I've been a Division I college wrestling fan for 24 years now. For 14 of those 24 years, I have followed the sport like a hawk. I've seen a lot of great, grand and positive things happen in this sport, but I've unfortunately also seen some not so great things as well. I've seen a lot of wrestlers with all of the potential in the world, have phenomenal seasons early on in their careers, only to become a shadow of themselves as their career wraps up. After watching it happen again this year, I have to start questioning why this is happening, and if there is anything that can be done about it.
Taylor Meeks of Oregon State two years ago, came into the 2013 NCAA tournament as the #5 seed and successfully wrestled his way to a 4th place finish. It wasn't a fluke finish either. He stuck Wyoming's Alfonso Hernandez and majored Minnesota's Scott Schiller 11-3 along the way. I'll also mention he wrestled finalist Dustin Kilgore of Kent State to the wire in a 8-6 decision. I thought for sure that Meeks would be a title contender in 2014. When he failed to place going 2-2, I thought he'd most certainly redeem himself and come back for his second All American honor in 2015. While he did have a very good season, including a win over NCAA champion Gabe Dean of Cornell, he finished out his career with a loss in the Round of 12.
I have to ask myself why. It could be a list of factors. Perhaps Meeks was dealing with an injury that kept him from wrestling at his full potential. I've seen that happen to one too many guys over the past decade and a half. Witt Durden of Oklahoma, Evan Sola of North Carolina, Troy Letters of Lehigh, Travis Shufelt of Nebraska, Cassio Pero of Illinois, Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota, Roger Kish of Minnesota, Matt McDonough of Iowa, Mike Nevinger of Cornell and Mike Pucillo of Ohio State, not to mention many more. The list is long and I exclude no one. Wrestling fans should be aware of the many wrestlers who we don't see on the award stand at the end of the year because of the shoulder, knee, hand and other assortment of injuries. If the answer for Meeks is injury, he wasn't even alone this year. Jesse Delgado who finished his freshman through junior years going 7th-1st-1st, failed to place this season because of an injury.
Maybe it wasn't an injury. Maybe the fact of the matter is that in 2013 Meeks just happened to have a miracle of a tournament. He certainly wouldn't be the only one. In 2001, Wisconsin's Grant Hoerr wrestled the tournament of his life and brought home a 4th place All American medal. When he went 1-2 the next year as a senior, I wasn't all that surprised. He made magic happen once and he wasn't able to do it again. Justin Lister of Binghamton who took 4th place as a sophomore in 2010, failed to place as a junior and senior. Maybe that's what happened to him and maybe that's what happened with Meeks. After all this isn't an easy sport by any means. The parity in wrestling is unreal and there are so many great wrestlers. The top 25 in most weight classes, take away the few exceptional that separate themselves from the rest, are all neck and neck with one another. The NCAA tournament this year had an ample amount of sudden victories and tiebreakers that could have went either way.
Sometimes guys just have bad tournaments. You hate to see it, but it happens. Everyone knows my all time favorite wrestler is Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State, but a very, very close second is Minnesota's Leroy Vega. Vega was 5th-5th-3rd going into the 2002 NCAA tournament with a #2 seed. Upset in the second round, Vega would be eliminated in the round of 16. No hidden secret as to why, it was simply a bad tournament for Vega. I'd say the same happened to Chris Skretkowicz of Hofstra in 2005 and Donnie Vinson of Binghamton in 2014. Wrestling is an unbelievably demanding sport, that requires you to be at your best all of the time. If you aren't 100% physically and 100% mentally, it will show.
Yet there are still those among the list that do not have a clear answer. Perhaps Meeks is one of them. Take guys like Scott Barker of Missouri/Oregon who finished 6th-2nd his sophomore and junior years, who failed to place as a senior. How about Alex Tirapelle of Illinois who placed 2nd and 4th his freshman and sophomore years and then failed to place as a junior and senior. Joel Flaggert 4th and 5th his freshman and sophomore years, failed to place as a junior and senior. Nick Marable after his sophomore year taking 3rd place, looked poised to win two national titles in his remaining years as a Tiger. He failed to place as a senior. Andrae Hernandez and Matt Coughlin both of Indiana who placed early on in their careers and didn't even qualify for the NCAA championships as seniors. Heck, Coughlin had a losing record his senior year after placing 7th as a freshman. How does that happen? What causes this regression? Is it bad coaching? Are guys getting burnt out? Is something personal going on in their life that is causing them to wrestle a 1/3, a 1/4 or even an 1/8 as good as they really are?
How does a guy like Spencer Myers place 6th as a true freshman right out of high school, including a victory over three time NCAA finalist Tony Nelson of Minnesota, only to never make the award stand again? I can't be the only one asking myself this question.
Is the season too long? I know I'll make some enemies asking this question, but I have to ask it. Are we asking too much out of our athletes? I know that as wrestlers we pride ourselves on hard work and toughing it out and showing the world how mentally strong we are. Is that really worth the health of our athletes though? These guys suck down anywhere from 15 to 40 lbs less than what they will walk around after their wrestling careers are over. They are exerting themselves day in and day out in the wrestling room wrestling live and going over technique, in the weight room pumping iron, and outside in the bitter cold going on long hard runs and doing sprints. Then on top of it, they're also students, who are doing term papers and studying for final exams the same as is everyone else. Is 5 months, nearly 1/2 a year and in a lot of cases close to 50 matches in that time frame really fair to ask out of a collegiate wrestler at this level?
I love wrestling. I love Reno, CKLV, Midlands, the Southern Scuffle, all of the conference tournaments, the NCAA tournament and the duals. If I ever win the lottery, you'll know where to find me during wrestling season! Yet, with that said, would our wrestlers benefit both mentally and physically with a shorter season? January, February and March with maybe two weeks into April for the NCAA tournament? Guys finishing their season with 25 matches instead of 45? Would that really be such a bad thing? Would it benefit the wrestlers physical and mental health?
I don't know the answer. I do know that there is a problem and I do know that if there is a solution to it, I want to explore it.
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