Even after a disappointing showing last week, coach Joel Greenlee still had faith in Germane Lindsey.
Lindsey, a 141-pound junior, struggled at the Hokie Open. Because of a weight issue early in the morning, Lindsey felt weak. His
performance suffered and, after defeating Kent State's Marcel Clopton, Lindsey fell in his last two bouts of the tournament.
At yesterday's Michigan State Open, Lindsey's performance was anything but disappointing, as he placed second in the 141-pound weight class.
We've got all the confidence in the world in that kid
Greenlee said. There was some confusion last week with his weight situation but we had no doubt that this week he was going to come up big for us.
After receiving a first round bye, Lindsey made short work of Appalachian State's Matt Callahan, pinning him in 2 minutes, 53 seconds. Lindsey won both his quarterfinal and semi-final matches 5-2, over Vince Castillo (Northern Illinois) and Mark Weber (Michigan).
Heading into the championship match, Lindsey was, as Greenlee said, a little beat up. The coaching staff and Lindsey decided to scratch Lindsey out of the championship match, thus giving Northern Illinois' Patrick McLemore the title.
We just felt that we should scratch him Greenlee said. We're going to face that kid a bunch over the season
and we felt that we shouldn't send him in there 40 or 50 percent. We only wanted Germane in there fully ready to compete.
Also making it to a championship match for the Bobcats was sophomore heavyweight Andy Hartshorn. Hartshorn, who last week had several big wins on the way to a fourth place finish, began his day with a bye and four straight victories.
In the championship match, Hartshorn matched up against Nathan Everhart of Indiana University. After finishing fifth at the Big Ten Championships last season, Everhart earned his second consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships. He was also ranked as high as 14th nationally during his junior campaign.
In the low scoring championship match, Everhart bested Hartshorn 2-0 to claim the title. Despite the loss, Greenlee still commended Hartshorn's efforts.
He's getting better and better every weekend
Greenlee said. He's a real athletic kid and each week he's doing what we're telling him to do in practice and is working really hard at it. If he keeps going like this
the sky's the limit.
Finishing in fourth place for the Bobcats Sunday was senior Clay Tucker. Tucker, who lost in his quarterfinal match to Kurt Kinser (Indiana), wrestled his way back through the bracket to earn a third-place match with Corey Carlo of Cleveland State University. Carlo defeated Tucker 7-3 to finish in third place.
Darrin Boing also placed for Ohio. Boing, a 141-pound sophomore, finished in sixth place for the Bobcats after falling to Mike Kessler of Appalachian State in the consolation bracket.
2
Sports
Noah Meyers
