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    Jake Herbert •

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    Rev Blog: Jake Herbert (Northwestern), Entry 5

    Since my last blog entry, we have only had two dual meets vs. intra-state rivals Northern Illinois and Eastern Illinois. It was finals time at NU and the guys were focusing on that and match preparation. Our practices have been intense and the team was eager to compete.

    We had about a week and a half off (from competition) since the NWCA All Star Classic, which I felt was needed. The competitive break allowed time for people to heal up from their minor injuries. With wrestling being such a hard sport, people get banged up, fingers get jammed or broken, muscles get pulled, eyes and heads get cut … your body starts feeling old and beat up from the everyday pounding on the mat. Every now and again you need to take some time off from that pounding. Our coaches at NU are very calculated about these breaks. In my opinion, the coaches used our two duals as a way to get some of the newer guys matches and some of us older guys a break.

    That's enough talk about injuries and the grind. Focusing on the match is what I am all about. Our weekend resulted in a dual meet record of 2-0 bringing our overall record to 8-0 on the season. The 8-0 start ties the best start in NU wrestling history … way to go Tim Cysewski!

    I believe that we wrestled phenomenally against Northern Illinois. Mike Tamillow and Dustin Fox got us going and they both looked great. It gave us a 6-0 team lead. Our 125 freshman, Brandon Precin, had another big match as he turned a 5-1 deficit into a 6-5 victory. The kid is tough. He probably doesn't even know that Pat Castillo took John Velez into overtime last year!

    At 133, James Kohlberg had to overcome a 2-0 deficit in the third period. The NIU opponent chose down in the final period and Kohlberg turned him three times en route to a 7-2 victory. That match got the fans on their feet as they welcomed No. 1-ranked Ryan Lang to the mat. Lang went out there and showed why he is the best wrestler in the nation. He dominated his opponent for a 13-0 win. We dropped a match at 149, but we came back with a key win at 157. NIU forfeited to us at 165 and that sealed the match for us. Nick Hayes finished the night off with a fantastic win against Danny Burk in overtime. The key to our victory was managing our positions. Most everyone on the team put themselves in a position to win their individual match. Our head coach (Tim Cysewski) had a great quote for the media after the match. Cysewski said, "Finals week at Northwestern is a tough time and I think the guys let out some of that frustration tonight."

    The following afternoon, our team won 8 of 10 matches in defeating Eastern Illinois. It was another great effort.

    Until next time,

    Jake Herbert

    Past Entries:

    Entry 4 (11/29/06)
    Entry 3 (11/16/06)
    Entry 2 (11/1/06)
    Entry 1 (10/17/06)
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