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St. Cloud State University
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Sports
Grimit looks to future
By Ryan K. Dale
Published:
Monday, March 31, 2003
The SCSU wrestling team finished ninth in the nation this season and didn't have much time to celebrate.
The Huskies lost two-thirds of their captains and All-Americans after the season wrapped up in Wheeling, W.V., at the NCAA Divsion II National Championships.
Senior leaders Dustin Darveaux and Matt Neumueller finished their careers as Huskies with a combined 241 victories and four All-American trophies. With the loss of these two leaders, head coach Steve Grimit has a lot of offseason work to do.
"We have to recruit at 125 pounds," Grimit said. That's our biggest need right now. We have a number of good quality 125's we're recruiting and we'll need them to jump right in."
Besides filling the void left at 125-pounds by Stephen Clary, the Huskies also have to fill the huge vacancies left by Darveaux at heavyweight and Neumueller at 165.
"Huckell could step in at 165 pounds," Grimit said. "He's a good candidate to replace Neumueller. He's got a lot of good experience at 174 filling in for Duncombe when he was hurt this year, but he's a true 165-pounder."
SCSU has three wrestlers who could legitimately replace Neumueller. Tate Wheeler, Huckell and Blake Christopherson could jump right in. All three got experience this last season wrestling in other weight classes.
Dan Duch returns from a trip to the national tournament with experience under his belt. He made it to nationals, but went 0-2 and barely got his feet wet. Duch will have to work on certain aspects of his game if he wants to be a contender in 2003-04.
"Duch is a very talented wrestler," Grimit said. "He is good in the top position but needs to work on his neutral position. If he improves that, he can be an All-American next year."
Now the Huskies have to worry about having someone to replace the mighty shoes left by Darveaux at heavyweight.
"Darveaux may be the best kid I ever coached," Grimit said. "Darveaux has the most wins of any wrestler in the history of St. Cloud State. It's going to be hard to replace him and Neumueller. They've been so good for so long."
The Huskies will need to replace Darveaux with a new recruit. Grimit and his staff have been actively chasing after junior college transfers and high school standouts.
"We're recruiting real hard at heavyweight," Grimit said. "I had a real good one on line and I lost him to a Big 12 school (Nebraska)."
The rest of the lineup should be intact. At 133 pounds, Grimit indicated Derek Miller will use the experience he gained this year and use it to become a better wrestler and a leader for the program. Miller was 7-16 this season, wrestling at two different weight classes.
"Miller at 133 could have a great year and possibly be a national contender," Grimit said.
At 174 pounds, two-time defending All-American Jon Duncombe will be the only returning captain and All-American for the 2003-04 squad. This season he was hampered by injuries and still finished second in the nation. He almost won a national championship, but lost 3-2 in the championship match.
"Duncombe was only a sophomore this year," Grimit said. "He was fourth as a freshman and second this year as a sophomore. He was awfully close to winning a title. He had a couple chances to score in third period but couldn't pull it off."
Duncombe should enter next year as the No. 1 wrestler in the nation at 174 pounds.
"He's got a chance to win a national title," Grimit said. "You've got to have some luck and some things have to go your way, but he has a legitimate chance."
Another wrestler that looks to build on this year's momentum is Lukas Pohlmeier. Pohlmeier wrestled at 197 pounds this year, finished 6-11 and almost made it to nationals.
"Lukas lost a match to go to nationals," Grimit said. He has a chance to have a great senior year and we're counting on him."
Pohlmeier might drop down to 184. He will find stiff competition from Karl Kanifie, a redshirt from last year. Kanifie was a junior college All-American and could wrestle at either 184 or 197 next season.
"Karl is extremely talented and can step in and be an All-American this year," Grimit said.
But, what if Pohlmeier drops down to 184?
"Then it'll be a heck of a wrestle-off between the two," he said.
Mykal Petersen is another redshirt who could step in and wrestle at 197 or heavyweight.
"Between Kanifie, Pohlmeier and Peterson, we should be able to fill the weights," Grimit said.
The Huskies will try and build on their best finish in 25 years next season as the fresh faces and veteran leaders try and fill the big shoes left by Neumueller and Darveaux.
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