University of Minnesota Athletics
Achieving the Goal of Always Improving
2/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
By Joey Erickson, Gopher Athletics communications
Heavyweight has always been one of the most prestigious slots in the Minnesota lineup. The heavyweight position has produced seven national champions, 17 Big Ten champs, and 23 All-American seasons. The most recent of those All-Americans is biggest Gopher in the current starting lineup, Michael Kroells.
Kroells, a redshirt junior from Belle Plaine, Minn., was a two-time high school state champion and Minnesota Mr. Wrestling in 2012. He had a strong connection to the Gophers even before putting on the maroon singlet thanks to high school coach and former Gopher All-American Dan Zilverberg.
Following impressive seasons as a redshirt and then as a redshirt freshman, Kroells stepped into the full-time heavyweight role when Tony Nelson graduated after the 2013-14 season. Kroells continued to succeed in the starting role, earning a national ranking early in the season and building to an eighth-place finish at the 2015 NCAA Championships, becoming the tenth different Gopher All-American heavyweight in program history.
Returning to the mat after reaching one of his career goals so early could easily weigh on a wrestler's mind but, for Kroells, success created the opposite effect.
"It's kind of a relief actually. It's like, I'm an All-American already, so now I can just wrestle to improve as much as I can," Kroells said. "It was a lot of pressure last year during the NCAA tournament, but I felt a lot better afterwards."
Kroells had a tough road to the NCAAs last year. By season's end, he had wrestled a team-high 44 matches, including 23 against ranked opponents, also a team high. That gauntlet helped forged a sense of confidence, helping Kroells as he has navigated his second year as the full-time starter.
"I had so many matches last year against a lot of good guys. There was a ten-match streak where I wrestled a ranked guy every [match]," Kroells said. "I got the chance to wrestle good guys all the time, so it helped me to put matches in perspective. A big part of getting ready for a match is preparing yourself the right way. I got into the groove of what I needed to do to get myself ready to go wrestle."
All of this has paid off for Kroells this year. Heading into the regular season finale against Iowa State, he has compiled a 26-6 overall record, with all of his defeats coming against wrestlers currently ranked in the top-15. Kroells has been consistently ranked in the top-10 the entire season.
As a slightly smaller, quicker heavyweight, Kroells tends to have matches that are faster paced and higher scoring than his large-bodied peers. He's comfortable with that style, and it is how he wants to continue wrestling going forward.
"Even if it's cost me a little bit [on potential re-shots], I've just driven to be as offensive as I can," Kroells said. "If I lose off my own offense, then I can accept that. I know I have things I have to work on and get better on by watching my matches but if you don't do anything then there's nothing you can learn to improve on. I don't know if it gives me an advantage, but it's the way I want to wrestle."
As impressive as his collegiate wrestling career has been to this point, what he has done as a student makes an even bigger impression on people.
Kroells is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten and 2015 Academic All-District honoree while majoring in aerospace engineering, one of the hardest engineering fields. He is quite literally taking the same major as a rocket scientist.
While that thought of that may be daunting to some, the challenges the major provides attracted Kroells.
"When I decided to come to the U, I think I was signed up for chemical engineering," Kroells said. "I don't really like chemistry that much so I asked someone, what's more a physics-based engineering? They said aerospace and that it's one of the tougher ones. I was like, well if I do that one and it doesn't turn out then I can always [change] to one of the other [engineering programs] without having to change too many of my classes. I started with that but it turned out I liked it a lot so I stuck with it all the way through."
With his expansive knowledge of physics and success on the mat it begs the question, is there any crossover between the two?
"I'd say no. Not even a little bit. It's all feel," Kroells said. "The principles, like force and all that, apply but having felt it is much more important. ... There's really no way, in the moment when you're wrestling the match, to put the two together. It's something I've thought about before. The difference between knowing how something works and actually feeling it is a lot different."
According to Kroells, it is more important to focus on the basics of the game plan when wrestling rather than overthinking every little detail and wasting energy.
"Wrestling is a feel sport. You feel what's there a lot of times, so if you're thinking too much it will work against you. I try to focus on the things I absolutely need to and whatever's going to happen is going to happen," Kroells said.
Striking that balance between feel and critical thinking, between practice and class, between All-American wrestler and aerospace engineer, and finding success at both is what continues to define Michael Kroells.
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