Video’s of Sanderson’s 4 NCAA Titles.

By Jon Klinkowitz
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Wrestling isn’t a sport that lends itself to self-expression.

Lone Tree senior Nick Petsel has found a way, however. The 171-pounder has a unique lucky charm.

“Sometimes I wear goofy socks to change it up,” Petsel said. “I have ones with pink hearts on them. My girlfriend gave them to me.”

The unique footwear has been effective, helping Petsel build a 9-3 record at the holiday break.

A third-place finisher at last season’s district meet, Petsel has his eye on the state tournament. But it could be a lonely trip. Lone Tree has just 11 wrestlers this season, and all the forfeits have hurt the team’s dual record.

“In a way it’s frustrating,” Petsel said. “But it’s OK since we’re doing well in the matches where we do wrestle.”

Petsel also plays football, and is active in the Future Farmers of America, the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, and the camping club at Lone Tree. He also enjoys racing his dirt bike around the family farm.

His college plans aren’t set in stone, but Petsel likely will attend Muscatine Community College next year to study horticulture.

Junior Mack Reiter of Minnesota tore a ligament in a knee on Oct. 19. The Don Bosco of Gilbertville graduate said he will return from the injury Feb. 1.

Mack Reiter of Minnesota doesn’t plan to let knee surgery keep him from the NCAA 133-pound championship he vowed to win after placing fourth last season.

Reiter, a four-time state champion at Don Bosco of Gilbertville, is a junior at Minnesota. He’s twice been an all-American.

Reiter expects to be ready to go Feb. 1 - less than four months after undergoing surgery for a torn ligament in his right knee. Reiter sustained the injury in practice Oct. 19.

“The way I look at it, if I get into the Big Ten tournament, I got a shot at winning the national title,” Reiter said. “I know I’m doing the right things now with the cards I have been dealt. I just have to play the hand I got and, hopefully, things will fall into place for me and I can be on top at the end.”

Despite being sidelined all season, Reiter is still No. 5 at 133 pounds by W.I.N. Magazine.

Got a wrestler, or just an athlete, on your list this year? Need to get a quick present for them? Check out the Wrestling Training CDs - Eastern European Training Secrets and Grapplers Guide To Sports Nutrition.

Wrestling Training CDs (in Products -> Misc) are packed with information and tips from national and olympic wrestlers along with a hall of fame wrestling coach. With four hours of information from all kinds of athletes and coaches, this is one gift that can be enjoyed long after Christmas.

The Grapplers Guide To Sports Nutrition is an ebook that’s not only good for wrestlers, but all athletes. It gives nutrition and exercise tips and tells you how to best work with your body to get the most out of it.

Both gifs can be downloaded over the internet and you can have them in just minutes. No store lines or waiting for shipping.

Other ideas can be found in GrapplersGym’s product area.

“A good book is the purest essence of the soul” – Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian and essayist

“When a new book is published, read an old one” – Samuel Rogers, British poet

By Kyle Klingman – TWM Columnist

The history of wrestling in books is fascinating. From the beginning, wrestling held a prominent place in writing. The Epic of Gilgamesh, considered by many to be oldest surviving piece of literature, features a wrestling match between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The story of the ancient Sumerian ruler predates the Bible and the Homeric epics (both of which include wrestling) by over 1000 years.

Through the ages books have been viewed as both good and evil. Perhaps the greatest holder of books was the Royal Library of Alexandria. The Egyptian library was formed in the 3rd century B.C. during the rule of Ptolemy II. It is estimated that over 500,000 scrolls were kept there at its zenith.

Upon arrival to the great city of Alexandria all books were confiscated. Ptolemy III ordered that all visitors were to give up any writing in their possession. The scrolls were taken and copied by scribes with the original being placed in the library and a duplicate copy given to the original owner.

Ann Arbor, MI
By Leah Howard
University of Michigan

The University of Michigan wrestling team will not compete at the Midlands Championships, scheduled for Dec. 29-30, head coach Joe McFarland announced on Tuesday (Dec. 19).

“After evaluating our first semester,” said McFarland, “we just felt it was in our best interest to come back here and let a few of our guys heal up a little bit. We just felt we needed more time to adequately heal and get some good training to get ready for the second and most important part of our season.”

The Wolverines will return to the mats in the early in the new year when they square off against Hofstra on Saturday, Jan. 6. The non-conference dual is slated for a 7 p.m. start at Cliff Keen Arena.

The University of Michigan was one of the participants at the very first Midlands in 1963… and, by their participation, really helped to launch it as THE Christmas-season wrestling event.

Teams and Individuals move up and down the polls from week to week. Coaches and wrestlers claim it doesn’t matter, but fans love rankings. And when it’s all said and done, no matter what your opinion is, rankings - even though there are a lot of them - are good for the sport

By Jeremy O’Kasick - TWM Freelance Writer

A week of big dual wins for Missouri and Minnesota has wrestling fans grappling themselves over the question: Who is the real No. 1?

In their latest tallies, my colleagues at The Wrestling Mall and W.I.N. go with Minnesota. The three-way NWCA/USA Today/Intermat poll gives the honor to Missouri. I could spend another seven paragraphs weighing both sides and arguing every angle under the sun. But let’s cut to the real question: What does it really matter?

More than six publications and groups come out with national collegiate wrestling polls throughout the season, and in addition to that, many conferences, like the Pac-10, CAA and EIWA, each have their own team and individual poll.

Armstrong Takes Second At 133 In CSU Open
Michaels and Gilkey also place at 157 and 184, respectively

Contact: Josh Rattray

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Junior David Armstrong went 3-1 to place second in the 133-pound weight class, freshman Rob Michaels had a career day, winning five of six matches en route to a fifth place finish and senior David Gilkey placed fourth to lead the Vikings at the CSU Open on Saturday (Dec. 16) at Woodling Gym. The tournament, which included 186 wrestlers overall, was CSU’s first home competition of the year.

Armstrong (6-2) earned a berth in the 133-pound title bout with a thrilling 9-7 overtime win over Michigan State’s Micah Carter. Carter led the bout, 7-6, until Armstrong scored an escape with 2.3 second remaining to tie the score 7-7. Armstrong took control early in the sudden victory period, taking Carter down just 19.4 seconds into the extra time. Armstrong dropped an 8-3 decision to an unattached Mike Grey in the title bout at 133 to finish is four-match day.

He started the day with a 14-2 major decision over Eastern Michigan’s Vince Licari and then a 3-1 win over Virginia’s Anthony Burke to advance to the semi-final tilt with Carter.

By Guy Cipriano

UNIVERSITY PARK — The guys across the mat were on the edges of their padded seats and jumping throughout the later stages of this dual meet.

And what about the guys that were expected to have a lot to jump about?

They uncomfortably leaned back and saw a score they never expected:

Penn State 17, Lock Haven 15.

With a heavyweight bout remaining Friday, the school with the smaller enrollment and meager resources had a chance to pull a shocker.

“By 197 (pounds), we were like, ‘Holy crap, this is a close match,’” Penn State senior 174-pounder James Yonushonis said. “I would say darn right we were stunned. It wasn’t what we expected.”

It wasn’t what sophomore heavyweight Joe Farina expected, either.

He expected his debut in a Penn State singlet to occur on the backside of a lopsided match.

Instead, Farina’s 9-3 victory over Bald Eagle Area graduate Mike Cook secured a 20-15 victory and prevented some disturbing pre-holiday embarrassment.

“I was pretty surprised with the way it went down,” Farina said.

So were many of the 2,927 fans who entered Rec Hall.

One county away they staged a tournament that has developed into the perfect fit for Centre County’s wrestling programs.

Penns Valley, State College, Philipsburg-Osceola and Bellefonte packed their singlets and headgear and spent Friday and Saturday competing in the King of the Mountain Tournament at Central Mountain High School.

All four schools liked what they received from the event which expanded to a 32-team format in 2002.

Their best wrestlers were pushed. Their inexperienced wrestlers had a chance to wrestle more than twice. Their fans didn’t need to search for hotels.

The only Centre County school that avoided Mill Hall this weekend was Bald Eagle Area, which placed third in the Beast of the East, the massive event in Delaware where many of the sport’s giants showcase their best wrestlers.

BEA once again proved why the Beast is a good fit for its wrestlers.

The county’s other four teams spent this weekend at the right place.

State College, a former Beast participant, produced the county’s only King of the Mountain champion. Junior Steve Bosak won the 145-pound weight class by defeating returning state qualifier Jake Kemerer of Hempfield in the finals.