12/8/05

Wrestling Runs Over Northern State

MSU heavyweight Tim Kraemer pins opponent in 11 seconds in 39-6 rout.

by Garret Felder
December 06, 2005

In athletics, quickness is often confused with speed. Quickness is the degree of explosiveness that an athlete has, whereas speed is simply how fast an athlete can move.

As for the MSU wrestling team, its athletes have displayed a lot of both early in the season.

Before traveling to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for the UNI Open Saturday, the Mavericks showed signs of quickness and moments of speed for the home fans during their 39-6 rout of Northern State in their first home dual meet at the Taylor Center Thursday.

“It was a good crowd for early in the season and the crowd got some good matches to watch,” head coach Jim Makovsky said. “The bottom line about getting a crowd is not just about success, it’s about doing our part to make the event exciting. And with our guys getting after it right away by scoring points and pins, the crowd gets excited. That's what they want to see.”

Speed was defined for 578 Maverick fans by senior heavyweight Tim Kraemer after an overtime loss for junior Ben Janike at 197 pounds. Kraemer stepped up to the center of the mat, took a shot at his opponent and pinned Northern State's Jess Hockey so fast that most of the crowd (and journalists) missed it. Kraemer pinned his man in a mere 11 seconds during his first home meet as a Maverick and gave the home crowd a taste of things to come in his Maverick career.

“I decided before the match I would take a shot right at the whistle, but I wasn't trying for the pin,” Kraemer said. “I'm not sure if I have pinned anyone faster in my career before. But wrestling here [the Taylor Center] was like being a freshman all over again since it was my first time wrestling in this building.”

Quickness was soon to follow with the explosiveness of sophomore Nick Smith during the 125-pound match. Smith — possibly the fastest thing most Maverick fans have seen on a wrestling mat — bewildered his opponent with such quick movements in the first two minutes of the match that Smith pinned a dazed and confused Austin Johnsrud at 2:11 in the first period.

“For most of our matches, we were setting the pace by our quickness — not as much on our feet but more on the mat,” Makovsky said.

The Mavericks' quickness proved to be the deciding factor in the majority of matches, except for losses at the 149 and 197-pound weight classes. Freshman Jesse Puig filled in for injured tri-captain Jason Rhoten and wrestled solid into the third period until an escape and takedown by Northern State's Jesse Wood. The points put Northern State ahead 3-0 in the first match of the night after an 8-6 victory.

“I always tell my guys I would rather have them making aggressive mistakes than passive ones, especially at this time in the season,” Makovsky said.

Janike also wrestled a full match and more by forcing his opponent into sudden death overtime after giving his opponent a leg cramp at the end of the third period. But Janike's brute strength wasn't enough as Northern State's Todd Naasz used his last ounce of energy for the first takedown of the OT, winning NSU's second match of the meet 6-4.

On the rough side for Northern State, those two matches were the only bouts the Mavericks did not win with overwhelming agility. Senior Andy Pickar was too swift for Northern State's Matt Englund and had the pin (after a reversal that looked like Pickar was carrying his opponent like a ladder) by 2:36 in the first period in his first home meet as a Maverick, an experience that was a little more important than he was used to at North Dakota State.

“Here we are wrestling for the national title, so it’s just more intense wrestling here than at NDSU,” Pickar said.“It was very exciting to wrestle at home and we have been waiting for this one for a while.”

Tri-captains Math Bitz and Travis Krinkie and the rest of the speedy lineup, excluding senior John Koons' who had a forfeit win at 184 pounds, continued to dominate NSU with their agility and aggressiveness.

As for the UNI open, Pickar led the Mavericks in the tourney of 350 Division-I and Division-II competitors by placing fifth in the 165-pound weight class with a 3-2 record on the day. Pickar was followed by a five-win day for freshman heavyweight Brady Wilson and four-wins each from junior Jeff Pfaffinger and senior Zach Stevens.

Before finals week begins, MSU wrestling heads to St. Cloud Saturday Dec. 10, for the St. Cloud State Invitational.

Flight School: MSU’s Ben Janike sends Northern State’s Todd Naasz to the mat the hard way during their dual meet last Thursday at the Taylor Center. After battling to a 3-3 tie in regulation time, Naasz won the match with a takedown in the overtime period.