This article written by Dave Ritterpusch for the May 15, 2011 edition of Amateur Wrestling News. Not to be reproduced in any way shape or form without the explicit permission of Amateur Wrestling News.
Over his illustrious career, Kellen Russell had won every major tournament he had entered at least once; well, make that every one but the ultimate prize in American folk style wrestling, the NCAAs.
At Blair Academy in New Jersey, Kellen won the premier in-season high school tournaments in America, Ironman and Beast of the East, as well as the major off-season tournaments, namely, Senior Nationals and the ultra-competitive Junior Nationals in Fargo. Beyond that, Kellen won the prestigious end-of-season National Prep Tournament at Lehigh three times.
At the University of Michigan, going into the 2011 NCAAs as a red-shirt junior, Kellen had already won the Big Ten championship 3 times, no mean task, especially since the eventual NCAA Champ at his weight class has come from the Big Ten every year that Kellen has wrestled for Michigan. On top of that, Kellen had won both the Cliff Keen Invitational Tournament in Las Vegas in early December and the Southern Scuffle in North Carolina the end of December.
Then, this March Kellen Russell conquered his Mt Everest by winning the 2011 NCAA crown, putting the final touches on a remarkable, spine-tingling season. In marathon-runner fashion, over the course of the 2010-2011 season Kellen beat all the USA’s top wrestlers in his weight class again and again, and amassed an amazing unblemished final record of 38 wins and no losses.
During the 2010-2011 season, Kellen faced his weight class’s very best wrestlers an astonishing 13 times and wrestled 6 overtime matches against them -- and yet, NEVER lost. Moreover, thanks to his challenging schedule, nine of Kellen Russell’s 2010-2011 victories came over the four wrestlers who ended up placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th at the 2011 NCAAs!
Many credit Kellen’s character and his family’s for the almost super-human perseverance and focus that led to Kellen’s ultimate phenomenal success. For their part, Kellen and his parents, Ed and Maria Russell, point to Blair Academy and Coach Jeff Buxton and particularly to the trying year Kellen had as a Blair sophomore. They feel strongly that these critical forces conditioned Kellen’s psyche, enabling Kellen to come back from major disappointments and win NCAAs and sustain his incredible winning streak through the entire 2010-2011 season, even while facing close encounter after close encounter.
Without dwelling on the past, let us say for now simply that after a very successful freshman season (2003-2004) in which he won National Preps at 103 lbs for USA #1 Blair, Kellen could not make Blair’s USA #1 team of 2004-2005.
Having experienced enormous success in virtually every sport he tried, Kellen was devastated. But with a great deal of encouragement from Coach Buxton (and loving support from his parents), Kellen wrestled for Blair’s B team and watched National Preps from the sidelines.
The following years Kellen won Ironman, Beast of the East, Senior Nationals, Junior Nationals freestyle and Nationals Preps (twice) for Blair, and then, without red-shirting his freshman year, won the Big Ten title his true freshman and true sophomore years for Michigan.
Aside: Kellen did not take a red-shirt year at Michigan until his true junior year. And even then it was forced on him by serious injuries immediately before the season. During that red-shirt season, Kellen had two operations on his knee and one on his hand. As a result, he did virtually no “live” wrestling, but rather spent the year recuperating, studying wrestling film and coaching Michigan and Blair wrestlers.
Results and Scores From Kellen’s Championship Season
On the way to his 2011 NCAA championship, Kellen 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 at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) – where he was named OW (Outstanding Wrestler) -- and finally, the NCAAs themselves in Philadelphia (PA) the middle of March
All four tournaments featured top-ranked wrestlers at Kellen’s weight. Moreover, five of the top-six ranked wrestlers in the nation at 141 lbs were on Big Ten teams, so Kellen faced most of the best wrestlers yet again in Michigan Wolverine dual meets.
Quite a gauntlet to run. To pull this off, 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 Russell’s 13 wins over the USA’s best wrestlers at his weight in his remarkable 2010-2011 season:
2011 NCAA Placewinner 2010 – 2011 Results 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)
#6 Ranked & #6 Seeded Andrew Alton, 3 losses: 3-4, 2-3, 1-3 (OT),
Penn St
#7 Zack Bailey, Oklahoma 1 loss: 2-2 (OT -- TB 2)
Characteristics of Kellen’s 2010-2011 Matches
Looking at all 38 of Kellen’s 2010-2011 matches takes us 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.
If you were one of Kellen’s prospective 2010-2011 opponents, about to face him in one of his 38 matches, you could look forward to the following scenario – almost without fail:
• You were very unlikely to take Kellen down. (Only a handful of wrestlers did, all year.)
• Typically Kellen was going to get 2 or 3 takedowns on you, 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 -- this while disregarding an ankle injury he had just suffered.
• On average you were going to score only 2 points -- even if you were the #2 wrestler in the country.
• You would score your 2 points via two escapes, one of which would occur after Kellen had taken you down (or alternatively, after he had scored one of his occasional, dangerous reversals).
• 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 advantage that presented itself, no matter how slight or how brief.
• If somehow you did get in on Kellen from your feet, you would be well advised to not assume you were gong to get the take down.
o 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.
Looking to the future, Kellen is focused on winning a 4th Big Ten title, something very few wrestlers have done. Beyond that, Kellen expresses profound gratitude to friends, family and coaches, such as particularly Michigan Head Coach Joe McFarland, for their help and support, without which he feels he would have fallen far short of what he has been able to accomplish.
Over his illustrious career, Kellen Russell had won every major tournament he had entered at least once; well, make that every one but the ultimate prize in American folk style wrestling, the NCAAs.
At Blair Academy in New Jersey, Kellen won the premier in-season high school tournaments in America, Ironman and Beast of the East, as well as the major off-season tournaments, namely, Senior Nationals and the ultra-competitive Junior Nationals in Fargo. Beyond that, Kellen won the prestigious end-of-season National Prep Tournament at Lehigh three times.
At the University of Michigan, going into the 2011 NCAAs as a red-shirt junior, Kellen had already won the Big Ten championship 3 times, no mean task, especially since the eventual NCAA Champ at his weight class has come from the Big Ten every year that Kellen has wrestled for Michigan. On top of that, Kellen had won both the Cliff Keen Invitational Tournament in Las Vegas in early December and the Southern Scuffle in North Carolina the end of December.
Then, this March Kellen Russell conquered his Mt Everest by winning the 2011 NCAA crown, putting the final touches on a remarkable, spine-tingling season. In marathon-runner fashion, over the course of the 2010-2011 season Kellen beat all the USA’s top wrestlers in his weight class again and again, and amassed an amazing unblemished final record of 38 wins and no losses.
During the 2010-2011 season, Kellen faced his weight class’s very best wrestlers an astonishing 13 times and wrestled 6 overtime matches against them -- and yet, NEVER lost. Moreover, thanks to his challenging schedule, nine of Kellen Russell’s 2010-2011 victories came over the four wrestlers who ended up placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th at the 2011 NCAAs!
Many credit Kellen’s character and his family’s for the almost super-human perseverance and focus that led to Kellen’s ultimate phenomenal success. For their part, Kellen and his parents, Ed and Maria Russell, point to Blair Academy and Coach Jeff Buxton and particularly to the trying year Kellen had as a Blair sophomore. They feel strongly that these critical forces conditioned Kellen’s psyche, enabling Kellen to come back from major disappointments and win NCAAs and sustain his incredible winning streak through the entire 2010-2011 season, even while facing close encounter after close encounter.
Without dwelling on the past, let us say for now simply that after a very successful freshman season (2003-2004) in which he won National Preps at 103 lbs for USA #1 Blair, Kellen could not make Blair’s USA #1 team of 2004-2005.
Having experienced enormous success in virtually every sport he tried, Kellen was devastated. But with a great deal of encouragement from Coach Buxton (and loving support from his parents), Kellen wrestled for Blair’s B team and watched National Preps from the sidelines.
The following years Kellen won Ironman, Beast of the East, Senior Nationals, Junior Nationals freestyle and Nationals Preps (twice) for Blair, and then, without red-shirting his freshman year, won the Big Ten title his true freshman and true sophomore years for Michigan.
Aside: Kellen did not take a red-shirt year at Michigan until his true junior year. And even then it was forced on him by serious injuries immediately before the season. During that red-shirt season, Kellen had two operations on his knee and one on his hand. As a result, he did virtually no “live” wrestling, but rather spent the year recuperating, studying wrestling film and coaching Michigan and Blair wrestlers.
Results and Scores From Kellen’s Championship Season
On the way to his 2011 NCAA championship, Kellen 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 at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) – where he was named OW (Outstanding Wrestler) -- and finally, the NCAAs themselves in Philadelphia (PA) the middle of March
All four tournaments featured top-ranked wrestlers at Kellen’s weight. Moreover, five of the top-six ranked wrestlers in the nation at 141 lbs were on Big Ten teams, so Kellen faced most of the best wrestlers yet again in Michigan Wolverine dual meets.
Quite a gauntlet to run. To pull this off, 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 Russell’s 13 wins over the USA’s best wrestlers at his weight in his remarkable 2010-2011 season:
2011 NCAA Placewinner 2010 – 2011 Results 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)
#6 Ranked & #6 Seeded Andrew Alton, 3 losses: 3-4, 2-3, 1-3 (OT),
Penn St
#7 Zack Bailey, Oklahoma 1 loss: 2-2 (OT -- TB 2)
Characteristics of Kellen’s 2010-2011 Matches
Looking at all 38 of Kellen’s 2010-2011 matches takes us 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.
If you were one of Kellen’s prospective 2010-2011 opponents, about to face him in one of his 38 matches, you could look forward to the following scenario – almost without fail:
• You were very unlikely to take Kellen down. (Only a handful of wrestlers did, all year.)
• Typically Kellen was going to get 2 or 3 takedowns on you, 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 -- this while disregarding an ankle injury he had just suffered.
• On average you were going to score only 2 points -- even if you were the #2 wrestler in the country.
• You would score your 2 points via two escapes, one of which would occur after Kellen had taken you down (or alternatively, after he had scored one of his occasional, dangerous reversals).
• 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 advantage that presented itself, no matter how slight or how brief.
• If somehow you did get in on Kellen from your feet, you would be well advised to not assume you were gong to get the take down.
o 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.
Looking to the future, Kellen is focused on winning a 4th Big Ten title, something very few wrestlers have done. Beyond that, Kellen expresses profound gratitude to friends, family and coaches, such as particularly Michigan Head Coach Joe McFarland, for their help and support, without which he feels he would have fallen far short of what he has been able to accomplish.
