Senior Kenny Robertson accomplished another feat Sunday against Indiana besides winning the lone Panther match.

The 12-0 major decision win against Indiana’s Trevor Perry marked Robertson’s 100th win in his college career. He has had eight victories this year.

Only five other wrestlers at Eastern have had more than 100 wins.

“It’s not really a huge deal to me,” Robertson said. “It’s neat, but there are more important things than your 100th win.”

Robertson, who had been sidelined earlier in the season recovering from knee surgery, has lost four matches this year.

“It’s just a milestone for his success that he’s had here,” head coach Ralph McCausland said. “He now ranks sixth on the all-time win list and, realistically, with the number of matches he has left, he could end up third on the all-time win list.”

McCausland, in his 22nd year as Eastern’s head coach, also said he has coached three other wrestlers that have more than 100 wins.

Clinton receives recognition

Last Sunday will now be remembered by former players and a coach for recognition by the Panthers.

Ron Clinton Day, as it was called, was to honor the former coach and his accomplishments throughout the years.

“He was just a technician of technicians,” McCausland said. “He was able to look and analyze and break things down, especially at a takedown level. I wasn’t very good at that when I first came. It’s kind of unusual because I’m still not super good at offensive takedowns, more so defensive takedowns. It was just a special time when we were wrestling here that I don’t think can be duplicated.”

Clinton, who coached the Panthers from 1975-83, finished with an overall record of 64-28-1. He also coached McCausland.

At the ceremony, held at intermission during the meet, Clinton was given an Eastern sweatshirt and a plaque.

McCausland said the plaque was just honoring him as a previous coach. It also had on it that he coached six national champions and 45 All-Americans.

Dual meet selection

One thing wrestlers are never certain on during is who will start a match off.

After the weigh-in, a random drawing is held to figure out which weight class will wrestle first. The other weight classes follow in order.

“That’s part of the NCAA rules safeguard committee when they initiated certification of each individual’s weight for the season with a one hour prior match weigh-in,” McCausland said. “Then having it randomly drawn you never knew who would be first and who would be last.”

An interesting note about this rule, though, is that it only is in effect during dual meets.

“It’s kind of ironic because we only do this in dual meets, but when we go to tournaments we start at 125 (pounds),” McCausland said.

While this does not appear to be a big deal, wrestlers who are used to wrestling later in the meet might start first or second, while lighter wrestlers may be put off until the end.

Junior 197-pound wrestler Jason Sherko said he has not had to start any meets yet this year and doesn’t mind the rule.

“I kind of like it because it makes it more interesting because it makes it different starts,” Sherko said. “The heavyweight doesn’t always have to start last so it makes it more interesting.”

Freshman wrestler Kile O’Toole fights to pin Indiana’s Brandon Becker during last Sunday’s wrestling match in Lantz arena. (John Bailey/The Daily Eastern News)

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