Lack of Conditioning ISU's Worry After Loss

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Dan McCool (Des Moines Register)
12/01/2002


Ames, Ia. - Bobby Douglas issued a conditioning alert after Iowa State's wrestling team lost to Lehigh, 21-12, Saturday night.    "We need some conditioning," Douglas said after the 11th-ranked Cyclones (1-2) gathered only six takedowns, gave up 21 to the seventh-ranked Mountain Hawks (1-1) and blew a 12-3 lead by losing the last five matches at Hilton Coliseum.    Douglas said the Cyclones also need match time and experience. Half the Iowa State lineup made home debuts Saturday before a crowd announced at 1,315. The lack of experience showed almost as prominently as the lack of conditioning.     Iowa State scored only two takedowns in the third-period - a time Douglas likes his wrestlers to widen the lead. The two late takedowns were by freshman Nate Gallick at 149 pounds.    Aaron Holker, Iowa State's defending NCAA 141-pound champion, said problems Saturday night could be fixed.    He said 184-pounder Austen Palmer can be taught a granby roll that might have helped him escape from Lehigh's Travis Frick in double overtime and win rather than lose.     Holker said 165-pounder Nick Passolano can learn how to finish the move he was trying to score with on Troy Letters, but instead couldn't stop a double-overtime loss.     "I'm not too worried about it, and I hope Douglas isn't too worried, because I think those are little, small mistakes we can change," Holker said after improving to 6-0 with an 8-4 victory over Tristan Boyd at 141.    Lehigh coach Greg Strobel was pleased with the finishes his wrestlers had. The finishes were what his team lacked in a 26-12 loss to No. 6 Michigan Nov. 22.    "Michigan really took it to us on all of those critical situations where either guy could score," Strobel said. "We went into this (meet) going, 'We want to win those close ones, we want to score when it's tight.' I'm really pleased that our guys scored when either guy could. That's just mental toughness, getting after it."    Strobel was also happy with the way the Mountain Hawks rebounded after Gallick beat Lehigh's Tommy Rohn, 8-2, at 149 pounds.    "I hoped there wasn't a little downturn because everybody kind of expected Rohn to win that one, and actually win handsomely," Strobel said. "Instead, I think he was concerned about his shape because he's been out with some injuries. He isn't confident, and shape is confidence."    Rohn never got a good shot off in the match. Gallick did early, but wasn't finishing them.    Gallick exploded from a 1-0 lead after two periods with a pair of takedowns and a three-point near fall in the final 1 minute 1 second of the bout.    "I felt him getting tired a little bit, and that gave me a little more motivation to go after him," Gallick said. "I was getting in on his legs real good, it was just I was having trouble finishing."    Gallick said he got help from a lot of sources in practice after having trouble finishing shots at last weekend's Keystone Open in Philadelphia.    One of the sources was Holker.    "I yelled at him at the last tournament because I'd seen him get on every person's legs," Holker said. "He definitely finished a couple of takedowns (Saturday)."    Iowa State meets Iowa at 2 p.m. Dec. 8 in Iowa City.