View Full Version : Congratulations - National Champions!!!
Otter
03-23-2002, 05:19 PM
Okay, okay, it's not fishing, but at least it's not bashing Mother Theresa!
Congratulations to the University of Minnesota wrestling team!
They won their second consecutive national championship Saturday.
They were ranked #1 all year.
They were Big 10 Champions.
They won every dual meet.
They were National Dual Meet Champions.
They won the NCAA by a whopping 23.5 points.
7 wrestlers qualified as All Americans.
2 won individual national championships.
Way to go guys!!!
Gilligan
03-23-2002, 07:13 PM
Good job Minnesota! Glad to hear another name atop of the heap besides Iowa. Missed the finals aired on ESPN2 tonite. Watch out for my team Penn State, a killer recruiting class coming on board. fyi.. I was the youth coach for Aaron Wright their 165#. He beats the started that just won AA but has been injured.
WCoyote
03-23-2002, 07:50 PM
Yes, congratulattion to the Gopher's. What a year.
Also, congratulations to Iowa State's Cael Sanderson. Four NCAA National Championships and 159-0 record for his career. It has got to be one of the great sports accomplishments of all time. I never wrestled but have been around it enough to know that do what this kid has done is unbelievable.
Tommy Mac
03-23-2002, 08:27 PM
Ya, way to go wrestlers. Mens hockey will be next????
vetspet(ind)
03-23-2002, 09:00 PM
an old wrestler myself....leroy vega is a hometown boy...great wrestler....watch several meets every yr..never miss our semistate in merrilville....we have some great wrestlers in nw ind ...one wrestler is on track to set a new indiana record...he is undefeated for his fresh/soph yr...next yr they will be ducking his wt class so he could go all the way...he is something like 115 and zero losses...tsirtis or something like that...we have great wrestling up here....steve
Yea, that's an accomplishment to win two years in a row.
Also, as already note; what Cael S. accomplished is one of the greatest accomplishments in college athletics.
Does anyone no when the re-broadcast will be, or if it's gonna be?
Travis J.
Homer
03-23-2002, 09:25 PM
Not so fast, my friend. Just got back from Yost arena in Ann Arbor, where both your Golden Gophers and my Wolverines advanced to the Frozen Four, where they will meet in St. Paul in two weeks. It ought to be a great game between two storied programs.
Heard a neat exchange between two fans on the way out of the arena. Gopher fan: "Now we got you in our back yard". Wolverine fan: "Great. Keep the beer cold for us."
TimnIowa
03-24-2002, 04:19 AM
I know there is going to be some Iowa bashing here, but stop and think what Iowa has done for your program and think about where it would be if you weren't trying to beat Iowa and Dan Gable so hard. I also have to say congadulations to Cael S. what a job
Gilligan
03-24-2002, 06:46 AM
Tim..I just reread my post and the others. How do you figure anyone bashed Iowa? All I said was glad to see someone else on top of the heap. Like seeing the Yankees win the series every season.
Tommy Mac
03-24-2002, 06:48 AM
Homer,
FOX sports net pre-empted the Denver-Michigan game with the Timberwolves basketball game. ####### me off big time! I figuerd that to be a great game. Nothing like collage hockey. I feel its hockey in its finest form. I look for that Gopher-Wolverine match up to be great. Speed and finesse vs. In your face smash mouth hockey. I don't think that home ice has a whole lot to do with the outcome at this stage. Those kids are so fired up I don't think they realize where they are playing. I gotta cheer for the boys from Minnesota, (all but one are MN kids ya know). Go Gophers.
Say how about that wrestler from Iowa State. Four NCAA titles in a row and undefeated his entire collegiate carrer. (120-0?)
Good Luck.
CrestHawk
03-24-2002, 08:42 AM
No problem Gilligan. All of us Hawkeye fans are a little jumpy right now. Jimmy Z has done an okay job replacing Gable but we are still trying to get used to not winning every year. Congrats to the Gophers, a great team. Cael Sanderson is a freak of nature(in a positive way), we may never see the likes of him again in our lifetimes. Not even Bobby Douglas could screw him up! Can Cael coach? I hope your Penn Staters continue to improve, it would be good to see the quality of eastern wrestling rise again. It's a great sport and I'm glad to see so many fans on this board. Ex-wrestlers make tough competitive fishermen...
TimnIowa
03-24-2002, 09:36 AM
Gilligan
I just figured there would be but it looks like I was wrong, But, you did get again, I'm also a Yankee fan.
see ya
good fishing
Duck Butter
03-24-2002, 09:59 AM
They showed the Cal match twice on Sat. Dont know when they will show it again, back to Iowa, we have some young ones that red shirted this year including 4-time state champ Jessie Sundell from Ogden Iowa. We need Gable to come back and rough some of these guys up, instead he is up at his place in Guttenburg catching eyes, guess he deserves it.
Chris Bahl
03-24-2002, 11:41 AM
I didn't realize there were so many wrestling fans in the walleye community. I have been bummed all week that I wasn't in Albany, had to cancel at the last minute. I really wanted to Cael win his fourth!!
Congrats to the Gophers!! I was really pulling hard for Snyder but sounds like Becker wrestled a terrific match! I am waiting for the day Lowney really taps his ability and techs Mocco!
Chris
Gilligan
03-24-2002, 12:25 PM
I could see Cael coaching but I would guess his energy will be geared toward International competition for at least the near future.
PSU got killed with injuries, (but then alot of teams did)if they could ever get healthy with new recruits they got they should turn the corner.
Lehigh program is in full swing. I was suprised that Iowa was able to get local kid in Mocco away from them.
almosthadabite
03-24-2002, 03:29 PM
Glad to see so many fishing wrestling fans. What a tournament, lots of big upsets. ISU with 3 champs was great. And how about Rohn from Lehigh? Way to go Gophs.
What a bummer, Saturday morning my brother and I are stopped to meet with two friends and we go to their room at the motel they're staying at and here is a Report on the NCAA's on ESPN2. I suddenly realize I'm going to miss the showing of the finals. Life is suddenly bad!! Then it hits me, life is suddenly good!! We were there to meet them on our way to the ramp for a day of walleye fishing in Washington. If something is going to get in the way of the wrestling finals it had better be a walleye.. We made the right choice for the day as one of the guys caught a 33",12.3LB female. Great fish, got a few good pictures followed by a clean release. Got to watch the white spot disappear back to the bottom to make more white spots!! If anyone finds out about a re-showing of the finals please post date and time. I'll do the same.. Good luck, RJ in Montana
Nick(Ia)
03-25-2002, 02:35 PM
Say what! Chris, are you feeling okay? Looney tech Macco? If they ever get a ref that won't let Looney block and ride the legs Macco will stick him :-). Frankly, I don't think we'll ever see a great match between these two. Neither of them will ever open up as it appears they are both afraid of gettin tossed. Gable was/is a walleye fishermen of considerable passion. If you ever get the opportunity to talk fishing with Gable you will see that he has the same drive and intensity as he had on the wrestling mat.
mossboss
03-25-2002, 03:44 PM
Iowa was a powerhouse for years and had and still do have a great program. But I have say that Minnesota is really do it themselves. If you look at the current Div 1,2,3 champions, out of possible 30 wrestlers (10 weight classes per team) 22 of the wrestlers are from Minnesota. Oh yea, Luke Eustice, Blue Earth, MN
Chris Bahl
03-25-2002, 04:07 PM
If you noticed, I said his "potential." I am very disappointed in the heavyweights. I would "stall" them all out. I was the tournament director of the 1995 Cadet Nationals and many of this years class, including Lowney, were in that tournament. Sometimes I wonder if Lowney has gotten any better since then? (:
I have talked walleye fishing with Coach Gable alot. I was the Asst. AD at Nebraska and used to be the University admin. rep. for the NCAA wrestling championship. Coach Gable and I became pretty good friends talking fishing. I haven't talked to him in a couple of years. I'd like to take him fishing someday. A true American Legend!!!
Gilligan
03-25-2002, 05:19 PM
ah but.. former Pa high schoolers have 70 Div 1 All Americans in last 6 seasons and more than any other state 5 of last 6 years.
Gilligan
03-25-2002, 05:31 PM
Wow! With all those hats how do you find time to fish? If Mr Gable is half as intense a fisherman as he was a wrestler/coach I'm not sure I would want to be in the same boat with him. First time someone outfishes him may find themselves checking out the pfd.lol
Chris Bahl
03-25-2002, 08:07 PM
He would definitely be a good tournament fisherman!! I told him he should take it up.
As for Cael's career, someone asked if he had been beat, in 1995 I saw Cael get beat in the Cadet FS finals. He lost to Burrows of PA. However, Burrows defensive style was not popular with the fans that night. Cael won the GR title that year. I was trying to find how many times he won the Juniors? The guy is amazing and I can't wait to see him in Athens!!!
Gilligan
03-25-2002, 08:54 PM
My son also wrestled Brian Burrows in HS in 1996. The weight class consisted of Burrows, Robbie Weikel and Josh Koscheck. My son was down 2-1 in mid 3rd period with Burrows until getting caught in a 5 point move, ended up loosing 9-2. Koscheck (national champ for Edinboro) beat Weikel and then lost to Burrows 5-2. My boy lost to Weikel for 3/4th for his only 2 losses of the season. Burrows and Weikel met in the state finals that year, Koscheck never placed that season, my boy ended up with a messed up knee and never advanced.
Brian could always look busy without doing alot but I think the car accident he had really took alot out of him mentaly, never doing much at the college level.
1995 had to have Cael as about a 10th grader?? Must have also been about the last time he ever lost.
DaveB
03-26-2002, 09:26 AM
Ditto-congrats to U of M.
I was a state champ in high school (Greco and Freestyle) and wrestled in many national tourneys-but man...I got to college and that was a different story. Those guys are NUTS!!! For anyone that has never been exposed to it-you cant imagine the kind of training and workouts that these guys go through. I dislocated my elbow early in the season and never made it back. I realized that college was way to intense for me-high school wrestling was fun...college was work!
Imagine a 7-10 mile run in the morning. 2-3 hours of constantly working every muscle in your body getting pushed to your max, and then weight training in the evening. Now try to fit classes, homework, and a life into that schedule.
BTW...when I was in high school, Iowa was winning natl titles, but MN had the best wrestlers. We still have the best, only now we are keeping them!!!
Did anybody see former Gopher great Heavyweight Brock Lesnar on WWF the other night? Man looks scary. Pretty decent in the theatre too, although he hasn't had to talk yet.
Chris Bahl
03-26-2002, 09:54 PM
Man, what a tough weight class!!! I was surprised that Koscheck had the year he did this year after completelt dominating the nationals last year. But then again, it is the NCAA's. Extremely tough. That shows you how special Cael is.
I am wearing my Oklahoma State Wrestling shirt today. John Smith is a fishing addict! He has a great walleye, and saugeye, hole just out his back door in Sooner Lake. His buddy Doc Kelly and he fish all the time. In fact, the majority of that athletic dept. fish!! Great people in the sport of wrestling. I was guest on North American Fisherman's show a couple of weeks ago and greatly enjoyed my time with cameraman/director/producer Brian Kellington (sp) who is a HS and College wrestling official in MN. The biggest addict I know from the wrestling world is NCAA National Champion Jason Kelber!! That guy fishes everyday at Beaver Lake here in Nebraska!! He is a true addict.
Does anyone know if Sanderson is a fisherman?
Chris
Im not trying to beat the Hawkeye drum even if it sounds that way. Dan Gable has been a friend of mine since his High School days in Waterloo and if anybody ever met a stronger competitor or a harder worker I would find it hard to believe. Dan is a living testimony to all Wrestlers...they represent the toughest sport and in my mind they are all CHAMPIONS....Go Big Ten
Mean Mike
03-27-2002, 09:28 AM
Congrats to the Gophers. I was hoping WVU would crack the top ten, but Greg Jones did a great job in winning the 174lb title, possible 4X champ, hope he can do it.