Although the MSU wrestling team didn’t leave Battle Creek, Mich., with the outcome they wanted on Sunday, the Spartans were able to use their match against one of the best teams in the nation to help gauge where they are at as a program.
The Spartans lost to defending national champions No. 4 Penn State, 36-6, with their only points coming off of a disqualification by a Nittany Lion. Junior 149-pounder Dan Osterman had the opportunity to go against the No. 1-ranked wrestler in his weight class and said the experience was a “good test.”
“We got beat pretty good, but there’s still a lot of good things we can take from it,” he said. “I thought for the most part, everyone wrestled their hardest for seven minutes.”
Head coach Tom Minkel also said the matchup allowed for the Spartans to determine where they were at and use Penn State as a measuring stick.
“It’s hard to wrestle a team like that sometimes because you get beat up a little bit, but it’s kind of the standard, and it pointed out some of the things that we need to work on,” he said. “As hard as that was, I think we’ll be better because of it.”
In addition to the Nittany Lions, the Spartans saw some equally impressive competition earlier this month in the Reno Tournament of Champions. Placing in the top three of that tournament was now-No. 2 Oklahoma State, now-No. 18 Wyoming and now-No. 15 Oregon State.
MSU finished fifth in the tournament behind now-No. 23 Binghamton.
Minkel said having the opportunity to face competition the Spartans normally don’t see was also helpful in determining the team’s worth.
Home away from home
Rather than wrestling Penn State at home in Jenison Field House, Minkel’s squad took a 60 mile hike down to Battle Creek, Mich. to participate in the Spartan Country youth tournament.
The dual was the feature event of the tournament, which serves to connect the worlds of collegiate and youth wrestling.
Minkel said the idea for his team to headline at the tournament came from associate head coach Roger Chandler, who helps to put on the tournament.
“We were scheduled for the Sunday before school starts, so not many students are on campus yet,” Minkel said. “So we thought, rather than have the event here on an empty campus, it would be good to tie it in with one of our youth events.”
The tournament featured about 500 youth wrestlers and about 3,000 fans. Minkel called the endeavor a “huge success” from a crowd standpoint.
Working for the weekend
While most students were enjoying their break, the Spartans were working to bring the new year in with a bang.
In addition to the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 18, 2011 and the dual against Penn State on Sunday, the Spartans continued to train and keep up with the vigorous regimen that is required of a collegiate athlete.
Senior 157-pounder Anthony Jones Jr. said the training over break is some of the hardest the team works during the season.
“There’s lots of two-a-days, lots of hard grinds, good lifts and conditioning, and I think that helped us prepare for coming back,” he said.
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