MATSIDE CHAT, Continued from page 25
matches, a lot of it is down on the mat, being able to ride a guy and get away. We had to emphasize that a little more in prac- tices. Western wrestling is good. If you look at the history of the sport, where is Dave Schultz from, Mark Schultz from, Cael Sanderson from? They are from out West. Some of our biggest names are from this area. Where is Les Gutches from? To me, it’s about getting enough of those guys in your room to be suc- cessful and have a championship team.
USA Wrestler: How do you measure the success of the Beaver program during your eight years there, and what is dif- ferent about the culture of the program now? Zalesky: We came out and had a decent Senior class right
away. We won the Pac-12s the first year, then had to recruit. There may not have been a lot underneath that Senior class. We made progress, took steps in the right direction, until last year’s NCAA Championships. We didn’t have a good NCAA Tournament last year. We had
to take a step back. Sometimes, when you are not successful, you look at the things that you do, you evaluate your program and that helps you for the next year.
USA Wrestler: Arizona State under Bobby Douglas in 1988 is the only team from the West to win an NCAA team title. Can it happen again, and what would need to happen for Oregon State to be that team? Zalesky: I think it can happen again. If you look at that team, they had eight pretty good guys. I remember watching that because I was at Minnesota when Arizona State won. I remem- ber that they didn’t have any national champions. You have to get enough individuals who place high in that NCAA Tournament.
That goes back to philosophy. If you surround yourself with enough guys that want to make it happen, who want to be NCAA champions and be on an NCAA champion team, that’s what can make it happen.
USA Wrestler: You have made a commitment to a strong Regional Training Center at Oregon State? How has this helped both the college team and the U.S. Olympic wrestling effort? Zalesky: I go back to when I made that biggest jump. It’s always the offseason, not just your collegiate season. After our collegiate season is done, you kick into the freestyle and Greco season. As an individual, that’s when I made my biggest jumps. In high school, I got twice as many matches wrestling freestyle in the off-season as I did during the year. That helped me every year. Here, when you are done with your college season, you have a chance to make a Junior World Team or a University World Team. If you are an older guy and have graduated, you try to make that World Team. It helps your room when you have guys training to be the best, not just in the country, but to be the best in the world. That rubs off on your younger guys.
USA Wrestler: You won three NCAA titles as an athlete, coached three NCAA champion teams and are a member of the Wrestling Hall of Fame. What wrestling goals do you have ahead of you that drive your passion? Zalesky: Every year, you have to shoot for the top, no matter where you are. A lot of it comes from your wrestlers. You moti- vate your wrestlers, but at the same time, when you have good kids that work hard, they motivate you. You scratch each other’s back. I motivate my guys. By working hard, they motivate me. What’s the highest goals you can set? It’s to make that individ- ual a national champ. And if you get enough of those guys, you try to be the NCAA team champion.
USA Wrestler: How is the Oregon State team this year? Zalesky: They have worked hard. It’s going to be some new guys who step in there. It’s how the new guys step in that will determine how we do as a team. I like our team. This is our best team since I have been here, top to bottom. They have to go out on the mat and perform. We will wrestle hard and work hard. I am looking forward to competition this year.
Green, McMullan win at All-Star Classic
PHILADELPHIA – For Nebraska’s James Green, it was a short trip over the river. For Northwestern’s Mike McMullan, just a 90-minute drive south.
The two regional natives were voted the Outstanding
Wrestlers at the 2014 NWCA All-Star Classic presented by the United States Marine Corps and the Wrestlers in Business Network hosted by Penn and WIBN-Philadelphia on Nov. 1 in Philadelphia at the historic Palestra in front of 5,284 fans. McMullan won a rubber match against North Carolina State’s returning NCAA champion Nick Gwiazdowski 8-4 at 285 pounds, while Green topped Kent State’s Ian Miller 6-4 at 157 pounds.
McMullan’s win over Gwiazdowski was one of two matches that featured No. 2-ranked wrestlers knocking off defending NCAA champions. At 197 pounds, Minnesota’s Scott Schiller picked off top-ranked J’Den Cox 5-3 in sudden victory at 197. Edinboro’s A.J. Schopp avenged last year’s loss at the All-
Star Classic to Lehigh’s Mason Beckman with a 4-2 win at 133 pounds.
Schopp scored a takedown with 15 seconds to go to take a 3- 2 lead. He added the final point on riding time after riding Beckman out for the entire second period. Returning NCAA champion Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma
32 USA Wrestler
State’s debut at his new weight class went well as he topped two-time All-American Nick Sulzer of Virginia 4-2 at 165 pounds. Another returning champion, Jason Tsirtsis of Northwestern, controlled Oklahoma State’s Josh Kindig 4-1 at 149 pounds in a rematch of last year’s Division I championship final. Robert Kokesh of Nebraska fell behind early to Southern Oregon’s Brock Gutches at 174 pounds, but then Kokesh turned up the pressure and eventually pulled out an 8-2 win at 174 pounds. It was the first time since 2004 an NAIA athlete has competed in the main event. Top-ranked Gabe Dean of Cornell won a rematch of the 184- pound third place match from 2014 with a 5-2 win over Jack Dechow of Old Dominion. Missouri’s Alan Waters, a late replacement for Cornell’s Nahshon Garrett, earned a takedown out of a scramble to top Virginia Tech’s Joey Dance 4-2 in a battle of NCAA fourth-place finishers.
Highlighting the showcase matches was Helen Maroulis’ win in women’s freestyle over Canada’s Jillian Gallays in a battle of world medalists. Maroulis went up 4-0 and nearly pinned Gallays early.
She finished with three more takedowns to finish up with the technical fall at the end of the first period.
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