Wrestling season is approaching
By Jennifer Hancock

His alarm goes off at 6:20 a.m. There’s no time to hit snooze. He rolls out of bed to brush his teeth, grabs a bagel and a bottle of water to begin his walk over to the Hearnes Center. When he gets there, he changes into his Missouri issued gear. Next, he walks over to the Dan Devine Center to start his practice. He runs four laps to warm up for the eight laps he will have to run in less than seven minutes and 40 seconds.

This is the typical Monday morning for the Missouri freshmen wrestlers. This is just the beginning of their practice for the day. They will lift for a few hours after their conditioning, then head to class or take a nap like any other college freshman on campus. They meet later that afternoon to do some drilling and live wrestling.

All of this hard work will pay off through their wrestling career as they participate in open tournaments this season. The freshmen wrestlers will establish their college wrestling experience on Saturday, Oct. 29 at the Lindenwood Open tournament in St. Charles, Mo.

The Missouri wrestling team has brought in some real talent according to the Sept. 2, 2005 issue of Amateur Wrestling News. Some of the Tiger team’s top recruits are Max Askren of Wisconsin, John Olanowski of Virginia, and Nick Marable of Tennessee. Other freshmen mentioned are Bobby Conn, Dane Espinosa, and Brian Sanguinet all from Missouri, Ryan Sonderegger of Kansas, and Dirk Hurrin of Virginia.

“It’ll be my first college tournament so I don’t really know what to expect. I’m a little nervous and a little excited,” Bobby Conn said.

Olanowski said, “I feel like I’m ready for Saturday because I know I have done everything the coaches have asked to be done and they have prepared me well. The coaching staff gives us the strengths to believe we can win because we work hard everyday.”

“I’m really excited for Saturday. It’s our first meet and my goal is to win it and learn from my mistakes,” Brian Sanguinet said.

The Missouri wrestling team is made up of 32 boys from 12 different states. Even if they didn’t grow up next to each other on the mat in club wrestling, or they might or might not have wrestled each other through rival high schools, one thing if for sure now: They are part of the same team, the same family.

“When you call someone, you don’t ask what one person is doing. You ask what the team is doing,” Olanowski said.

There is always somebody for the freshmen wrestlers to look up to on the team. Maybe it’s a brother, a wrestling partner, or a best friend. A lot of the younger wrestlers look up to junior and team captain Ben Askren.

“He knows what to do in every situation,” Sanguinet said.

“I look up to Ben a lot because he knows how to work hard and keep his head on straight. He and Pell are both good team leaders,” Conn said.

Olanowski looks up to fifth year senior Austin DeVoe.

“He pushes me to do the things I need to get to and he makes me work hard,” Olanowski said.

Whether the Missouri freshmen wrestler’s number one priority at the moment is winning every match and tournament this season, getting a good grade on the biology test next week, or watching what they eat, they all came to Missouri to wrestle with the same intentions: To win and win with Tiger Style.

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