While it is perhaps more appropriate to view the Greco-Roman programs from Northern Michigan and Doane University as a united front given the circumstances, the fact is that the two teams did collide in a dual meet on Friday afternoon and NMU won six of the eight matches held.
Ryder Smith (60 kg) got the ball rolling for Northern with a gutwrench-influenced stoppage over Troy Almeida, but Doane immediately struck back with ’25 U20 National runner-up Ned Kauffman (63 kg) executing a pair of big throws to defeat Anthony Santana via technical superiority.
At 67 kg, freshly-minted Bill Farrell Memorial gold Amryn Nutter (NMU/NTS) actually required a small comeback. He had surrendered a step-out point to Austin Letsche before furiously re-engaging after the reset and piling on nine points. Nutter wrangled a two-on-one to garner a takedown and proceeded to boom consecutive lifts from top par terre to end matters at 10-1. One weight class north, well-established Senior and ’21 U23 World Team member David Stepanyan (NMU/NTS) battled Marquis Deloach, the latter of whom did his best to hold ground through much of the first period. But, eventually, Stepanyan was able to counter a Deloach throw attempt and adjust for a land-on-top pin that represented NMU’s second-straight win and third overall of the dual.
There was doubt surrounding Will Scherer‘s (77 kg, NMU/NTS) availability for today as he had reportedly endured a stomach illness earlier this week. He apparently recovered well-enough to compete and had a game opponent in Dustin Duette-Hall. Scherer clung to a 3-2 lead as Period 1 began drawing to a close; Duette-Hall, with under a minute remaining until intermission, attempted an attack and became off-balanced, a miscue upon which Scherer seized. He then covered Duette-Hall to pick up NMU’s second pin of the afternoon. Heavyweight Jimmy Hustoles of Northern Michigan went toe-to-toe with former teammate Cameron Groncki and owned a 1-1 criteria lead in the second period before adding two more from a sequence off the edge to prevail 3-1.
Landon Lorch (63 kg) provided Doane with a spark by defeating Santana following the heavyweight contest, but Maddox Khalimsky (67 kg) closed the show for Northern by lasering a lateral drop that soon gave way to a pin over Letsche.
Combined Camp
Doane University traveled to NMU this week for a joint training camp leading up to Friday’s dual which allowed both programs to work together in the absence of other training opportunities. NMU has several athletes who are established and experienced on the Senior level, and these men will be attending next month’s “January Camp” at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs; but most wrestlers from NMU and Doane will not be participating in that camp — and most athletes from both teams will likely not compete again until Senior and U20 World Team selection arrives in April. Therefore, NMU head coach Andy Bisek and Doane University head Jason Christenson both saw a need to fill the gap by training with each other and competing against one another during this still-early phase in the season.
“They are the established program with 20 years of existence, so the point of the trip for us was to kind of see where we’re at prior to going to the US Open,” Christenson said following the dual meet. “I knew that we would be up against it competing with them, but that doesn’t mean you should shy away from that opportunity. I mean, Greco-Roman just doesn’t have these opportunities to have a dual meet type of season or the kind of season a normal college athlete might have. This is the closest thing we can get to that. And to have had a couple of practices together was a good thing.
“As we grow as a program, I think that the kids will realize it wasn’t about this particular competition per se, it was more about learning how to make adjustments after a competition, which is really important,” continued Christenson. “Everyone in wrestling who is able to compete week-in and week-out makes those adjustments, or else they will fall behind. For us, it was just having the opportunity to get here, be here, to see what they have built, and it gives us something to shoot for. And we know where we’re at right now.”
Bisek saw the gathering with Doane in a similar light and appreciated that the two teams were able to come together, especially since Doane’s Greco-Roman team has launched only recently and is just starting to assert themselves.
“They are an up-and-coming program and we wanted to help them out whether it was practicing with them, competing against them, or competing at all,” explained Bisek. “We all need more opportunities for that.”
Another item on which the coaches see eye-to-eye is the potential value of Greco-Roman dual meets. Through the years, albeit sparingly, there have been duals between various Greco teams (most prominently at annual Armed Forces Championships and at the age-group levels) which were well-received. Bisek and Christenson both believe that duals can be an asset to help Greco-Roman build further interest and exposure in the US, it is just a matter of figuring out how to plan and host them.
“If you are at an event and you don’t know who the individuals are but you do know who the teams are, you can still watch two teams compete top to bottom with their lineups,” opined Bisek. “It just makes sense. The hard thing to ask is how many teams are there (in the US), and how many of them can field a majority of the weight classes?”
“I am so in favor of dual meets. To me, dual meets are the best way to grow the sport,” Christenson declared. “You see it right now even with Real American Freestyle, that type of atmosphere. You fit something into a one-hour time period, and people have an hour they can give up. That’s reasonable for someone who has work and has other interests, like the casual fan. I know — we don’t have any casual Greco fans in the United States; but with what has been coming down from the IOC (International Olympic Committee), Greco better get it together.
“I don’t know if that is the USA Wrestling slant that has come out regarding the addition of women’s beach wrestling and what it means for Greco, but I think that dual meets are the savior for wrestling,” Christenson said. “A casual fan is not going to watch a tournament all day long, but dual meets are great for building rivalries. And you know what? Eventually it is going to be a rivalry between NMU and Doane. That is important for the sport, and it is why we came up. Regardless of the outcome of the dual meet, we just had to get it started.”
NMU — 6 Doane University — 2
December 19 — Marquette, MI
60 kg: Ryder Smith (NMU/NTS) def. Troy Almeida (Doane) 9-0, TF
63 kg: Ned Kauffman (Doane) def. Anthony Santana (NMU/NTS) 11-0, TF
67 kg: Amryn Nutter (NMU/NTS) def. Austin Letsche (Doane) 10-1, TF
72 kg: David Stepanyan (NMU/NTS) def. Marquis Deloach (Doane) via fall
77 kg: Will Scherer (NMU/NTS) def. Dustin Duette-Hall (Doane) via fall
130 kg: Jimmy Hustoles (NMU/NTS) def. Cameron Groncki (Doane) 3-1
67 kg: Landon Lorch (Doane) def. Anthony Santana (NMU/NTS) 9-0, TF
67 kg: Maddox Khalimsky (NMU/NTS) def. Austin Letsche (Doane) via fall
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