After Saturday’s strong showing in the Big Ten Championships — in which five MSU wrestlers secured spots in the NCAA tournament — only junior 149-pounder Dan Osterman was left competing for a tournament berth.
Midway through the Big Ten Championships hosted in West Lafayette, Ind., five Spartan wrestlers already have punched their ticket to the NCAA tournament, while one more still is scrapping to make it in.
All season long, each match the MSU wrestlers compete in has led up to the final weekend of the season: the Big Ten championships. This year, the Spartans will be sending six wrestlers to West Lafayette, Ind., to compete in the tournament with varying levels of experience.
On the surface, senior wrestlers Curran Jacobs and Anthony Jones Jr. couldn’t be more different. As expressive as they come, Jacobs speaks with confidence and never shies away from the spotlight. When he came to MSU five years ago, he didn’t have a flashy wrestling résumé, but that didn’t stop him from working his way up to the No. 18 ranked wrestler in the nation at 174 pounds.
In its final dual of the season, the MSU wrestling team suffered a 21-12 loss at the hands of head coach Tom Minkel’s alma mater, Central Michigan. The Spartans finish the regular season with a 3-11 overall record (1-7 Big Ten) and will have a two week layover before the Big Ten Championships begin on March 3. The dual began with the 184-pounders when senior Ian Hinton dropped a 14-1 major decision to No.
As the MSU wrestling team heads into its final dual of the season — at No. 25 Central Michigan on Thursday — the Spartans hope to continue improving on the mat and end the regular season on a high note before the postseason begins.
If I told you the 3-10 MSU wrestling team (1-7 Big Ten) — which hasn’t won a dual in six straight attempts — was in the midst of an upswing, you might think I’d lost my mind. But the truth is, the Spartans have seen improvements in each of those duals and have given a couple ranked teams a run for their money.
Although they left Edinboro, Penn., without a win, the Spartan wrestlers continued to show improvement in their 18-15 dual loss to the No. 20 Fighting Scots and in their individual performances in the Edinboro Open on Saturday.
Although the Big Ten season is in the books, the MSU wrestling team still has some work to do before the conference tournament in the first week of March.
When it came down to it, MSU wrestling’s 24-13 dual loss to No. 6 Ohio State wasn’t because the Spartans were unprepared, or overmatched, or even just having a bad day. Instead, the dual was lost all in about a three-minute time frame sparked by what head coach Tom Minkel called a “breakdown in discipline.”
It was in their grasp, but the Spartans just couldn’t pull off the upset. The MSU wrestling team dropped its final Big Ten dual of the season 24-13 to No. Ohio State, but the match was much closer than the score indicates.
For six members of the MSU wrestling team, Sunday’s dual against No. 6 Ohio State will be the last time they step onto the mat at Jenison Field House. In their final home dual of the season, the Spartans (3-8 overall, 1-6 Big Ten) hope to snap a four-game losing skid, but they’ll be tasked in doing so by one of the top teams in the country.
The MSU wrestling team’s Sunday afternoon dual at No. 11 Michigan left something to be desired, but the Spartans might have gotten more out of the trip than just a 26-9 rout at the hands of their in-state rival.
Ann Arbor — It was another tough weekend for the MSU wrestling team as the Spartans dropped both their weekend duals to fall to 3-8 overall and 1-6 in the Big Ten.
The MSU wrestling team dropped another Big Ten dual Friday night, falling 27-8 against No. 7 Nebraska.
The MSU wrestling team is in for another big weekend as it prepares to welcome Big Ten newcomer No. 7 Nebraska to Jenison Field House before heading to Ann Arbor for its much anticipated match against in-state rival No.
The one thing MSU wrestling head coach Tom Minkel has been adamant about all season long is that if his wrestlers focus on taking care of their individual matches, the duals will take care of themselves. But unfortunately for Minkel, despite several wrestlers taking care of business, the duals haven’t fallen the way of the Spartans (3-6 overall, 1-4 Big Ten).
The MSU wrestling team’s struggles continued this weekend, as the Spartans dropped both duals during their road trips to No. 18 Northwestern and No. 6 Illinois.
One week after its first Big Ten victory of the season, the MSU wrestling team will look to build upon its momentum as it travels to take on No. 17 Northwestern and No. 6 Illinois in a pair of weekend duals.
After suffering a 23-12 loss to West Virginia on Friday night, the MSU wrestling team desperately needed a win.