Anyone have a text dump of that article?
Sitting out matches can be tricky situation, Cael Sanderson says, but he trusts his Penn State wrestlers
Stray from the norm in any sport and a conversation piece is borne.
College wrestling nationwide is no different. Last year, medical forfeits in tournaments had people chirping. This year, some wrestlers — mostly veteran, fan favorites — are picking and choosing when they’ll compete, depending on their team’s schedule or their own health.
As far as Penn State is concerned, that was the plan all along for two-time NCAA champion Roman Bravo-Young (133 pounds), according to Penn State coach Cael Sanderson. Two-time champ Aaron Brooks (184) also is taking that approach.
“I think it’s a tricky situation; there’s different mind-sets, you know,” Sanderson said. “A guy like Aaron, he looks at it sometimes like, ‘well I want to give some of these other guys on the team a chance to wrestle.’
“But I think it’s a little tricky,” Sanderson continued. “When I grew up my dad was my coach and I wouldn’t miss a match for anything; I don’t care what the situation is. So that’s my mentality, but I think things kind of change over time.”
Sanderson said a lot of Penn State wrestlers over the years have been successful because they had the same mentality. “Like a David Taylor,” Sanderson recalled about the NCAA, World and Olympic champion. “He hurt his ankle pretty bad, like we basically had to carry him out of here, and he wrestled that weekend. (Three-time NCAA champ) Bo Nickal, same thing, he’s not missing a match for anything, but then his dad was also his coach…kind of that team mentality.
“Kids could look at things differently and I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer. You’ve seen some really successful wrestlers the last few years kind of picked and chosen the matches they wanted to participate in. Hopefully that’s not a trend. Part of wrestling is … wrestle … go compete. But we give our guys a lot of freedom to make decisions and take some ownership in their careers and we have a lot of trust in them.”
Sanderson noted that the plan all along this year was for Bravo-Young to sit out a few matches, and initially the thought was to sit out the first semester, which did not happen. “He did that for the team,” Sanderson said. “The plan wasn’t for him to wrestle the first day of the Collegiate Duals…he had to make weight throughout the tournament. But he wrestled and I have a lot of faith and trust in all of our guys and we’re just gonna have fun competing.
“I think the bigger the match, the better they compete, and that’s really what they get excited for,” he added. “If that were the opposite, if they don’t want to wrestle the big match, that would be a concern. I think there’s good and bad but, like I said, new guys getting a chance to compete and getting preparation…it kind of gives your whole team a chance to be a little bit more involved.”
Sanderson’s 141-pound sophomore, Beau Bartlett, had a strong opinion about medical forfeits, which have increased the last couple of seasons in holiday and conference championship tournaments. He won’t do it.
“I’ve gone back and forth on the forfeits and sitting matches out. Ultimately, a lot of people say ‘prepare for March; what matters is March.’ I want to prepare for whatever I’m wrestling right now,” Bartlett said. “For me to forfeit, I would have to be in a wheelchair or something; that’s me personally.
“I would wrestle, but I also understand the emphasis is on peaking in March. You want to peak in March and you want to be your best then, but I want to wrestle all the time.”
Bartlett said he believes that forfeits might happen as a result of wanting to protect a seed or not give a different opponent a look on how someone wrestles. “I personally don’t believe in seeds or rankings; the only rankings that matter are in March,” he said. “All I can control is how I carry myself today.
“As a result of that, I keep going one day at a time, doing the small things. It’s not going to be an overnight big change, but getting to sleep a bit better, eating cleaner, all these small things, they will add up.”
ALL ABOUT 157: Sanderson said Terrell Barraclough at 157 pounds was “a little banged up” going into the Collegiate Duals and that’s why freshman Levi Haines of Biglerville wrestled in each of the team’s three dual meets in New Orleans. Sanderson said that Barraclough is “doing fine,” that Haines can wrestle two more times before reaching his NCAA-allowable five dates prior to redshirting, and that the plan remains to “let things play out” at 157. He also mentioned that, looking forward, Haines probably won’t spend a lot of time in that weight class.
ALL ABOUT AARON BROOKS: Sanderson said that the top-ranked Brooks, who was upset by Iowa State’s Marcus Coleman 9-7 in the Collegiate Duals, is fine. “He was trying to score points, he was aggressive,” Sanderson said about Brooks, who got caught in a six-point move by Coleman. “You gotta give his opponent credit; he had very good defense. I feel like (Aaron) kind of stepped up the wrong way and got rolled through right off his own shot. He’s looking to drive his opponent to his back and ends up getting flipped through, but that’s sports and that’s what makes it fun. Good experience for Aaron; he’s just gonna be better and stronger because of it. It stinks to lose, but sometimes you lose.”
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