One Last Dual for Mikey Carr

 

February 12, 2023 — Ames, Iowa

As the University of Illinois Fighting Illini wrestled the #3 Iowa State Cyclones in Hilton Coliseum on Super Bowl Sunday, it is safe to say that a very small number of the 8,757 fans in attendance appreciated the historic nature of the battle they witnessed in the 157 pound weight class.

This dual meet, the Illini’s last of the season, featured the return of Iowa State’s “Beauty and the Beast” event wherein the Iowa State women’s gymnastics team took on Central Michigan at the same time as the men’s wrestling at the other end of the arena floor.

While one might think the name of the event could be simultaneously offensive to all athletes involved, the gymnasts really did shift into Beast Mode on some of the routines and the elite-level wrestling on display was indeed beautiful.

Iowa State took three of the first four matches, with Illini phenom Lucas Byrd the only one able to disappoint a boisterous crowd that was almost exclusively decked out in Cardinal & Gold.

Ranked #13, Michael Carr entered the fifth match of the afternoon hoping to maintain his undefeated record for the season. His opponent Jason Kraisser of Ellicott City, Maryland (also home of Lyndsay Jordan from the band Snail Mail, check out her music) came into the dual at 19-7, with six of those losses to opponents who would qualify for 2023 nationals including twin 8-3 decision losses to both the eventual NCAA runner-up and the #6 seed.

The whistle started Carr vs. Kraisser at 12:50 p.m.

Five years earlier—East Lansing, Michigan

The highlight of Mike Carr’s redshirt freshman season was undoubtedly his Big Ten Championship semifinal win over Penn State’s fellow freshman Nick Lee, the same Nick Lee who rebounded from that loss to go 96-8 the rest of his collegiate career including 2 NCAA titles.

Though Carr lost in the finals to Ohio State’s Joey McKenna, he seemed to be fully recovered from the knee surgery that cost him the chance to wrestle unattached in any open tournaments during his redshirt season.

In his first trip to nationals Carr drew the tough assignment of 2-time defending champion Dean Heil of Oklahoma State in the second round, suffering a 6-2 loss before rebounding with two more wins in wrestlebacks.

In the bloodround only Eastern Michigan’s Sa’Derian Perry stood in the way of Carr becoming a freshman All-American. The Illini led 6-5 as time expired, though Perry had a riding time point locked that should have sent the bout to sudden victory after a last-second scramble at the edge of the mat.

However, after an Eastern Michigan challenge the referee reversed the no-call and gave the Eagles their last ever All-American before they cut their wrestling program just four days later (and if dropping the team was not bad enough it took a change.org petition to get the school to add Perry’s name to a plaque recognizing EMU wrestling All-Americans!).

Carr vs. Kraisser: Period 1

If you have never watched a college wrestling match (though not likely to apply if you have read this far) the only time music is played over the arena speakers is during breaks in the action. Conversely a gymnastics meet, especially floor exercises, would be a much different if not impossible sport without music.

With this in mind the wrestling teams and referees did what they always do — they dealt with it, in this instance the impossibility of hearing anything from across the mat including on occasion communication between the two referees.

Perhaps due to divine recognition of the significance of this match on this day, the music that happened to be playing during the first period of Carr vs. Kraisser came from none other than the star of that evening’s Super Bowl halftime show.

As Rihanna’s -ella, -ella, -ella echoed through the building Mike Carr was snatching up single legs like a starving man at the KFC buffet, notching takedown after takedown before finishing the first period with a rideout as the Rihanna party moved on to “Needed Me” and a lead of 8-3 for Carr.

One hour earlier

As I sat in my seat waiting for the dual to start I sort of got into a little beef with the Cyclones mascot, a big fuzzy Cardinal. We both share some of the blame for that, but I think we ended on good terms as I shook its wing, or whatever you call its big red hand.

One month earlier — Iowa City, Iowa

It would be fair to say that no one outside of the Illini Wrestling program and the Carr family had any idea that the future Dr. Carr would be coming back mid-season while in med school for one last run in 2023 after wrestling a total of seven matches in the previous three seasons due to injury.

In what can only be described as a master tactical move against Iowa coaches who seem to relish strategic lineup changes, it was even sweeter that Carr’s unexpected return took place at a college wrestling mecca, Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

To feel the disappointment of the subdued 14,000-strong Iowa crowd down 13-12 at halftime after Carr came out of nowhere to beat top-15 guy Cobe Siebrecht was a special thing to experience as a fan.

Carr vs. Kraisser: Period 2

In the second period with bonus point(s) within Carr’s reach Jason Kraisser showed why he was a ranked wrestler and eventual NCAA qualifier. After a Kraisser escape from the down position, Carr’s early momentum slowed and he was called for stalling at 1:14.

With :45 left Carr shot on a double and the ensuing scramble left him with his head pinned beneath 160 pounds of Kraisser for a good 30 seconds. If you are able to re-watch the match on ESPN+ the angle won’t show it, but the position was such that any mortal man would have to be thinking “Why did I come back to do this?”

Kraisser was eventually able to convert and the second period ended with Carr clinging to an 8-6 lead.

Four years earlier — Evanston, Illinois

Mike Carr’s redshirt sophomore season continued the trajectory of the prior campaign, with a Big Ten dual record of 6-0 going into the penultimate matchup of the year at Northwestern.

Along the way Carr had big B1G wins against ranked foes Mitch McKee, Max Murin, Chad Red, Tristan Moran, and Kanen Storr, the latter victory inspiring one of the iconic photos of recent Illini history (image from fightingillini.com/sports/wrestling).

Though no one knew it at the time, on one cold mid-February night in Evanston everything changed.

We have all accused a wrestler or coach of the dishonorable offense of ducking, it is part of the college wrestling lexicon. Years later you could even find Penn State homers on message boards still accusing Mike Carr of ducking Nick Lee in the Illini’s final dual of the 2019 season.

While neither I nor those clowns know what was going on with Carr’s health at the end of the 2019 season, the facts are these:

Carr and the Illini started the season with Missouri and eventual 2019 3rd place Jayden Eierman at Grapple in the Grove. Carr had this match in his grasp and lost a heartbreaker 12-10, with this video both an example of the action as well as possibly the only footage of this match that exists online.

Other than a second tight loss to Eierman at the Cliff Keen Invitational, Carr could not be beaten that regular season, rising to a national #4 ranking.

The night of the Northwestern dual he should have faced Alec McKenna, a wrestler he had beaten twice the prior year by a combined score of 15-4. Instead he sat in the stands away from the team, looking (to my admittedly medically-untrained eye) like patient zero in a bad pandemic movie.

Carr missed the Penn State dual, was awarded the #1 seed at the Big Ten Championships at 141, and then proceeded to lose to the aforementioned Max Murin, Chad Red, and Tristan Moran. This was not the same Mike Carr.

At what would prove to be his last NCAA tournament, 2 wins and 2 losses brought the season to a disappointingly early finish.

One minute after Carr vs. Kraisser

Imagine for a moment you are a redshirt freshman in your first season seeing action for the Illini, bumping up from 149 to earn a starting spot at 157 for those duals where Mike Carr is unavailable.

Now imagine the only 165 pounder on your team is unable to compete due to injury at Iowa State so you step up yet another weight class to face a different Carr (no relation). David Carr — a former NCAA champ at 157 and eventual national finalist at 165 a month after this match.

Though some say there are no good losses, Anthony Federico’s battle for 7 minutes to avoid a tech fall or pin up a weight class against one of the best wrestlers in the country demands our respect.

Three weeks later — Ann Arbor, Michigan

Some wounds are too fresh to joke about, which is really a shame because there could have been some The Breakfast Club humor to be found when a wrestler named Andrew Clark faced a guy whose victory gesture is a variation on “You mess with the bull you get the horns.”

In the same building where Mike Carr and his coaches once celebrated that signature win over Kanen Storr, his college career came to an end without earning that automatic bid to NCAAs he needed to extend his season.

That’s really all there is to say about that.

Carr vs. Kraisser: Period 3

While the first period was all Carr, the third appeared to be all Kraisser’s as two minutes ticked away slowly.

The Cyclone wisely brought riding time under 60 seconds before cutting Carr with 1:20 left to go, the energy level in the building clearly favoring a successful comeback.

After surrendering another two, Carr’s lead was down to 9-8, just one more Kraisser release, takedown, and rideout away from a 10-10 trip to overtime.

As the last thirty seconds of the period, match, and dual career accelerated to their end, Carr could barely avoid giving up those final tying points, battling to a stalemate with just :10 left on the clock.

Almost sensing the importance of the moment there was a brief lull in the gymnastics floor exercise music, the excitement of the Cyclone crowd continuing to rise. It became clear (to me at least) that the next ten seconds could define Mike Carr’s Illini career as much as any other moment in these seven seasons.

In all of competitive sports there cannot be many harder things to do than stop an opponent who has a runaway train worth of momentum, particularly as a visitor to a packed arena.

Mike Carr passed this test like it was the MCAT.

Michael Carr finished with a 24-5 record in his Illini dual meet career.

Seven years earlier — Houston, Pennsylvania

Though his final college season did not end with an individual championship the way his final high school season did, a look back in the archives (thanks PA-Wrestling.com, you are doing God’s work) shows that Mike Carr’s final high school dual was also remarkable.

In the South Fayette Lions’ win over Derry Area for District 7 AA team third place, Carr ended his high school dual career by essentially earning the mathematically impossible 7 team points in one match.

If you thought anything was impossible for Mikey Carr then you haven’t been paying attention.

Although you won’t see his likeness on the wall of Illinois Wrestling All-Americans, he has earned his place among Illini legends with seven years of commitment and excellence.