino, 7-2, and North Central’s Ryan Aldrich, 8-5. Sassolino is the top ranked wrestler at 184 pounds and Aldrich is ranked sixth. Kauffman pinned McDaniel’s Steve Jennings at 6:04 and, wrestling at 197-pounds, he pinned Menlo’s Mariano Sanchez at 4:14. Kauffman helped the second ranked Knights improve their dual meet win streak to 25 with victories over Elmhurst (26-13), North Central (31-13), McDaniel (38-9) and Menlo (35-6).
Top Recruits Battle in Finals of Medina Invitational
Dustin Schlatter and Brent Metcalf, who are considered to be the consensus top two recruits in the country, battled in an epic showdown in the finals of the Medina (Ohio) Invitational last Wednesday. Schlatter, who signed with Minnesota and hails from Perry, Ohio, entered the match with a season record of 21-0. He has won a combined six Junior and Cadet National Freestyle and Greco-Roman titles. Metcalf, a Davison, Michigan native and Virginia Tech recruit, entered the match with a season record of 17-0 and 186-0 for his career. Both are three-time state champions.
Schlatter converted a takedown in the first period and held a 3-1 lead through two periods. In the third period Metcalf battled back and scored on an escape and stalling call to tie the score at three. And it stayed that way through regulation, sending the match into overtime. After an uneventful overtime period where neither wrestler attempted much, the match was sent into double overtime. Since Schlatter scored the first (and only) takedown of the match, he was given choice, and opted to start the double overtime period in the down position. But Metcalf used his strength and tough mat skills to ride Schlatter out and earn the victory.
These two could see each other again at the Senior Nationals, which takes place on May 29-April 1 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Andrew Hipps also receives feedback on his articles at [email protected]
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