HOOSIERS ARE WELL-STOCKED
Head Coach Duane Goldman, IU's all-time winningest wrestling coach, enters his 17th season at the helm of the Hoosier wrestling program with loads of talent returning from last season. Six of eight NCAA qualifiers from a year ago are back donning the Cream and Crimson for the `08-09 campaign.
Half of the Hoosier starting line-up is ranked the Intermat/NWCA preseason national rankings. Angel Escobedo leads the way at #1 in the 125-lbs. weight division. Kurt Kinser joins Escobedo in the top-10, coming in at #9 at 149 pounds. Andrae Hernandez is just out of the top-10, slotted 11th. Meanwhile, Matt Coughlin and Nate Everhart are both ranked 14th in their respective weight classes.
125 POUNDS
There is little doubt who will man the 125-lbs. slot for Indiana this season as defending national champion Angel Escobedo returns for his junior year. He looks to become the second Hoosier to win back-to-back NCAA titles in the last five years after Joe Dubuque won two straight at 125 pounds in 2005 and 2006. Escobedo is coming off a 39-1 season that saw him win Big Ten and Midlands championships as well.
Redshirt junior Wesley Fike will also provide leadership in the weight class, entering his fourth season with the team. Fike has gathered four wins in his career, including a pin as a frosh. Just like Fike, freshman Christopher Tanner is also a graduate of Penn High School and will be wrestling at 125-lbs for the Hoosiers in 2008-09.
133 POUNDS
Indiana's Redshirt of the Year recipient, Matt Ortega, is expected to step into the starting lineup right away at 133 pounds. He totaled 10 wins as a redshirt with a pin and three major decisions. Ortega is a four-time New Mexico state champion and was ranked No. 2 nationally coming out of high school.
True freshman Geno Capezio is one of three freshmen to reign from Glenbard North High School in Illinois, joining Danny Monaco and Vince Ramos. He twice placed at the state championships, finishing in sixth and fourth his final two seasons.
141 POUNDS
Three-time NCAA qualifier and former All-American Andrae Hernandez moves up to the 141-pound weight class for his senior campaign. He has a career win total of 78 that includes 15 pins, 13 tech falls and 11 major decisions. Hernandez looks to make a return to the All-American stand after taking eighth place at the NCAA Championships in 2007 as a sophomore.
Junior Scott Kelly will push Hernandez for time in the line-up. Kelly, last season's starter at 141-lbs., knows what it takes to win in the Big Ten, earning three conference victories a year ago. Also competing at this weight will be a pair of freshmen in Danny Monaco and Nick Viterisi. Monaco is a two-time state placer while Viterisi comes from Bloomington South High School after a third-place finish in last year's Indiana state championships.
149 POUNDS
This weight class is the most crowded for IU with five wrestlers battling for the right to fill the starting role. The Big Ten's top pin-collector, Kurt Kinser, is the front-runner to start after racking up 18 falls and 32 wins in 2007-08. Kinser had his hand raised three times at the NCAAs last year. Junior Nick Walpole and his 28-14 career record cannot be overlooked, however. He has also shown the ability to put the opposition on its back, posting 10 pins in his first two seasons donning the Cream and Crimson.
Sophomore Alex Warren, redshirt freshman Greer Bivenour and true freshman Vince Ramos round out the IU arsenal at 149 pounds. Warren and Ramos are both former state champions. Bivenour totaled four wins and two falls during his redshirt year.
157 POUNDS
Matt Coughlin will drop back down to the 157-lbs. weight class for his junior season after competing at 165 pounds a year ago. He climbed the All-American stand as a 149-pound freshmen, finishing in seventh place. Coughlin is coming off a 2007-08 campaign in which he won the Michigan State Open, took fifth at the Big Tens and qualified for the NCAA Championships for the second time. True freshman Ryan Konz will provide depth for IU at the position. Konz finished in the top-three of the Tennessee state championships in each of his four seasons.
165 POUNDS
It's three-man race for the top spot at 165 pounds. Redshirt sophomore Paul Young must fend off a pair of brothers in Cooper and Kyle Samuels for extensive time in the line-up. In 2007-08, Young cracked the starting line-up at 174 lbs. several times, snagging 13 total wins on the year.
Cooper Samuels, a true freshman, is a highly-touted recruit from Floyds Knobs, Ind. with two state championships on his impressive resume. He holds the Floyd Central school record for most takedowns and most pins. Kyle Samuels, a senior, will also compete at 165 pounds. He earned the Scholastic Achievement Award last year, given to the student-athlete that boasts the highest grade point average on each respective team.
174 POUNDS
Juniors Trevor Perry and Seth Parker, along with sophomore Nick Avery are in the running for time at 174 pounds. Perry is the most experienced of the group, starting at 174-lbs. for the majority of his first two NCAA-qualifying seasons. Perry brings an extra element to the table with his knack for earning bonus points. He stuck 12 opponents last year in addition to three major decisions.
Avery has started before, filling in and winning two of four matches as a starter for Indiana during his freshman campaign. Meanwhile, Parker is healthy again this year after battling through injuries the past two seasons.
184 POUNDS
Eric Cameron, Matt Powless and Chandler Coffey each begin the season at 184 pounds. Cameron, a redshirt sophomore, started seven dual matches for the Hoosiers in 2007-08, winning six of those contests. Overall, Cameron went 11-4 with a tech fall and two major decisions.
Powless's ability to garner bonus points could be very beneficial for Indiana in dual matches. He went 8-4 as a redshirt, including two pins, a tech fall and two major decisions. Coffey is a true freshman from near-by Nashville Ind., who tallied a career high school mark of 130-20.
197 POUNDS
Junior Justin Kuhn and true freshman George Malone are expected to go head-to-head in the 197-lbs. weight class. Kuhn is a former heavyweight with starting experience, going 4-3 in dual matches last season. He owns a 15-14 career record with five pins and a major decision. Malone has the opportunity to immediately jump into the starting line-up. He is a former Indiana state champion and holds several school records, including most wins and pins in a season and most career pins.
HEAVYWEIGHT
Nate Everhart is Indiana's top heavyweight after earning the team's Most Improved Wrestler Award a year ago. Everhart, a junior, has added nearly 30 pounds of muscle during the offseason and looks to make his second consecutive trip to the NCAAs.
True freshman Nick Cook is another option for Indiana at the heavyweight position. He comes to Bloomington from the state of Virginia, where he was twice the runner-up in the state championships.
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