Y2CJ41 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday the winner of this week's Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honor. Indiana sophomore Luke Blanton (149) picked up his first career weekly award. Blanton had one of the best weekends of his young Indiana career. On December 11, at 20th-ranked Minnesota, Blanton came from behind to upset No. 10 Jake Short in the penultimate bout of the dual. Blanton was behind 6-4 after two periods, then surged ahead with an 11-4 third round in his favor. Blanton sealed the win with a clutch takedown and a two-point nearfall on the edge of the mat with 30 seconds remaining. The win also lifted Indiana to a 19-18 team win over Minnesota, their first Big Ten dual win since 2011. On Sunday, December 13, the Hoosiers took on Eastern Michigan, a team on the brink of cracking the national top 25. Indiana battled to a hard-earned 25-9 win over the Eagles, highlighted by Blanton's win over No. 16 Nicholas Barber in the 149 lbs. bout. Blanton took the dual win on a 4-0 decision, in which the Hoosier displayed excellent defensive work. With this award, Blanton becomes the first Hoosier this season to win the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honor. He's the first Hoosier to win the award since NCAA runner-up Taylor Walsh (December 31, 2014). The pair of wins garnered national recognition for Blanton. He rose to the No. 20 spot in the latest Asics FloRankings, and sits at 29th in the latest Dual Impact Index polls. After a strong 3-0 weekend, Indiana earned their first national rankings of the season. The Hoosiers are 20th in the latest InterMat team dual rankings, and 22nd in the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll. The Hoosiers return to action on Sunday, December 20, when they'll take part in the Reno Tournament of Champions in Reno, Nev. 2015-16 Wrestlers of the Week Nov. 3 Nathan Tomasello, So., OSU Nov. 10 Brett Pfarr, Jr., MINN Nov. 17 Sammy Brooks, Jr., IOWA Nov. 24 Bo Nickal, Fr., PSU Dec. 1 Isaiah Martinez, So., ILL Dec. 8 Micah Jordan, Fr., OSU Dec. 15 Luke Blanton, So., IND Click here to view the article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffm Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 No one talking about the Hoosiers taking down Minnesota? Or EMU? This is a good looking young squad that is getting better by the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxbomber Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Easy there Jeff, Great wins by Blanton as individual, but it is not like SIUE,EMU have much D1 talent and everyone knows Minnesota is on one of there worst down years in a while Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffm Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Man Bronx, you run a hard bargain. All kinds of disparaging comments about IU over the last two years... Now they string together some nice wins, and all of a sudden the teams IU beats aren't any good. Minnesota is Minnesota regardless of where they are in their program cycle. Just like IU has been IU. This cycle has been the same since 1968.. The last time IU beat Minnesota. So let's meet in the middle and say that Minnesota is down a little, but IU is absolutely up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxbomber Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Ok I will meet you half way, but I still have to question what Goldman and Simmns have done over the years. Good win against Minny, but based on your comment they hav strung some nice wins together. SIUE is not a top D1 team and based on looking at EMU they should be D2 and we all know what Manchester is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffm Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I never mentioned SIUE or Manchester. We should always be ahead of those teams. But EMU blanked MSU and was ranked way ahead of us... And IU handled them. Regardless, IU is better than they've been in a while and that's refreshing. Hopefully they can keep getting better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingo Brigade Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Iu is definitely better this season than in recent years. Oliver looks like a keeper, Blanton is finally using his long frame effectively, Jackson appears to have taken a big step forward, skatzka and danishek have upside..still have some holes to fill, and I think Purdue is much further along as a rebuilding program, but beating Minny any season is an accomplishment for iu. No obvious all Americans this season like Walsh last year, but maybe someone will surprise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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