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    From the edge of the mat....Hoosier wrestlers getting it done

    It's your faithful narrator Dingo here for another round of updates on Indiana's finest wrestlers.




    [caption id=" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="A warning for Reece's opponents]A warning for Reeces opponents[/caption]

     

    Let's start with former Lawrence North standout Reece Humphrey. Reece has been nothing short of outstanding this season, and his list of accomplishments on the year keeps growing at a rapid pace.  On the heels of his exhilirating performance at the National Duals, Reece stormed past Hofstra's 9th ranked Lou Ruggirello 7-4, to keep his regular season record unblemished (Reece's loss to Navy's Joe Baker at the 2008 NWCA Classic doesn't count on his official record). His 'slam' of Ruggirello is garnering a lot of attention (Link to FLO-- http://www.flowrestling.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234547-sunday-brunch-ohio-state-vs-hofstra/129463-133-2-reece-humphrey-os-dec-9-lou-ruggirello-h-7-4 ), but Reece's control of the talented New Yorker is even more impressive. With MSU's Franklin Gomez's recent loss to Minnesota's Jayson Ness, Reece has joined Alex Tsirtsis and Angel Escobedo as Hoosier-bred wrestlers ranked number one in the entire nation at their weight class. It's hard to be much better than Hump has been this season. He's undefeated, minus the exhibition loss to Baker (Reece solidly beat Baker last season in Las Vegas). Humphrey controls his own fate regarding seeding for the Big 10s and NCAAs. His weight class is very tough and very deep, so it's unlikely that Reece will win out from here. Still, he's as likely as anyone in the weight class to win a national title. Hopefully, the world will be treated to some of Reece's break dancing on Saturday, March 21st.

    [caption id=" align="alignleft" width="319" caption="A day at the office for Andrew Howe]A day at the office for Andrew Howe[/caption]

    Blazing his own trail is Indiana's own Juggernaut, er Andrew Howe. Howe continues to confound much more experienced, physically mature opponents. This week's victim was Iowa's #3 ranked Ryan Morningstar, a junior. Howe survived double OT by a 4-3 count to eke out another impressive win against an elite upperclassman opponent. He followed that up with a dominant 16-5 boat race of senior Dom Marella of Northwestern. Howe somehow keeps improving as the season continues; a very rare trait for a true freshman at an upper weight. It's hard to expect a true freshman to finish as an All-American, but Howe has been so good that many observers feel that he will do just that in his debut collegiate season. One thing to watch for is Howe hitting the wall; the collegiate season is much more physically and mentally demanding than a high school season. If anyone can smash through the wall, it's the Juggernaut.

    [caption id=" align="alignleft" width="310" caption="Alexander the Great]Alexander the Great[/caption]

    Continuing the theme of Indiana wrestlers with #1 rankings this year, Alex Tsirtsis had a solid week of wrestling, although he suffered his second loss of the season as well. The loss was to Wisconsin's Zach Tanelli 5-1, and was the second defeat of Tsirtsis by Tanelli this season. Sandwiched around the loss to Tanelli were strong wins over Illinois' Ryan Prater (11-3 MD) and a 4-1 win over Oklahoma State's Jamal Parks. Parks is a stud, and we will be hearing his name a lot in the coming years. Alex looks to be in solid position for the postseason, and he's making a lot fewer mistakes this year. He's beaten just about everyone of note this year at 141, but the Big 10 is brutal and he will have to be mistake-free to take home that long desired national title. I like his chances, but, then again, I've always liked his chances, so take it for what it's worth.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    [caption id=" align="alignleft" width="284" caption="Fallen Angel]Fallen Angel[/caption]

    The third Hoosier wrestler to attain a #1 ranking this season, Angel Escobedo had a tough week, losing to Penn State's Brad Pataky 4-3. While much has been made of Angel's bunged-up shoulder, and there's no doubt that a fully healthy Angel is not likely to lose to the likes of Pataky, I still saw flashes of last year's national championship form. It seemed to me that Angel was pacing himself, especially after tweaking his knee early in the match during a Pataky takedown. I'm probably in the minority, but I don't see this loss, nor the one to ISU's Clark, as being all that bad. He's still going to get a strong seed, unless his injury gets worse and he collapses down the stretch. Plus, the losses remove the target from his head a little bit.  Like all Hoosier fans, I'm hoping that he can just get through the regular season and Big 10s healthy enough to make another run at a title. Just last year he won an NCAA title with a bunged-up shoulder, so it's very possible he can join IU's Joe Dubuque in winning back-to-back titles, no matter what the pundits are saying right now.

     

     

     

    [caption id=" align="alignleft" width="433" caption="The Indiana Headhunter bags more victims]The Indiana Headhunter bags more victims[/caption]

    IU's Kurt Kinser continues to impress. The Indiana Headhunter (thanks, MattM!) has pinned or teched his last 3 opponents. He has just two losses this season, including a fairly close loss to last year's national champion Jordan Leen of Cornell, to go along with his 13 wins, including a win over top-10 Matt Moley of Bloomsburg, a win over top-20 Matt Dragon of Penn and a pin of top-15 Jason Welch of Northwestern. Kinser capped his week off with a spectacular tech fall of Penn State's Colby Pisani 23-8. KK took Pisani down at will, but was unable to manage any back points, earning Kinser a slightly rare 4 point tech fall. IU is going to need Kinser badly down the stretch; Kurt is a bonus points wrestler and IU needs every point from here on.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    [caption id=" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="IU Hoosiers]IU Hoosiers[/caption]

    Indiana and Purdue both performed very well this past week. Despite the stunning loss by Escobedo to Pataky, IU managed to tie Penn State for the first non-loss result vs. the Nittany Lions in IU's history. Huge performances by Kurt Kinser, Paul Young (a very impressive 4-1 winner over returning All-American Dan Vallimont), Trevor Perry (a key SV 3-1 win over #11 Quentin Wright), Matt Powless (a match-saving major over Clay Steadman) and Nathan Everhart (clutch 5-3 win over Cameron Wade) allowed IU to get off the schneid versus a pretty talented PSU squad. I thought Scott Kelly, Nick Walpole and Matt Ortega did a solid job, too, considering their very tough opponents. For the Hoosiers, this has been an up and down season thus far; the talent is there for a nice postseason run, but Andrae Hernandez must snap out of his funk and Paul Young must continue his season-long improvement, plus the  studs Escobedo and Kinser will have to score a lot of points. Regardless of how the season finishes for IU, they can savor this result versus Penn State. Well done, fellas.

     

    [caption id=" align="alignleft" width="211" caption="Purdue Boilermakers]Purdue Boilermakers[/caption]

     

    Not to be outdone by the Hoosiers, Purdue followed IU's tie of Penn State with a tie of their own versus the Lions. Some highlights include Nick Corpe very nearly beating #11 Wright, losing 6-4 in Sudden Victory, and former Winamac HS wrestler Chris Kasten beating Wade 6-2 to clinch the tie.

    Purdue has had a very good season and seems to be surging. While the clear stars of the team are Luke Manual and Jake Patascil, guys like Corpe, Kasten and Jason Martin are fully capable of getting hot and making a postseason run. Matt Hemry is also having a nice debut season. Purdue looks to continue their improvement with a deep class of elite Indiana recruits to join their very youthful roster. Watch out for the Boilers in a couple of years.

    The following Indiana wrestlers are ranked in D1:

    Intermat rankings:
    125 #6 Angel Escobedo IU
    133 #1 Reece Humphrey OSU
    141 #2 Alex Tsirtsis Iowa
    157 #12 Kurt Kinser IU
    165 #10 Andrew Howe Wisconsin
    184 #15 Alex Dolly UNI

    RevWrestling rankings:
    125 #6 Escobedo
    133 #2 Humphrey
    141 #2 Tsirtsis
    165 #8 Howe

    AWN rankings:
    125 #5 Escobedo
    133 #1 Humphrey
    141 #3 Tsirtsis
    157 #12 Kinser IU
    165 #12 Howe

    WIN rankings:
    125 #7 Escobedo
    133 #1 Humphrey
    141 #2 Tsirtsis
    157 #11 Kinser
    165 #6 Howe
    165 #20 Paul Young (IU)

     Lastly, I wanted to give a list of the W/L records for all D1 wrestlers from Indiana.

    Alex Tsirtsis-Iowa- (18-2)
    Alex Dolly-Northern Iowa- (4-3)
    Jamal Lawrence-Northern Iowa- (9-8)
    Casey Caldwell-Navy- (22-11)
    Eric McGill-Cornell- (3-6)
    Travis Dale-Cornell- (7-7)
    Ian Hinton-MSU- (14-10)
    Andrew Howe-Wisconsin- (15-4)
    Eric Galka-Northwestern- (5-3)
    Reece Humphrey-Ohio St. (19-0)
    Garrett James-Northern Illinois- (0-3)
    Brian Deutsch-Northern Illinois- (15-8)
    Peter Deutsch-George Mason- (0-0)
    Andrew Szymborski-VMI- (7-7)
    Chandler Coffey-IU- (3-2)
    Matt Coughlin-IU- (16-7)
    Angel Escobedo-IU- (13-2)
    Wesley Fike-IU- (4-6)
    Andrae Hernandez-IU- (12-7)
    Scott Kelly-IU- (15-14)
    Kurt Kinser-IU- (13-2)
    Justin Kuhn-IU- (11-8)
    George Malone-IU- (10-8)
    Seth Parker-IU- (6-3)
    Matt Powless-IU- (15-8)
    Cooper Samuels-IU- (7-6)
    Kyle Samuels-IU- (2-3)
    Christopher Tanner-IU- (1-6)
    Nick Viterisi-IU- (10-8)
    Nick Walpole-IU- (21-13)
    Alex Warren-IU- (10-8)
    Paul Young-IU- (23-7)
    Tommy Churchard-PU- (0-0 RS)
    Nick Corpe-PU- (9-6)
    Brennan Cosgrove-PU- (0-0 RS)
    Matt Fields-PU- (9-3)
    Jake Fleckenstein-PU- (8-5)
    David Goodman-PU- (0-0)
    Matt Hemry-PU- (6-4)
    Chris Kasten-PU- (17-7)
    Orrin Kleinhenz-PU- (0-0)
    Jason Martin-PU- (16-6)
    Sam Patacsil-PU- (2-2)
    George Petrov-PU- (0-0)
    Roger Vukobratovich-PU- (10-4)
    Ethan Winel-Tenn. Chattanooga- (8-10)

    Wilson Williams-Del. St.- (3-7)
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