Top Ten Team Previews
#1 Oklahoma State
JAKE ROSHOLT GROWS UP
By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
Jake Rosholt remembers his first trip from his hometown of Sand Point, Idaho, and his college wrestling home of Stillwater, Okla.
“I
t was like a 30-hour drive,” recalled the OSU senior, whose growing-up process in the world of Division I wrestling must have seemed even longer.“Sand Point is a pretty backwoods town up in the mountains where I knew nearly everyone on the street,” Rosholt said. “When I got here, it was like a big city. I didn’t know anyone and wrestling was a lot bigger and different than what I grew up with.”
It was so different that Rosholt nearly left Stillwater and returned to his Rocky Mountain hometown from being homesick.
“It was a change of culture and atmosphere,” he recalled. Wrestling is a lot bigger here and there are a lot of expectations. It was hard on me, but I turned things around.”
#2 Oklahoma
Teyon Ware Could End Career Before Greatest Fan
By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
Teyon Ware expects to have a big fan club at the 2006 NCAA Championships, which will be held in Oklahoma City, which is j
ust a few miles from his hometown of Edmond, Okla.But his biggest fan may not be there.
That’s because Millie Cross — his grandmother — can’t handle watching what Ware goes through as a collegiate wrestler.
“She’s the one who got me involved in wrestling,” Ware recalled. “I was a big WWF fan when I was kid. I used to wrestle with my brothers all the time. When my grandma saw that, she asked me if I wanted to wrestle and I said, ‘yeah.’
“But it’s hard for her to watch it. She said it was too intense.”
Grandma Millie may not be too off base when it comes to Ware, who has had to overcome his share of aches and pains — including those that came when he ruptured a disc in his neck shortly after winning his first NCAA championship as a freshman in 2003 in Kansas City.
#3 Iowa
Mark Perry Now Bigger & Stronger
By Craig Sesker, W.I.N. Staff Writer
Iowa’s Mark Perry doesn’t remember exactly how long he ran. Or how fast he was going.
Sh
ortly after dropping a 5-2 decision to Oklahoma State’s Johny Hendricks in the NCAA finals last March in St. Louis, he hopped on a treadmill just off the main arena floor in the Savvis Center.Sweat poured off his 6-foot frame as he pumped his arms and legs while outwardly sobbing as he dealt with the crushing setback. He figured it was probably close to an hour before he finally shut it down.
“I was upset because I didn’t perform very well,” Perry said. “It was pretty devastating. I hope I never feel that way again.”
Even with the setback, Perry accomplished more than most freshmen could ever imagine.
He knocked off defending national champion Troy Letters of Lehigh to reach the 165-pound finals in St. Louis. He became just the seventh Hawkeye freshman to reach the finals. He finished with a 32-5 record.
“I don’t look at finishing second as accomplishing anything,” Perry said. “I don’t want to be in the position of finishing anything else besides first.”
#4 Illinois
Free-Spirit Friedl at Home in Illinois
By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
White Sox or Cubs fan?
“O
h, White Sox fan,” responded Pete Friedl, who not only wrestles for his homestate Illini but grew up 20 miles south of Chicago in Orland Park, Ill.So Friedl was thrilled that the Sox won the recent World Series; so much that Game 1 kept him off the wrestling mat.
“I was working out last night and I had to sit and watch the game, which delayed my entire workout until after the game,” laughed the Illinois senior, who not only has been one of the Illini’s most successful wrestlers the past two years — finishing seventh in 2004 and fourth in 2005 — but has provided a sense of humor for the Illini and especially coach Mark Johnson who hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with his “free-spirited” wrestler.
“Me and Johnson get in arguments about baseball because he is a Cubs fan,” joked Friedl, who added his laid-back style was eventually accepted by his coach.
“He’s kind of embraced it over the years. Before I got here and before he got to know me, I had to keep it more serious around him. But I started to break him down by telling more jokes and got a little funnier. It’s not that everything goes but he will play a long.”
“Just because you call him a free spirit doesn’t mean that he’s a bad kid,” said Johnson, who is beginning his 12th year in Champaign. “He works hard and is as technically sound as anyone we have in our program. He has a great feel for the sport. He is a very good athlete. He just doesn’t let anything bother him.”
#5 Minnesota
Schlatter Name is Just a Name
By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
Charles Patrick Schlatter didn’t ask to be called C.P. at an early age.
“My parents started calling me that when I was born,” said C.P., who was born to Pat and Joyce Schlatter 21 years ago.
Nor did C.P. ask to be called a great prep wrestler after the native of Massillon, Ohio, set a state record for victories at St. Par
is High School, where he won 165 of 166 matches in 2003 when he later won both the freestyle and Greco-Roman championships at the Junior Nationals.“It comes with the territory, I guess,” said C.P.. “You love all the talk then, but as the hype wears off, you realize you’re just one of the guys in college and have to step it up like everyone else.
“A name is just a name.”
C.P. eventually brought that name and reputation to Minneapolis, Minn., where he joined a heralded Gopher recruiting class that included other All-Americans like Roger Kish of LaPeer, Mich., Matt Reiter of Gilbertville, Iowa, and Matt Koz of Strongsville, Ohio.
This entire group redshirted during the 2003-04 season, including Schlatter, who compiled an 11-0 mark in open tournaments and later won a gold medal in Greco-Roman competition at the Junior Pan-Am Championships in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
Unfortunately, C.P. also had withdraw from the freestyle competition from that event because of an injury, which later hampered his preparation for a first year of varsity at Minnesota as C.P. did not start competing for the Gophers until January.
He also had to adjust to wrestling at 157 pounds after beginning the year at 149.
#6 Michigan
Diverse and Driven Tannenbaum Also Excels at Mind Games
By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
Leave them spinning.
That is a motion that Michigan wrestler Eric Tannenbaum is very familiar with, whether it is on the wrestling mat or sitting beh
ind his music turntables as a part-time disc jockey.“It’s a hobby because there are all different ways of mixing records,” said Tannenbaum, a native of Naperville, Ill., who entertained his high school friends while producing his own form of hip hop music. “You can scratch and stuff like that in different pitches and tweak everything around. I guess that’s my release.”
The All-American wrestler has also been known to release his energy on the wrestling mat where his hard head — which led to the nickname “Rock” by friends — has caused plenty of headaches for his opponents.
“It even showed in the Nationals when I shot in against (Oklahoma State’s Zack) Espositio (during the NCAA semifinals) and knocked him down,” said Tannenbaum, who eventually lost to the eventual NCAA champ before later claiming a fourth-place medal in St. Louis last March. “A lot of times I use my hard head.”
Tannenbaum also has used his head in an academic sense.
“I just changed by major to Neuro Science,” said Tannenbaum, a redshirt sophomore who said he would like to be a doctor or surgeon some day after “tailing” doctors in an academic setting the past two summers.
#7 Iowa State
Two Paulsons Better Than One
By Craig Sesker, W.I.N. Staff Writer
Iowa State wrestling coach Bobby Douglas said Cyclone juniors Trent and Travis Paulson have gold-medal potential.
And he’s not just talking about the NCAA tournament.
He
’s referring to something much bigger for his talented twin wrestlers.“They both can be real special on the world level,” Douglas said. “They haven’t reached their maturity yet, but they’re about to bloom. When they do, they are going to be really scary. Their futures look really bright on the international level.”
Through two seasons in Ames, the twins have combined for two All-American finishes, both at 157 pounds. The Paulsons, from Council Bluffs, Iowa, have been named team captains for the upcoming season along with fellow All-Americans Nate Gallick and Kurt Backes.
“If the Paulsons stay healthy, they are going to be something special,” Douglas said. “They have really stepped up as leaders and you couldn’t ask for better kids. They work extremely hard and are very coachable.
“They are two of the most physical wrestlers I’ve ever encountered. They are very strong. They are focused and dedicated, and are just great competitors. They are the full package.”
Travis finished sixth in the nation at 157 as a freshman and Trent was fourth in the country in the same weight class last year.
“We won’t be satisfied with anything but a national title this year,” Travis said. “We are working toward it every day.”
#8 Lehigh
No More Consolation for Cooperman
By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
The Lehigh record book will show that Cory Cooperman has beaten 71 of 81 opponents since he arrived in Bethlehem, Pa. three years ago. That includes 15 matches in the NCAA tournament where the Mountain Hawk has won 12 of those bouts, wh
ich led to his earning a pair of All-American honors.Unfortunately for the Easton, Pa., native, 10 of those NCAA victories have come in the consolation bracket in the 2004 and 2005 tournaments after the 141-pound wrestler was defeated early in both events.
In 2004, Cooperman got pinned in 26 seconds in a pigtail match to Illinois’ Mike Martin before rallying to win four consecutive consolation bouts and finished seventh. Last season, Cooperman won two matches to reach the quarterfinals but was sent to the consolation bracket when he was pinned by Michigan State’s Andy Simmons. Fortunately, Cooperman did not lose again and won four straight wrestlebacks to finish third.
At least those two tournaments were better than the 2003 event when, after he won the EIWA tournament, he failed to make weight at 133 pounds.
“At Nationals, I’ve kind of choked a little bit under pressure,” admitted Cooperman. “All I’ve been thinking about is winning the national title that I’ve wanted for so long.
But Cooperman, now a senior, blames no one but himself.
“I think I’ve been standing in my own way of winning it,” he said.
#9 Cornell
Let the Big Dog Manotti Bite
By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
If you thought trying to control the likes of Zack Esposito was tough for Cornell’s Dustin Manotti, you never met the Big Red wrestler walking down the street with his two Great Danes, Joey and Angel.
“They get excited sometimes but I control my Danes pretty well,” said Manotti, who as a 157-pound senior wrestler for Co
rnell is about the same size as his pets who are each about three years old. “If you put Joey’s paws on your shoulders, he probably stands 6-foot-something and he weighs about 140 pounds and Angel is a big girl; about 150 pounds.”Other than wrestling and his girlfriend, Rachel, who came to Ithaca, N.Y. from their small hometown of Mifflinburg, Pa., Joey and Angel are Manotti’s main interests off the mat.
“My uncle had a (Great Dane) puppy once and at the time I thought this is a great puppy. I grew up with dogs so I started checking out the breed and the responsibility wasn’t that big for me,” said Manotti, who makes a home for himself and his dogs outside of Ithaca in the home of his landlord who headed to Arizona during the winter. “I have a big yard for them to run around and the price of housing is more affordable out here.”
#10 Arizona State
Velasquez is Pumping with Pride
By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor
There is no doubt who Cain Velasquez represents when the senior heavyweight steps on the mat for Arizona State.
Oh
sure, there is the Sun Devil wrestling team that is ranked No. 10 in the Wrestling International Newsmagazine preseason poll.But more importantly, Velasquez is wrestling for the heritage that the 6-foot-2, 250-pound native of Yuma, Ariz., proudly displays on his tattooed chest in large Old English letters: BROWN PRIDE.
“I always wanted it that large. It’s a Mexican thing and people from Arizona knows what it means,” said Cain, whose parents Esrain and Isabel were married in this country after leaving their native Mexico. “I’m proud of where my parents came.”
And Cain can’t help but think about his father, who was once an illegal alien making trips back and forth between Yuma and the border town of Soniata, Sonora, Mexico.
“My dad pretty much crossed the desert and found work over here,” Cain said. “He would get money and then go back to help out his mother in Mexico.
“My dad is the hardest worker that I know. I try to work hard in the room but just to know what he did to come over here and make a life in the U.S. doesn’t even compare to what he did just to keep a roof over our head.”