MSU looks to even Big Ten record vs. Penn State

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The MSU wrestling team returned to business Sunday, posting an impressive 20-13 victory against Purdue to improve to 2-3 in the Big Ten.

The team’s reward?

Road dates with No. 11 Penn State and No. 3 Ohio State this weekend.

The Spartans don’t catch any breaks in a difficult Big Ten schedule, but are focused on slightly raising their level of play from the Purdue win to match this weekend’s level of competition.

“It’s really important to keep making progress,” head coach Tom Minkel said.

“The most important thing is to be better this week than the last week.”

The Spartans were victorious in six of the 10 weight classes Sunday, fighting to the wire in several of the losses.

Although Purdue is known for its scrappiness, the Spartans were equally as tough in not giving anything away.

Two of the Spartans’ losses were against wrestlers ranked No. 6 and No. 11 in their respective weight classes nationally.

Sophomore Ian Hinton held a 4-1 lead against Purdue’s No. 6 Luke Manuel before Manuel came back and edged the Spartans’ 174-pound starter, 7-5.

Hinton recorded two early takedowns, but saw his opponent tie the score heading into the final period. The two wrestlers stayed close until a late takedown lifted Manuel to victory.

In the 197-pound class, sophomore Tyler Dickenson similarly battled Purdue’s No. 11 Logan Brown to the finish, but fell just short in a 4-2 loss.

“The Big Ten stretch is a long and grinding run,” Hinton said.

“We just have to stay healthy and keep showing our best performances.”

Freshman Dan Osterman of the 141-pound class continued his impressive rookie season with the Spartans on Sunday with a dramatic 8-5 win against Purdue’s No. 20 Juan Archuleta.

Osterman has fought hard against some of the top wrestlers in his class, defeating West Virginia’s Brandon Rader — who was ranked No. 11 when the two met Jan. 9 — as well as dropping a tight battle against Illinois’ No. 11 Ryan Prater on Jan. 24.

The Spartans only have three matches remaining before the Big Ten Tournament. After facing ranked opponents in five of their last six matches, MSU will look to continually improve as it finishes with three more ranked foes.

“We want to go out there and compete every minute of every match,” 165-pound senior Kyle Bounds said.

“If we do that, we’ll go up against these teams and be in good shape.”

Bounds, No. 4-ranked 133-pound senior Franklin Gomez and senior heavyweight Alan O’Donnell all won their matches Sunday to make it a perfect 3-0 afternoon for Spartan seniors.

Gomez got back on track after his first loss of the season against Iowa on Jan. 31, defeating Central Michigan’s No. 7 Scotti Sentes in Friday’s 23-10 loss against the Chippewas, and recording a technical fall Sunday against Purdue’s Matt Fields.

MSU will continue to look for leadership from its seniors as it prepares for Friday’s match at Penn State at 7 p.m. and Sunday’s showing against Ohio State at 2 p.m.

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