Seniors Seizing Opportunities: Ryan Buckner & Marcel Clopton
2/27/2012 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
By Lance Lysowski
Just three days after clinching the Mid-American Conference Championship, Kent State coach Jim Andrassy sat up in his desk chair.
Donning athletic shorts and a Kent State wrestling shirt, Andrassy points to a MAC East Wrestler of the Week Award that sat on his desk belonging to freshman phenom Ian Miller.
Asked when Miller could return, Andrassy simply replied, “We'll see.”
While competing without the services Miller is difficult, Andrassy never gets discouraged. As the head coach of Kent State's wrestling team for the past eight seasons, Andrassy has turned to second-stringers when the grueling, long season wears starters down.
A sport that requires superior cardiovascular endurance, dominating strength and a refined technique on the mat, wrestling's level of training rivals that of military training programs.
The Flashes trained tirelessly during the offseason-sparring in the M.A.C.C. Annex training room, while maintaining weight and keeping in shape.
Andrassy' message to the team is simple: be ready in case you are called on.
As Kent State consistently competes for conference championships—including this season with a 5-0 record against MAC schools – Andrassy continues to recruit top talent such as Miller to add depth to the Flashes' bench. But the transition from high school to college isn't simple.
Freshmen who may be accustomed to being starters in high school, find themselves overwhelmed with the rigorous training the team undergoes. When they become frustrated with the results or lack thereof, they decide that the commitment is not worth the work.
“If they aren't starters, then it shows something about their character in starting something and finishing it,” Andrassy said.
Ryan Buckner (Elmore, Ohio) and Marcel Clopton (Shaker Hts., Ohio) personify hard work.
After years of adversity blocking them from winning matches for Kent State, their dedication paid off.
Buckner
Ryan Buckner's final season at Kent State had been disappointing.
After years of injuries, the soft-spoken 197-pound wrestler was ready for 2011 to be his year. Dustin Kilgore decided to take an Olympic Redshirt—giving the veteran one last chance at appearing in his first match.
Just four years ago, his career was in question.
Coming in as a wide-eyed freshman from Toledo Woodmore in the fall of 2007, Buckner wasn't intimidated. He was ready to build on a wrestling career that was only four years old.
During his first tournament, Buckner landed awkwardly on his neck. He slipped a disk in his vertebrae and needed surgery.
He sat nervously as the Kent State training staff advised him that he should contemplate calling it a career.
He refused.
“I'd be lying if I said I didn't contemplate it…,” Buckner said. “I just had to reflect on myself and realize that I'm not a quitter.”
That August, Buckner had an Anteriol Cervical Discectomy—which is a fusion surgery to relieve the pain in his neck.
He had to sit out another year as teammates like Kilgore and Brendan Barlow ceremoniously had their hands raised after matches. He knew that if he kept working, his time would eventually come.
In 2010-11, Buckner was done rehabbing from surgery. He had not won a dual match yet and as a fourth-year junior, he wanted to succeed in the sport that he loved.
“There's nothing that I've found that makes me feel more exhausted or completely drained but when your hand is raised, it's all worth it,” Buckner said.
Early in the season, Buckner hurt his right knee. The injury wasn't serious but it lingered with him through a season where he only won three matches.
After training and rehabbing his injured knee, Buckner wanted to translate his physical nature and perseverance into one last successful season.
It did not happen.
The injury lingered and he found himself buried on Kent State's depth chart. He continued to spar with the Flashes' upperweights in practice.
By his final season, it paid off.
Just days before the Flashes were to travel to the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Va., Andrassy told Buckner to be ready. He was going to make his first appearance in a dual meet.
On Jan. 13, Kent State was facing Buffalo in the quarterfinals when Buckner's name was finally called.
Buckner could clinch the victory for the Flashes or send it to the team's final wrestler of the meet.
The fifth-year senior's strategy was simple: wear his opponent out until the final moments and then take his shots.
It worked.
At the end of regulation, Bucker was tied 1-1 with Buffalo's John Heiserman. He felt his opponent's energy draining. He remembered the injuries. The times spent watching as his teammates had their hands raised.
He saw the opportunity and took it—defeating Heiserman with a takedown in sudden victory.
“He came back and he's wrestled every day,” Andrassy said. “What he's done takes a special person to do it. I'm glad we have him on our team and I'm glad I recruited him five years ago.”
Clopton
Marcel Clopton did not expect to be at Kent State.
As a two-time All-American wrestler at Shaker Heights High School, Clopton had his eyes set on two schools in the south.
North Carolina State and Virginia Tech were heavily recruiting the 149-pound grappler and he couldn't say no. As an aspiring architect, both schools excelled in academics and athletics.
But there was Kent State.
Andrassy had been producing NCAA qualifiers annually and their academics rivaled those of his other two choices.
In the first week of April 2007, Clopton took his official visit to Raleigh, North Carolina to see if the joining the Wolfpack's wrestling team was the right fit. He loved it.
He was ready to commit but still had a visit set up with Virginia Tech.
One week later, on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., a student shot and killed 32 people.
Clopton canceled his visit. The tragedy there was too much so he decided North Carolina State was his choice.
Andrassy heard the news but refused to cave in.
He called Clopton and told him that he wasn't going to stop calling until he signed his papers. He wanted to add Shaker Heights' all-time leader in wins to his team.
The rest was history.
In his first day in the training room, facing Kent State's veteran grapplers in his weight class, Clopton admitted to struggling. His athletic ability and explosive technique kept him competitive but the veterans on Kent State's roster had the edge in experience.
“I didn't get beat up on too bad, but I was pretty confident at that point,” Clopton said.
In his first match of his career, Clopton suffered a knee injury. Like Buckner, his freshman season was over.
He couldn't give up though. A four-year letterwinner in high school with 131 career wins, Clopton was unlike most incoming freshman. He was highly touted and confident.
The next season, Andrassy was ready to call on Clopton. The 149-pound weight class was thin and he thought Clopton's athleticism gave him the edge.
For academic reasons, Clopton's season was cut short that year.
Andrassy was discouraged with his progress and admitted to him that he was going to recruit competition.
“With him, this is his job,” Clopton said. “His job is to perform in the coaching aspect so he always wants people to come perform for him. When he wants you to perform, you have to be able to perform.”
Clopton didn't care. He invited the competition.
In 2009-2010, he saw spot duty and recorded an 8-7 record. But he knew he was capable of more.
Then came 2010. Marcel was ready to turn his hard work in the training room into a MAC Championship appearance. It happened. As a regular in the lineup, he finished the season with a 20-14 overall record and placed fourth at the MAC Championships.
“It just shows what kind of person he is, how well he stayed in shape and how dedicated he is to the sport of wrestling,” Andrassy said about Clopton's work ethic.
Coming into fifth and final season in 2011, Clopton heard of two freshmen coming in to compete against him at his weight class: Ian Miller and Nick Carr.
Clopton didn't mind the challenge. He had spent countless hours on the mat and had developed into one of the nation's top 30 wrestlers at his weight class.
And then another injury came. In practice with Carr, Clopton felt a pain in his chest. His rib popped out of place. He had to sit out and let it heal on its own.
As Clopton sat out, Miller led the Flashes in the 149-pound division. Kent State was in position for a MAC Championship run when Miller's injury hit.
With the Flashes capable of clinching the MAC Championship at a home meet against Eastern Michigan on Feb. 5, Clopton got the start.
Clopton was one of four seniors in the lineup when he took on the Eagles' Jaylyn Bohl—the conference's No.3 ranked 149-pound wrestler.
Clopton could not lose. He wanted a championship ring.
“I know when pressure comes down to it, I'll perform,” Clopton said.
He did. Clopton made easy work of Bohl in a 9-2 victory.
Andrassy, who was a former Kent State wrestler, knows what it is like being a senior on a team and wanting to go out on top. Buckner and Clopton both did.
“When you become older, you find out how important the little things are—like a MAC Championship or like getting that last opportunity to wrestle,” Andrassy said. “Those are memories that they'll hold onto forever.”
