Seniors hope
to lead NU
to prosperity
By Sarah Dose
Staff Reporter
If the Nebraska wrestling team ever plans to
win a national championship, this is the year to do
it.
The Husker grapplers, who return four
seniors to the team this season, are ranked fifth in
the nation, and are ever-confident in their ability
to come home with an NCAA trophy.
“I know how talented this team is, and I know
their experience,” NU Coach Tim Neumann said
Neumann said many factors are needed to
ensure this year’s success, but the team can’t get
caught up in winning.
“We need to keep the same focus all season,”
he said. “We need to go one day at a time, come to
training to learn something new every day, and not
get stale or bored. The key is to keep learning.”
Neumann said the Huskers have plenty of rea
sons to be confident and are capable of doing any
thing they set their minds to. But he also says they
have their weaknesses.
“A lot of the guys have some weight to cut,” he
said. “Ryan Tobin has to get down to 190. But I
think that weakness will work for us. It will help
him become mentally disciplined. If we keep
everything in focus, we can be prepared for pit
falls.”
But each wrestler also has his own goals.
Senior Ryan Tobin said he is confident in his abil
ity to win an individual medal at the NCAA tour
nament
“We need to work harder than anyone else in
the country, stay healthy, and of course a little luck
never hurts,” he said. “If we perform well at tour
naments and put all those other things together,
we will have die right combination.”
Last year, Tobin and senior Temoer Terry sat
out to wait for the rest of the Huskers to mature.
This season they return in full force to lead an
extremely talented Husker squad.
“It was hard to start for three years and then sit
out a year,” Tobin said. “But I’m glad to be back; I
just want to do my part for the team.”
But Tobin isn’t necessarily out of the loop.
Last season he posted a 17-0 record at 220
pounds, or heavyweight, in open tournaments. He
has been tabbed as die preseason favorite to win
the 190-pound national championship.
lerry, wno aiso reasmnea last season as a
junior, returns as one of the preseason favorites to
win an NCAA championship at 158 pounds.
“I want to stay healthy this season,” he said.
“At the first meet I want to make sure my injuries
are healed up. I don’t want to put myself in a posi
tion to get hurt.”
Terry had reconstructive shoulder surgery in
August 1996. Because he’s had a full year to
recover, Terry said he’s confident in his own abili
ty to win, as well as the team^ ability to win.
“Asa team, we’re just as good as or better than
anyone else,” he said.
The third senior on the squad is Brad Canoyer.
Last season, Canoyer jumped two weight classes
to 134 pounds and just missed All-America hon
ors. Canoyer has been named the Huskers’ Most
Dedicated Wrestler toe past two seasons, and con
tinues to work hard tor the upcoming season.
“We all need to find out what areas we need to
work on most,” he said. It’s all one big practice
until March. There really shouldn’t be any sur
prises.”
Rounding off toe senior leadership is Jeramie
Welder, who weighs in at 126 pounds. He is con
fident in toe Huskers’ talent arid experience.
“We arc a national championship team,” he
said. “It all just depends on everyone’s attitudes. If
everyone stays positive, we’ll get what we want
out of the season.”
The Huskers kick off toe season Nov. 14 in
Laramie, Wyo.
_ Matt Miller/DN
NEBRASKA SENIOR RYAN TOBIN aims to win a national championship at 190 pounds. Tobin, who redshirted last season, will also try to
help the NU wrestling team claim a national championship.
Wrestler seeks championship
By Antone Oseka
Senior Reporter
Ryan Tobin started wrestling as a runt.
He was the smallest guy in his class in
Bradenton, S.D., as a freshman, a mere 5
feet tall and 103 pounds.
That was a far cry from where he is
today. Coming into this season, Tobin is
the No. 1 ranked 190 pounder in the coun
try.
But, he’s still 30 pounds from 190.
Tobin currently weighs in the 220-pound
vicinity solidly, slowly cutting weight for
the wrestling season.
i was 3-ioot and lUi pounds. Now,
I’m 6-foot-1 and 220,” Tobin said. “Sure, I
was the runt of the class, but in wrestling
you can be and still do well.”
Tobin wrestled well enough in high
school to land a college scholarship. He
was a one-time state champion as a senior
(171 pounds) and didn’t decide to wrestle
in college until the high school junior
national tournament in April. Tobin said
he wanted Nebraska and the Huskers
wanted him right after his first official
visit to the campus.
Three years of competition and one
redshirt season later, coaches expect Tobin
to wrestle heavyweight for most of the
1997-98 season, weighing in and wrestling
iOnly six times at 190 before the Big 12
Championships March 7, 1998, in
Norman, Okla.
That won’t bother Tobin, who redshirt
ed all last season and had a 30 match unde
feated streak in open competition as a
heavyweight. Coach Tim Neumann said
Tobin defeated some of the best heavy
weights in the country during his redshirt
season. This season, he’ll train most of the
year with three-time Nebraska All
American heavyweight Tolly Thompson.
Last season, Tobin helped Thompson pre
pare for a run at the national title, this
year, Thompson will return the favor.
“Each person teaches himself, it’s just
having the right people around to facilitate
it,” Tobin said of the competition in the
NU wrestling room. “You’re teaching
yourself through experience, through the
effort.”
Effort is one thing Tobin has never
lacked, Neumann said. Neumann knew
from the initial recruiting visit that Tobin
had the desire and determination to be a
great college wrestler for Nebraska.
Neumann said he signed him before any
other schools even had a chance with him.
“When you teach freshman and sopho
mores how to wrestle, you have to tell
them things several times,” Neumann said.
“Tobin’s the kind of guy, if he trusts you,
you only have to tell him once and he does
it.” .....
Tobin said he never regretted the deci
sion to come to Nebraska and join the
wrestling team.
“I don’t think there’s been a better
place than Nebraska for me,” he said. “As
far as training, and the overall program
like with academics, I don’t think I could
maximize any more than I have, I’ve taken
advantage of everything.”
Tobin has excelled inside and outside
the classroom. He’s an Academic All
American and a member of the Innocents
Society. He plans on going to law school
after graduation, but first, he has his sights
on a national championship.
The best place to do that, Tobin said, is
Nebraska.
“In those programs (like Iowa and
Oklahoma State), national champions are
a dime a dozen,” Tobin said. “Iowa hla^1
five last year, Nebraska’s history is five.”
“Winning a national title here, you’re
one of the five, one of the six. If you do it,
it’s like wow.”
Tobin said, however, wrestling teams
like Iowa or Oklahoma State can have as
mental impact on wrestlers. As a team cap
tain and a senior, Tobin said mental atti
tude is one of the biggest things he would
change in the Nebraska wrestling.room.
“Some people might have an apprehen
sion, ‘Ooooh I have an Iowa guy,”’ he said.
“I wrestled Iowa twice, (1997 national
champion Lee) Fullhart both times. I just
see him as another opponent. He’s human,
I don’t let the black and gold scare me ”
The biggest thing for Tobin is teaching
all the guys on the team the right mental
attitude to beat all kinds of wrestlers, no
matter where they come from.
“You’ve got to have the right mental
attitude, there’s a lot of pressure,” he said., |
“We’ve seen a lot of tragedy stories who "
left Nebraska because they couldn’t deal
with the pressure.” H
After dealing with the other pressures
associated with college, Tobin has taken
on one more - that pressure of winning the
national title. And, like most other
wrestlers, he’ll sacrifice everything to get
there.
“You do what it takes to win, if a guy
has a weakness, you exploit it,” he said.
“It’s wrestling, it’s not a game of chess.
You’re not going to reacbover and punch a
guy in a game of chess, you just try to flus
ter his mind. Wrestling is rough, every
time you step out there, you know it’s
going to be physical.” -
I