Monday, March 22, 2004
Heizer proves recruiters wrong
After being shunned as prep, Huskie gets second in nation
Article by:
Jason Watt - Sports Reporter
• jwatt@northernstar.info
Despite not being heavily recruited while in high school, NIU wrestler
Ben Heizer proved his worth by taking second place Saturday in the NCAA
championships.
A senior, Heizer is only the third wrestler in the Huskies’ six
decades of competing to make it to the championship match.
Heizer, a Texas native, lost in the finals of the 184-pound weight
class to West Virginia’s Greg Jones 10-5.
“It’s not first place; I’m kind of disappointed,”
Heizer said. “I felt I wrestled as hard as I could. He just wrestled
a perfect match against me. He’s a great wrestler. Sunday I woke
up thinking about things I could have done differently to have won the
match.”
Jones had an unblemished 26-0 record this season. Heizer finished the
year 30-2.
“Ben [Heizer] beat a national champ [Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma
State] earlier in the tournament,” NIU coach Dave Grant said. “This
kid has only lost to one guy all year long. He dominated everyone else
that he faced but this one guy.”
NIU’s Roy Conrad, (177 pounds), won his weight class in 1960.
Johnny Johnson, (190 pounds), took second in 1973.
NIU has had 10 All-Americans in its history. Six of the 10 have come
during the past eight years under Grant.
The Huskies have had at least one All-American in each of the last
three years.
Assistant coach Scott Owen won the honor in 2002. Owen and Heizer were
All-Americans last season, which Heizer duplicated this year.
“I think that it’s good because it shows that we are building
champion wrestlers,” Grant said. “We’re still a young
team. I thought this was going to be a rebuilding season, but we have
kids that are going to surprise some people again next year.”
Heizer’s parents, who have attended all of his matches, were in
St. Louis to see him in action.
“Ben has always excelled far and above what we have hoped for,”
said Sam Heizer, Ben’s dad. “It’s very exciting to see
what Ben has been doing. He just got married, and to be able to balance
that with school and athletics is great. We couldn’t be prouder.”
In the semifinals in St. Louis, Ben defeated Jake Rosholt from Oklahoma
State. Coming out of high school Ben wanted to go to Oklahoma State.
OSU coach John Smith said Ben had not proven anything and wasn’t
sure if Ben could close out matches, Sam said.
“When Ben wrestled Rosholt and stopped him in the semis, I had
a little chuckle inside of me,” Sam said. “Ben stopped him
dead in his tracks, and Smith wasn’t sure if Ben could close out
matches. I was thinking to myself, ‘He just took out your top boy.’”
After back-to-back All-American seasons, Ben isn’t sure if he
will continue his wrestling career up the Olympic ladder.
He will graduate at the end of this semester and then go to school
in Davenport, Iowa, to become a chiropractor.
When asked about a comeback to the mat, Ben just laughed and said,
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
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