Hoosier wrestling remains winless in Big Ten play

After a match on the road last weekend, IU wrestling was back in full force Friday night in University Gym. Squaring off against the No. 17 Michigan Wolverines in the second-to-last home match of the season, the Hoosiers suffered a 30-13 defeat, remaining winless in the Big Ten.

The Hoosiers began the match with a slow start at the 125-pound weight position.
Sophomore Joe Duca was closely matched with Michigan’s Sean Doyle, but could not convert the effort into points for IU, losing 3-0. In the same manner, freshman Alonzo Shepherd started with a 4-1 deficit at the 133-pound position and ultimately lost the bout.

After witnessing the early weight classes fall to the Wolverines, freshman Alex Gregory came into his bout with clear eyes. In a match that was close until the last point, Gregory fell to Michigan 7-4, continuing the Hoosiers’ absence on the scoreboard. 

“He (Gregory) has the talent, but he has some mental issues that he needs to overcome,” IU Coach Duane Goldman said. “When it got down to it later in the match, you could see him doubt himself, and it didn’t help him carry through for the victory.”

After Gregory’s match, the Hoosiers were unable to convert in the next weight class. However, as in previous matches, sophomore Taylor Walsh was responsible for the first points of the match. Jumping to an early lead in his bout, Walsh did not let out Michigan’s Michael Carpenter and won with a major decision of 10-2. After Walsh’s victory, the Hoosiers dropped the next two bouts.

Though IU would not be in reach of Michigan, the Hoosiers saw a promising match at the 184-pound weight class dished out by sophomore Luke Sheridan. From the start, Sheridan made quick work of Michigan’s Christopher Heald and gave the Hoosiers their only pin of the day. This is Sheridan’s third consecutive win in the Big Ten.

“I’m never content. That’s what Duane talks about, just never being okay with just winning a couple of matches,” Sheridan said. “They all talk about continuing to progress and I’m definitely taking steps in the right direction, but I’m nowhere near where I want to be.”

In the final match of the day, junior Adam Chalfant came away victorious after a fierce battle against Michigan’s Ben Apland in the closest match of the day. Chalfant earned a win with a score of 9-7 against Apland.

While IU did not convert the individual matches to wins, Goldman said there has been much improvement and the team cannot focus on the overall outcome.

“We’ve been working hard and improving a lot every match, and I think we see that improvement,” Goldman said. “It has been rough, so we can’t really focus on the team outcome because if we just focused on the team outcome, it would be hard to keep that motivation.”

Goldman said he was pleased with the effort tonight and hopes to keep improving for the remainder of the season.