Loss to No. 12 Oklahoma caps tough weekend for MSU

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With what MSU wrestling coach Tom Minkel calls “the youngest team in the history of college wrestling,” there are likely to be a number of shortfalls — especially wrestling against ranked opponents in nearly every competition.

But Minkel says when all of his young wrestlers compete at their best, it’s easy to find a silver lining in those shortfalls.

Amid a tumultuous schedule that includes ranked opponent after ranked opponent and a Spartans starting lineup comprised of more than half underclassmen, the Spartans dropped their fifth meet in their last six, 21-8 against No. 12 Oklahoma on Sunday at Jenison Field House.

“The task for us is to not be intimidated, to not wrestle reputation or national ranking and to just go out and wrestle as hard as we can every guy,” Minkel said. “It’s taken a long way to get here, but today was the first time we had an all-out performance from every guy. … It’s hard to do sometimes when you’re wrestling a guy who is nationally ranked and maybe technically better than you, more experienced and more powerful. But I tell the guys to go out there and not be afraid and just let it happen, and take some risks and good things will happen.”

Sunday’s meet featured a ranked wrestler in all but three of the 10 matches (No. 6 redshirt junior Franklin Gomez was MSU’s only ranked competitor, in the 133-pound bout) in an intense meet that included upsets, close matches and a multitude of young talent.

Oklahoma took four of the first five matches, with Gomez’s 9-4 decision against Oklahoma’s David Armstrong coming as the only MSU points. But the Spartan wrestlers remained competitive, as redshirt senior Rex Kendle opened the second half with a victory in the 165-pound match.

Kendle was one of five MSU seniors on a roster of 32 to be honored before the meet for senior day. The senior had dropped his previous two bouts before turning it around with the 6-0 decision Sunday.

“I’ve had some ups and downs,” Kendle said. “I beat the No. 3 kid in the nation two weeks ago and then lost the last two duals to kids I potentially could beat, so it’s kind of been a roller coaster this semester. … I wanted to put everything I had out there. Win or lose, I wanted to make sure I didn’t have any regrets about today. I wanted to give a 100 percent effort and give a fight and see who came out on top.”

Of the final four matches, the Spartans won only one match, but the three losses came by a combined total of four points.

Oklahoma’s No. 8 Jeff James defeated MSU redshirt freshman Ian Hinton 3-2, MSU redshirt junior Nick Palmieri upset No. 19 Pat Flynn 9-6, No. 11 Eric Lapotsky defeated MSU redshirt senior John Murphy 4-3 and No. 16 Nathan Fernandez defeated freshman Steve Andrus 10-8 in the finale.

Palmieri’s victory in the 184-pound class gave him a 9-8 record for the year and gave Flynn his fifth loss in 27 matches.

“Usually when I get the first takedown, I feel pretty confident,” Palmieri said. “As the match went on, I got it in my head that I could break the kid. As soon as I saw him take an injury timeout, I was like, ‘I’m going to get on him from right there and take it to him.’ I think I got into his head, and he broke pretty quick after that.”

The schedule remains a grind for the Spartans, as they head to No. 25 Purdue on Thursday.

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