Written and Reported by Dave Ritterpusch
Doing well on Saturday, the 3rd and final day of NCAAs, is one of the ultimate tests in amateur wrestling. (Bear in mind that the only wrestlers still wrestling at NCAAs come Saturday are those who have won All American status the previous day.)
So when Blair’s Kellen Russell and Ed Ruth went 3-0 on Saturday, March 19, 2011, they added another chapter to Blair’s legendary wrestling history.
For Kellen, a red-shirt junior at Michigan, the victory in the NCAA finals of the 141 lb weight class on Saturday night was a bit like conquering Mt Everest and put the final touches on a remarkable, spine-tingling season. In marathon-runner fashion, Kellen beat every one of the USA’s top wrestlers in his weight class at least twice on the way to building an amazing 38-0 final record.
Over the course of the 2010-2011 season, Kellen faced his weight class’s very best wrestlers an astounding 13 times and wrestled 6 overtime matches against them -- and yet, NEVER lost. In fact, thanks to his incredibly challenging schedule, nine of Kellen Russell’s 2010-2011 victories came over the four wrestlers who ended up placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th at the 2011 NCAAs!
For Ed Ruth, a red-shirt freshman at Penn State, two dominant wins on Saturday afternoon over high seeded red-shirt seniors enabled him to finish his first year of NCAA competition in exceptional fashion, taking 3rd place in the 174 lb weight class and in the process, clinching the NCAA team crown for Penn State, the first such title for an Eastern school since 1953.
Note: Ed Ruth became the 3rd Blair wrestler in the last six years to win the NCAA most-pins-in-the-least-time award, joining Iowa’s Mark Perry in 2006 and Maryland’s Hudson Taylor in 2009.
The success of Russell and Ruth at this year’s NCAAs brought Blair’s NCAA Division 1 All American count to 51. As remarkable as that total may be, it is even more noteworthy that 34 of these Blair’s All American places were in the top 3 of their respective weight classes.
In other words, exactly two-thirds of Blair’s NCAA All American places have been top 3 finishes -- 13 of them NCAA championships, 9 of them second-place finishes and 12 third-place finishes: “…Standard of Excellence,” indeed.
Blair had three wrestlers miss All American status by the closest of margins at the 2011 NCAAs, as Michigan’s Sean Boyle, Penn’s Rollie Peterkin and Rutgers’ Mario Mason lost in the round of 12 to fall one win short of All American status.
Perhaps the most noteworthy performance of the three was that of Sean Boyle. A seriously undersized freshman in 2009-2010, Sean grew into the 125 lb class in 2010-2011 and darn near pulled out an All American finish for Michigan at 125 lbs, despite being unseeded and not having been afforded a red-shirt year.
Sean lost early on to defending NCAA Champ Matt McDonough, who may well be a 3-time NCAA champ, once he gets back to wrestling guys with two legs. All told, Boyle won three matches for Michigan, beating the NCAA qualifiers from Penn State, Pitt and Nebraska by an average of 5 points. Then, in his last match Friday night, Sean lost just 4-2 to Oklahoma’s Jarrod Patterson, who went on to place 7th.
Our condolences and best wishes go to Penn’s Rollie Peterkin, a one-time Blair ASICS 112 lb All American whose distinguished wrestling career is now over, having ended with a couple of top 12 finishes at NCAAs. This year a first-round loss that saw him give up a 5-2 lead spelled his doom. He won his next three bouts and then lost in the round of 12 to 2009 All American Scott Sentes, who went on to place 4th this year.
The third Blair wrestler to leave the 2011 NCAAs because of a round-of-12 loss was Rutgers’ red-shirt sophomore Mario Mason. Mario had won an overtime bout over Indiana’s Kurt Kinser to advance to the quarterfinals, where he lost 4-2 to the #2 seed.
Then, like Oklahoma State’s Chris Perry (brother of Blair 4-time NCAA AA Mark Perry) and Penn State’s Andrew Alton, both of whom had been USA 1’s as high school seniors, Mario lost that critical and oh, so difficult first match Friday night after losing in the quarterfinals. And that loss left all three of them with no alternative but to “wait till next year.”
Even future NCAA champs, such as Kellen Russell, have experienced that crash. In fact, the unspoken part of the great Kellen Russell story that follows is that after Kellen won the Big Ten title his true freshman year, he went into NCAAs as the #3 seed, only to lose both his quarterfinal match and the following match. As a result, Kellen did not place, even though the NCAA champ came out of the Big Ten that year – and the next, both of which years Kellen won Big Tens.
So the story that follows is one of sweet redemption for an outstanding wrestler who persevered and achieved his ultimate goal, despite countless roadblocks along the way.
Kellen Russell’s Remarkable Season Examined
On the way to the 2011 NCAA championship at 141 lbs, Kellen Russell won the Cliff Keen tournament in Las Vegas (NV) in early December, the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro (NC) the end of December, the Big Ten Championship (for the 3rd time) the beginning of March in Evanston (IL) and finally, the NCAAs themselves in Philadelphia (PA) the middle of March
Each of these four tournaments featured many – if not all -- of the USA’s top-six ranked wrestlers at Kellen’s weight. On top of that, since five of the top six were out of the Big Ten, Kellen got to face most of the best guys yet again in Michigan Wolverine dual meets.
As a direct result of this incredibly challenging schedule, nine of Kellen Russell’s 2010-2011 victories came over the four wrestlers who ended up placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th at NCAAs! Three more came over the USA’s 6th ranked wrestler and another came over the NCAAs eventual 7th place winner. So in total, Kellen faced – and defeated -- six of the USA’s very best 141 lb wrestlers an astounding 13 times.
Quite a gauntlet to have to run, again and again. To pull this off, bout after bout, Kellen showed an uncanny ability to win close matches – all of them, in fact. Not only did he hand the eventual NCAA 2nd place finisher two 3-2 defeats -- the opponent’s only losses this season -- but Kellen also won six overtime matches against the USA’s best wrestlers, two at NCAAs, one at Big Tens.
Here is the complete listing of Kellen’s wins over the USA’s best wrestlers at his weight in Kellen’s remarkable 2010-2011 marathon season:
2011 NCAA Placewinner Final Scores Vs Russell
#2 Boris Novachkov, Cal Poly 2 losses: 2-3, 2-3
#3 Mike Thorn, Minnesota 3 losses: 2- 6, 1-3 (OT). 4-8
#4 Montell Marion, Iowa 2 losses; 5-9 (OT), 2-2 (OT --TB 2)
#5 Jim Kennedy, Illinois 2 losses: fall, 4-6 (OT)
#7 Zack Bailey, Oklahoma 1 loss: 2-2 (OT -- TB 2)
#6 Ranked & #6 Seeded Andrew Alton, 3 losses: 3-4, 2-3, 1-3 (OT),
Penn St
Looking Back at All of Kellen’s 2010-2011 Matches
Looking back at all 38 of Kellen’s 2010-2011 matches takes us all the way back to November 6, 2010 and shows 5 matches in November, 11 in December, 9 in January, 5 in February and 8 in March, with 16 of the 38 coming against Big Ten opponents.
Match by match we see a remarkably consistent pattern. To whit, excluding his 4 pins, Kellen usually scored relatively close to his season average of 7 ½ points and his opponents – regardless of how good they were – usually scored just 2 points, exactly two points.
We see that if you were a prospective 2010-2011 opponent of Kellen Russell, about to face him in one of his 38 matches, you could look forward to the following scenario – almost without fail:
• You are not going to take Kellen down. (Only a handful of wrestlers did, all year.)
• On average Kellen was going to get 2 or 3 takedowns, at least one of which would be a re-shot, or a quick counter, such as the go-behind Kellen used in the final 30 seconds of the NCAA championship match.
• On average you were going to score only 2 points -- even if you were the #2 guy in the country.
• You were going to score your 2 points via two escapes, one of which would occur after Kellen had taken you down (or alternatively, after he had one of his occasional reversals).
• One way or another, Kellen would have more riding time on you than you had on him. (This mat advantage led to Kellen’s narrow wins in both the NCAA quarterfinals and the NCAA semifinals.)
• Kellen would make virtually no mistakes, and would be on constant alert to capitalize on any advantages, no matter how slight, or how brief.
• If somehow you do get in on Kellen from your feet, you would be well advised to not assume you are going to get a take down – never.
o For instance, in the opening seconds of the Big Ten finals, Minnesota’s then USA #2 Mike Thorn was in deep on Kellen, only to have Kellen come out of the ensuing scramble with a clean take down.
o In the NCAA semifinals, Iowa’s Montell Marion, a 2010 NCAA finalist, was ever so close to getting a take down in overtime, one that would have ended the match. But Kellen’s defense and balance prevailed, and he went on to win in 9 periods, by virtue of a slight, but real riding time advantage.
Doing well on Saturday, the 3rd and final day of NCAAs, is one of the ultimate tests in amateur wrestling. (Bear in mind that the only wrestlers still wrestling at NCAAs come Saturday are those who have won All American status the previous day.)
So when Blair’s Kellen Russell and Ed Ruth went 3-0 on Saturday, March 19, 2011, they added another chapter to Blair’s legendary wrestling history.
For Kellen, a red-shirt junior at Michigan, the victory in the NCAA finals of the 141 lb weight class on Saturday night was a bit like conquering Mt Everest and put the final touches on a remarkable, spine-tingling season. In marathon-runner fashion, Kellen beat every one of the USA’s top wrestlers in his weight class at least twice on the way to building an amazing 38-0 final record.
Over the course of the 2010-2011 season, Kellen faced his weight class’s very best wrestlers an astounding 13 times and wrestled 6 overtime matches against them -- and yet, NEVER lost. In fact, thanks to his incredibly challenging schedule, nine of Kellen Russell’s 2010-2011 victories came over the four wrestlers who ended up placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th at the 2011 NCAAs!
For Ed Ruth, a red-shirt freshman at Penn State, two dominant wins on Saturday afternoon over high seeded red-shirt seniors enabled him to finish his first year of NCAA competition in exceptional fashion, taking 3rd place in the 174 lb weight class and in the process, clinching the NCAA team crown for Penn State, the first such title for an Eastern school since 1953.
Note: Ed Ruth became the 3rd Blair wrestler in the last six years to win the NCAA most-pins-in-the-least-time award, joining Iowa’s Mark Perry in 2006 and Maryland’s Hudson Taylor in 2009.
The success of Russell and Ruth at this year’s NCAAs brought Blair’s NCAA Division 1 All American count to 51. As remarkable as that total may be, it is even more noteworthy that 34 of these Blair’s All American places were in the top 3 of their respective weight classes.
In other words, exactly two-thirds of Blair’s NCAA All American places have been top 3 finishes -- 13 of them NCAA championships, 9 of them second-place finishes and 12 third-place finishes: “…Standard of Excellence,” indeed.
Blair had three wrestlers miss All American status by the closest of margins at the 2011 NCAAs, as Michigan’s Sean Boyle, Penn’s Rollie Peterkin and Rutgers’ Mario Mason lost in the round of 12 to fall one win short of All American status.
Perhaps the most noteworthy performance of the three was that of Sean Boyle. A seriously undersized freshman in 2009-2010, Sean grew into the 125 lb class in 2010-2011 and darn near pulled out an All American finish for Michigan at 125 lbs, despite being unseeded and not having been afforded a red-shirt year.
Sean lost early on to defending NCAA Champ Matt McDonough, who may well be a 3-time NCAA champ, once he gets back to wrestling guys with two legs. All told, Boyle won three matches for Michigan, beating the NCAA qualifiers from Penn State, Pitt and Nebraska by an average of 5 points. Then, in his last match Friday night, Sean lost just 4-2 to Oklahoma’s Jarrod Patterson, who went on to place 7th.
Our condolences and best wishes go to Penn’s Rollie Peterkin, a one-time Blair ASICS 112 lb All American whose distinguished wrestling career is now over, having ended with a couple of top 12 finishes at NCAAs. This year a first-round loss that saw him give up a 5-2 lead spelled his doom. He won his next three bouts and then lost in the round of 12 to 2009 All American Scott Sentes, who went on to place 4th this year.
The third Blair wrestler to leave the 2011 NCAAs because of a round-of-12 loss was Rutgers’ red-shirt sophomore Mario Mason. Mario had won an overtime bout over Indiana’s Kurt Kinser to advance to the quarterfinals, where he lost 4-2 to the #2 seed.
Then, like Oklahoma State’s Chris Perry (brother of Blair 4-time NCAA AA Mark Perry) and Penn State’s Andrew Alton, both of whom had been USA 1’s as high school seniors, Mario lost that critical and oh, so difficult first match Friday night after losing in the quarterfinals. And that loss left all three of them with no alternative but to “wait till next year.”
Even future NCAA champs, such as Kellen Russell, have experienced that crash. In fact, the unspoken part of the great Kellen Russell story that follows is that after Kellen won the Big Ten title his true freshman year, he went into NCAAs as the #3 seed, only to lose both his quarterfinal match and the following match. As a result, Kellen did not place, even though the NCAA champ came out of the Big Ten that year – and the next, both of which years Kellen won Big Tens.
So the story that follows is one of sweet redemption for an outstanding wrestler who persevered and achieved his ultimate goal, despite countless roadblocks along the way.
Kellen Russell’s Remarkable Season Examined
On the way to the 2011 NCAA championship at 141 lbs, Kellen Russell won the Cliff Keen tournament in Las Vegas (NV) in early December, the Southern Scuffle in Greensboro (NC) the end of December, the Big Ten Championship (for the 3rd time) the beginning of March in Evanston (IL) and finally, the NCAAs themselves in Philadelphia (PA) the middle of March
Each of these four tournaments featured many – if not all -- of the USA’s top-six ranked wrestlers at Kellen’s weight. On top of that, since five of the top six were out of the Big Ten, Kellen got to face most of the best guys yet again in Michigan Wolverine dual meets.
As a direct result of this incredibly challenging schedule, nine of Kellen Russell’s 2010-2011 victories came over the four wrestlers who ended up placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th at NCAAs! Three more came over the USA’s 6th ranked wrestler and another came over the NCAAs eventual 7th place winner. So in total, Kellen faced – and defeated -- six of the USA’s very best 141 lb wrestlers an astounding 13 times.
Quite a gauntlet to have to run, again and again. To pull this off, bout after bout, Kellen showed an uncanny ability to win close matches – all of them, in fact. Not only did he hand the eventual NCAA 2nd place finisher two 3-2 defeats -- the opponent’s only losses this season -- but Kellen also won six overtime matches against the USA’s best wrestlers, two at NCAAs, one at Big Tens.
Here is the complete listing of Kellen’s wins over the USA’s best wrestlers at his weight in Kellen’s remarkable 2010-2011 marathon season:
2011 NCAA Placewinner Final Scores Vs Russell
#2 Boris Novachkov, Cal Poly 2 losses: 2-3, 2-3
#3 Mike Thorn, Minnesota 3 losses: 2- 6, 1-3 (OT). 4-8
#4 Montell Marion, Iowa 2 losses; 5-9 (OT), 2-2 (OT --TB 2)
#5 Jim Kennedy, Illinois 2 losses: fall, 4-6 (OT)
#7 Zack Bailey, Oklahoma 1 loss: 2-2 (OT -- TB 2)
#6 Ranked & #6 Seeded Andrew Alton, 3 losses: 3-4, 2-3, 1-3 (OT),
Penn St
Looking Back at All of Kellen’s 2010-2011 Matches
Looking back at all 38 of Kellen’s 2010-2011 matches takes us all the way back to November 6, 2010 and shows 5 matches in November, 11 in December, 9 in January, 5 in February and 8 in March, with 16 of the 38 coming against Big Ten opponents.
Match by match we see a remarkably consistent pattern. To whit, excluding his 4 pins, Kellen usually scored relatively close to his season average of 7 ½ points and his opponents – regardless of how good they were – usually scored just 2 points, exactly two points.
We see that if you were a prospective 2010-2011 opponent of Kellen Russell, about to face him in one of his 38 matches, you could look forward to the following scenario – almost without fail:
• You are not going to take Kellen down. (Only a handful of wrestlers did, all year.)
• On average Kellen was going to get 2 or 3 takedowns, at least one of which would be a re-shot, or a quick counter, such as the go-behind Kellen used in the final 30 seconds of the NCAA championship match.
• On average you were going to score only 2 points -- even if you were the #2 guy in the country.
• You were going to score your 2 points via two escapes, one of which would occur after Kellen had taken you down (or alternatively, after he had one of his occasional reversals).
• One way or another, Kellen would have more riding time on you than you had on him. (This mat advantage led to Kellen’s narrow wins in both the NCAA quarterfinals and the NCAA semifinals.)
• Kellen would make virtually no mistakes, and would be on constant alert to capitalize on any advantages, no matter how slight, or how brief.
• If somehow you do get in on Kellen from your feet, you would be well advised to not assume you are going to get a take down – never.
o For instance, in the opening seconds of the Big Ten finals, Minnesota’s then USA #2 Mike Thorn was in deep on Kellen, only to have Kellen come out of the ensuing scramble with a clean take down.
o In the NCAA semifinals, Iowa’s Montell Marion, a 2010 NCAA finalist, was ever so close to getting a take down in overtime, one that would have ended the match. But Kellen’s defense and balance prevailed, and he went on to win in 9 periods, by virtue of a slight, but real riding time advantage.
