Gomez, Kendle leading charge for young Spartans

Fortunately for the MSU wrestling team, as coach Tom Minkel puts it, “usually the best guy wins.”

Heading on the road for their third and fourth straight meets away from East Lansing, the Spartans (5-2) will be looking to get the Big Ten schedule off to a successful start with dual meets against No. 19 Northwestern (7-3) and No. 9 Minnesota (9-4).

“It feels like we just got back,” Minkel said. “We’re leaving (today) and this is a long road trip — Northwestern and Minnesota by bus — but we’re looking forward to getting into the Big Ten season. We’ve been competing since November and it’s time to get into the Big Ten.”

The Spartans are coming off consecutive victories at West Virginia and Ohio, earning a weekend sweep. They won the two meets by a combined score of 51-21 and were led by junior Franklin Gomez, who extended his unbeaten streak to 11 matches. Gomez, ranked No. 1 in the country in the 133-pound weight class, was one of eight wrestlers to earn a victory against Ohio on Sunday.

“It was a really good weekend for us,” Minkel said. “There were a couple areas that we really put a lot of time into and, for the most part, the guys stepped up and did what we asked them. It’s always satisfying when you work on stuff during the week and you can actually implement it during the weekend.”

MSU will return home next weekend to continue conference play on Jan. 30 against Wisconsin (6-3) — ranked No. 15 in the country. Though standing with a stronger 
winning percentage than many ranked teams, the Spartans are the lone Big Ten team not recognized in the Top 25.

Senior Rex Kendle, who wrestles in the 165-pound weight class and pulled out an 11-0 major decision 
against Ohio, said the Spartans appear to be wrestling at their best 
heading into conference matchups.

“We’re wrestling really well,” he said. “It looks like we’re on the right track judging by our performances leading up to this point right now. We’ll see where we’re at this weekend. We have two big tests in Big Ten matchups this weekend but I think we’re peaking at the right time.”

Both Kendle and Minkel said the young Spartans have shown progress in their seven dual meets and are showing a spark, evidenced by their aggression on the mats.

“We’re attacking more,” Kendle said. “We’re a young team, so I think it’s pretty important to keep everyone’s confidence up. We were the aggressors in most of the matches.”