The Observer, February 2, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 15
Injuries slow wrestling team with championships looming
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The Spartans placed two wrestlers at the Wheaton Invitational Tournament last Saturday. Drew Gardella placed sixth in the toughest weight class of the tournament, 149 pounds. His three losses were dealt by the first and second ranked wrestlers in the nation for Division III, as well as the second ranked wrestler in Division II.
"[Gardella] performed very well at Wheaton," said coach Bob Del Rosa.
Junior David Manoogian placed fourth in the 141-pound class. He beat Division II wrestler Matt Irwin to advance to the semifinals. Manoogian steadily increased his lead from 2-1 in the first period, extended his lead to 5-1 in the second, then scored four more points in the third for a final score of 9-4.
"It was a decent match and I was able to control the tempo the whole time," he said. Three matches later, he faced Wisconsin Lacrosse's Mike Rohowetz. With seven seconds to go in the match for third place, Rohowetz attempted a take down. When Manoogian resisted, he sprained his ankle. The match was tied, and would have gone into overtime, but Manoogian was forced to default.
"I have to wear this big boot around now, but it's better than a crutch," he said. Manoogian will not be able to wrestle in this Saturday's UAA championships in Chicago. "Unfortunately, I'll be watching from the sidelines this weekend because of my injury," said Manoogian.
"He had a good opportunity to be the tournament champion this year," said Del Rosa, "but we need to make sure that he gets healthy." Freshman Jacob Kornblatt will be stepping in for Manoogian this weekend.
Three more wrestlers would have placed if they had won their final match.
"Mike Sanchez lost to a guy ranked seventh in the nation," said Del Rosa.
In the 174-pound weight class, Nathan Klingensmith lost a difficult match to Matt LaFollette, decided by a score of 9-4. Dawud Wilson lost to Derrik Johnson, from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 4-2.
"Dawud's last five losses have been by two points or less. He's so close to being a very good wrestler, I don't even think that he knows it," said Del Rosa.
Del Rosa's squad heads into the UAA championships injured in critical positions. Heavyweight Bob Gavlak is out for the season with a torn shoulder that will require surgery. Tom Sanders, 197 pounds, is out for the season with a neck injury. Case will forfeit that weight class at the UAA Championships. Both Sanders and Gavlak were tournament champions last year.
"They probably would have repeated this year if they'd stayed healthy," said Del Rosa.
A key match in the tournament will be in the 165-pound weight class, when Case's Mike Sanchez, a three-time UAA Champion, will wrestle Chicago's Phil Kruzel, who is ranked fifth in the nation.
"Whoever wins that match could be the tournament MVP," said Coach Del Rosa. Sanchez has been the UAA champion three times. If he wins again, he will be only the second wrestler in school history to be conference champion four times.
