Senior Mike Little will have a lot to contend with this weekend.
The heavyweight will wrestle Penn State’s Pat Cummins, ranked second in the nation, when the Northwestern wrestling team travels to University Park, Pa., on Friday night. Less than 48 hours later, he will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the nation’s No. 1-ranked heavyweight, Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State.
Cummins is 30-0 this season and Rowlands, the winner of December’s Midlands Wrestling championships, is 29-1.
“Mike is going to have his hands full with the two best heavyweights in the country,” coach Tim Cysewski said. “It’s important for us to wrestle teams like these so we know what we can do with these guys.”
Little said he’s trying not to get caught up in his opponents’ rankings entering the weekend.
“It’s a really exciting opportunity,” said Little (12-9, 0-4 Big Ten). “You generally don’t get to compete against the top guys in the country in the same weekend. It’s an opportunity to make a name for myself.”
As an added challenge, Cysewski said that both No. 10 Penn State (9-4, 2-2 Big Ten) and No. 22 Ohio State (6-6, 1-1) wrestle with an East Coast style, while NU (9-5, 0-4) competes in the traditional Midwestern style.
There are three basic positions in wrestling — top, bottom and neutral — and East Coast wrestlers traditionally dominate on both the top and the bottom. They try to control their opponents on the mat by riding them and trying to prevent them from getting on their feet. In contrast, the Cats and other Midwest-style teams try to control the match with their feet and focus on take-downs.
To prevent getting turned or pinned by the Nittany Lions’ and Buckeyes’ wrestlers, NU worked on offensive and escape strategies during practice this week, Cysewski said.
“(East Coast teams) are good on the mat and they try to keep you down,” Cysewski said. “We are working on being more aware of that. We need to be tough on our feet and take them down, and if we need to be on the mat, we need to get riding time points and prevent ourselves from getting turned.”
Wrestlers earn riding time points for being on top of their opponents and in control for extended periods of time.
Little said that knowing his opponents’ wrestling styles will help him plan strategies for his matches.
“They like to roll around on the mat a lot,” Little said of East Coast wrestlers. “I have to be prepared for that kind of wrestling.”
Junior John Velez (125 pounds) said Little has the right attitude toward his upcoming matches.
“You are either going to go out there and be scared or try your best to beat him,” Velez said. “Mike is going to go out there and see what he can do. If it’s a really tough match, whether he wins or loses, that’s pretty good.”
Cysewski said he has confidence his team can pull out its first conference win this weekend.
“We always feel that we are prepared to beat everyone we are up against,” he said. “We’ve had a good week of practice. The guys need to be consistent and wrestle well no matter who you are up against.”
