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Wrestling Hosts Kent State in Tuesday's Home Opener

Wrestling Hosts Kent State in Tuesday's Home Opener
Posted: Jan 03, 2011

Jan. 3, 2011

Contact: Dan Carr

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SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State wrestling team returns to Woodling Gym for the Vikings' first home dual meet of the season on Tuesday (Jan. 4) at 7:00 p.m. The Vikings (1-2) began the season with a 30-7 victory over John Carroll, but have since dropped matches against Eastern Michigan and Northwestern. Kent State enters the meet with a 3-4 record, owning wins over Pittsburgh, North Carolina and Chattanooga.

LAST TIME ON THE MAT: Cleveland State participated in the annual Midlands Invitational in Evanston, Ill. on Dec. 29-30. Lawrence Cavello (wrestling at 149) and Koort Leyrer (157) posted wins for the Vikings. Leyrer's victory, his first of the season, was a fall in 4:05.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: A good mixture of experienced returners and talented freshmen give Cleveland State reason to believe the Vikings will make noise in the Eastern Wrestling League this season. With two open crowns and 13 wins on the year, senior Robbie Michaels has emerged as one of the top wrestlers in the EWL. Juniors Josh Palivoda (141 pounds) and Lawrence Cavello (149) each have earned dual meet victories this season. Sophomore Chris Weber (heavyweight) has become a consistent starter, going 2-1 in dual meets this season with his sole loss being a 2-1 decision against Eastern Michigan. A pair of freshmen, Ben Willeford (125) and Nick Flannery (133), have made an immediate impact this season. Willeford placed sixth at the Eastern Michigan Open while Flannery has won two of his three dual meet matches.

CSU ALL-TIME VS. KENT STATE: Kent State leads the all-time series 15-8-1 and has won the last six meetings. The two schools have met in each of the past 14 seasons, including last year at Kent where the Golden Flashes won, 40-3. Kent State is one of CSU's oldest rivals, as the two schools met for the first time in 1931, the inaugural season of wrestling at Cleveland State (then called Fenn College).

WATCH IT LIVE: Tuesday night's match with Kent State will be video streamed live by the CSU athletic department on www.CSUVikings.com. The streaming is free to watch and will cover all 10 of the night's matches.

ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S BEST: Robbie Michaels has broken into WrestlingReport.com's Atlantic Regional Division I rankings, coming in as the region's 20th best wrestler at 165 pounds in the most recent rankings, released Jan. 1. Michaels joins Pittsburgh's Ethan Headlee (eighth), Clarion's Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (12th), Bloomsburg's Josh Veltre (18th) and West Virginia's Donnie Jones (21st) as ranked EWL wrestlers at 165.

DOUBLE DIGIT VICTORIES: Two Vikings have won more than 10 matches this season. Robbie Michaels leads the team with 13 victories, while Brandon Sommers has posted 12 wins. Matt Donohoe and Nick Flannery are close to joining the 10-win club, owning nine and eight wins this season, respectively.

PIN IT TO WIN IT: Last year the Vikings combined for 11 pins all year. Less than halfway through the season, this year's team has already matched that mark, pinning opponents 11 times through Dec. 30. Four wrestlers have combined for eight of those pins with two apiece, including Lawrence Cavello, Robbie Michaels, Brandon Sommers and Chris Weber. Koort Leyrer, Matt Donohoe and Nick Flannery have the other three pins.

TOUGH TESTS AHEAD: When Cleveland State hosts Kent State on Tuesday, the Vikings will be wrestling their second of five ranked opponents. The Golden Flashes enterTuesday's meet ranked 20th in the country. CSU wrestled No. 14 Northwestern on Dec.4 and have upcoming meets against Rutgers (No. 12), Pittsburgh (No. 15), and Indiana (No. 30) later this year. The rankings are from the most recent national poll, released Dec. 20.

NEXT UP: Cleveland State will travel to Bloomington, Ind. on Sunday (Jan. 9) for a quad meet with Indiana, SIU-Edwardsville and Gardner-Webb. The wrestling is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m.

THE HEAD COACH
Ben Stehura (Lockhaven '00)
AT CSU: 7-32 (3rd year)
OVERALL: 33-82-1 (7th year)

Ben Stehura is in his third season as the head coach of the Viking wrestling program, and has recruited a talented group of young wrestlers that expects to make noise in the Eastern Wrestling League this year. He has coached an NCAA national champion, three NCAA All-Americans and six NCAA National Qualifiers in his seven seasons as a head coach.