Gomez grapples way to 3rd place finish in NCAA tourney

It was the No. 1 seed against the No. 2 seed, but instead of MSU sophomore wrestler Franklin Gomez and Illinois’ Jimmy Kennedy battling for the 133-pound national championship, they squared off in the third-place match at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis.

Gomez defeated Kennedy for the second time this season, this time by a 7-2 decision, to finish third nationally in the 133-pound weight class.

“I’m happy, I’ll take it,” Gomez said after defeating Kennedy. “Obviously I wanted to be in the finals and wrestle for first place but it didn’t happen.”

Gomez got on the board first in the second period, escaping from Kennedy’s grasp and getting a quick takedown to build a 3-0 lead heading into the final round. After Kennedy escaped Gomez’s hold to start the third, Gomez got him back under his control to take a 5-1 lead. Kennedy escaped one more time, but Gomez snatched him back to take a 7-2 lead which eventually stood.

“I think you can’t diminish the accomplishment of a third place as a sophomore at the NCAA Championships,” head coach Tom Minkel said. “All 330 wrestlers come here to win and only ten are national champions — it’s a really significant accomplishment in his sophomore year to finish third.”

Gomez, who ends the season 33-2 overall, is the second straight MSU wrestler to finish third in the 133-pound weight class, following Nick Simmons, who finished third in last year’s NCAA Championships. After getting through the first three rounds of NCAA Championships, Gomez faced off against Iowa’s Joey Slaton — the only wrestler who had beaten him this season — in Friday night’s semifinals.

After a scoreless first period against Slaton, Gomez began the second in the down position and took a one-point lead on an escape. The advantage stood until Slaton tied up the match 1-1 with an escape of his own at the beginning of the third period and the match went into overtime.

In overtime, Slaton came out and got a quick two-point takedown to advance to the championship. He went on to lose to Oklahoma State’s Coleman Scott in the finals, getting pinned 49 seconds into the match.

Gomez, who was competing in the NCAA Championships for the first time, said he was disappointed after losing but said he realizes that life is very rarely full of happy endings.

“I was a little bit disappointed but at the same time you have to move on,” Gomez said. “Nothing in life is perfect, you have to adjust. Life isn’t like a field of roses — you have to adjust to it and keep your head up and try to wrestle the rest of the tournament.”

The chance to get to the semifinal — and even past the second round — almost went up in smoke in Gomez’s Thursday night match against Ohio State’s Reece Humphrey.

Down 4-3 and on his back in the final seconds of regulation, Gomez escaped Humphrey’s hold with two seconds remaining on the clock to get a one-point escape and force the match into overtime.

One, and eventually two overtimes, weren’t enough to settle the match as the two wrestlers went into a third overtime to decide the outcome. Gomez escaped early in the first tiebreaker round of the third overtime and held Humphrey down during the second tiebreaker round to gain an edge in riding time and the win.

Only a sophomore, Gomez still has two more years to try to for an NCAA Championship. Minkel said the experience in St. Louis will be something Gomez can build on as he prepares for another championship run next season.

“The experience of wrestling in front of this atmosphere, wrestling in front of 16,000 people in an overtime match under pressure — those are experiences you build on and what you remember the next time,” Minkel said.

“The first time it’s a little intimidating, but as you mature and gather these experiences, you make little adjustments that help you next time.”

Published on Sunday, March 23, 2008