A long bus trip to Minnesota and Iowa to face the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the nation may not be the most desirable route to redemption, but that’s exactly the challenge the MSU wrestling team will face this weekend.
The No.12 Spartans are coming off losses to Ohio State and Purdue last weekend. They’ll face the top-ranked Gophers on Friday in Minneapolis before heading to Iowa City to tackle the third-ranked and six-time defending NCAA champion Hawkeyes on Sunday.
MSU’s plight is further magnified by not having sophomore Gray Maynard in the lineup this weekend.
Maynard, ranked 13th in the nation by www.intermatwrestle.com in the 157-pound weight class, is out for at least a month after having surgery Monday to repair torn cartilage in his knee.
MSU head coach Tom Minkel said the tough part about this week has been keeping spirits up as the squad prepares for what he calls its toughest weekend of the season.
“We’re a little bit hobbled and a little bit discouraged, but our mission now is to keep the kids upbeat and realize that when you have adversity like this, it’s a test of your character and your team spirit and your willingness to persist when things look grim,” he said.
One wrestler who shouldn’t have a problem being upbeat this weekend is senior Pat McNamara, who is the Spartans’ highest-ranked wrestler, at No. 6 in the 133-pound weight class.
McNamara, a contender for the NCAA title at 133 pounds, will face No. 3 Brett Lawrence of Minnesota and No. 1 Eric Juergens of Iowa.
“I’m going to be wrestling against the No. 1-ranked guy in Iowa - where the national championships are,” he said, referring to Iowa City being the site of the NCAA Championships, March 15-17.
“That’s something I’m going to be thinking about and really focusing on and getting myself ready for - just the exact same situation hopefully down the road.”
Before thinking about Iowa, McNamara and the Spartans will have to focus on Minnesota, which has lost only once this season and could be the team to knock Iowa off its perch as the top team in the nation.
“I wouldn’t say (MSU is) an overly difficult team to prepare for,” Minnesota head coach J. Robinson said.
Despite not being too concerned about facing the Spartans, Robinson said his squad will face a dangerous team Friday.
“They knocked off Illinois a couple of weeks ago (and) they have some very competitive people,” he said.
After this weekend, the Spartans will have faced the top three teams in the www.intermatwrestle.com rankings on the road. MSU also wrestled against now-No. 2 Oklahoma State on Jan. 14, losing on the road 31-3.
Sophomore 197-pound wrestler Nik Fekete, ranked 10th in the nation by the Web site, said he hopes the experience of wrestling at Oklahoma State last month will benefit MSU this weekend.
“I think we were kind of intimidated a little bit - it kind of was an intimidating atmosphere (but) I think we can learn from that,” he said. McNamara said the whole team is going to have to raise its level against the Gophers and Hawkeyes, particularly without Maynard in the lineup.
“This weekend it’s going to be a matter of having 10 guys compete as hard as they can and not really worry about the outcome,” he said.
“Just worry about how hard we can compete and let whatever happen, happen.”
