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Broncos ready to defend title
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Last season, the Boise State University wrestling team had one of its greatest seasons. The Broncos won the Pac-10 Conference championship, sent nine athletes to the NCAA Wrestling Championships, and had a wrestler earn NCAA All-American honors. Having only lost three seniors from last year’s squad, the BSU wrestling team is poised for another great year on the mat.
At the start of this season, the BSU wrestling team is ranked 13th in country according to Wrestling International Newsmagazine as a team.
The Broncos have nine wrestlers ranked in the nation’s top 20 in their individual weight classes.
Last season, true-freshman Kirk Smith turned many heads as he came onto the wrestling scene. He made his point when he was awarded the Freshman/Newcomer of the Year in the Pac-10 Conference.
Smith finished last season with an impressive 28-6 record. Smith went on to finish eighth at the NCAA Wrestling Championships and received NCAA All-American accolades. Even with all the awards and honors Smith received, he retains a humble outlook.
“You always want more,” Smith said. “Saying that I was the best on the team performance wise, they could say that, I don’t really like to think of it that way. A lot of the other guys did well at the Pac-10s. I didn’t do so well there. Everybody had their own ups and downs throughout the season.”
The success of Smith last year, according to head coach Greg Randall, is the kind of inspiration that the team needs today and that incoming recruits will need tomorrow.
“Most important part that wrestlers need to remember is that you can do it when you are young,” Randall said. “He was a true freshman when he did all that last year.”
Smith made more news this summer when he represented the United Stated in Ecuador at the Junior Pan-American games competing in the freestyle championships. Smith won a gold medal in the 185 pound weight class.
“It’s a whole different perspective when you get outside the country,” Smith said. “It wasn’t too much of a change for me because whenever you wrestle, you know what sort of things you want to do and like to do.”
For any team, the athletes and coaches look for ways to improve as a team and as individuals. For the young and already talented BSU wrestling team, improving is the major goal.
“The thing is that we are still a young team,” Randall said. “There is a ton of room everywhere to improve, what we concentrate on is our strength, conditioning and technique. That’s where we want to improve. There is no such thing as being too strong, being in too good of shape or having too much technique.”
Randall also brought home some hardware last season. He was awarded the Pac-10 Coach of the Year after leading the Broncos to their fourth Pac-10 Championship in the last eight years.
“I got great assistant coaches,” Randall said. “They work with these guys and it ends up just making me look good. It means something to my wrestlers and my assistant coaches, probably more than me.”
The Broncos expect to have a successful season defending their conference championship. According to Randall, there toughest competition should come from schools like Cal Poly, Oregon State and Cal State – Fullerton. The team has good feelings about heading into the regular season.
“We’re doing well, we have [a] couple of injuries,” Smith said. “Except for that, we are looking pretty good.”
JOEY MCCULLOUGH
Arbiter Journalist
