Minnesota wrestler Manuel River peels back freshman wrestler Micah Carter during a meet on Friday at Jenison Field House. Carter was later pineed by River that gave Minnesota a solid victory over MSU with an overall score of 23-15.
It was two different dual meets but two very similar endings for the MSU wrestling team this weekend.
After falling to No. 4 Minnesota 23-15 in the last match Friday night, the Spartans looked to even up their Big Ten record Sunday at Jenison Field House.
Heading into the afternoon’s final match, at the 141 pound division, MSU was leading Purdue 16-15 as freshman Micah Carter took to the mat against Purdue’s Matt Redmond.
Carter controlled the opening period, landing two takedowns to hold a 4-2 advantage heading into the second.
After a scoreless middle period, Redmond put together two takedowns and a near fall to win 9-4 and give the Boilermakers an 18-16 win.
“All of the really close matches, the tough matches we seem to lose,” MSU head coach Tom Minkel said of his Spartans, which have lost four matches by two or fewer points. “Part of it’s experience, like Micah’s new in the lineup and he doesn’t have a lot of match experience.”
Carter gained plenty of experience in the Big Ten’s opening weekend. Before taking the mat in the deciding match Sunday against Purdue, he faced a similar situation Friday night against the Golden Gophers.
With the Spartans trailing Minnesota 17-15, Carter was going up against Minnesota’s Manuel Rivera, ranked No. 4 nationally at 141 pounds.
Leading Carter 5-3 in the second period, Rivera scored on two takedowns and pinned him down with 56 seconds remaining to seal the win for the reigning national champions.
“If you haven’t faced that much, it’s hard to deal with,” Minkel said of the pressure of wrestling when the meet is on the line. “I’m sure the next time it happens he’ll be stronger and better because he’s been tested. The first time it all falls on you it’s hard, and it happened twice (this) weekend.”
While both meets ended on a sour note for the Spartans, Minkel said there were some positives taken from this weekend.
“Well, you know Minnesota is the defending national champions, they’re ranked fourth in the country — they’re a hell of a program. And we won five of the 10 matches,” he said. “For us that’s a significant step in the progress we’re trying to make.”
No. 15 senior Joe Williams and No. 5 sophomore Franklin Gomez were the only two Spartans to go 2-0 on the weekend, while freshman Joel Trombly, junior Eddie Skowneski, freshman John Fulger and sophomore Nick Palmieri went 1-1.
In the weekend’s most anticipated match, Gomez defeated Minnesota’s Mack Reiter, ranked No. 2 at 133 pounds, by the score of 7-4.
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