Wrestling handles West Virginia, 24-9

Dan Osterman defeats No. 11 Brandon Rader at 141 lbs.

EAST LANSING, Mich., Jan. 9, 1020  - The Michigan State wrestling team improved to 4-1 on the season by defeating West Virginia, 24-9, on Saturday (Jan. 9) night at Jenison Field House. The Spartans took seven of 10 matches, including three major decisions, to get the win.

"It was a very good team effort tonight - from Eric Olanowski at 125 to Joe Rizqallah at 285 - I thought every guy wrestled hard," said MSU head coach Tom Minkel. "Our mission this week was to be more aggressive and take it to our opponents and I thought, by and large, we did a pretty good job of that."

In the first match of the evening at 125 pounds between WVU's Shane Young and MSU's Eric Olanowski, Young got a pair takedowns early on but an escape by Olanowski at the end of the second made it 4-2. Young picked up two more points in the third and went on to win, 6-2.

No. 1-ranked Franklin Gomez gave MSU its first lead of the night when he scored a major decision over WVU's 17th-ranked Colin Johnston, 12-4. Gomez controlled the match from the outset, improving his record to 9-0 this season and giving MSU a 4-3 lead after two matches.

In his first home dual meet, MSU true freshman Dan Osterman picked up one of the biggest wins of his young career as he defeated No. 11 Brandon Rader in a thriller at 141 pounds. Osterman got takedowns in the first and second periods, but Rader fought back with a reversal and two escapes and made it a 7-4 match to start the third period. Rader scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds to make it 7-6, but it was too late as Osterman hung on for the upset win and increased the Spartan lead to 7-3.

Newly-ranked Spartan 149-pounder David Cheza extended MSU's lead to 11-3 when he got an 11-0 major decision over WVU's Brandon Loro. The 14th-ranked Cheza is now 12-7 on the year.
Anthony Jones Jr. (157 pounds) continued the Spartans' success as he got MSU's fourth consecutive win of the evening with a 6-2 decision over Kyle Eason; giving MSU a 14-3 lead at the midway point of the dual.

The Mountaineers' Donnie Joes put an end to MSU's four-match winning streak when he defeated the Green and White's Kyle Bounds at 165 pounds to make the score, 14-6.

Michigan State picked up a pair of close victories at 174 and 184 pounds to extend its lead to 20-6. At 174 pounds, MSU's Ian Hinton and West Virginia's Matt Weston wrestled nearly evenly, but Hinton's riding-time advantage gave him a 2-1 win and put the Spartans' up 17-6. Nick Palmieri picked up a reversal in the second period of the 184-pound match and won, 3-1, over West Virginia's 18th-ranked Matt Ryan.

Tyler Dickenson dropped a 9-6 decision to WVU's Kyle Rooney at 197 pounds but in the final match of the evening, Spartan heavyweight Joe Rizqallah got a major decision over Brandon Williamson to make the final score 24-9.

MSU will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 15 when its hosts the Spartan Duals at Jenison Field House. Michigan State will square off against Rutgers, Stanford and Northern Illinois beginning at 10 a.m.

FINAL RESULTS
125: Shane Young dec. Eric Olanowski, 6-2; WVU leads, 3-0
133: No. 1 Franklin Gomez maj. dec. No. 17. Colin Johnston, 12-4; MSU leads, 4-3
141: Dan Osterman dec. No. 11 Brandon Rader, 7-6; MSU leads, 7-3
149: No. 14 David Cheza maj. dec. Brandon Loro, 11-0; MSU leads, 11-3
157: Anthony Jones dec. Kyle Eason, 6-2; MSU leads, 14-3
165: Donnie Joes dec. Kyle Bounds, 5-3: MSU leads, 14-6
174: Ian Hinton dec. Matt Weston, 2-1; MSU leads, 17-6
184: Nick Palmieri dec. No. 18 Matt Ryan, 3-1; MSU leads, 20-6
197: Kyle Rooney dec. Tyler Dickenson, 9-6; MSU leads, 20-9
HWT: Joe Rizqallah maj. dec. Brandon Williamson, 12-4; MSU wins, 24-9