Wrestlers
improving in second half of season
By Jared Babbitt
Staff Reporter
The Briar Cliff University wrestling team
is in the second half of their season and many of the wrestlers
say that it will be better than the first half.
Some are already trying to prove it. One of
those wrestlers is Dave Pogge, senior co-captain.
"The first half of the season didn't
go as well as I liked it to, then on Jan. 12 I made a mental
mistake with five seconds left in a match. After that I
basically told myself I didn't want to lose again and the
second half of the season would be a whole lot better that
the first," said Pogge.
When Pogge said ‘not
lose again,’ he meant it. Pogge is
currently riding a seven match-winning streak. This has
led to being the champion in the last two tournaments he
was in.
Pogge is not the only one
wrestling well for the Chargers. Recently at the Central
Invite in Pella, Iowa, besides Pogge going
3-0 and winning the 133 pound class, Ryan Stusse a fellow
senior from Pierce, Neb. also went 3-0 on the day with three
pins at 149 pounds. Luke Kuhl also had an impressing outing
at Central. He started off the day 2-0, before losing in
the championship match by default. Jason Kruse went 3-2
on the day at 157 lbs, good enough for third place and Justin
Williams was 2-2 and finished fifth at 184 lbs. The top
finishers in each class earn themselves a right to wrestle
at nationals in Great Falls, Mont.
BCU already has four wrestlers going to Mont.
as of right now. Pogge, Stusse, Williams,
and Kuhl have earned their invite to the meet.
"We have four going already, including
myself. So far everybody going has a good chance of being
an All-American. Justin, Ryan and myself are returning All-Americans
from a year ago," said Pogge.
With the team's dual win over Dakota Wesleyan
this year, it was only their second dual win of Pogge's
career. The Chargers got a win when Pogge
was a freshman, but the Chargers did not win again till
their win over Dakota Wesleyan. With the duals this weekend
at Buena Vista and then two more at home on Feb. 4 against
Dana and on the Feb. 11 against Northwestern the Chargers
are optimistic for some more wins.
"During the beginning of the year we
had problems with injuries and some open weights. Dave
is currently on his win streak and our heavyweight, Kyle
Turnbaugh is wrestling well, as well. We are getting back
to full strength as a team which is going to help,"
said sophomore Todd Clark. "We should be pretty good,
we have a lot of guys coming back so we should be exciting."
Head Coach Andy Krueger is in his third year
as coach and his wrestlers seem to really relate to him
well. "Coach Krueger does real well as a coach. He
know different techniques for everyone. He does really well
as far as strategies go for different guys,” said
senior Gabe Prescott.
Krueger isn't alone on the BCU bench. He has
guys like asst. coaches Wes Miller, a former BCU wrestler
himself, and Gabe Prescott, a senior who’s season
was cut short this year by a shoulder injury. "I have
been trying to help guys with different techniques, and
just trying to help the team and make everybody better,"
said Prescott. "We battled through some injuries at
first, and now we are getting back to full strength. We
should be exciting down the stretch."
The Chargers will be at Buena Vista this weekend.
They don't return home until Feb. 4th against Dana.
The Cliff News
- January 30, 2004
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