Johnnie Wrestling Alumni, Fans, Friends and Parents,
It’s that time of year again! Postseason wrestling! After months of strenuous lifting, grueling practices and vigorous mental training, it is finally time to compete for regional and national titles! Every event leading up to this point has been a “practice” and learning experience to prepare us for the fun of the qualifier.
Our regular season concluded last Friday at home against Division II University of Mary. Although we lost the dual 25-16, the guys competed very hard! After starting the dual 0-12, the next four matches went back and forth before we ran off three straight wins to pull within six points going into heavyweight. We won five matches at 141, 157, 174, 184 and 197.
Freshman Andrew Smith ended his regular season extremely well with a 16-6 major decision against a very tough opponent that we had seen earlier in the year. He is getting to his offense very early in matches and keeps it coming for seven minutes. He is also improving his top game and got two turns to secure a major decision for us.
At 157 pounds, freshman Jerod Novak had a huge 5-4, come-from-behind victory. He started off slow, giving up a takedown in the first 10 seconds of the match, but dominated the handfight and controlled the center of the mat the rest of the match. He then won in dramatic fashion by finishing a shot as the buzzer sounded.
Senior Teddy Erickson started the line of wins for us with a comfortable victory at 174. He started strong with a takedown and near-fall points before giving up a couple takedowns in the third, but closed the door with a late takedown in his last home match of his college career.
Next was a huge match for us as we had to bump up one of our 174 pounders, Mike Wagner, to 184. He wrestled a very controlled match on his feet and won the match on the mat. He followed our plan to a “T” and came up with a reversal and a solid ride out to win, 4-2.
Our last win was from sophomore Luke Dodd at 197. Luke also bumped up a weight and wrestled a very smart match as well. After a scoreless first period, he got a quick escape in the second and controlled the pace of the match, then finally got a takedown and ride out to secure the win, 6-0.
The next week we are focusing on preparing the guys for the NCAA West Regional, which is being hosted at Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday, Feb. 25. Please come and cheer the guys on as we try to qualify them to the NCAA Tournament.
Thank you for your support!
Thanks,
Tony Willaert
aawillaert@csbsju.edu
507.327.7582