By greg gotcher
Sports Writer
sports@ocolly.com
Dominance has been the theme for the OSU wrestling team since it first won an NCAA National Championship in 1928.
However, last year’s team fell short of Cowboy wrestling expectations and showed few signs of being a part of the historic OSU wrestling tradition, which has claimed 34 NCAA titles and crowned 130 individual champions.
After a disappointing NCAA tournament appearance in March in which the Cowboys finished 16th and did not have a single NCAA champion, Tyrone Lewis, assistant coach, said he believes this is the year the team will regain its status as one of the best wrestling teams in the nation.
“With this year’s team and last year’s team, I think the difference is the mindset in these different athletes and in the way they’re approaching this preseason and the way they’re approaching their individual workouts,” Lewis said. “There’s no question when you’re looking on paper from this year to last year, and even teams before that, that we have the talent up and down the line.”
The talent Lewis is referring to includes the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, a couple of transfers who will make an immediate impact and two redshirt freshmen who will most likely fill in a couple of holes that were left by graduating seniors.
Redshirt freshmen Alex Meade is listed at 157 pounds on OSU’s Web site, but junior Neil Erisman, who finished the season ranked among the top 10 wrestlers at that weight class, occupied the position toward the end of last season.
With the graduation of All-American Brandon Mason, there is a large hole to fill at 165 pounds, and it seems likely that Meade will be the man who takes that spot.
Meade finished his redshirt season with a 19-2 record, which he compiled while wrestling in open tournaments. He said it was difficult to watch his team struggle through a tough season while he had to sit on the bench but he is glad he did because it gave him more time to work on areas where he needed to improve.
“I was itching to get out there of course, but it was a well needed year to sit out and work on a couple of things,” Meade said. “I’m really excited this season to get out there and do some big things.”
Another wrestler who is hoping to contribute this season is redshirt freshmen Jordan Oliver.
Oliver’s 19-1 record tied Meade’s for most wins by a redshirt last season. Oliver built up an impressive resume as a redshirt and capped it off with a third place finish at the Junior World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, in August.
Along with the two redshirt freshmen, transfers Mike Benefiel and Alan Gelogaev are looking to step up and earn a starting position.
Benefiel, who transferred from Northwestern University, compiled a 19-4 record while wrestling in open tournaments.
He will not be able to compete until next semester, but his two and a half years of eligibility at OSU should produce positive results at the 174 pound position, which is a weight class the Cowboy’s severely struggled with last season.
Gelogaev, a transfer from Moscow, Russia, will also be considered a sophomore, but is able to compete immediately.
Gelogaev, also known simply as Z, trained with Russian wrestling legend Buvaisar Saitiev in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, for five years. He also trained with former Cowboy and Olympian Daniel Cormier, which is one of the reasons he made the connection with OSU and decided to come here. He will most likely wrestle at 197 pounds.
Although OSU had the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, which included the country’s No. 3 overall wrestler, Chris Perry of Stillwater High School, and No. 11 Jon Morrison of Illinois, it seems unlikely that any of the true freshmen will compete in their first year at OSU.
Two-time All-American senior Jared Rosholt said this year’s team includes a substantial amount of young talent and he said he believes he has to be the leader to help these guys transfer from the high school level to the collegiate level.
“I feel like my role is to be a leader and lead by example,” Rosholt said. “Maybe show some of these younger guys what you got to do to get ready for a long season. I think that will be the toughest part for some of the incoming freshmen.”
Wrestling team looks to regain status as top in the nation
Published: Friday, September 11, 2009
Updated: Friday, September 11, 2009 00:09
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Jared Rosholt, two-time All-American senior, said he believes he has to be a leader this year on the wrestling team, which contains the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation as well as a couple of new transfers. The team fell short of expectations last year, but this season shows promising talent.
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