Senior Kendle 'leaving it all on the mat'

Before each of Rex Kendle’s 17 matches this season, the senior wrestler has had the same thought: I have one final year to produce results from the past four years of work.

Rex

Kendle, who is off to a blazing start with a 15-2 record one month into MSU’s season, isn’t shying away from the fact that he went 42-41 the past three seasons while struggling with the speed of matches.

He’s embracing his final season, which needs to be his best — for MSU and his own conscience.

“I think it’s actually helping me. I’m not putting pressure on myself but I’m just thinking to myself, ‘There is no pro wrestling. This is it,’” said Kendle, a stocky, red-headed 165-pounder from Edwardsburg, located in south-central Michigan.

“I’ve been wrestling since I’ve been in third grade, and this is my last year I’m going to be doing this, so I’ve got to leave it all on the mat.”

Through three open meets and three dual matches during the ACC-Big Ten Clash, the senior owns the team high for wins and ranks second among Spartans in winning percentage. Kendle’s climb is a huge step up from last season, when he finished 18-19 overall in his first season as a full-time starter.

Kendle’s ascension up the national rankings — he’s gone from unranked in the preseason InterMat/NWCA/NWMA Division-I rankings for 165-pounders to No. 15 in six weeks — is the result of a newfound confidence and approach.

When Kendle might have missed open opportunities to strike or tried to force the issue in the past, he is now taking advantage of opponents nationwide.

“In the past, everything in matches moved faster than maybe I could analyze,” Kendle said. “Now, I’m able to slow the match down in my head. I’m still wrestling at the same speed, but I’m able to slow it down so that I’m able to see what they’re doing and see the openings better.”

MSU head coach Tom Minkel has noticed Kendle’s more deliberate pace on the mat, comparing it to football players who lament the increased speed of the game going from college to the National Football League.

“He’s a lot more confident and there aren’t a whole lot of surprises out there, so he manages his matches a whole lot better right now,” Minkel said.

While Kendle started strong last year with a 7-1 record in the Eastern Michigan Open, MSU’s season opener, he tailed off by finishing 5-10 against Big Ten foes. This year, Kendle expects to have extra stamina after reducing his offseason wrestling training from five days to three while maintaining his six-days-a-week regimen of two-hour weight room sessions.

“In previous summers when we were training five days a week, we trained pretty much year-round,” Kendle said. “We never had a break and I think in the past years I’ve been here, we’ve kind of started tailing off around second semester. Hopefully this year, we’ll be going up still when it’s time for Big Ten matches.”

Kendle also began studying film of Olympic-caliber wrestlers to address specific aspects of his technique.

Minkel said Kendle’s work ethic, whether it is in the weight room, on the mat, painting Spartan Stadium in the summer or working on the farm, sets a high standard for MSU’s wrestlers.

“He’s persistent, hardworking and smart,” Minkel said. “He worked his tail off this summer and he’s making a national reputation for himself.”