After the three-match trip Eastern just came back from, the team will have an extra week off before their final meet at Northern Illinois.

With this extra time, head coach Ralph McCausland is hoping to increase the training amount in preparation before Northern Illinois, and then shorten practice before the regionals on March 3.

“When it’s toward the end of the season, you want to be able to accent what we’ve done already, conditioning-wise,” he said. “If we push it a little bit harder now and then taper off we should be in really good shape.”

McCausland hopes to watch videos over some of the wrestlers this week to try to come up with some positive changes for them or subtle tweaks to make.

Grodoski, Trinka earn forfeits

While at South Dakota State, freshman 133-pound weight class wrestler Lenny Grodoski earned a forfeit after being prepared to wrestle.

The next afternoon, freshman heavyweight Joe Trinka also earned a forfeit against Northern Iowa.

While McCausland knew that Trinka’s opponent had gotten an ankle injury in the first few weeks of January, he was not sure what the problem with Grodoski’s opponent was.

“I didn’t get any explanation for it,” McCausland said. “The next night, they did have a (1)33-pounder, but I think they inserted a (1)25-pounder and pushed him up.”

Grodoski said it was rough not having a match because he had to find a way to lose weight he put on before weigh-in for the next day.

“I practiced a little bit with a few of the guys who had matches that day, then ran a bit after the meet and watched what I ate,” he said.

Team deals with cauliflower ear

An injury prominent in wrestling, boxing and martial arts is cauliflower ear. The skin pulls away from the cartilage and fills with blood behind it.

The injury got its name from how the ear will sometime resemble the shape of a cauliflower.

The injury is just caused by impact, like a hit from an elbow or knee, McCausland said.

“If you’ve ever gotten a good shot to the eye and a big mouse develops very quickly, it’s the same thing,” he said.

He said sometimes the injury will go away quickly, but the blood can also pool and coagulate to stay in the cauliflower shape.

Even wrestlers on Eastern’s team have dealt with this and some still have it.

“Look at (assistant coach Clay French’s) ears,” McCausland said. “That’s why we wear the head protection during the bout.”

Team scoring system explained

While points during the match are pretty standard to explain, such as giving more points for a takedown than an escape, the team-points system can sometimes confuse people.

A decision and major decision, for example, can lead to people wondering what the difference is.

“It’s just the point spread,” McCausland said. “Eight points or more is a major (decision). Less than eight points regular decision.”

The team scoring system is set up on four different levels, the lowest being decision, then major decision, technical fall, and pin.

There are different levels to promote more scoring and action, McCausland said.

“You got a decision that’s worth three team points,” he said. “You got a major decision, which is eight to 14 points, that gives you four points. Then a technical, which is more than 15 points advantage, ends the match and gives you five points, with a pin giving you six points.”