Wrestlers Look To Grapple Their Way To The Top

Imagine being toe to toe with a 6'2", 230-pound gladiator who wants to rip you limb from limb. You have no teammates, no timeouts and no help.

For most people this would be a nightmare, but for the men of the UB wrestling team it is just another day at the office.

Although this year's roster doesn't contain a single senior, confidence is high around the locker room. What they lack in age and experience they hope to make up with hard work and good coaching.

"We are young, everyone knows that, but we're talented too," said head coach Jim Beichner. "We're hoping to close the gap by working our younger guys out just as hard as we would our older guys. With really good competitive workouts, good training and good coaches those guys can close the gap."

This season will be Beichner's tenth year as head coach of the Bulls. During the last decade, Beichner has always promoted a high work ethic, aggressive recruiting and has made a point to hire the most qualified coaches.

"We've had better success recruiting blue-chip wrestlers. We've improved our work ethic and I've hired in my opinion some of the best coaches around. I've got two four-time All-Americans and both of them (are) NCAA champions on my staff," said Beichner. "When you look at three out of three coaches on our staff, we have 10 All-American Honors bestowed upon us and two national titles. I think that's pretty impressive."

The only other All-American in the Bulls' program is red-shirt senior Kyle Cerminara. Last season Cerminara became UB's first All-American wrestler when he placed 8th in the NCAA Division I Tournament. Cerminara made the decision to red-shirt this year with hopes of winning a National Title next season.

"We red-shirt guys periodically throughout their career," said Beichner. There are 15 or 20 guys in his weight class that are very competitive, he is ranked 7th in the country right now. Of that 15 or 20 guys there is a large group that are 5th year seniors and he is only a 4th year senior. We feel by red-shirting him and giving him another year to mature and another year of good training, instead of being ranked 7th, he'll probably move up in the ranks to 3rd or 2nd. Ultimately for us we want a national champion. That is what we train to do. We feel like he has a better opportunity next year to win a national title."

Even without Cerminara the Bulls are still loaded with talent. In the preseason polls, the Bulls have five wrestlers ranked in the MAC and several others with a lot of potential. The ranked wrestlers include sophomore Mark McKnight, ranked first at 125 lbs., sophomore Mark Budd ranked third at 133 lbs., sophomore Patrick Lloyd ranked fourth at 146 lbs., freshman Mickey Morgan ranked fourth at 165 lbs., and junior Garret Hicks ranked fourth at 184 lbs.

After an impressive year as a true freshman in which he won 38 of 46 matches, McKnight is returning as the defending MAC champion with his mind set focused on making his presence felt at the national tournament.

"I'm expecting to have a pretty decent year. Hopefully at the end of the year I win the MAC's and make it to the NCAA tournament and hopefully place there," said McKnight.

In addition to being number one in the MAC, McKnight is also ranked 7th in the national polls in his weight class. This summer he spent most of his time training for the upcoming season. When he wasn't working out with "The Angry Fish Club" in Pittsburgh - his hometown-wrestling club - McKnight was competing at the global level. After wrestling at the Olympic trials, McKnight won the Pan-American Games in freestyle wrestling and placed third in the Greco-Roman competition.

"That was pretty interesting, being 19 years old and wrestling some the guys you looked up to since you were about ten. That was pretty crazy," said McKnight. "Then I went to Venezuela for the Pan-American games. It was a delight; I have never wrestled out of the country before. I thought that was real interesting being in a different atmosphere. I'm in a Spanish speaking country and I don't speak one word of Spanish."

On Saturday, the Bulls will take to the mat in their first tournament of the season when they travel to SUNY Brockport for the Oklahoma Gold Classic. The guys are eager to take their shots at some of the powerhouses of Division I wrestling.

"I'm looking to make the finals and hopefully Sam Hazewinkel, I think he's ranked first or second in the country right now, I hope he makes the finals too, and me and him will put on a good show," said McKnight. "Hopefully I'm victorious in it."

This year's team has the potential to take wrestling at UB to the next level, as they are stacked with young and hungry wrestlers who, Mark Budd says, have only one message for the UB students:

"Come out and support us. We're the best team on campus."