Just call Mike Kimberlin the comeback kid.
On Friday, the sophomore spent 1:37 floundering around the mat before being pinned by No. 6 Gray Maynard of Michigan State. But on Sunday, Kimberlin was a completely different athlete as he took out his frustration on his next opponent, Wisconsin junior Chris Borchardt.
But Kimberlin’s change of fortune didn’t extend to the entire team, as the Wildcats (5-6, 0-2 Big Ten) dropped two Big Ten dual meets in Welsh-Ryan Arena this weekend, falling 33-7 to No. 15 Michigan State (3-4, 1-0) and losing 24-13 to No. 18 Wisconsin (9-1, 1-1).
Kimberlin was one of the Cats’ bright spots Sunday, as he dominated Borchardt in a major-decision win. He earned four points rather than the usual three for a win, because he defeated the Badger by more than eight points.
“(In) Friday’s match I think I just got caught,” Kimberlin said. “That’s the way things go when you are wrestling guys of that caliber — if you get caught, they’re going to pin you.
“I just wanted to show everybody that I wasn’t going to let that Friday match bother me.”
Unfortunately for the Cats, Kimberlin’s win was one of only six out of the combined 20 matches during the weekend.
The Michigan State meet opened on a sour note when the Cats failed to win a match in any of the lowest weight classes — including the much-anticipated rematch between NU’s John Velez and No. 12 Nick Simmons at 125 pounds. Velez was looking to avenge a loss in the Midlands Championships in December, but Simmons grappled his way to an easy decision.
“Those first three weight classes were critical — we needed to win one of those three,” NU coach Tim Cysewski said. “Ideally, we could have won three of them. I was disappointed that Kimberlin got pinned by that kid — I thought we’d be better than that.”
The Cats tried to redeem themselves when they met Wisconsin on Sunday, but they again fell short of their goal of wrestling hard and smart for the entire match.
NU couldn’t come through despite reminders from assistant coach Tony Ersland, who repeatedly shouted “Seven minutes!” from the sideline.
“It was frustrating,” Cysewski said. “It was a situation where we had a great opportunity to beat Wisconsin. I knew it was going to be a close dual meet, but we needed to not get pinned anywhere, and we did. That hurt a lot.”
NU managed to keep Wisconsin within reach at 18-10 with three matches left.
But the Cats’ hopes were dashed when Velez fell to No. 13 Tony Black. Senior John Giacche was reduced to fighting for pride when he wrestled Tyler Laudon in the last match of the night.
Giacche dominated for the first five minutes, but began to lose control over the match toward the end, and finished the seven minutes tied 7-7.
The two then began a “sudden victory” situation, where the first to score a takedown wins the match.
Giacche hit the mat first, and the Badgers walked away with the win.
“(Giacche’s) match kind of summed up the whole dual meet,” Cysewski said. “We started off pretty good, we were wrestling pretty good — and then all of a sudden, at the end, we let it go.”
