Michigan Wrestling: Congratulations to Kellen Russell

Posted at 8:00AM — 3/21/2011

Michigan Wrestling: Congratulations to Kellen Russell

Kellen wins the 141-pound National Championship Title and that capped off his 38-0 undefeated season with a 3-2 win over Cal-Poly Boris Novachkov in the finals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Saturday night.

Kellen had to fight through a ankle injury during the second-period to bring the title to Michigan. His career winning percentage of .902 ranks as the fourth best in Wolverine program history.

Congratulations go out to Coach McFarland who help guide Kellen to the title. That makes four individual titles for Coach McFarland wrestlers at Michigan joining Ryan Bertin (2003 and 2005), along with Steve Luke (2009) under Coach McFarland.

Quotes from Coach McFarland and Kellen:

Michigan Head Coach Joe McFarland
On battling back from a second-period ankle injury … “I was proud of the way he handled that. He really sucked it up and wrestled through that. He made those little adjustments — he knew he could drive off of it, so he was going to be able to score off a penetration shot. He snapped, spun behind him and fought hard for that take-down.”

On Kellen’s perfect season … “He just like the way he stayed so focused. He was really able to stay focused and do it one match at a time. As his winning streak got longer and longer, you always try to focus these guys on one match at a time. As coaches, we talked to him about that. The No. 1 seed at the national doesn’t mean anything; you haven’t won anything yet. The journey you sent for yourself is to win a national championship, so stay focused on what you need to do to achieve that. He did a great job with that. And the way he did — with all the overtimes — that’s unbelievable.”

Kellen Russell

On his 141-pound final … “The whole time preparing for this match, I knew I was going to have to get into a scramble to score a take-down, but I knew he’s one of the best scramblers in the country from wrestling him prior. So, going into the match I was trying to get my feet moving a little bit, and in the third period things started clicking together. My ankle was hurting me a little bit. When I got into the scramble, I was waiting for the right opportunity to be able to pick him up there.”

On finishing the match in regulation time … “Going into the match, I was looking to finish it in seven minutes instead of 11 minutes like yesterday. I really wanted that take-down in the third.”

On whether he used previous NCAA disappointment as motivation … “I didn’t really use that as motivation that I lost prior at nationals. I was just coming in here and knew that if I wrestled to my best of my ability, I would be able to come out and win the whole thing. So, that really wasn’t motivation for me; it was more motivation of my hard work throughout the season.”

On coming off of his red-shirt season … “I think that sparked that fire again. I had a lot of tough matches this week that I really had to dig deep, and I had that little extra thing. I wasn’t here last year, and I really wanted to come out and wrestle to the best of my ability. I think having a year off really helped me spark that little fire again.”

On wrestling in front of a close-to-hometown crowd … “When I found out that nationals were going to be in Philly, I was really excited about it. It is real close to my hometown, and I have a lot of friends and family that have been watching me all weekend on TV and coming down here. So, going into the weekend, I knew there might have been chances for me to become distracted by all the people I know here, but I was really concentrating on staying focused the whole time and staying focused on one match at a time. I think that took a lot of effort, but it’s good to go through that experience.”

On advice he would give to younger teammates … “One of the biggest things is being familiar with where you’re wrestling. I know my freshman year I wasn’t prepared at all for coming to nationals. I thought I had been to big tournaments before, but stepping foot on the mat here for the first time my freshman year was a huge kind of shock to the system with having so many people here cheering and loud and all the distractions going on. So, I probably would them to be familiar and comfortable with your surroundings and just be confident in your wrestling.”

On what it means to win for Michigan … “It feels amazing. It’s a great honor to even compete for the University of Michigan. All the people in my life that have helped me throughout school, wrestling and everything else, it really pushed me to be a better student and a better athlete and that led me to Michigan. Just to be able to wrestle for Michigan is great, and to win a national title, I feel like I’m able to give back a little to them and show the wrestling community like how great the University of Michigan is.”

Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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