IU tries to end a 67-year drought at Big Tens

Forty-seven nationally ranked wrestlers, eight teams in the top 25, and 21 out of the last 30 National Championship teams are just a few reasons why the Big Ten is the best wrestling conference in the country.

It is no secret the Big Ten Championships have more talent on display than any other conference tournament.

This historic trend will continue as every Big Ten wrestler will look to punch a ticket to the National Championships this weekend at Michigan’s Crisler Arena.

The event has plagued the No. 13 Hoosiers (16-3, 5-3), even in the years they showed national promise. They haven’t won a team title since the 1942-43 season  and have placed in the top half only twice in the past decade. In 1996, when the Hoosiers went 6-1 in Big Ten play, they finished last. Even two-time 125-pound national champion and current IU assistant coach Joe Dubuque could never bring home a Big Ten title.

IU coach Duane Goldman put it bluntly.

“This tournament is a killer,” he said.

Fortunately for the cream and crimson, this year is a different story.
With the amount of upperclassmen and experience in the starting lineup, the Hoosiers enter Saturday with as good a chance as ever to prove they are among the nation’s elite.

This year marks the first time the Hoosiers have finished above .500 in the Big Ten since 1996, which helps explain why half of the Hoosiers’ lineup is ranked in the top 14 nationally.

Senior Angel Escobedo will look to bolster his impeccable resume this weekend, trying to become the first IU wrestler to ever win three Big Ten Championships. As the No. 1 wrestler nationally at 125 pounds, Escobedo will be tagged with the No. 1 seed and a target on his back.

“This is when I do my best because guys come at me attacking, and it allows me to open my offense up and take them down,” Escobedo said.

While Escobedo has already stood atop the Big Ten podium twice, coming in undefeated is uncharted territory. Not only did the former national champion tally his first 8-0 Big Ten season, he also has yet to record a mark in the loss column at an unblemished 30-0.

Giving the favorite his first loss of the season will be the goal for all Big Ten wrestlers this weekend, but Escobedo is not about to let anyone get in the way of him stamping his name into the Hoosier record books one more time.

“This is a program that has had such a rich history of great wrestlers, and to be the first one to ever win three Big Ten titles would mean a lot to me,” Escobedo said.

But Escobedo’s repeated success in the Big Ten Championships has not resulted in top finishes for the Hoosiers in the past few years. The Griffith, Ind., native is the only one on this active roster to have captured the coveted Big Ten title.

But undefeated senior heavyweight Nate Everhart hopes to change that soon.

To fully understand how dominant Everhart has been, one must look at the work he did in the nonconference schedule.

Everhart took down the top two seeds to earn the heavyweight crown at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in the beginning of December. Later that month, Everhart came back to Bloomington with the heavyweight title at the Southern Scuffle. 

The senior who started the year ranked No. 16 nationally has climbed his way to the No. 2 spot and is determined to bring home some more hardware this weekend.

Powered by the perennially-winning seniors, the Hoosiers feel they are a team built for big tournament success. They finished sixth out of 44 teams at the Vegas Invitational and third out of 35 in the Southern Scuffle.

But they aren’t alone. Junior Kurt Kinser, No. 8 at 157 pounds, has also risen through the ranks, giving the team hopes of a high finish.

Kinser, a Bloomington native, was just a questionable takedown away from winning the 157-pound title at the Southern Scuffle. He has a quick pin ability that makes him a legitimate threat and gives the Hoosiers a chance to get some big team points.
In a season that started with him sidelined because of injury, Kinser believes he is just hitting his stride going into this weekend.

“I’ve been feeling really good, and I feel like I’m peaking at the right time,” Kinser said. “I feel like this is as strong as we’ve been since I’ve been here, and I think we’re ready to make a lot of big moves this weekend.”

Two No. 1 seeds and five nationally ranked wrestlers could be the recipe for the Hoosiers’ success this weekend. They have not forgotten about their ninth-place finish last year, and they are poised in the face of redemption.

“In the past, we’ve had the talent but we haven’t really had the depth to back it up,” Escobedo said. “This year, every guy up and down the starting lineup can make it to Nationals.”