By Abe RakovThe Daily Northwestern
It’s hard to appreciate how dominant Jake Herbert is without watching him in person.
He’s the No. 1 ranked 184-pound wrestler in the country. He’s 19-0 this season. His only loss in the last two years was in the finals of the NCAA Championships last season. He’s blown out dozens of opponents in his Northwestern career.
But his dominance starts well before it’s time for him to wrestle. Herbert started pacing more than 20 minutes prior his match last Friday against Wisconsin.
He paced back and forth behind his teammates, who were sitting in chairs watching the current bout. Then Herbert wandered behind the scorer’s table at Welsh-Ryan area, still pacing with a determined look on his face. If you don’t think someone can look scary while walking, watch him.
Then it was finally time for his match. Herbert continued pacing on the mat during wrestler introductions. He was staring down his next victim, who at this point had watched Herbert pace for about 15 minutes and looked like he wanted to go hide in the locker room rather than face Herbert.
It’s unfortunate that he didn’t run. Herbert completely dominated, scoring at almost every available opportunity en route to the 16-5 victory – which was no surprise to anyone that saw the look on that Wisconsin wrestler’s face the seconds leading up to the match.
His win vaulted the Wildcats back in contention against No. 9 Wisconsin, and NU’s last two wrestlers (Mike Tamillow and Dustin Fox) finished the comeback from 12 down to win the match for the Cats.
Herbert had a disappointing match in his bid for the national championship last year, but if he continues to dominate as he has so far this season, he’ll get another chance.
Athlete of the week
Georgia Rose. She teamed with Alexis Prousis to defeat Duke’s No. 4-ranked doubles team and won her singles match in straight sets to lead the Cats to a 6-1 victory against the No. 10 Blue Devils on Sunday. The sophomore, who is NU’s top singles player, finished last season 25-1 in the dual season, including 13-0 in the Big Ten.
Home game to watch
Slim pickins. But there is a big football game on Sunday. We can only hope the Super Bowl is better than the BCS Championship game, although it would be fun to see the Colts get smoked like the heavily-favored Buckeyes. In fact, instead of calling a big loss a blowout, NU Notes suggests calling those contests Buckeyes for the next year.
Deputy sports editor Abe Rakov is a Medill junior. His NU Notes column runs every Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected].
