Freshman wrestlers learn as they go
By Britton Dove, Staff Writer
February 3, 2008 | 6 a.m.
Huddled in a semicircle listening to Coach Joel Greenlee after practice are 3,698 pounds of sweating wrestlers, and 2,464 pounds of them are freshmen.
At the beginning of the year, the Ohio University wrestling team had a roster of 26. Seventeen of them were freshmen and only one senior, Ryan Knapp, after an injury to senior Caleb Metcalf (an expected 20-25 win individual according to Greenlee) forced him to end the season.
With this many freshmen on a roster, one might think that Greenlee would consider this year a rebuilding year. However, with the talent and determination this class has, he will not let them use that as an excuse.
“I don’t want to give those guys an excuse to say, 'Hey, it’s a rebuilding year,'” said Greenlee, who is in his 11th season at OU. “It’s not. We expect the same out of them that we expect out of the other guys. We need to find a way to get them to the highest level that we can.”
Although this comparatively is a young team, Greenlee only has positive things to say about this squad, including enthusiasm, hard work, great effort and great attitudes. Freshmen wrestlers Aaron Schecter and Chris Iammarino agreed with Greenlee, describing themselves as young but just a step away from being great.
“Knowing that we are all freshmen, we are all kind of behind, and we all don’t see it as a downfall,” said Iammarino, who wrestles in the 197-pound weight class. “We see it as motivation to get better and just trying to hang with these D[ivision]-I college teams that don’t have any freshmen in their lineup.”
With only one senior on the squad, Knapp (174-pound class), most of the freshmen know who to turn to for leadership and advice, but in the eyes of Greenlee, it is the group of freshmen that have been helping Knapp this season.
“I think it’s kind of rejuvenated him (Knapp) a little bit,” Coach Greenlee said. “He came into this year beat up with a lot of injuries. Then this went wrong, and that went wrong, and at the springtime of last year, he was wrestling the best he ever did, and then he got hurt again. I think he came into this year a little bit down, and he can’t catch a break, but now we got a great group of guys that are enthusiastic and want to work hard and want to do the right things, and I think it’s rejuvenated him a little bit.”
The team is 4-10 in dual meets with three of its losses coming to ranked opponents -- No. 17 Indiana, No. 19 Pittsburgh and No. 12 Ohio State. The team also got 46th place at the Cliff Kleen Invitational in Las Vegas and 22nd at the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro, N.C.
This team has some lofty goals for the future, but its coach believes the teammates can be accomplished with dedication and talented recruiting classes in the future.
“I think this is a team that obviously needs more than we have right now,” Greenlee said. “But I think if we get another good recruiting class and the guys we have already signed for this year, this is a team that can win a MAC championship."
Iammarino and Schecter reiterated Greenlee's beliefs about what the future has in store but added that they see themselves as a top-10 team in the NCAA as well.
“As a team and as individuals we can be as good as we want to be,” Schecter said. “If we want to put forth the extra effort in the room and in the weight room, we will be that good, and the sky is the limit."
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