Perry out for Iowa State meet

By Andy Hamilton
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Iowa will have to take on the top-ranked wrestling team in the country without one of its top wrestlers.

Defending NCAA champion Mark Perry Jr. won’t be in the lineup Sunday when the No. 4 Hawkeyes wrestle Iowa State in Ames.

Perry, a senior 165-pounder, will serve a one-meet suspension after being disqualified during Iowa’s Nov. 24 meet against Old Dominion at the St. Edward Duals.

“I can’t articulate it exactly because I haven’t actually read it,” said Iowa associate athletics director Fred Mims, who oversees wrestling. “I’ve been informed about the misconduct he had at the last (tournament). The rule says if you are disqualified for misconduct, you are required to sit out the next scheduled meet.”

Perry had been prepared to sit out the UNI Open this past Sunday, but the tournament was canceled because of inclement weather. Several Iowa wrestlers are expected to compete Saturday at the Jim Fox Open in Dubuque, but Perry wouldn’t be allowed to serve the suspension by sitting out that tournament.

By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports

Sam Vasquez of Houston may have become the first fighter to die from injuries sustained in mixed martial arts competition in North America.

A report by The Fight Network cited the Harris County (Texas) medical examiner’s office confirming Vasquez’s death at 8:15 p.m. Friday. The cause of death was not released.

Vasquez had been battling for his life since taking a hard right to the chin from 21-year old Vince Libardi on Oct. 20 during a Renegades Extreme Fighting show at the Toyota Center in Houston. The blow knocked Vasquez out and he was rushed to St. Joseph Medical Center, where he stayed until moving to hospice care on Monday.

The 35-year-old Vasquez was competing in the featherweight division (145 pound weight class) in the third match of a 12-match card promoted by Saul Soliz, the longtime boxing coach of Ultimate Fighting Championship superstar Tito Ortiz. The show was overseen by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Calls to the department on Sunday were not immediately returned.

An even tougher ticket

Curtaining off Hilton limits Iowa-ISU crowd

By Andy Hamilton
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Iowa State examined ways to improve its wrestling attendance when Cael Sanderson became the head coach, and the Cyclones came up with an unusual strategy — limiting the number of fans who can attend dual meets at Hilton Coliseum.

Iowa State’s home arena has room for 14,092 at capacity, but only approximately 9,000 fans will be able to get through the doors Sunday when the top-ranked Cyclones wrestle No. 4 Iowa.

Iowa State curtained off nearly one-third of the arena to create a more intimate setting for its dual meets and help boost its season-ticket sales.

“Our attendance hasn’t been great, and this was one of the first things we looked at as a coaching staff,” Sanderson said. “How do we make this a more exciting environment? How do we make it more appealing for people to buy season tickets? It’s just for the overall atmosphere, and that’s really it. We don’t have enough fans right now to use (all of) Hilton and have the atmosphere we want in every match. We knew this Iowa match would be the one exception. The only problem is this match only comes around every two years.”

Coaching changes bring back spark to Iowa State-Iowa wrestling

By Andy Hamilton

It took two major shifts in the coaching landscape 20 months ago before Iowans could feel the tremors returning to a rivalry that once used to shake the state.

The match between Iowa’s Mark Perry, right, and Iowa State’s Travis Paulson sparked controversy on the sidelines.

Then all it took was another seven minutes to take the Iowa-Iowa State series to a new, earthshaking level.

“I’m not going to say there’s hatred,” Iowa’s Mark Perry Jr. said. “But the Iowa-Iowa State thing grows on you, and I think the rivalry picked up last year from where it was when it was big, and it might even be more heated now than it’s ever been.”

Perry got a good feel for the temperature change last year when he was at the epicenter of what might be the most heated moment in 72 duals between the Hawkeyes and Cyclones. And it doesn’t figure to be any cooler Sunday when the two teams meet in front of a sellout crowd at Hilton Coliseum in Ames with perhaps the top spot in the national rankings riding on the outcome.

The architect of the nation’s top-ranked wrestling team knows he has a problem.

J Robinson can’t focus on one thing at a time. He can’t single-task. And no matter how hard he tries, the Minnesota coach can’t finish one job without drumming up a dozen other ideas some might think border on excessive or absurd.

J Robinson has put Minnesota wrestling on the map.

“I’m self-diagnosed [with] ADD [attention-deficit disorder],” Robinson said. “Sometimes the problem I have is shutting my mind off. It continually spews out ideas and thoughts. There are a hundred projects I’d try if I had the resources.”

There are probably a few he’ll try without.

This is, after all, a man who nearly 25 years ago wound up going to Oregon intent on capturing a couple of wild horses and came home with 36 and two buffalo.

This is a guy who once bought a Christmas house, decided he needed a collection and had a village of 23 by the end of his first weekend of gathering.

This is J Robinson — a 61-year-old coach who spent 15 seasons trying to put Minnesota at the top of the college wrestling world, and now the guy can’t sit still long enough to relax and enjoy the view.

Stillwater, OK
By Gavin Lang
Oklahoma State Sports Information

Lee Roy Smith is this year’s recipient of Oklahoma State wrestling’s Gallagher Award and will be presented with the award Sunday as part of the Cowboys’ Bedlam Series dual with Oklahoma, set to begin at 2 p.m. in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

The Gallagher Award is presented annually to an OSU wrestling alumnus who exemplifies the spirit and leadership eminent in the tradition of champions.

Currently serving as the Executive Director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Stillwater, Smith wrestled at Oklahoma State from 1977-80, compiling a 114-13-4 overall record. A four-time conference champion, Smith won an NCAA individual championship wrestling at 142 pounds in 1980. He helped the Cowboys to a team conference championship in 1978 and remains to this day ranked among the top 50 Oklahoma State wrestlers of all time in terms of winning percentage at 88.55 pct. His 38 wins in 1980 places

On the international stage, Smith brought a silver medal home from the 1983 world championships.

Prior to the 1950s, wrestling mats were frightful. They consisted of either straw or smashed-down piles of horsehair, crammed into a tufted canvas cover. These canvas mats offered little protection from falls or injuries and were hard, if not impossible to keep clean. Mat burns were not only common but also expected, causing wrestlers to have the constant threat of infections.

Today, with advances in foam technologies, improved health awareness, research and data on impact testing and wrestling mat standards; manufacturers can provide wrestling mats far superior to the mats of the 1950’s and even those available only a decade ago. Proper equipment and the care needed to maintain the equipment is a necessary part of injury prevention in any sport. In the United States, it is estimated that more than two (2) million high school student-athletes suffer from sports-related injuries each year according to a three-year study by the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA).