Morgan Commits to U of Nebraska-Omaha

[admin]

http://illinoismatmen.com/images/uno.gifMario Morgan, 125 lb wrestler from Mt. Carmel (2005 Adidas All American, 3x Class AA State Qualifier, 3x Chicago Catholic League Champion, 3x Freestyle state champion) has verbally committed to the University of Nebraska-Omaha (back to back defending National Champions D2). He is projected as the starting 133 lb for next season.

Please contact us (http://illinoismatmen.com/forum/sendmessage.php) with other commitments from Illinois seniors. Visit Intermat (http://www.intermatwrestle.com/recruits/commit_2005.aspx) for other commitments from around the country.

[TICO]

3X All State? He has never placed... qualified 3x. I believe Mario's best chance at being a place winner or even Champ is @ 119#. Any higher weight will be a struggle come State Tourney time. I would like to see him at 119- probably be the "odds on favorite" with Starzyk. Mario deserves to go out his senior year with a bang. At 125, Hutter, Kennedy, Lloyd, Simpson... lurk. Good Luck Mario.

[admin]

Thanks TICO! I edited my post.

[MR TWISTER]

3X All State? He has never placed... qualified 3x. I believe Mario's best chance at being a place winner or even Champ is @ 119#. Any higher weight will be a struggle come State Tourney time. I would like to see him at 119- probably be the "odds on favorite" with Starzyk. Mario deserves to go out his senior year with a bang. At 125, Hutter, Kennedy, Lloyd, Simpson... lurk. Good Luck Mario.

Tico, you have some good points. Mario has considered both weights and will make the final decision. I don't wrestle nor do I cut weight. I would be very shocked if he does not place this time around. I don't know if he can make 119. We will see. I have a lot of confidence in him at either weight. At 119 it could be a two man race as you mentioned. At 125 he has a solid win record versus Hutter, Simpson and Lloyd. Kennedy he is another story. They have only met once a long time ago but Jimmy is just so solid. You can discuss weights and names all year long but it really comes down to who gets hot in Champaign. With his college situation settled his mind will be free to concentrate on the task at hand. Hopefully the fourth time is a charm. One thing is for sure, as you know Mario can be very dangerous and explosive when his game is on and will be in the thick of things doing his best win or lose.

[thinkaboutit]

Hey Twist, I was wondering How often Mario has met Lloyd. I know they were probably practice partners for quite awhile. Just curious if Mario owned him during their meetings. Also, in training for Fargo or Overtime how he faired with
Kennedy or didn't they wrestle each other.

[MR TWISTER]

Against Cartice it is always interesting because their styles are so simular. But let me be clear about one thing, no one owns Cartice. They have not actually met in high school because they were at the same school for a while. On the kid level Mario had a winning record in actual matches and Cartice had a winning record in practice. Often when they would meet in competition we would not wrestle the matches, especially if it was the finals. They are good friends yet in practice the matches are legendary. I remember one time they met in competition and the match was just all scrambles and shots for three periods. Really exciting stuff. After time ran out the ref came over to me and asked me who won because he said he had no clue. Because they are friends the ultimate was when in 2002 they both won IKWF titles at the same time (both clocks expired together) on side by side matches. It was the Twisters first 2 senior titles after the split. That was something the two of them will always remember.

As far as Kennedy goes they have only met once in actual competition and that was in the IWF state championship in 1998 (4th grade) with Kennedy winning. A very interesting match. Mario had no clue who Jimmy was and held his own for two periods including a chance to win at the end of the second period but the clock ran out. And then Jimmy went to another level in the third period and won the championship. After that I immediately started putting Mario on the national scene so he could try to catch up. After that they were in different leagues and at different weights with Mario usually being heavier. This year in training for Fargo I really don't know a lot about what happened. Mario told me he wrestled Jimmy once live and that he lost and stated that Jimmy never gets out of position. Jimmy is Jimmy. You have to wrestle a perfect match to beat him. Any mistakes and he makes you pay and he rarely makes mistakes for you to capatulize on. Mario usually scores on his opponets mistakes.