Overshadowed by the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, another tournament that will take place this weekend is the Cougar Clash hosted by Southern Illinois Edwardsville. While not near as big or prestigious as its counterpart in Nevada, there will still be some good wrestling that takes place in the land of Lincoln tomorrow.
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| 125 lbs |
125 lbs is clearly lead by All American Eric Barnett of Wisconsin who shouldn't have much trouble, if any picking up the title here at the Cougar Clash. The real question is, who will be his finals opponent? I was expecting a breakout year for Northern Illinois' Bryce West but thus far this season he has struggled. One of his losses was a 7-3 decision to Brown's Hunter Adrian, who could very well be Barnett's opponent in the finals. West could very well battle it out with brother Drew for third place, if they don't meet earlier in the tournament as well. They are one and one with Bryce winning 6-5 and Drew winning 4-3.
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| 133 lbs |
Not sure if Aaron Schulist of SIUE is finally going to get back on the mat or not, but if he does, look for him to battle it out with Wisconsin's Ethan Rotondo for a Cougar Clash title. If nothing else maybe at least they'll have a stache-off.
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| 141 lbs |
With Jaivon Jones of Northern Illinois already owning a fall in 2:33 over Brown's Justin Bierdumpful, I'm pretty sure that our final here will be Jones Vs SIUE's Ervin. I don't see an upset, but I do think Jones can give Ervin a decent match.
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| 149 lbs |
Wisconsin's Austin Gomez is the clear favorite for champion here as Brown's Ricky Cabanillas and Northern Illinois' Cheloni will duke it out for a spot against him in the finals. Cheloni recently defeated Cabanillas 3-0, it should again be a close match.
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| 157 lbs |
At 157 lbs, I predict a final between Anthony Gibson of Northern Illinois and Garrett Model of Wisconsin. Ironically enough they mirror one another against other competition as they both have the same wins and the same losses. Should be a good match.
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| 165 lbs |
With the dominating way Wisconsin's D.J. Hamiti performed this past weekend, he could very well upset Northern Illinois' Izaak Olejnik and soon find himself higher in the rankings. With that said, one of Hamiti's closest matches this season was a 4-3 decision Vs Tyler Brennan of Little Rock & I wouldn't put it past Cardeionte Wilson of SIUE to pull off an upset himself.
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| 174 lbs |
174 lbs should see a final between Wisconsin's Andrew McNally and Northern Illinois' Mason Kauffman. The last the two met, the Badger edged the Husky by a score of 6-2.
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| 184 lbs |
Currently 9-0 on the season, albeit a Darkhorse, Northern Illinois' Brit Wilson is a contender for this year's national title. Wisconsin's Chris Weiler on the other hand hasn't quite had the season thus far that he was hoping for. An upset over Wilson would be as good for his spirits as it would be for his ranking.
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| Braxton Amos Wisconsin 197 lbs |
At 197 lbs, I see Amos taking the title without any challenge. Should breeze through the bracket.
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| HWT |
I predict at HWT that Wisconsin's Trent Hillger and SIUE's Colton McKiernan should prove themselves to be above the rest and that in the finals, Hillger shows his dominance against McKiernan. I'd like to think that maybe McKiernan could give him a run for his money, but the way Hillger has been wrestling later, I think the Badger wins by a comfortable decision.
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