Gomez wrestles to MSU's 1st NCAA title in 14 years

After falling short as a favorite in the NCAA Championships just a year ago, junior wrestler Franklin Gomez vowed to learn from his mistakes this season.

Gomez

Gomez did just that, taking charge in the finals and winning the national championship in the 133-pound weight class with a 5-4 win over Ohio State’s Reece Humphrey on Saturday at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

“I’m so blessed. That’s pretty much the best way to describe it,” Gomez said, still speechless from winning the match just an hour earlier.

“It’s like a learning experience. It was hard to win last year, and as I’m sure you know, you learn from your mistakes and you better yourself. Now this year, winning, it feels good man. I believe that God has a purpose for everyone, and on his time, if it’s on God’s time, I was going to be the champion.”

The two-time All-American Gomez entered the season ranked No. 3 at 133 pounds before fighting his way back to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championships, a spot he earned last season.

Gomez faced off against Humphrey, the No. 2 seed, who he defeated earlier this month in a tiebreaker during the Big Ten Tournament on the way to winning a top ranking.

The match started off in a deadlock, as Gomez tried to push the tempo halfway through the first set. Gomez got the leg of Humphrey but was unable to score a takedown before the two were separated. The first set ended scoreless.

Gomez scored the first points of the match on an escape in the second set, followed by an explosive takedown in which he lifted Humphrey into the air before dropping him to the mat.

Humphrey got on the scoreboard with an escape late in the second and another early in the third, closing the match to 3-2.

Gomez sealed the win with a takedown with 45 seconds remaining in the match, taking Humphrey’s back and slamming the Buckeye to the ground.

Humphrey scored a reversal in the closing seconds to bring the match to 5-4 but was unable to overcome the deficit.

“Humphrey has got a couple of really good attacks, so we had to stay low, and (Humphrey) is left handed so we had to check our left side,” MSU head coach Tom Minkel said. “Franklin wanted to make sure that he wasn’t just defensive, we needed to attack and stay on the offense ourselves. … Franklin did a great job of really managing the match and staying with his game plan.”

Gomez’ title is the first wrestling national championship at MSU since 1995, when Kelvin Jackson won in the 118-pound weight class. For a program that Minkel calls one of the youngest in the nation, the title shows the program is on the right track.

“To have a national champion does a lot of things for your program, not only for Franklin, but when we recruit the program it shows we can compete at that level,” Minkel said. “For him to make it to the finals and then win decisively in the finals is a real credit to him, but also a real credit to my assistant coaches who worked a lot with Franklin.”