Hey There Cowboy Wrestling Fans!
I want to apologize for the long delay; I have been moving to a new house and starting an internship. We are finally settled in just in time for dual season followed by the Big 12 and NCAA run for the boys.
Let’s start with the bad news in Jore Volk has been ruled out for the season due to an injury sustained against Spratley. This team has been the walking wounded throughout the year thus far with the following men missing time:
Ethan Ducca – coming off knee surgery and at a new weight class 174
Riley Davis – had a season ending shoulder injury last year and it appears to still affect him. He has been at 174 and 184 this year for the pokes.
Eddie Neitenbach – the freshmen burst onto the scene against Campbell but hurt his shoulder at CKLV. Though he is still on the injury report it appears he is making the trip to Oregon State this weekend.
Joey Novak – he hurt what appeared to be his ankle in the CKLV 3rd place match. I thought for sure he was done for the season but came back last week to go undefeated at the NWCA duals.
Kevin Zimmer – this young man has been fighting injuries and was looking healthy but appeared in a match rocking a shoulder brace and did not make the trip for NWCA. Sam Mitchell (Buffalo transfer) appears to be entering the line-up full time at HWT.
Great news is Coach Branch has become the all-time winningest wrestling coach in school history. A huge congrats to Coach and his staff that continue to navigate this NIL structure to win. Some other good news is that Garrett Ricks has returned for the Pokes to wrestle at 125. He was not on the roster this year and appeared his career was complete but joined the team for the second semester. He is knocking off the rust but gave Steveo Poulin all he could handle.
So far, this team has had a very up and down year in terms of how they wrestle. Guys are finding way to lose matches late, but next match will find a way to win a match late. It is frustrating to watch, however, you see guys capable of winning consistently that can lead to momentum late in the year. Past teams have looked gassed and that is not that case this year; they just make uncharacteristic errors or try and force action. The best way to say it, “Rushing to Failure.”
It is too much to write about the CKLV, Reno, and Solider Salute, however, I do want to create some highlights from the NWCA duals. Wyoming took Mike Tyson shots to begin against Drexel (who beat two Top 25 teams on the weekend), but our Cowboys found a way to win in the final match of the dual. This is where the yo-yo Cowboys showed up and took more shots against Northern Colorado and couldn’t overcome that deficit late. Wyoming would then come out and dominate George Mason.
The following day the boys again would start slow against Central Michigan (CMU). The CMU coaches were complaining the whole match; I finally had to mute the dual because I couldn’t just enjoy the match. Later in the match the Wyoming coaches started to give it back to the CMU coaches and it was awesome to see. I was kind of hoping Devin would slam their small coach, but Sam Mitchell would win this dual once again in TB-2 with 1 second of riding time! The boys should have beat Penn but again it was a random slow start and uncharacteristic loses led to the loss.
This team has been on the road A LOT this season and finally get some time at home. The last time they had a home crowd was Nov 9; let that sink in. They are working hard in the room, and it shows in matches where they dominate but something between the ears gets them off on other matches. My only advice to the team is stop showing bad body language if they are down in matches. The other team can see it and more importantly your teammates can see it. Loses are going to happen but keep fighting for 7 minutes. You are going to need the momentum into Tulsa this year; no dual left scheduled is unwinnable, in fact, you should run away with them. Keep fighting and keep working; the fans will be there on Jan 24 to help you find that extra gear.
GO POKES!
I want to apologize for the long delay; I have been moving to a new house and starting an internship. We are finally settled in just in time for dual season followed by the Big 12 and NCAA run for the boys.
Let’s start with the bad news in Jore Volk has been ruled out for the season due to an injury sustained against Spratley. This team has been the walking wounded throughout the year thus far with the following men missing time:
Ethan Ducca – coming off knee surgery and at a new weight class 174
Riley Davis – had a season ending shoulder injury last year and it appears to still affect him. He has been at 174 and 184 this year for the pokes.
Eddie Neitenbach – the freshmen burst onto the scene against Campbell but hurt his shoulder at CKLV. Though he is still on the injury report it appears he is making the trip to Oregon State this weekend.
Joey Novak – he hurt what appeared to be his ankle in the CKLV 3rd place match. I thought for sure he was done for the season but came back last week to go undefeated at the NWCA duals.
Kevin Zimmer – this young man has been fighting injuries and was looking healthy but appeared in a match rocking a shoulder brace and did not make the trip for NWCA. Sam Mitchell (Buffalo transfer) appears to be entering the line-up full time at HWT.
Great news is Coach Branch has become the all-time winningest wrestling coach in school history. A huge congrats to Coach and his staff that continue to navigate this NIL structure to win. Some other good news is that Garrett Ricks has returned for the Pokes to wrestle at 125. He was not on the roster this year and appeared his career was complete but joined the team for the second semester. He is knocking off the rust but gave Steveo Poulin all he could handle.
So far, this team has had a very up and down year in terms of how they wrestle. Guys are finding way to lose matches late, but next match will find a way to win a match late. It is frustrating to watch, however, you see guys capable of winning consistently that can lead to momentum late in the year. Past teams have looked gassed and that is not that case this year; they just make uncharacteristic errors or try and force action. The best way to say it, “Rushing to Failure.”
It is too much to write about the CKLV, Reno, and Solider Salute, however, I do want to create some highlights from the NWCA duals. Wyoming took Mike Tyson shots to begin against Drexel (who beat two Top 25 teams on the weekend), but our Cowboys found a way to win in the final match of the dual. This is where the yo-yo Cowboys showed up and took more shots against Northern Colorado and couldn’t overcome that deficit late. Wyoming would then come out and dominate George Mason.
The following day the boys again would start slow against Central Michigan (CMU). The CMU coaches were complaining the whole match; I finally had to mute the dual because I couldn’t just enjoy the match. Later in the match the Wyoming coaches started to give it back to the CMU coaches and it was awesome to see. I was kind of hoping Devin would slam their small coach, but Sam Mitchell would win this dual once again in TB-2 with 1 second of riding time! The boys should have beat Penn but again it was a random slow start and uncharacteristic loses led to the loss.
This team has been on the road A LOT this season and finally get some time at home. The last time they had a home crowd was Nov 9; let that sink in. They are working hard in the room, and it shows in matches where they dominate but something between the ears gets them off on other matches. My only advice to the team is stop showing bad body language if they are down in matches. The other team can see it and more importantly your teammates can see it. Loses are going to happen but keep fighting for 7 minutes. You are going to need the momentum into Tulsa this year; no dual left scheduled is unwinnable, in fact, you should run away with them. Keep fighting and keep working; the fans will be there on Jan 24 to help you find that extra gear.
GO POKES!
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