MSU Wrestling Kicks Off Season

MSU Wrestling looks to kick off a successful season in Ypsilanti, at Eastern Michigan’s first annual EMU Duals. Half of Eastern Michigan’s Bowen Field House will host an individual tournament, while the other half will be a team dual format.

The Spartans’ schedule starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday versus No. 6 Oregon State Beavers, followed by Utah Valley, Gardner-Webb, and Drexel in that order.

Oregon State has two, No. 1 ranked wrestlers as determined by Intermatwrestle.com — Scott Sakaguchi at 149 lbs. and Taylor Meeks at 197 lbs.

In his twenty-third year of coaching at MSU, head coach Tom Minkel looks to returning NCAA qualifiers Ryan Watts and seventh-ranked Michael McClure to lead the Spartans by example, and come out with a strong showing this weekend.

Coach Minkel stated that he expects McClure to be a leader of the team and to help the younger wrestlers settle into the rigorous schedule of college athletes. Minkel has been studying film nearly the entire week on the Spartans’ opposing squads in preparation for this Saturday.

Coach Minkel’s pet parrot, Indigo, could not be reached for an opinion. But one could assume he would say, “go green.”

 

Nick Carver is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports.

Photo: Spartan Wrestling