Steve LukeRevWrestling.com recently caught up with Luke and asked him about being overlooked on a team with five wrestlers ranked in the top five, what he needs to do to avoid the opening round upset loss at the NCAA's again, his thoughts on high school freshman phenom Chris Phillips, what the Wolverines need to do to bring home the NCAA title this season, and much more.
It seems that you have been one of the most overlooked wrestlers on a team with five wrestlers ranked in the top five nationally. You are 16-1 this season. You are a tiebreaker loss away from being undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country, yet you are rarely mentioned when people talk about the best overall wrestlers in the country. Does the fact that you are a bit overlooked bother you at all?
Luke: No. To be honest, I don't pay attention to it. I have a really demanding class schedule. I just go to class, study all the time, and go to practice. I don't pay attention to the forums. I don't even know that I am overlooked. I could care less. There are a lot more important things.
You have had some ups and downs throughout your collegiate wrestling career at Michigan. As a freshman, you won the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at 157 pounds with a victory over NCAA runner-up Alex Tirapelle of Illinois. But then you went 0-2 at the NCAA Championships and failed to place. When you reflect back on your freshman season, what goes through your mind?
Steve LukeThe next season you bumped up two weight classes from 157 to 174, which is quite a jump in collegiate wrestling. Compare and contrast the two weight classes from a styles standpoint. And what was the biggest adjustment you had to make to compete at 174?
Luke: The 174-pounders are stronger, obviously. I lifted hard and got bigger, so I feel like I'm just as strong as any 174-pounder in the country. The 157-pounders are a lot quicker. The matches are a lot more fast-paced. At 174 pounds, the wrestling is more defensive, where you look for your shots. I still feel like since I bumped up two weight classes, my quickness and agility hasn't changed.
It's question that I have to ask, even though it's a question you probably prefer to not hear. You are one of the top wrestlers in the country, but last season you were upset in the opening round of the NCAA Championships for the second straight time. What happened?
Luke: I don't know … I guess that I just have to be more mentally prepared and not so nervous. It's the NCAA Championships. That stuff happens all the time. Unfortunately, it happened to me two years in a row. I think the same thing happened to JD Bergman (Ohio State). I know JD pretty well since we are both from Ohio. I guess it's just us Ohio kids who do that.
Sean BormetLuke: The one who beat me the worst is Sean Bormet, who runs Overtime Wrestling Club. He's a little older than me and more experienced. There are different ways to say who is the toughest. If you are asking who is the toughest, like most physical and strongest, it would either be my high school coach, Brian Dolph, or our 184-pounder, Tyrel Todd. But if you are asking who took me down the most and beat me the worst, it would be Sean Bormet.
In high school, you wrestled on the same team as Dustin Schlatter at Massillon Perry. As a freshman at the University of Minnesota, Schlatter seemed to be a scoring machine when he won his NCAA title at 149 pounds. However, the past two seasons, he has wrestled many close, low-scoring matches. From your perspective, what's the difference between Dustin Schlatter as a freshman and Dustin Schlatter as a junior?
Luke: He's still winning matches. It doesn't really matter whether you beat people by 10 points or whether you beat people by one point. It's still winning the match. I think his freshman year, he went out there just wanting to prove himself and do well. People kind of overlooked him. That weight class was pretty stacked. It had (Zack) Esposito, Eric (Tannenbaum), (Jon) Masa, and a bunch of other guys. He really worked hard in the offseason. I think he trained at Minnesota that whole summer to get ready. Now, I don't know. He's been wrestling for a while. Maybe it's just wearing on him and he's not liking the sport as much. I actually just hung out with him over break, but we didn't really talk wrestling. We just hung out.
This season, a high school freshman from Monroeville, Ohio named Chris Phillips won the Walsh Ironman at 171 pounds. Having wrestled in that event, put into perspective how tough it is for a freshman upperweight to win the Walsh Ironman.
Luke: That's amazing. His weight class was pretty stacked, too, with Brian Roddy and Zac Thomusseit. That kid is just tough. I heard about him this past summer when he wrestled at Cadets. One my friends coached the Cadet team, so he was telling me about him. I didn't realize how good he was. That kid is definitely going to be something special. He's already one of the top high school wrestlers in the country at 171. Once he gets to college, I don't expect him to falter. He could be a factor in college by his junior or senior year of high school. I watched him on the Internet. He's really strong and built. His re-shots are unbelievable.
Steve LukeLuke: Like I said, I don't pay attention to that stuff. I don't even know what the rankings are right now. Keith Gavin always seems to step up at the right time. He's an unorthodox wrestler. He's hard to score on. He always wins the close matches. I don't know … the 174-pound weight class is a pretty uniform weight class. From about 1 to 15, everyone is so close. The kid from Central Michigan (Brandon Sinnott) is pretty tough. The Hofstra kid, Alton Lucas, has been wrestling really well this year.
This weekend you will be competing in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. Michigan enters the event as the No. 6 seed. How much emphasis do you put on this event from a team standpoint?
Luke: Well, it's a different atmosphere wrestling dual meet tournaments as opposed to individual tournaments. I mean, last year we went 0-2 at the National Duals, but then placed seventh at the NCAA's. We are all going to be wrestling top ranked guys because all the teams have top ranked guys and stacked lineups. Individually, everybody just has to focus on themselves. I think we can compete with any team. I think our dual meet team is pretty good, but I think our tournament team is better than our dual meet team. I think there is a big emphasis since we are wrestling the top teams, but it doesn't make or break a season.
March Churella Sr. was added to the coaching staff this season. What has he brought to the program this season?
Luke: He is really motivating. His philosophy on wrestling is unbelievable. He's the best technician. The way he is able to explain moves and the way he is able tot motivate me has really helped this year. We all talk about in the locker room and stuff. I think he has been a huge asset to our team this year. He runs some of the practices. Whenever he runs the practices, I just feel more pressure for some reason to work harder and do better. He'll bring different things to practices. Sometimes when the same coaches are running it, it's the same thing over and over. But then he'll come in and bring in a little twist. It's fun not doing the same thing every day.
At this point in the season, it looks as though Michigan has five potential NCAA finalists with you, Kellen Russell (141), Josh Churella (149), Eric Tannenbaum (165), and Tyrel Todd (184). In your opinion, what is going to take to bring home the NCAA team title in St. Louis?
Steve Luke
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