Kinsella in national hunt again

KEARNEY, Neb. — An ankle injury in practice has temporarily sidelined University of Nebraska-Kearney wrestler Jackson Kinsella of Creston, but he remains ranked in the top five of NCAA Division II at 197 pounds.

Kinsella, a redshirt junior, placed fourth in last year’s NCAA D-II national tournament. In the latest National Wrestling Coaches Association’s rankings released this week, Kinsella is No. 5 at 197 pounds. Augustana’s Max Ramberg moved ahead of Kinsella after a close head-to-head victory, after Kinsella had risen to No. 3.

Big match Saturday

Nebraska-Kearney, now No. 4 in the D-II team rankings, hosts No. 1 St. Cloud State Saturday afternoon and the Huskies’ lineup includes No. 2-ranked Dominic Murphy at 197 pounds. Kinsella missed the Jan. 16 dual meet at Grand View University after injuring his left ankle three days earlier. He has geared his recovery to return for the St. Cloud dual.

“I beat Dominic Murphy in the (NCAA) consolation semifinals last year in a very entertaining triple-overtime match,” Kinsella said while watching his teammates prepare for the Grand View dual in Des Moines last week. “I’m kind of shooting to get back for St. Cloud. Obviously, you want to be 100 percent by the end of the year.”

Kinsella was one of three UNK ranked wrestlers out the lineup at Grand View because of injury or illness, including top-ranked 125-pounder Zach Ourada. Grand View, winner of 12 of the last 13 NAIA team titles, won the dual 27-12.

The meet was televised on Iowa PBS. Among the Grand View workers at the event was Creston native Kyle Somers, a sports administration master’s student at Grand View and graduate assistant in the Athletics Department.

One of the highlights of that dual involved Kinsella’s best friend on the team, heavyweight Crew Howard of Clarinda, ranked No. 1 in NCAA D-II. He avenged a loss last year to Grand View’s Greg Hagan, the top-ranked heavyweight in NAIA, with a 5-2 victory secured on a third-period takedown to break a 2-2 tie.

Kinsella is 16-5 to date this season in a gauntlet of a schedule that has included some Division I opponents and highly-ranked Division II wrestlers. He went 2-2 at the Division II National Duals, where UNK placed third. He also lost in a dual meet at ranked Division I Northern Iowa.

“I’ve had some tough matches like the UNI meet and I faced an Arkansas Little Rock guy who was a returning Division I All-American,” Kinsella said. “At national duals I beat a kid from Central Oklahoma that beat me two years ago, but lost to an Augustana kid (Max Ramberg) in a good match. I got caught on my back against the returning national champ. Just got behind a little too quick. There have been some tough ones, but that’s good, because it won’t get any easier.”

Improved offense

UNK coach Dalton Jensen, a former state champ from Missouri Valley, said Kinsella has shown improvement this season in avoiding upsets in close matches.

“Jackson is one that has continued to get better and better each year,” Jensen said. “It’s really just a testament to the time and energy that he puts into it. He and Crew Howard spend a lot of time in the summer training. He’s starting to spread himself apart. Last year he had like 14 matches that were within a point or two, and he was about .500 in those. Now he’s spreading the gap and not having as many close matches with kids that he’s better than. He’s got a lot of good counter attacks and he puts a lot of effort on top in trying to ride guys and put them down on the mat. He scores points late in matches and at the end of periods.”

Kinsella admits that he relied on his ability to finish close matches last season, but has worked to score more this season.

“I have been getting to my attacks a lot more,” he said. “When someone is in on my legs, my scrambling is better. We want to create those flurries. You can’t expect one attack to get a takedown against the top ranked guys. You have to put two or three or four attacks together. I’ve gotten better at that.”

After Saturday’s dual against No. 1-ranked St. Cloud, the Lopers are also at home for a Jan. 31 dual against Central Missouri.