By Mike Finn

By virtue of beating two of the higher-ranked wrestlers at his weight in the first few weeks of the season, Kent State’s 184-pound Dustin Kilgore has gone from being the hunter to the hunted.

            This was a big step for Kilgore after being a bit overshadowed by another wrestler from this strong wrestling state, 2008 national champ Mike Pucillo of Ohio State. Now Kilgore is also on everyone’s radar screen after the Golden Flash made the top-ranked Pucillo one of his upset victims this season.

            So should Kent State coach Jim Andrassy be concerned how Kilgore will respond to the pressure of becoming a national-title contender at a school which has 17 all-time All-Americans?

            “I think Dustin is more excited about this year than any time he’s been,” said Andrassy, who also witnessed his sophomore knock off Wyoming All-American Joe LeBlanc at Cornell’s Body Bar Classic, Nov. 21, one week after beating Pucillo at the Oklahoma Gold tournament in Brockport, N.Y. “He wants guys to come and get him. He has more problems with those who don’t do that.”

            “Everyone is the same,” Kilgore said. “I don’t underestimate anyone. There is always an underdog looking for an upset.”

            Sadly for Kilgore, he learned that first hand during last year’s NCAA tournament. As a No. 5 seed he lost in the first round to Purdue’s unseeded A.J. Kissel, 8-6, and eventually missed All-American honors when he lost for a second time in four bouts in St. Louis.

            Kilgore, named MAC Freshman of the Year last season with a 33-3 mark, believes lack of experience led to a lack of gas at the end of the year and felt “crushed” after losing to Kissel.

            “For one thing, it was a long season,” said Kilgore, who redshirted in 2008 when he compiled a 27-1 record competing unattached. “I didn’t quite realize how long the season could be. I went (into the NCAAs) a little more tired than usual. I worked so hard last year doing extra workouts; some maybe I shouldn’t have done because I wore myself out. I had problems making weight each week and it made me really tired.

            “This year, I have my mind set and have a lot more confidence knowing I can hang in there with the top guys. It’s working out.”

            “I think the coaching staff was more concerned about the way he was cutting weight than how we were training him,” said Andrassy. “He did train two to three times per day all the way up until February. I didn’t think it would affect him because of how good he was.

            “Now as I look at it, there was no doubt that he trained hard, but a lot of it was how he tried to cut weight. He was living on campus. The food selections weren’t the best. This year, he lives off campus and is in more control of what he eats. As a staff we don’t let his weight get too high.”

            Kilgore has a lot of faith in the Kent State coaches, dating back to when Andrassy first recruited him prior to his sophomore year at Berea, a southwestern suburb of Cleveland.

            “Growing up in Berea High School, I didn’t have coaches who were state champions or national champions,” said Kilgore, who was introduced to the sport in third grade by his father, Kevin. The elder Kilgore also wrestled for Berea.

            “I had coaches who loved the sport of wrestling. Even though they may not have accomplished everything they wanted as wrestlers, they still work hard. It’s the same thing here. They see that they can turn things around. The coaches here have a great attitude.”

            “If you watched him wrestle, you knew that he was going to be good. As a high school sophomore, he was a physical specimen,” said Andrassy, who is in his 19th year at Kent State, where he won a MAC title in 1994 before serving as an assistant coach for nine years before transitioning to head coach for the past seven seasons.

            Kilgore was so committed to Kent State that he signed with the Flashes after he captured his one and only high school state championship after his junior year when bigger schools started taking an interest in him.

            “I didn’t want to go to a program with a lot of state champs,” Kilgore said. “I could see that Andrassy was really working hard. He was a young coach. I wanted to go somewhere where my accomplishments actually meant something. The coaches here are working so hard to train guys. They are teaching us a lot of things.

            That included facing Pucillo, whom Kilgore competed against when they were both part of a wrestling club from Strongsville, Ohio.

            “Mike has strong hips and is really hard to take down,” said Kilgore, who defeated the 2008 national champion by a 5-2 decision. “I went in there hand-fighting for the first period and tried to wear him out a little bit. My one coach, Wolfy (Andrew Wolf), helped me out a lot with my hand-fighting. Last year, I took a lot more shots that I didn’t need to and tired myself out.”

            Kilgore said there is a pride that goes with being from Ohio.

            “Ohio is a tough state which makes phenomenal wrestlers,” Kilgore said. “I wanted to make sure that I continue to be part of that.” n