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CSU Hosts Northwestern

CSU Hosts Northwestern
Posted: Dec 16, 2009

Dec. 16, 2009

Contact: Renee Adam

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SETTING THE SCENE: The Vikings host their final dual of the 2009 calendar year when Northwestern comes to Cleveland on Thursday (Dec. 17). Action will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Woodling Gymnasium.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: Four Vikings competed in the Cleveland State Open last Sunday (Dec. 13), below is a recap of the action:

CSU OPEN: Ronald Butler, Jeff Schuller, Gahad Suleiman and Ricky Williams competed in the CSU Open for the Vikings, each wrestling two rounds before they were knocked from the tournament. Butler competed in the 125 pound weight class, Schuller and Suleiman wrestled in the 197 class and Williams was the lone heavyweight for Cleveland State.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: CSU is led by senior Marcus Effner, junior Rob Michaels and sophomore Jordan Keller, who have combined for 20 victories this season. Also coming on strong for the Vikings this season is sophomore Corey Carlo with six wins and junior Dan Castillo who has recorded three victories. The highlights of the season so far are the 31-13 victory over John Carroll on Nov. 24, the 28-20 victory over Appalachian State on Dec. 4 and Keller's Michigan State Open title in the 125 pound weight class (Nov. 15).

MICHAELS GETS 50: After going 3-0 at the Bobcat Duals on December 4, junior Rob Michaels has posted 50 career victories over two and a half seasons as a Viking. As a freshman he recorded 23 wins, won 18 as a sophomore and has recorded nine through six events this season. He is one of only two current Vikings to reach 50 victories and the only junior.

...FOUR MATCH WIN STREAK: Rob Michaels is riding a four match win streak going into the dual against Northwestern this Thursday, following his three Bobcat Dual victories and his win against John Carroll in November. Michaels recorded a three match dual meet win streak, stretching from December 19 against Wagner to January 11 at Eastern Michigan last season.

WINNING-BY-PINNING: The Vikings have pinned their opponents six times already this season, with all six pins coming from six different wrestlers. This is compared to last year when CSU had posted only two pins up to this point in the season and had just seven wrestlers post pins throughout the entire year.

UPPERCLASSMEN LEADERSHIP: The senior and junior classes have combined for 20 wins this season, half of the overall victories for the squad. The senior trio of Dan Castillo, Marcus Effner and Jeff Schuller have accounted for 11 wins, while Rob Michaels has posted nine wins as the lone junior.

QUICK PIN: Rob Michaels recorded the fastest pin of the season against John Carroll's Andrew Shafer (Nov. 24), when he ended the match in just 29 seconds. The pin bested Michaels' previous record of 41 seconds, and is also the fastest pin in the past two seasons.

TEAM LEADERS: Rob Michaels and Jordan Keller are the lone returners that led the squad last season in statistical categories. Michaels led the Vikings with five pins, and was also fourth with 18 wins. Keller was first on the squad with 11 major decisions and second behind Rashard Goff with 23 wins. This season Michaels leads the team in wins and is tied for first in pins while Keller is tied for second in major decisions and is fourth in wins.

TEN IN EWL RANKINGS: In the December 8 Eastern Wrestling League rankings, the Vikings have placed a wrestler in the top seven in each weight class. Jordan Keller is the highest placer for CSU, ranked second in the 125 pound weight class, while Marcus Effner is fourth in the 174 pound class. Zech Huff (133), Mike Mencini (141), Dan Castillo (149), Corey Carlo (157), Rob Michaels (165), Nick Anthony (184), Jeff Schuller (197) and Chris Weber (HWT) all earned honorable mention accolades in the current rankings.

VIKINGS PICK UP THE PACE: After posting just five individual victories through the first four meets, the Vikings are starting to heat up after posting seven wins in the 31-13 victory over John Carroll (Nov. 24). The seven wins marks the highest total in the last 12 dual meets, with the Vikings notching seven victories against Ashland on January 11, 2009.

CSU ALL-TIME VS. NORTHWESTERN: This will be just the third time that the Vikings and the Wildcats will face off and the first time that any of the current wrestlers will compete against each other. CSU and Northwestern have split the past two duals, which came during the 1982-83 and 1994-95 seasons. CSU was victorious in the first meeting, 20-15, while they fell 30-12 in the last dual meet.

NEXT UP: The Vikings will close out the 2009 calendar year when CSU travels to Evanston, Ill. to participate in the Midlands Invitational on Tuesday, December 29 and Wednesday, December 30.

THE HEAD COACH
Ben Stehura (Lockhaven '00)
AT CSU: 6-19 (2nd year)
OVERALL: 32-69-1 (6th year)

THE STEHURA FILE: Ben Stehura is in his second season as the head coach of the Cleveland State wrestling program. Stehura returns after leading a young Viking team to a 4-13 record during his first season at the helm. Stehura continued the trend of coaching a wrestler to the NCAA Championships last season, and for the 48th straight year a Viking wrestler advanced to the NCAA Championship with Rashard Goff representing CSU in 2009. Stehura also coached Goff to an EWL Heavyweight championship, the first league champion for CSU since the 2006 season. Stehura will use his experience with coaching a young program and lead the Vikings during the 2009-10 season, working to improve in the EWL and continuing the history and tradition of CSU wrestling.