Flashes Visit Cleveland State Tuesday Night
After a brutal stretch of road trips to start the season, Kent State will finally compete in Northeast Ohio Tuesday night, visiting regional rival Cleveland State. The dual meet at Woodling Gymnasium begins at 7 p.m. as the Golden Flashes open the 2011 portion of their schedule. KSU is ranked No. 20 by both InterMat and Wrestling Report.com.
INTERNET VIDEO
A replay of Tuesday night's dual meet will be available at gohiocasts.com
A LOOK AT CLEVELAND STATE
The Vikings (1-2) scored a convincing 30-7 dual win over John Carroll on Nov. 23, winning 8-of-10 matches. In its most recent dual at Northwestern, CSU got victories from senior Rob Michaels (165), sophomore Aric Thurn (174) and sophomore Chris Weber (285). Weber recently placed sixth at the Cleveland State Open. Michaels won tournament titles in back-to-back weekends at the Eastern Michigan and Michigan State Opens. Freshman Nick Flannery (133) placed second at the Eastern Michigan Open.
SERIES HISTORY
Kent State and Cleveland State first squared off in 1932 and will be meeting for the 25th time on Tuesday. After defeating the Vikings in each of the previous six seasons, the Golden Flashes hold a 15-8-1 all-time series lead.
Last season, Kent State recorded two pins and four major decisions in a 40-3 throttling of Cleveland State. The Vikings' only victory came at 174, while the Flashes got falls from Mallie Shuster and Casey Newburg. Chase Skonieczny, Tommy Sasfy and Brendan Barlow all won by major decision.
The last time the teams met in Cleveland (Jan. 17, 2009), the Vikings jumped out to a 6-0 lead with wins at 125 and 133, but the Golden Flashes swept the final eight matches to run away with a 33-5 victory.
LAST ACTION
Kent State claimed a top eight finish in each of the five upper weight classes, while five other Golden Flashes came up one win shy of placing Thursday at the Southern Scuffle. Junior Dustin Kilgore's fifth place at 197 was the highest for the Flashes, who finished sixth in the team standings at the Greensboro Coliseum. Joe Tymoszczuk (285) racked up six wins and three pins on the way to a sixth place. Ross Tice (165) and Casey Newburg each claimed seventh place, while Brandonn Johnson (174) grabbed an eighth place.
KSU REMAINS AHEAD OF CMU IN MAC POLL
Kent State was represented in the top four of all 10 weight classes in the Dec. 17 Mid-American Conference Coaches Poll. With five wrestlers ranked in the top two spots, the Flashes earned 26 total points, just ahead of Central Michigan, who earned 24 points.
KILGORE QUICKLY CLIMBING THE CHARTS
On Nov. 7 at the Hokie Open, Dustin Kilgore became the first Kent State wrestler to reach 100 career victories during his junior year. Kilgore is now 19-2 on the season and recently raised his victory total to 116, the fifth most wins in school history. Going 4-0 at the Body Bar, he passed three former wrestlers on KSU's 100-win list, including head coach Jim Andrassy. Next up on the list is Jermail Porter in fourth with 119 victories.
DUAL SUCCESS
Since the 2005-06 season, the Golden Flashes have gone 74-24-1 in dual meets.
UP NEXT
The Golden Flashes will jump right back into stiff competition on the road this Friday and Saturday (Jan. 7-8) at the Virginia Duals. Kent State is seeded fourth in the 16-team dual tournament at the Hampton Coliseum. The Flashes will take on Rider in their opening dual Friday at 9 a.m. and will face either Arizona State or Chattanooga Friday afternoon.
WEIGHT-BY-WEIGHT BREAKDOWN
125- In a recent trip to Woodling Gym, sophomore Stevie Mitcheff (17-6) recorded a pin and a tech fall in his 5-0 day at the Cleveland State Open Dec. 12. Mitcheff placed sixth at the Hokie Open, going 6-2 on the day and fourth at the Body Bar, making his way into the semifinals. Most recently, he went 4-2 at the Southern Scuffle, with his losses coming to No. 4 James Nicholson (Old Dominion) and No. 16 Frank Martellotti (Penn State).
133- True freshman Tyler Small (9-8) is ranked third in the MAC Coaches Poll. He earned his first dual win of the year at Missouri with an 8-6 upset over No. 17 Nathan McCormick. Small claimed a fourth place finish at the Body Bar and a convincing 15-8 victory over then No. 17 Kevin Smith of Buffalo in the quarterfinals. Small made a memorable collegiate debut at the Hokie Open with a third place finish and a 4-1 mark. At the Hershey Duals, Small fell to No. 6 Devin Carter (Virginia Tech) and was leading Virginia's Joe Spisak 2-0 late in the third, before surrendering a reversal and near fall. Small has two pins on the year and was ranked as high as No. 27 according to WrestlingReport.com. Most recently, he went 2-2 at the Southern Scuffle.
141- Sophomore Chase Skonieczny (11-11) has suffered nine losses against Top 20 competition after going 3-2 at the Southern Scuffle. He earned two technical falls and a major decision last week in Greensboro, while his two setbacks came against Top 15 opponents. In his most recent dual at Pitt, Skonieczny led No. 7 Tyler Nauman 3-2 after two periods, before falling 5-4. Skonieczny placed fourth at the Body Bar with a 2-1 victory over top-seeded Hicks Manson of Cornell and later dropped his consolation final bout in overtime. Skonieczny earned a 6-1 victory over North Carolina's Rocco Wellek in his only dual win this season. Skonieczny also went 5-1 with two major decisions in a fifth place finish at the Hokie Open.
149- Junior Marcel Clopton (11-8) won five matches at the Southern Scuffle and was just one win shy of placing in the top eight. Clopton improved to 3-1 in dual meets after beating Pitt's Dane Johnson in three sudden victory periods. Clopton is currently ranked No. 2 in the MAC and has seven of his last nine. He went 2-2 at the Body Bar and earned a dual win against Chattanooga.
157- Senior Matt Cathell (8-3) is No. 21 according to D1CW and No. 2 according to MAC coaches. Cathell carries a three-match winning streak following an 11-10 win at Pitt. He tallied his fifth pin of the season against North Carolina at the Hershey Duals, before sitting out the Body Bar with an injury. He racked up four pins and a major decision in his opening weekend and placed third at the Hokie Open. This year, Cathell is competing at 157 for the first time in his career. Two of his losses have come at the hands of No. 12 Pete Yates of Virginia Tech.
Sophomore Mallie Shuster (3-5) went 2-2 at the Southern Scuffle. He sat out the Body Bar with illness after going 1-1 at the Hokie Open.
165- Junior Ross Tice (14-8) placed seventh at the Southern Scuffle with a 5-2 record. He knocked off eighth-seeded Nicholas Sulzer (Virginia) before falling to top-seeded Justin Kerber (Cornell) in the quarterfinals. Tice is currently ranked No. 21 by both WrestlingReport.com and D1CW. He is also No. 3 in the MAC according to conference coaches. In what was expected to be a close match, Tice scored a 10-1 major decision over Pitt's Adam Counterman, resulting in the only bonus points for either team in Kent State's 16-15 win over the Panthers. Tice went 3-1 with a major decision in his third place finish at the Body Bar. He went 1-1 at the Hershey Duals with a 7-3 win over Virginia's Charles Miller. Tice finished sixth at the Hokie Open with a technical fall and a major decision. He is 3-3 in duals this season.
174- Redshirt freshman Ethan Taylor will make his debut in a varsity dual meet Tuesday night. Taylor saw his first action of the year at the Cleveland State Open, going 3-2.
184- Sophomore Casey Newburg (12-10) went 4-2 in his seventh place finish at the Southern Scuffle, which included an 8-7 victory over No. 18 Nate Graham (Bloomsburg). Newburg is No. 3 according to MAC Coaches. He was unable to hold leads in each of his last two dual meets. Newburg went 4-1 with a pair of pins and a major decision at the Body Bar. His only loss came to No. 4 Steve Bosak of Cornell, whom he also lost to at the Southern Scuffle. Six of Newburg's setbacks have come against Top 20 opponents. He went 3-2 at the Hokie Open with a major decision. Newburg earned a decisive 8-2 win in his dual against Iowa State, but fell in an overtime tiebreaker to No. 19 Jason McCroskey of Chattanooga. Newburg won four bouts at last year's Scuffle, but did not place.
197- Sophomore Keith Witt (13-8) will be competing at 197 for the first time in his career. Witt came up one win shy of placing in the 184-pound bracket at the Southern Scuffle last week. He also defeated eighth-seeded Bagna Tovuujav 10-9, before falling to No. 2 Chris Honeycutt. Witt had a strong performance at the Cleveland State Open winning five matches in his fifth place finish that included three pins. He currently leads the team with six falls on the year.
285- After starting the season at 197 pounds, senior Joe Tymoszczuk (7-7) moved up to heavyweight for the Southern Scuffle and placed sixth in a bracket that included 11 Top 20 wrestlers. Tymoszczuk won six matches over two days and recorded three pins. On day two, Tymoszczuk topped 11th seeded Ben Berhow of Minnesota 4-3 and seventh seeded Jeremy Johnson of Ohio 3-1 in overtime. His three pins all came on the opening day, coming against UNC-Greensboro's James Payne, Army's Christian Botero and NC State's Robert Isola.
