By Steve Brooks
Star correspondent
Carmel High School senior Mike Klemen admits he has a bit of a problem with nerves on the wrestling mat. He has a solution for his problem, but chances are his idea won’t be implemented this season.
“We could have dual meets every other night, on the weekends we’d have tournaments, and on the nights we didn’t have dual meets we’d have an intense hour-and-a-half drill session, “Klemen said. “My problem has been nerves, and it’s always been nerves. I think if I wrestled all the time, that wouldn’t be a problem.”
In his first season wrestling for the varsity team, Klemen managed to control his nerves enough to win 29 of 39 matches at 160 pounds, advancing to the first round of the New Castle Semistate. The 6-4 loss to Cathedral’s John Schmaltz in the semistate still haunts Klemen.
“That match easily was my worst match of the season, “said Klemen, who will stay at 160 pounds this season. “I definitely had nerves that day. I wrestled really well in the practice room, but when it came to a match I’d freeze up. And as the season progressed last year I started to psyche myself out. Two kids I beat while winning the (Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference) I lost to later in the season. This year I’m trying to be more relaxed. This year is about not worrying so much and about going out and having fun. I need to be more relaxed, like I am in the wrestling room.”
Carmel coach Bob Kopnisky said Klemen’s more relaxed approach hasn’t translated to a decreased work ethic.
“Mike is wrestling better than he has ever wrestled, “Kopnisky said. “He is working so hard that I need to slow him down and back him off a little.”
The work Klemen has put in, Kopnisky said, has the wrestler setting his goals very high. “He is as determined as any wrestler I have had to not let up, and to win a state title this year, “Kopnisky said. “He learned a lot losing at the semistate last year, and I am sure he will not make the same mistakes again.”
Klemen, who will attend Purdue University without plans to wrestle, wants to make his senior year his finest
“This is as hard as I’ve worked ever since I started wrestling in sixth grade, “Klemen said. “I don’t want to go out on a down note. My goal is to place in the top three at state. I definitely think I can do it.”
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