Burroughs wins Round 1
Nebraska’s Jordan Burroughs outlasts Wisconsin’s Andrew Howe to win the Midlands finals at 165 pounds
By USA Wrestling Nebraska’s Jordan Burroughs and Wisconsin’s Andrew Howe had never met on the wrestling mat.
But they may be seeing plenty of each other after they met for the first time in the finals of the Midlands Championships.
Burroughs came out aggressively en route to earning a 10-7 win over Howe in the 165-pound finals in late December in Evanston, Ill.
“Andrew Howe is a tough kid and deserved the No. 1 ranking after going undefeated and winning it last year,” Burroughs said. “We are both World class competitors. I’m happy I was able to beat him, but I know I have a lot to work on.”
Burroughs won an NCAA title at 157 in 2009 before being sidelined last season with a knee injury. Howe won an NCAA title at 165 in 2010.
The two wrestlers were scheduled to meet again in a dual meet at Wisconsin. After another possible meeting at the NCAAs in March, they could battle for the U.S. World Team spot at 74 kg/163 lbs. Howe won the U.S. Open last year in freestyle and Burroughs is a past Junior World Team member.
“It was a pretty good match,” said Howe, a junior who finished second at the 2009 NCAAs as a true freshman at 165. “I just made too many mistakes and that cost me the match. I need to make some changes and corrections before we wrestle again.”
In the match at Midlands, Burroughs fired in on a blast double-leg shot to score the opening takedown.
Burroughs followed by exploding in on a single-leg shot and he quickly finished to build an early 4-1 lead.
Howe cut the lead to 5-3 with a sec- ond-period takedown, but Burroughs
10 USA Wrestler
Nebraska’s Jordan Burroughs won the battle of national champions when he edged Wisconsin’s Andrew Howe. John Johnson photo.
responded with a reversal to lead 7-3 entering the final period.
Howe came back with an escape and
takedown in the final period, but Burroughs gained an escape and riding- time point to win the match. “Howe likes to come forward a lot,” Burroughs said. “Even though he wasn’t taking shots, the refs looked me and saw I was moving backward as he was com- ing forward. I tried to stay on my offense by sticking and moving, and trying to get my takedowns when he was coming for- ward.
“I need to push the pace more. I gave up some points near the edge of the mat that I normally don’t give up.” Nebraska coach Mark Manning said Burroughs learned a lot in his first meet- ing with Howe.
“Jordan wrestled well, but he wasn’t at his best,” Manning said. “Jordan has a lot of respect for Andrew Howe. He’s a champion and he’s not going to go down easy. Jordan’s got room to improve, but it was a good win.”
Howe’s mentor, Wisconsin assistant coach Donny Pritzlaff, shares a similar perspective. “It’s December and we have two more months left in the season,” said Pritzlaff, a two-time NCAA champion and World bronze medalist. “It was upsetting that we didn’t win, but we will make the adjust- ments come March.”
Burroughs continues to work his way back into shape after missing the second half of last season with a knee injury. “I’m really hungry to win a national title,” Burroughs said. “Being ranked sec- ond didn’t really sit well with me. I’ve beaten national champs before. I need to keep working hard because I know he’s going to be working as hard as he can to beat me.”
His knee hasn’t been an issue. “I’m feeling good and I’m feeling strong,” Burroughs said. “I just feel blessed to have another opportunity after what happened last year. It was a long and tough rehab. I didn’t put on a pair of wrestling shoes for nearly six months.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44