Ranking Matches & Homecoming EXTRAVAGANZAAAAA!

On Friday we had our first "Ranking Matches" of the year.  Coach Rogers and myself both believe that the term "Wrestle-Off" is not a good way to describe the bouts we hold in the room to decide who will get the spot for a given competition.  We liked the term "Ranking Match" because it better describes what we are trying to figure out from said matches.  We need to find the best guy for a single competition right now so in a few weights we had them wrestle each other. 

At 133, Kenny Knapp wrestled Jake Bucha in a hard fought 3-2 match.  Jake was able to convert a shrug for 2pts and hold on to take the win.  What we hope both guys took away from the match was how different an actual "real" match is than a practice match or live wrestling period.  Both guys got extremely tired, and in a quiet room with everyone watching you, nerves tend to have an effect on your stamina.  This was clear in both of these wrestlers and is probably what led to the conservative score and low risk attempts throughout the bout.  After the match I spoke with Jake and he told me he was very nervous and felt like he got tired before he thought he would/should.  We were able to identify why that was and how he can work more on pushing himself in practice to get over those plateaus in his wrestling.  What I took away from the talk with Jake is that he is no longer satisfied with a win and is more interested in winning big.  He feels that as a wrestler he is supposed to beat guys a certain way and if he doesn't, then he did something wrong or didn't do something as right as he could have.  Kenny should be motivated as well.  Even though he lost, this is his first full year of wrestling and he took a 5th year senior to the brink in his first match back on the team.  These two are going to be really good for each other in the upcoming weeks and months. 

At 165 Anthony Bongarzone beat freshman Colin Lahiff in a battle that took place on the mat.  After a scoreless first period Colin rode Anthony for most of the second period, making a rookie mistake and letting Anthony go with 30 seconds left.  The third period was all Anthony as he rode Colin and turned him once to lock up the win.  Anthony looks really good this year and if he can stay aggressive on his feat he will have a lot of success. 

Andrew Murano used a barrage of takedowns to secure a 9-4 win over Chris Barkesdale.  Both of these guys are freshman and should help the team this year.  They both also need to work hard on their technique and their mat sense if they want to be competitive in the college arena.

After watching the matches and seeing how tired and nerve racked some of the guys were, the coaches decided that we would try and get similar matches for all of our guys over the next few weeks.  Simulating an actual competition match would help us evaluate their progress, evaluate our training techniques, and also modify or improve on anything we feel is a recurring issue among our guys.  Overall we saw good things from the guys who wrestled, but a coaches job is never done and we have a lot to work on if we are to get our team ready for this weekend and the season.

HOMECOMING...

Over the weekend F&M celebrated Homecoming.  The wrestling team had a tent and we were able to meet and great a lot of the alums and supporters of the program.  It was a great time to all get together and have some fun after all the hard work we had put in over the last month.  The guys got to eat a lot of good food, spend time with their families, and interact with alums and other students and sports programs all in one place.  We also used this weekend as a recruiting trip for some of our top prospects, and the feedback we have been getting is all really positive.  As things unfold we will be sure to update everyone on the recruiting class and the upcoming season.