Wrestlers coach themselves to national honors

Most club team members spent their spring breaks relaxing at home, visiting friends, and catching up on sleep. Some players may have dragged themselves to a gym once or twice. But these players were not wrestlers. The members of Yale's club wrestling team spent spring break training hard for the culmination of their already impressive season: national competition.

Yale's wrestling team has persevered through typical club ../sports problems like limited funding and scheduling conflicts to come out near the top of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA), a league designed for college programs without varsity status. Last year, in their first season as part of the NCWA, the Bulldogs ran away with the entire tournament. Yale began this season looking to repeat last year's success and reestablish their dominance.

A repeat tournament championship seemed possible after the NCWA Northeastern Regional Qualifiers, in which 10 Bulldogs wrestlers qualified for nationals. The sheer number of Yale qualifiers was a testament to the depth of the program, which has thrived despite the lack of coaching and a formal practice routine.

Ultimately, Yale was only able to bring seven wrestlers to nationals--one of the 10 was lost to injury, two to schedule conflicts. When the Elis showed up in Dallas for the tournament, held on Fri., Mar. 12, and Sat., Mar. 13, they did not expect the title to be handed over to them. "[We knew] it was going to be tough to win nationals again this year," team captain James Gutierrez, CC '99 said. "All the wrestlers there were really good, and in a lot better shape."

Yale emerged from the tournament with a third-place finish, propelled by the stellar performances of all seven Bulldogs. "We were ridiculously underestimated," Kevin McGill, SY '02, said. "We were seeded eighth going in."

Five Eli wrestlers placed in the top five of their weight class, including Gutierrez, Haven Baker, BR '00, Douglas Spelman, PC '99, David Bow, TD '99, and McGill. Baker placed second in the 184-pound weight class after less than
two months with the team. Similarly impressive was varsity soccer captain Spelman's performance, coming after only a month of practices.

Physical and mental toughness was the name of the game at nationals. McGill, a freshman getting his first taste of collegiate wrestling, fought back from a first-round loss on Friday, winning five straight matches on the second day of the tournament to reach the semifinals of the consolation round. "It's quite an impressive accomplishment," Baker said of McGill's streak. Known to his teammates for his ritual pre-match meal of steak and eggs, McGill is one of the program's great hopes for the future.

Nationals provided a chance for the Elis to shine in a sport mostly dominated by varsity programs. Before the NCWA inaugurated a national tournament last year, club teams around the country had no national competition to end their season. "There was no culmination," Gutierrez said. "The NCWA gives an opportunity to compete on a national level." Since Yale downgraded wrestling from varsity status in 1991--doing so, like many other schools, to meet with Title IX stipulations--the team has had to deal with scant funding and no full-time coach. This year, the Bulldogs journeyed to Dallas with funding from their alumni endowment and were partially coached by Bow's father, a high-school wrestling coach.

Yale was the only team at the tournament without a paid coach, a fact that allowed the team to form strong bonds of friendship and encouragement. "If one of our guys was going, we would all gather around the mat to watch," Gutierrez said. "Everyone was like a cheerleader on the sidelines."

Although club status has hurt wrestling in more than one way this year, the Bulldogs are determined to overcome the lack of University support. The program is better off than its club status might suggest due to the work ethic of its members and its recent acquisition of a private practice room. "If we can establish a little more discipline and have a coach, we can be competitive with Division I schools," Gutierrez said. With most of the team returning under the leadership of newly elected co-captains Baker and Zach Kaufman, SY '00, as well as third-place honors on their record, Eli wrestlers won't be satisfied with anything less than national domination next season.

Photo by Julia Tiernan.

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