I guess with Christmas being around the corner, the collegiate wrestling season decided to spoil us wrestling fans. What a gift week 6 was!
What a thrill it was to see Lehigh break their attendance record with 6,047 fans in attendance to watch the Mountain Hawks take on the Nittany Lions. In the match we got to see Aaron Brooks take on a worthy opponent of NCAA qualifier Chris Weiler who he handed 10-5.
I was surprised to see Dresden Simon beat up on Kyle Shoop the way he did 18-5 in the Central Michigan Vs Lock Haven dual. I thought that would be a much closer match than the 13 point spread it ended up being.
THE PATRIOT OPEN ended up being a good tournament.
I don't understand why with three falls under his belt at the Patriot Duals Colston DiBlasi didn't enter as his school was hosting the tournament. Never the less it is clear to me that Virginia Tech has things on at 125 lbs. Joey Prata had a great CKLV & redshirt Sam Latona wins the title here. On top of that, you have Korbin Myers who is still out with an injury. I'd say the Hokies are rather loaded at 125.
I hear fans discuss from time to time what Penn State will do at 174 lbs after Mark Hall graduates this year. With Carter Starocci defeating All American hopeful Ben Harvey of Army in the finals, it is clear to me that already have that question answered.
Last thoughts on Patriot Open, who will Army start at the EIWA's in March? Sullivan or Heald? Once you think one has it in the bag, the other will win.
Princeton took on both Oklahoma State and Iowa in the same weekend. The willingness to do that alone is impressive. Pat Glory made it clear how much he has improved by taking it to Nick Piccininni 9-4. The Joe Dubuque mentality of "No mercy" was shown all seven minutes of the match. In the Iowa dual what must be addressed the most is Travis Stefanik's 7-6 victory over Nelson Brands. If anything this is one of the best things that could've happened to Cash Wilcke. Fans seem to always live in the moment. When Wilcke lost to Sebastian last week it was, pack your bags, call it a career. Now with Brands losing, we're back to it being up in the air. Again, as I've said before, this one will be decided at Midlands.
THE COUGAR CLASH went down pretty much the way I thought it would with a few exceptions. I of course did not expect Jeremiah Kent to stick teammate Connor Flynn in the 174 lbs finals and I don't know why McKiernan didn't wrestle in the tournament. I find it so strange when the hosting tournament doesn't wrestle their best wrestlers. Fans show up to see and support them.
And now for CLIFF KEEN!
I have so many thoughts that I'm going to have to do this weight by weight....
125 lbs
Michigan's Jack Medley who finished one match shy of being a place-winner really impressed me. Defeats former place-winner Christian Moody 9-4 & then Jakob Camacho 6-5 before being taken out by Northwestern's Mike DeAugustino. Speaking of DeAugustino I didn't realize how good he was. I knew he was good, but not third place at CKLV good. I also didn't realize that he was actually wrestling this season. I thought he was redshirting.
Impressive showing by Malik Heinselman of Ohio State who lost first round and won four consolation matches in a row to earn himself a medal.
133 lbs
When Ridge Lovett of Nebraska knocked off Taylor Lamont of Utah Valley in the first round, my thoughts were that Lamont isn't 100% from his injury nor is he big enough for 133 lbs. Yet as the weekend progressed, I realized that Lovett was for real. The Husker took third.
I have to eat crow here for just a second and admit that Iowa State's Todd Small is a lot better than I thought. I didn't see him placing at this tournament let alone fourth. He took out both Tim Rooney of Kent State and Louie Hayes of Virginia in route to doing so. Two matches I wouldn't have picked him to have won.
Very happy to see Chas Tucker win this weight class. His seedings, his ranking, his confidence, in making a run for his first All American honor, this was huge.
141 lbs
Does Luke Pletcher deserve to be #1 or what? You know we keep thinking that one of these days he's going to suffer a loss, but sheesh the way he wrestled this season, we may very well be looking at this year's Hodge winner. Cornell's Noah Baughman didn't come close to him this time. It was a decisive 9-2 victory. Then Pletcher wipes the mat with Chad Red 11-3. I figured with Mitch McKee of Minnesota knocking off Dom Demas of Oklahoma 5-2 in the semi-finals that he'd give Pletcher a close match. But no, Pletcher goes out and scores 10 points in a 10-6 victory.
Of most note here, is that the move from 133 up to 141 has been a great decision for both Pletcher and McKee but I'm not sure if it has been the best move for North Carolina State's Tariq Wilson. He doesn't seem as fluid and quick here as he did at 133. Taking seventh in a rather loaded weight class is still one Hell of an accomplishment, don't get me wrong but might he have won 133?
149 lbs
Boy Brayton Lee of Minnesota is impressive isn't he? He's not getting the love that some of the other freshmen are getting because in the sport of wrestling we enjoy taking offense to those we didn't hype the crap out of while they were still in high school. If they outdo and outshine those we thought were going to be the marquee star, we like to stay quiet about it.
You know the last guy I'd want to face in a consolation bracket? Yahya Thomas of Northwestern. he becomes something else once he gets into the consolation. He's done this at the Midlands too. 8-2 over Jaron Jenson of Wyoming, then 7-5 over Brock Zacherl of Clarion and most impressive 10-3 over Griffin Parriott of Purdue to take third.
157 lbs
We all respect Ryan Deakin of Northwestern and recognize the talent that he is right? Well if we didn't, we do now. 9-3 over David Carr of Iowa State and 6-2 over Hayden Hidlay of NC State. If that doesn't establish him at #1, you tell me what does?
165 lbs
Things pretty much went down as I thought they would here but I couldn't believe Cal Poly's Bernie Truax damn near tech falling BIG XII champion Chase Straw 17-5. That's what took me by surprise the most.
I keep on talking about Dazjon Casto of the Citadel and that "one win" that he needs. Had to tease me by damn near doing it. Loses a tight one 3-0 to Thomas Bullard of NC State to finish one match shy of a medal.
174 lbs
Have a lot I could talk about here my time is running short at the moment. Going to have to leave it at the fact that I was very happy seeing Utah Valley's Kimball Bastian earn his third CKLV medal. This marks the third year in a row he's outdone his seed in order to achieve this goal. 7th as a sophomore, 8th as a junior and now this year 6th as a senior. Very impressive.
184 lbs - HWT will have to be thoughts for later! Gotta run!
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