THE MIDLANDS: Best of The Early Round Matchups

Sometimes the first round match-ups aren't always the greatest.  Of course their will be some huge upsets but things don't really start to get exciting until round two & its the Quarter-finals when we start seeing the really good stuff.  Yet, if you study the brackets there are always some great first round match-ups that are must sees.  If you're wondering what they are, in my opinion here are four "Can't Miss" early round match ups.


125 lbs Round of 32  (8) Gage Curry of American Vs Kyle Biscoglia of Northern Iowa 

I think this is going to be a really good match-up between an unpredictable & experienced junior and a hungry and solid freshman.  What makes this match interesting is the parity behind it.  Curry has beaten Penn's Carmen Ferrante whereas Biscoglia has lost to him.  However, Biscoglia has defeated Old Dominion's Michael McGee whereas Curry has lost to him.  It'll be an interesting match.


141 lbs Round of 32 (5) Shakur Laney of Ohio Vs Pat D'Arcy of Princeton 

These two have met only once in the past and Laney barely squeaked by D'Arcy in a 2-1 victory. D'Arcy has been battling injuries & hasn't been 100%, so that could determine the outcome of the match. However, with as close as it was last time, I wouldn't write off a plausible upset.


141 lbs Round of 32 (11) Sal Profaci of American Vs Alec McKenna of Northwestern 

These two have already met one another three times.  Profaci won the first two meetings by convincing scores of 7-3 & 8-2.  Yet the last time they stepped on the mat it was McKenna who has his hand raised in a 7-6 victory.  The Midlands is Northwestern's event.  McKenna is wrestling on home mats in front of a home crowd.  That can make a huge difference.   Anxious to see what happens in meeting #4 between these two.


149 lbs Round of 64 (9) Cole Martin of Wisconsin Vs Jeren Glosser of Iowa 

As far as I'm concerned this is going to be the best of the first round match-ups.  Glosser in my opinion is one of the best backups in the country.  Said it many times and I'm saying it again today. Had he gone to another school, he'd be a multiple time NCAA qualifier & high conference place-winner in the least.  I think he shows that today against Martin.  These two gladiators have two things in common. Both have lost to Ryan Deakin of Northwestern and both have pinned Eric Barone of Illinois. This is going to be a good one.

.

THE SOUTHERN SCUFFLE: Preview and Thoughts

My first thoughts on the Southern Scuffle are the same as they are every year.  I love, love, love what the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga has done with the tournament but it breaks my heart to know that one of our largest & most competitive in season tournaments was originated at a school that no longer has a wrestling program.  In memory of one of the many programs that never should have been cut & in hope of seeing it one day revived, long live UNC-Greensboro wrestling!

The rankings I will be using in this preview are from Thepindoctors.com put together by the talented Portillo brothers Justin and Josh.

This year's Scuffle is going to be a great one! Let's take a look at the weight classes.



Returning Scuffle champ #4 Nick Piccininni of Oklahoma State leads the way as the favorite to win this year's title.  Iowa State's Alex Mackall is the next highest ranked wrestler at #11 but both last year's third place finisher #26 Jakob Camacho of North Carolina State & the fourth place finisher Luke Werner of Lock Haven return as well.

Who I think could make a surprise run to the finals is Stanford's #15 Gabriel Townsell.  He has placed 5th-7th-8th thus far in his career and looks to become a four time Southern Scuffle place-winner for the Cardinal.

#16 Nic Aguilar of Rutgers, #22 Jace Koelzer of Northern Colorado & #30 Jonathan Tropea of Rider will all contend for medals as well.

Very anxious to see how Air Force's #18 Sid Flores does at this tournament.  He has looked very sharp so far into the season winning the Cowboy Open in Wyoming and finishing as the runner-up at the Mountaineer Open at Appalachian State.  He will for sure contend for a medal.

Finishing one match shy of placing the last two years is Chattanooga's #33 Fabian Gutierrez.  I highly doubt he'll settle for anything less than a medal this tournament.



This will be an interesting weight class.  At first I thought to myself that #4 Micky Phillippi of Pittsburgh would stroll to the title without much challenge.  I still think he'll win the weight class but I'm anxious to see Devan Turner of Oregon State in action and how he'll do.  His recent 6-2 victory over Ridge Lovett of Nebraska who took third at CKLV was very impressive.

#6 Cam Sykora of North Dakota State is the favorite of course to be in the finals against Phillippi but I also think that #17 Todd Small as well as #16 Mosha Schwartz could be finalist as well.  Really, I think this weight class is pretty open as to who makes the award stand and who doesn't.

Aslan Kilic of Navy is still the backup to Casey Cobb but he did place seventh here last season.

Perhaps most exciting is that we could see Little Rock's first Southern Scuffle place-winner in Paul Bianchi.  He'll have to wrestle well and pull off a few upsets but it is a possibility.

This is a very interesting weight class for a multitude of reasons.  First off does anyone challenge two time Scuffle champ #5 Kaden Gfeller of Oklahoma State?  #6 Real Woods of Stanford who lost in last year's finals to Gfeller looks to be his greatest challenge.  With that said, there'a a lot that could happen here.  A couple of bombs that if lit could explode.

#8 Ian Parker of Iowa State can wrestle very well when he wants to.  #14 Tariq Wilson of North Carolina State has yet to come alive at 141 lbs the way he did at 133.  It may simply be too big of a weight class for him to dominate the way he did eight pounds lighter.  Then there's also #19 Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven who was an All American last season. He's been fourth and fifth here in year's past and I'd imagine him to do well again this tournament.  If he gets going in the top position like he's capable, he's liable to turn anyone and rack up a lot of backpoints.

#17 Evan Cheek of Cleveland State placed seventh here two seasons ago and I believe if he medals again this season, he becomes the Vikings first ever multiple time Southern Scuffle Place-winner.

Easier said than done, as the bracket looks to be rather loaded.  Anxious to see if Peter Lipari who wrestled for Rutgers, now at Rider competes.



This is a very fun weight class. As far as I'm concerned Oklahoma State's Boo Lewallen deserves to be part of the conversation when discussing plausible NCAA champions at 149 lbs.  He's undefeated so far this season and he's the only one to defeat CKLV champion Brayton Lee of Minnesota. It wasn't a squeaker either. He defeated the Golden Gopher by a convincing 8-3 decision.

Who I believe to be Lewallen's greatest challenge, I don't think will even compete.  Yet a three time place winner with finishes of fourth, third and seventh I have to include Navy's Jared Prince. Why with a clear year of eligibility remaining we haven't seen him compete yet this year is a mystery to me.  Love to see him at the Scuffle.

Iowa State's #11 Jarrett Degen always finds his way on to the award stand and he could end up being Lewallen's finals opponent.  I'm anxious to see him against #13 Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado and #16 Requir Van De Merwe.

As always I'll be gunning for #18 Russell Rohlfing of Bakersfield to have a good showing.  Having taken home both eighth and sixth place medals in the past, I expect him to end his career as a three time Southern Scuffle place-winner. There's no reason why he shouldn't.

I also hope to see Colston DiBlasi of George Mason wrestle well as well.  Guy has the talent and skills to go with anyone, he simply gets sloppy sometimes out on the mat.  A top eight medal is well within his grasp.

Appalachian State's Jonathan Millner has made the finals of every tournament he's entered so far this season.  While I don't see him making the finals here, I do see him placing.

Lastly the guy to keep an eye on here most is Jaden Abas of Stanford.  Currently a redshirt, the son of Gerry, the nephew of Stephen, this kid is going to be a national champion someday.  He already gave us a small glimpse of what he was capable of winning the RENO tournament of champions.  If he enters this tournament, it'll be fun to see what he can do against stiffer competition.



The match everyone wanted to see at CKLV has a 99.9% chance of happening here at the Southern Scuffle.  #2 Hayden Hidlay of North Carolina State Vs #3 David Carr of Iowa State will most likely be our finals.  The 0.01% chance I see it not happening?  Dom Mandarino of Stanford.  This kid is tough.  Currently redshirting, Mandarino placed third at last year's Scuffle. His last match of last season was a 2-1 loss to NCAA runner-up Tyler Berger of Nebraska.

Not counting out #6 Jesse Dellavecchia of Rider either.  Think he's a strong candidate for third place if Mandarino ends up not wrestling.  Even if he does.

I'd also like to think #13 Taleb Rahmani of Pittsburgh is capable of doing big things at this tournament but he's been playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde so far this season.  If he ends up in the semi-finals looking red hot or if he ends up getting knocked out of the tournament early, either in my opinion is a safe prediction.

Appalachian State's #14 Matt Zovistoski has placed seventh and eighth the last two Scuffles.  I see him having a similar finish, capturing his third medal this tournament.

Oklahoma State's Wyatt Sheets is just outside of the top 33 in a few different rankings and could easily propel himself into the top 33 with a good showing here.

Lastly Drexel's Parker Kropman has a history of pulling off two or three upsets per season. The Southern Scuffle is as good of a place as any to do so.



A rather wide open weight class.  Currently 12-0 on the season and ranked #7 Shane Griffith of Stanford looks to be our number one seed. The redshirt freshman has wins over CKLV fourth place finisher Ethan Smith of Ohio State, Kennedy Monday of North Carolina and Ebed Jarrell of Drexel. Challenging him for the title will be #9 Thomas Bullard who looked phenomenal at CKLV capturing third place in a rather loaded bracket where #10 Andrew Fogarty took fifth place.  Also in the title hunt will be Pittsburgh's #11 Jake Wentzel, currently 9-0 with wins over Smith, Jarrell and Quentin Perez of Campbell.

I'll also throw Tanner Skidgel of Navy in as a plausible darkhorse champion. He won't be seeded as high as the other four but he is a returning EIWA champion. He placed eighth at the Scuffle last year.

Speaking of returning champions, Iowa State's #22 Chase Straw the 157 lbs BIG 12 champ last season looked dreadful at CKLV.  Hopefully it was nothing more than a bad tournament.  A case of perhaps being under the weather.  Hope to see him wrestle much better here.

Not exactly sure how to take Oklahoma State's #17 Travis Wittlake. He's currently undefeated with a win over Jarrell.  Like to see him against Griffith, Bullard, Fogarty, Wentzel and Skidgel before making too many assumptions. I think he'll place, just not sure where.

West Virginia's #20 Nick Kiussis, #29 Randy Meneweather of Air Force & of course Jarrell who placed seventh two seasons ago will all contend for medals.

If you've been reading my stuff since the beginning of the year you know that I'm a Dazjon Casto fan.  I keep saying again and again that he's one win shy of making a name for himself and propelling himself into the top twenty.  He simply needs that one big moment to instill the confidence in himself that he is that good.  He came so close at CKLV finishing one match shy of a medal.  I believe that  the Citadel sophomore is more than capable of taking home a medal from the Scuffle.  We'll see what happens.



The only reason why three time Southern Scuffle Runner up #7 Joe Smith of Oklahoma State doesn't finally win the gold after three silvers?  Simple, because he doesn't compete.  As to why he hasn't wrestled this season, I have no idea. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what in the world was going on with him all of last season.  Maybe if Robert Stack was still alive, he could give us answers. Until then, it remains an unsolved mystery.

If Smith isn't competing, then this weight class follows Tom Petty into the great wide open.

#13 Joe Grello of Rutgers  is currently undefeated but he's only wrestled three matches.

#16 Marcus Coleman of Iowa State has a very impressive 9-6 victory over Minnesota All American Devin Skatzka, but a 5-4 overall record says to me he's too inconsistent to bring home a Southern Scuffle title. 

#25 Neal Richards of VMI is currently 16-4 and is more than capable of making history by becoming the Keydets first Southern Scuffle champion.

Then of course I can't count out Rider's #26 Dean Sherry who like Coleman has an impressive win over Skatzka, pinning him in 2:54. 

Navy's Spencer Carey is always tough.  Finished one match shy of a medal the past two seasons.

Then there's North Carolina State's #18 Dan Bullard who in comparison to brother Thomas who finished in third place had a disappointing CKLV by not placing.  No doubt in my mind he's determined to make up for it at the Scuffle.

Did I say wide open?

I'd keep an eye on both Oklahoma State's Andrew Shomers and Rutger's Willie Scott.  Shomers has a losing record right now, but don't let that fool you.  He's still a Cowboy, and Cowboys know how to win when it counts.  As to Scott, he's inconsistent.  He's on and he's off, but when he's on, he can be quite dangerous.

Last thoughts I'll give on this broken jigsaw puzzle of a weight class is that injuries thus far have gotten the best of North Dakota State's Lorezno De La Riva.  I highly doubt he's healed up, 100% ready to go. Most likely the nagging injuries are still effecting him.  However, if he is 100%, he'll be the biggest surprise of this weight class.



It is often said in sports that the toughest thing to do is beat someone three times in a row.  That's exactly what #2 Trent Hidlay of North Carolina State will have to do in order to call himself this year's Southern Scuffle Champion.  He defeated #6 Lou DePrez of Binghamton 2-1 tiebreaker earlier this season and he defeated the Bearcat 5-2 last season.  It should prove to be an exciting finals match, bear an upset keeping it from happening.

As exciting of a consolation finals, should be #9 Sam Colbray of Iowa State and #8 Nino Bonaccorsi of Pittsburgh, although I wouldn't count out #14 Corey Hazel of Lock Haven being in that spot either.

Although he'll have to wrestle well, I expect #33 Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado, a two time Scuffle place-winner to bring home a third medal as well.

The battle for a title will be a triple threat between Oklahoma State's #4 Dakota Geer, North Carolina State's #5 Nick Reenan and Stanford's #6 Nathan Traxler.  Traxler finished as the runner-up to Geer's fourth place finish last season, defeating Geer in the semi-finals 9-7.  Reenan has only wrestled one match this season and has a 6-0 loss to Geer last year.   It'll be interesting to see how things unfold.

#16 Noah Adams of West Virginia is always tough and at a current 16-0, deserves mention as a possible darkhorse champion.

Whenever I look over a weight, I try and decipher who will be the top twelve when it is all said and done.  Here I was able to narrow it down to thirteen.

Jacob Seely of Northern Colorado is a wrestler I'm never quite sure how to feel about. He's the type of guy that can get majored in a dual and then come back and beat the guy in a tournament.  He wrestled exceptionally well at CKLV a couple of weekends ago placing seventh and he placed fifth at last year's Scuffle. I believe he'll place again.

What excites me most about this weight class is the potential for Presbyterian College to crown their first Southern Scuffle Place-winner.  Much like it will be for Little Rock, the challenge is great but attainable.  Love to see Stith get on the award stand and make history for the Blue Hose.




On paper this is #6 Demetrius Thomas of Pittsburgh's tournament to lose. He'll be the favorite going in and as long as he wrestles to his level, he should walk out the champion.  As to who he'll meet in the finals, I see that coming down to a semi-final between #12 Gannon Gremmel of Iowa State and #16 Cary Miller of Appalachian State.

The other five place winners?  I think it's pretty wide open but I think it'll be between the nine other wrestlers I have listed in the photograph above.  I realize that it probably isn't realistic to think that all three HWTs from Stanford end up on the award stand but it is possible.  The three continue to see who will be the starter for the Cardinal come the PAC-12 tournament.  Maley finished one match shy of a medal at last year's Scuffle.



And there you have it.  My thoughts on this year's Scuffle. For the first time in a long time, I feel that the Midlands is actually going to be tougher this season.  I may be alone on my thinking as far as that's concerned but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.  There is so much more to collegiate wrestling than the national tournament. This is a huge tournament and with some of the higher ranked teams not participating this year, it gives some of the smaller schools a chance to shine and be seen.  It's a big deal to call yourself a Southern Scuffle place-winner.  It's rewarding to know that schools like Little Rock and Presbyterian in their first year of varsity competition could crown place-winners.  It's great for the sport in so many ways.

Let's Scuffle!

THE MIDLANDS: Preview and Thoughts

Before I get started I want to make a few things clear.   I am not the one doing the rankings for the Pindoctors.  Rankings are put together by the Portillo brothers Josh and Justin.  I am however using the Pindoctors Rankings for Division I.

With that out of the way I am very excited about this year's Midlands. I think it is going to be a great tournament with lots of exciting action.  I'm not sure if anyone will but I'm anxious to see if any post grads enter this season.  As a kid, I always loved it when a wrestler years removed from his senior year of college would enter the tournament.  Seeing matches that I otherwise never would have seen.  While we won't know who they are until final brackets are released, I do hope to see at least a handful this season.

Now let's take a look at the weight classes!



Two time NCAA Champion Spencer Lee has yet to win a BIG 10 title!  That's hard to believe isn't it? You know what else he hasn't won yet?  A Midlands title! Sixth as a freshman and second last year, is it a curse or will 2019 be his year?  Easier said than done with both #2 Jack Mueller Virginia who recently won CKLV and #3 Patrick Glory of Princeton in his way. The one thing that Lee has going for him is that he'll only have to face one of them in route to a title.

Devin Schroder of Purdue has looked phenomenal thus far this season.  Had a fantastic CKLV where he finished in second place.  Currently ranked #5, he finished 8th here last year.  I expect him to improve upon that finish, but it won't be easy.  #7 Brock Hudkins of Indiana & #8 Drew Hidlebrandt of Central Michigan will both be gunning for medals as well.  On top of it, there's also home school freshman sensation #9 Michael DeAugustino who finished an extremely impressive third at CKLV.

Who I'm really anxious to see in action is Illinois's #32 Justin Cardani. He kind of came out of nowhere last season to place sixth and I'm wondering if maybe he'll upset his way to another medal.

As always I expect #23 Gage Curry of American to turn a few heads and garner an upset or two.  Northern Iowa's Jay Schwarm has looked hot lately not only capturing seventh place at CKLV but winning the Gorriaran award on top of it.  I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him on the award stand.

 I was hesitant to put Oklahoma's Christian Moody on the list because he has not looked good this season at all. I'm not sure if he's injured or if the cut to 125 has finally caught up with him or what.  All I know is that he's not wrestling as well as I know he's capable.  He placed eighth here once.  Love to see him do well here again.  It'll be a Hell of a task.  As you can tell by the photograph above, not only does he have the wrestlers I mentioned to contend with but quite a few others as well.




At first glance it looks to be a rematch between #1 Austin DeSanto of Iowa and #2 Seth Gross of Wisconsin.  DeSanto shocked the wrestling world and made a statement that he's going for the national title by upending the 2018 NCAA champion a few weeks ago by a score of 6-2.  While this is a match many fans look forward to, it's not a guarantee that it'll happen.  The real question mark here is where does #5 Sebastian Rivera fit into all of this?  He did nothing but give Spencer Lee trouble at 125 lbs all of last year.  It'll be interesting to see him against both Gross and DeSanto if that happens.  In case you are unaware, DeSanto, Gross and Rivera have all won Midlands titles in the past.

Campbell's #10 Noah Gonser made the finals last year, but I believe the competition is far to stacked for him to do so again.  It'll be hard enough re-making the award stand let alone standing in the runner-up spot.  I think he'll medal, but I'm just not sure where. I think a lot depends on whether he has to wrestle Ohio's #30 Mario Guillen or not.  While Gonser seems to be able to handle opponents who have defeated Guillen, Guillen has been his Achilles's heel. 

#9 Travis Piotrowski was fifth at 125 lbs a year ago and much like Rivera, I'm anxious to see where exactly he stand as a 133 lbs'er.

The thing I love about a tournament like the Midlands is that it gives backups a chance to show how good they really are.  Northwestern's Collin Valdiviez has his ups and downs, but he always wrestles well here.  He placed fifth as a freshman and seventh as a sophomore.  Wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him medal again this tournament.  Iowa's Paul Glynn a backup to DeSanto could also find himself on the award stand.  He placed fifth a couple of years ago.

#20 Louie Hayes of Virginia missed out on a CKLV medal by one match.  I think he should place here though.

Last but not least let me give a little love to someone not in NCAA Division I.  NAIA All American Jacob Seto of The Cumberlands.  He placed eighth at the national tournament last season.  I think the bracket may be a little too loaded for him to medal but I can see him wrestling well enough to pull off an upset or two and show the wrestling world that NAIA produces some good talent too.

#3 Dom Demas of Oklahoma will most likely receive the number one seed as the #2 seed will go to last year's runner-up #7 Max Murin of Iowa.  Yes, this makes the third Hawkeye in a row I see making the finals.  Although hosted by Northwestern, the Midlands in years past has been known as Iowa's tournament. 2019 will make a believer out of anyone who doubts that statement. Not only do you have Murin, but transfer Jaydin Eierman may make an appearance. If he does, he'll throw the seeding out of whack and he may receive the #1 seed.   Then there's Carter Happel who has placed sixth at this tournament in years past.   Three Hawkeyes on the award stand all at the same weight?  Very plausible.

As to the other place-winners you have to think that #10 Tristan Moran of Wisconsin who placed seventh last year is in the discussion but I'm not so sure that one can go based off of rankings in order to make the best prediction.  Zach Sherman of North Carolina is ranked #22 at the moment, much lower than that of #10 Josh Heil of Campbell & #13 Michael Blockhus of Northern Iowa,  but he finished third here last season.  He wrestles anything at all like that this tournament, may I say "dark horse champion."

Another guy to watch out for is Bucknell's Unranked Joey Gould, who took fifth last season.  I'm anxious to see what he ends up seeded if seeded at all.  Either way, I think he out wrestles wherever he is placed.

Lastly keep an eye on Illinois's Dylan Duncan.  He's not one to go into a tournament with a lot of hype or expectation but once he gets going he's tough to beat.  I doubt he receives a very high seed, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him place.  He's been fourth and sixth here in years past.





So here's the deal...  North Carolina's Austin O'Connor is currently ranked #1 in the nation.  Yet Princeton's Matt Kolodzik is a five time Midlands place-winner and two time Midlands champion.  If I were in the seeding committee I'd give the nod for Kolodzik over O'Connor as to who gets the number one. No guarantee that 5th-1st-2nd-6th-1st Kolodzik will even be in the tournament.  I'd like to see it though.  To know that when his career is said and done as a Tiger that he could potentially be a 7 time Midlands medalist is as epic as it is historical.

If Kolodzik is not in the tournament, its yet another Hawkeye, this time #6 Pat Lugo who looks to meet O'Connor in the finals. Challenging for that spot will be #7 Yahya Thomas of host Northwestern who has finished third in the past.  Thomas also finished a very impressive third looking like the T-1,000 in TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY in his run through the consolations. He's a wrestler I would NOT want to face in the wrestle-backs.

Then there's also #8 Griffin Parriott of Purdue and #10 Max Thomsen of Northern Iowa who finished as the runner-up to Kolodzik last season.

When I was making the picture, #17 Mike D'Angelo slipped my mind.  Being fourth and sixth thus far in his career, he most certainly poses a threat at another medal, if not a finals appearance.

Then there's also #14 Cole Martin of Wisconsin, #15 Kizhan Clarke of American & three other ranked wrestlers contending for a spot on the award stand as well.

Then we also have Iowa's Jeren Glosser who has placed fourth and his teammate Vince Turk who was one match shy of a medal.  Three Hawkeyes plausibly on the award stand at 149 lbs? I believe so.

If you're looking for the thorn in the side, the answer as to who it'll be I believe will be Purdue's Nate Limmex if the Boilermakers decide to enter both him and Parriott into the tournament.  Limmex, like Glosser & Turk is one of the best backups in the country.  He finished fourth here in the past and he'll be a force to be reckoned with against anyone he steps on the mat against.

Lastly, it'd take a miracle as loaded as this weight is for anyone not a Division I wrestler to medal but I believe if anyone can do it, I think Elmhurst's Jimmy McAuliffe can.




Has Northwestern's Ryan Deakin more than proved his #1 ranking or what?  With convincing wins over both David Carr of Iowa State and Hayden Hidlay of North Carolina State feel safe in predicting him to win his second Midland's title this tournament.

The number two seed here I believe will be #8 Quincy Monday of Princeton who recently defeated #4 Kaleb Young of Iowa in dual meet action.  Speaking of Young, he's had a rather rocky start to his senior season. Being fifth, fifth, runner-up thus far at the Midlands, I do however expect this to be his redemption.  A plausible rematch between he and Monday should prove to be an exciting one.

A surprise finalist?  I think Deakin's finals opponent is going to be between Monday and Young, but I can see a slight possibility of Pennsylvania's #9 Anthony Artalona sneaking in.

As to the other place-winners I think any of the names mentioned in the photo have a shot at taking home a medal.   The guy I think that could be a monkey-wrench in all of this is #21 Eric Barone. There's just something about the Illinois' guys at a tournament like this that makes me think they're the ones to watch out for.  He has placed fifth here in the past.

And before I move onto 165 lbs, I have to once again tip my hat to the University of the Cumberlands.  There haven't been many NAIA wrestlers to take home Midlands medals in the past but I think there's a legitimate shot that they could here.  Tres Leon won three matches here last season.




The Midlands is not on Virginia Tech's schedule.  However in a recent interview with Jason Bryant, Jared Frayer confirmed that David McFadden will be participating in this year's championships.  This makes it a whole new ball game.  Collegiality McFadden is undefeated against both #1 Alex Marinelli of Iowa and #2 Evan Wick of Wisconsin.  He pinned Marinelli in their only meeting at the 5:14 mark.  He also pinned Wick, in the first period, along with owning a 3-0 win over him as well.  I still think Marinelli, a two time Midlands champion will receive the number one seed. I also see Wick being last year's runner up receiving the number two seed and McFadden the number three.   Regardless of seeding, in order for any of these three to call themselves the 2019 Midlands Champion they're all going to have to go through each other.

A chance at anyone knocking any of the top three off?  No. You never say never in this sport and stranger things have happened, but I'm going to say no.  #12 Zach Hartmann of Bucknell used his patented cradle last season to capture third place & North Carolina's #13 Kennedy Monday always seems to lurk in the shadows ready to pounce but I believe the battle between everyone else here is going to be for fourth place.

I feel fairly confident in the names I picked in the photo above as to who I think will be our top twelve.  I threw in Emmett LiCastri of Franklin and Marshall because he's been wrestling fairly well this season.  I don't know if that means capturing a medal at the Midlands championships but I can see it meaning coming within a match.




#3 Mike Kemerer with two Midlands championsips to his name looks poised to receive the number one seed and win his third title.  With the way #4 Dylan Lydy looked winning CKLV recently, that third title is anything but a given.  Kemerer will have to wrestle well in order to defeat Lydy. Lydy catches him sleeping, he'll win his second major tournament of the year.

And speaking of sleeping, don't think that I'm sleeping on #5 Bryce Steiert of Northern Iowa. I know what he's capable of too.  He lost in the finals of CKLV to Lydy by a score of 3-1 sudden victory.  It could just as easily be him in the finals against Kemerer as it could be Lydy.

As to the other place-winners I expect #11 Joey Gunther of Illinois who placed seventh a year ago to improve upon his finish.  Talent and ability wise, I would say he's every bit as good as Lydy & Steiert but seems to have difficulty winning those really big matches.  Perhaps this tournament will be his "over the hump" moment.

If the NCAA gave out a "most improved" award #20 Anthony Mantanona of Oklahoma would be more than eligible to receive it.  He's twice the wrestler he was last season and I'm anxious to see how he'll do here.

Who I really want to see have a great tournament is Army's Ben Harvey.  He is so much better than his current #23 ranking. So much better. Has had a few hiccups thus far into his senior season but there's still plenty of season left.  I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him do very well at this tournament. He's more than capable.




This is going to be an interesting weight class for an assortment of different reasons.  #4 Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa who has a runner-up finish to his name at 174 should receive the number one seed I would imagine.  Although it may go to #10 Cash Wilcke of Iowa who finished as runner-up last season after winning a title in 2017. 

And that's really where a huge focus will be concerning this weight class.  Who's Iowa going to go with Wilcke or Nelson Brands? This tournament will determine that.  Whoever wrestles better here, I say will be who we see start at the BIG 10 tournament.   What would be most interesting, would be to see Nelson Brands against #25 Johnny Sebastian of Wisconsin and to see Wilcke against #22 Travis Stefanik of Princeton.  Sebastian defeated Wilcke in dual action earlier this season and Stefanik defeated Brands.

As to the rest of the weight class, #14 Andrew Morgan of Campbell finished fourth at 174 last season and he'll have his hands full if he wants to finish that high again this tournament.  It'll be a battle for those spots on the award stand.

What I'm personally most excited about is Ben Sarasin's slight chance of placing.  I know it's a stretch against Division I competition but I think the chance exist.  The University of Chicago has been coming to the Midlands at least as long as I've been alive.  Maybe longer but I think their first Midlands tournament was around 1985.  They have yet to place someone on the award stand. How exciting would it be for Sarasin to be the Maroon's first place-winner?




On paper this finals looks to be another classic confrontation between #2 Jacob Warner of Iowa and #3 Patrick Brucki of Princeton.  Brucki won last year's Midlands title defeating Warner 4-2 along the way. Warner recently defeated Brucki 5-4 in dual meet action.

However I would dare not count out Cal Poly's #7 Tom Lane's chances of upsetting his way into the finals.  The Mustang senior defines tenacity, has defeated Warner 4-2 sudden victory and kept it within one point of Brucki. Upsetting both would not only be great for his career but for the Cal Poly program in general.

Also keep in mind that #9 Jake Warner of Oklahoma owns a 5-4 victory over Warner as well.  Then there's Purdue's #8 C.J. Brunner who owns a 10-6 victory over Warner, a 2-1 victory over Woodley & a 8-1 victory over Lane.

Needless to say I think the battle for a title is an all out war between five very talented wrestlers.

As to the other place-winners #19 Lucas Davison adds yet another Wildcat who looks to place at his home tournament.  #26 Drew Phipps of Bucknell I expect to turn it on and capture a medal.  Unranked Jay Aiello of Virginia is sure to pull off an upset or two.

Keeping the faith alive in hopes for the success of a non DI wrestler, I once again refer to the University of the Cumberlands.  Eric Deluse is a guy I can see sneaking in to that eighth place spot on the award stand.




Ranked #3 with a recent 3-2 win over #7 Trent Hilger of Wisconsin, Iowa's Tony Cassioppi looks to continue to prove to the Hawkeye faithful that they have a tremendous HWT.  Winning a Midlands title would further cement that belief.

Easier said than done...

Along with having to get past Hilger again, there is also Campbell's #10 Jere Heino to contend with who majored Cassioppi at last year's Midlands 11-3.   Although he has yet to figure out Michigan's Mason Parris, Central Michigan's #11 Matt Stencel has defeated everyone else he's stepped on the mat with this year.  May I add the pinning machine who has already racked up eight falls in thirteen matches stuck Cassioppi in forty-three seconds last season.

As to the other place-winners I think spots fifth through eighth are up for grabs.  I'm anxious to see Harvard's #24 Yaraslau Slavikouski in action.  I hope I spelled that right. There's no way I'd be able to pronounce it right.  He came within one match of earning a medal at CKLV.  I think he can get one here.


With that, that concludes my thoughts on the Midlands.   As you can see team wise I look for Iowa to really show their dominance.  To Channel the years of domination under Dan Gable, and have a multitude of champions along with top three place-winners at damn near every weight.

I'm also excited to see how good of a tournament this can be for both Purdue and Army.  Both teams are lead by coaches I believe in.  I can see the Boilermakers placing as many as ten. I can see the Black Knights putting as many as six on the award stand.

Will the University of the Cumberlands do as well as I'd like to see them do? Probably not, but I for one think NAIA wrestling is a lot tougher than anyone seems to want to give it credit for and I'd love to see them prove it.

Probably some wrestlers that will be participating that I'm unaware of and some wrestlers I included that will not be participating.

Either way, as it has been since 1963, this is going to be a great tournament!!

2019-2020 NCAA Wrestling: Week 6 Recap

A few scattered duals and two opens with the RENO TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS to cap things off for week six of collegiate wrestling.

Not wanting another 3-2 squeeker  Hayden Hidlay of North Carolina State did not keep it close at all as he dismantled Matt Zovistoski 16-3


Not a whole heck of a lot happened at CLEVELAND STATE OPEN but I do want to comment on three things.  First and foremost loved seeing Evan Cheek win a title.  Also loved seeing Kevin Snyder of Ohio State win a title.  I'm anxious to see how good he is.  He's a backup right now but his back up is Kollin Moore who is capable of winning an NCAA title this season.  Moore a senior and Snyder a junior, means we have a shot at seeing Snyder varsity next season.  All American potential?

Also surprised to see Nick Vestal of Ohio move up to win the 165 lbs title.  Behind Zac Carson at 157, maybe this is his new home?

UNI OPEN All I have to say is that I was hoping Aden Reeves would've done a little better.   Gonna have tough breaks in college wrestling. It's too damn tough not too.  Better to have them early on. 



RENO went pretty much the way I thought it would. A few surprises here and there, and not everyone that I thought would wrestle did.

Here I thought Fresno State had a pretty tough wrestler in Durbin Lloren and he is! Yet Kyle Parco who is redshirting might be even better.  He placed higher anyway.

Who is Jaden Abas? Holy cow.  Uncle Stephen and Uncle Gerry...ok now it makes perfect since why he won the 149 lbs title.  Happy to see Mason Smith back on the mat.  Took 3rd.

Winning the 157 lbs title, it was nice to see Dewey Krueger of Wyoming wrestle as well as he did.

Former Wyoming wrestler Lucas Lovvorn of Baker defeated Hayden Hastings of Wyoming for hte 174 lbs title.  That in my opinion was rather ironic.

Josh Hokit the football player took the mat for the first time. Forfeited to 4th place.  Disappointed by that, was wanting to see him and Jere Heino go at it.

NCAA Champions Who Did Not Win Their Conference Title

Surely you would think that if someone won the NCAA title, that they'd have won their conference title too right?  It makes sense.  The NCAA Division I  title is the most coveted crown in all of collegiate wrestling.  The toughest title to win.   Yet if you had to guess how many times in the past twenty NCAA Division I tournaments that all ten NCAA champions were also conference champions, what would be your guess?

Half the time?  Three quarters?  One quarter?

Try once.

Yes, ONCE. 

In the past twenty years there has only been one tournament where all ten NCAA champions were also conference champions and that year was 2014.  In all other years, at least one NCAA champion did not win his conference tournament. 

Happens more often than you think doesn't it? 

Let's look at these tournaments and see how often it has happened.


2000 (2) 

125 NCAA Champion Jeremy Hunter of Penn State lost in the BIG 10 Finals to Iowa's Jody Strittmatter 3-2.

141 NCAA Champion Carl Perry of Illinois lost twice at the BIG 10 Championships to finish in fourth place.  6-4 to Iowa's Doug Schwab in the semi-finals and 4-2 to Michigan's Damion Logan in the Consolation finals.


2001 (2) 

149 NCAA Champion Adam Tirapelle of Illinois  lost 9-5 to Minnesota's Jared Lawrence in the BIG 10 finals

HWT NCAA Champion John Lockhart of Illinois lost 5-2 to Minnesota's Garrett Lowney in the BIG 10 finals


2002 (2) 
149 NCAA Champion Minnesota's Jared Lawrence lost 4-3 to Iowa's Mike Zadick in the BIG 10 finals

184 NCAA Champion Rob Rohn of Lehigh lost 7-6 in the EIWA finals to Cornell's Rob Rohn


2003 (3) 
157 NCAA Champion Ryan Bertin of Michigan finished in third place at the BIG 10 championships after losing 7-3 in the semi-finals to Minnesota's Luke Becker

174 NCAA Champion Robbie Waller of Oklahoma lost 6-3 to Oklahoma State's Chris Pendelton in the BIG 12 finals

184 NCAA Champion Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State lost 9-1 to Scott Barker of Missouri in the BIG 12 finals


2004 (3) 
125 NCAA Champion Jason Powell lost 5-2 to Oklahoma's Sam Hazewinkle in the BIG 12 finals

133 NCAA Champion Zach Roberson of Iowa State lost by fall in 6:32 to Oklahoma State's Johnny Thompson in the BIG 12 finals

174 NCAA Champion Chris Pendleton of Oklahoma State lost 9-7 to Missouri's Ben Askren in the BIG 12 finals


2005 (4) 
125 NCAA Champion Joe Dubuque of Indiana finished in third place at the BIG 10 championships after losing 3-2 to Michigan State's Nick Simmons in the semi-finals

141 NCAA Champion Teyon Ware of Oklahoma lost 4-3 tiebreaker to Iowa State's Nate Gallick in the BIG 12 finals

157 NCAA Champion Ryan Bertin of Michigan lost 4-3 to Alex Tirapelle of Illinois in the BIG 10 finals

197 NCAA Champion Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State lost 6-2 to Nebraska's B.J. Padden in the BIG 12 finals


2006 (2) 
125 NCAA Champion Joe Dubuque finished in third place at the BIG 10 Championships after losing 5-4 tiebreaker to Illinois's Kyle Ott in the semi-finals

197 NCAA Champion Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State lost 4-0 to Nebraska's B.J. Padden in the BIG 12 Finals


2007 (1)

125 NCAA Champion Paul Donahoe lost 12-3 to Oklahoma's Sam Hazewinkle in the BIG 12 Finals


2008 (4) 

133 NCAA Champion Coleman Scott of Oklahoma State lost 3-1 in the BIG 12 Semi-finals to Missouri's Tyler McCormick

141 NCAA Champion J Jaggers of Ohio State finished in third at the BIG 10 Championships after losing 6-2 to Manny Rivera of Minnesota in the quarter finals

157 lbs NCAA Champion Jordan Leen of Cornell lost in the EIWA finals to Leigh's David Nakasone 5-2

165 lbs NCAA Champion Mark Perry of Iowa lost 3-2 to Michigan's Eric Tannenbaum in the BIG 10 finals


2009 (3) 

141 NCAA Champion J Jaggers of Ohio State finished in third place at the BIG 10 Championships after losing 3-1 to Wisconsin's Zach Tanelli in the semi-finals.

197 NCAA Champion Jake Varner of Iowa State lost 4-3 to Nebraska's Craig Brester in the BIG 12 finals

HWT NCAA Champion Matt Ellis  of Missouri lost 3-1 to Iowa State's David Zabriskie in the BIG 12 finals


2010 (3) 

125 NCAA Champion Matt McDonough lost 6-4 to Indiana's Angel Escobedo in the BIG 10 finals

149 NCAA Champion Brent Metcalf of Iowa lost 9-3 to Ohio State's Lance Palmer in the BIG 10 finals.

184 NCAA Champion Max Askren of Missouri lost 10-6 to Oklahoma State's Clayton Foster in the BIG 12 finals


2011 ( 3) 
149 NCAA Champion Kyle Dake of Cornell lost 4-2 sudden victory to Bucknell's Kevin LaValley in the EIWA finals

157 NCAA Champion Bubba Jenkins of Arizona State lost in the PAC-12 finals to Adam Hall of Boise State 3-2

HWT NCAA Champion Zach Rey of Lehigh lost to American's Ryan Flores 4-2 tiebreaker in the EIWA finals


2012 (1) 
184 NCAA Champion Steve Bosack of Cornell lost 5-2 in the EIWA finals to Lehigh's Robert Hamlin


2013 (1) 
157 NCAA Champion Derek St. John of Iowa finished in third place at the BIG 10 championships after losing 5-4 to Nebraska's James Green in the semi-finals.


2014 - The ONLY year in the past twenty where all 10 NCAA Champions were Conference Champions


2015 (1) 
174 NCAA Champion Matt Brown of Penn State lost 7-3 in the BIG 10 finals to Nebraska's Robert Kokesh


2016 (2) 
125 NCAA Champion Nico Megaludis of Penn State lost 3-1 sudden victory to Nathan Tomasello of Ohio State in the BIG 10 finals

174 NCAA Champion Myles Martin of Ohio State finished in third place after being pinned by Penn State's Bo Nickal in the BIG 10 semi-finals


2017 (4) 
133 NCAA Champion Cory Clark of Iowa lost 5-4 to Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello in the BIG 10 finals

165 NCAA Champion Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State finished in third place after losing 8-5 to Illinois' Isaiah Martinez in the BIG 10 semi-finals

174 NCAA Champion Mark Hall of Penn State lost in the BIG 10 finals to Ohio State's Bo Jordan 6-4

184 NCAA Champion Bo Nickall of Penn State finished in third place after losing 6-4 to Ohio State's Myles Martin in the BIG 10 semi-finals


2018 (4) 
125 NCAA Champion Spencer Lee of Iowa lost 2-1 to Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello in the BIG 10 finals

157 NCAA Champion Jason Nolf of Penn State forfeited to 5th/6th place. So not sure if you want to count this or not.  "Technically"?

165 NCAA Champion Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State lost 4-1 to Illinois' Isaiah Martinez in the BIG 10 finals

197 NCAA Champion Michael Macchiavello of North Carolina State lost 6-4 tiebreaker to Virginia Tech's Jared Haught in the ACC finals


2019 (1) 
125 NCAA Champion Spencer Lee of Iowa lost 6-4 to Northwestern's Sebastian Rivera in the BIG 10 finals



So there you have it!  It happens a lot more than you ever thought it happened doesn't it? 

46 NCAA Champions crowned  in the past twenty NCAA Division I tournaments where in the same season they did not win their conference tournament.

To some of you, it's a matter of "so what!?!"  I can already picture Mark Husar's response to this article in my head.  "All that matters is the NCAA Championships!!" 

For the rest of this, there is quite a bit of takeaway from these statistics.

I once talked with two time NCAA All American Joe Johnston of Iowa on a bus ride and he said to me, "I think sometimes it's harder to win a BIG 10 title than it is to win an NCAA title."   I think by looking at this information there is a lot of truth to that statement.  I think the same can be said for winning a BIG 12 title.

It also adds more testimony to how insane NCAA Division I wrestling is.   To how much parity there is among the wrestlers.  In a lot of these matches that were lost in the conference tournaments, losses were avenged at the NCAA's.  Even the ones that were by major decision margins.

Collegiate wrestling is a fascinating world and this is one of the many things that interest me about it.

RENO TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS: Preview and Thoughts

It's hard to believe that as soon as one huge tournament ends in Las Vegas we head back to Nevada again for another annual tournament in the Silver state.  This time it's in Reno for the annual RENO TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS. 

Looking quite a bit different than it has in years past, few teams return and new teams emerge.  While not as deep or prestigious as Cliff Keen, Reno still proves to be a rather good tournament.

Let's take a look at the weight classes.


125 lbs

Last season Cole Verner of Wyoming took fifth place.  He looks to win this year's title although he will have a challenge from Campbell's Korbin Meink.  This should prove to be an exciting final.

133 lbs

Winning a title here two seasons ago and recently finishing as the CKLV runner up #7 Montorie Bridges of Wyoming looks to capture another title. #13 Noah Gonser of Campell and #20 Devan Turner of Oregon State should battle it out in the semis for a spot against Bridges in the finals.  What will be of most interest is to see how Utah Valley's Taylor Lamont shapes up at this tournament. He had a rather disappointing CKLV. This gives him a great opportunity to bounce back.  Look for Fresno State's Gary Joint to place in the top six.


141 lbs

Wyoming's Sam Turner who won the title here last year has yet to compete this season.  That leads me to believe that #7 Josh Heil of Campbell should be our number one seed. His finals opponent should be one of two, either Zander Silva of Cal Baptist who finished fifth a year ago or Grant Willits of Oregon State.  Also battling for medals will be Cal Poly's Jake Ryan and Fresno State's Durbin Lloren.


149 lbs

This weight class has the potential to be the most interesting weight at Reno. It also has the potential to not be.  Lots of question marks here.  Utah Valley's Matt Findlay was ranked #10 at the beginning of the season, yet he has yet to compete.  Same can be said about Oregon State's Daxton Gordon, a former Division II NCAA champion for Cal Baptist. Another talented wrestler here is Mason Smith of Campbell, who hasn't wrestled since the first of November.   With these three names up in the air, we might not see a single one of them. If that's the case, I predict a finals between Wyoming's Jaron Jensen and Fresno State's Greg Gaxiola.  Jensen fared much better at CKLV finishing one match shy of placing as Gaxiola was taken out of the tournament early.  Nevertheless I still predict it to be a good match.


157 lbs

With as good as he wrestled at CKLV, I can't see anyone challenging #13 Jacob Wright of Fresno State. He should take the title rather easily.


165 lbs

#16 Quentin Perez of Campbell settled for a bronze here two seasons ago, but this year stands a legitimate shot at taken home gold. I would say that Utah Valley's Demetrius Romero would more than challenge him for the title, but from the looks of things he's still out with injury.  With that known, Oregon State's Hunter Willits is more than capable of upsetting Perez and bringing home the title himself.   In the fight for third will be two wrestlers who each finished one match shy of a medal at CKLV.  Fresno State's Ricky Padilla and Cal Poly's Bernie Truax.   A possible sneak in could occur from Wyoming's Dewey Krueger.


174 lbs

This is going to be fun weight from the semi's on forward.   #13 Kimball Bastian of Utah Valley should receive the number one seed.  The semi-final on the other side of the bracket should be between #14 Hayden Hastings of Wyoming and #15 Jackson Hemauer of Fresno State.  Bastian defeated Hemauer to earn his third CKLV medal in the round of twelve by a score of 8-2.  The number four seed here, should be Campbell's Austin Kraisser.


184 lbs

A three way dance that I predict goes to Campbell's Andrew Morgan who has pinned Fresno State's Dom Kincaid in the past.  Also in contention here is Wyoming's Tate Samuelson.


197 lbs

#7 Tom Lane of Cal Poly is the very definition of intestinal fortitude.  After losing by technical fall to Ohio State's Kollin Moore he rallied off two impressive wins to finish third at the CKLV last weekend.  He'll be challenged by Utah Valley's Tanner Orndorff who finished one match shy of placing.  Forgotten in the shadows is Cale Davidson of Wyoming who finished as the runner-up here last season.  Also look for Fresno State's Ryan Reyes to finish in the top six.


HWT

#6 Tate Orndorff of Utah Valley who finished in third place at CKLV, should be the number one seed here.  Campbell's Jere Heino currently ranked #11 should be the number two seed.  The two met two seasons ago with Heino winning a 13-6 decision.  Not one to let Orndorff and Heino have all the fun, Wyoming's #17 Brian Andrews finished second here last season.  He's 0-3 against Orndorff but has kept it close each time.

2019-2020 College Wrestling: Week Six Recap

 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!

2019-2020 College Wrestling: Week Five Recap

Well that was short and sweet.  One of the shortest weeks in collegiate wrestling but none the less, quite a few things worth noting!!

Ricky Padilla of Fresno State sure took it to Austin Matthews of Northern Colorado in the Bulldog Vs Bear dual.   I was also surprised to see Mosha Swartz with a victory over Gary Joint.

Ohio's Mario Guillen is a tough one to figure out.  He seems to always been up for the bigger matches and then he loses ones to guys you'd think he'd beat.  Good win for Franco Valdes of Chattanooga though.

I was not expecting Sam Carter of Appalachian State to look as good as he did.  A true freshman none the less and he absolutely controlled North Carolina's Joey Melendez.   This kid good enough to contend for a SOCON title this season?  Boy if he wrestles like he did today, yes.


I've been a Noah Baughman fan and supporter his whole career.  I said for the past two seasons that if he could find his way back into the Cornell lineup he'd do things for the Big Red.  He looked great against #1 Luke Pletcher of Ohio State today in a 8-6 loss. He took him to the wire.  Very, very excited to see what Baughman can do in Vegas next weekend.

Did Iowa make a statement today or what?!?! Holy cow!!  The Hawkeyes took it to the Badgers like the Cowboys to the Bills in Superbowls 27 and 28.   Austin DeSanto taking out Seth Gross.  Tony Cassioppi taking out Trent Hillger.   Both Max Murin and Pat Lugo duking out close wins against tough opponents.  Then Alex Marinelli with yet another win over Evan Wick.  At this point, I don't know if I'd call it a rivalry anymore or not.  I think the one win Wick has over Marinelli may be his only. 

The one highlight for the Badgers was Johnny Sebastian's win over Cash Wilcke.  He really needed a win of that caliber.  It'll do wonders for his confidence. 

As to Wilcke, I still think he has a chance to keep his spot.  It's not 100% Nelson Brands yet.  Some may think that now, but let's see what happens at Midlands before we make as Regis Philbin would say, "Our final decision." 

THE COUGAR CLASH: Preview and Thoughts

Another tournament overshadowed by the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, the Cougar Clash held by Southern Illinois-Edwardsville looks to be a good little tournament with some exciting and competitive matches.

*NOTE - Rankings used are of intermatwrestle.com 12-1-2019*


125 lbs 

#5 Rayvon Foley of Michigan State shouldn't have any trouble taking the title here.  I'd like to think he'd get at least some fight out of Dack Punke of Missouri but he hasn't been wrestling anywhere near as well as I thought he would this season. It's hard to believe that as well as he was coming along towards the end of last season, that he currently has a losing record.


133 lbs 

Despite suffering an upset yesterday vs #2 Austin DeSanto of Iowa, #1 Seth Gross of Wisconsin will mow through the competition. This will be nothing but conditioning for him.  His finals opponent will be #18 Alan Hart of Missouri.  Our third-fourth place match should be Little Rock's Paul Bianchi and Michigan State's Garrett Pepple.


141 lbs 

Look forward to a great finals match between #5 Grant Leeth of Missouri and #10 Tristan Moran of Wisconsin.  Although Leeth is ranked higher, Moran won the title here last season. Home favorite Saul Ervin of SIUE should take third.


149 lbs 

Can #17 Cole Martin of Wisconsin give #2 Brock Mauller of Missouri a decent match in the finals?  I say he can. I think this match will play out better on the mat, than it does on paper.


157 lbs 

Another good finals to look forward to with #16 Jake Tucker of Michigan State and #20 Jarrett Jacques of Missouri.  Would love to see SIUE's Justin Ruffin in the mix as it's always fun to see the home crowd have someone to cheer in the finals.  The likelihood however is another strong third place showing for the cougars.


165 lbs 

As it will be for teammate Gross, this tournament will be a cake walk for #3 Evan Wick of Wisconsin.  His finals opponent most likely Drew Hughes of Michigan State.


174 lbs 

No competition at all for #11 Connor Flynn of Missouri it seems.


184 lbs 

The number one spot here goes to #16 Cam Caffey of Michigan State.  Who his finals opponent will be?  Looks like a battle between teammates Dylan Wisman and Canton Marriott of Missouri, although I wouldn't count out Wisconsin's Johnny Sebastian. All three depending on where they are placed in the bracket are capable of meeting Caffey in the finals or taking third.


197 lbs 

As it will be for teammate Flynn, this should be a cake walk for Missouri's Wyatt Koelling.


HWT

The highest probability for a Cougar to make the finals in #15 Colton McKiernan. Unfortunately there is little to no chance it'll result in a championship as his finals opponent will be #2 Trent Hilger of Wisconsin.  Not even 100% that McKiernan makes the finals, especially if redshirt Zach Elam of Missouri enters the tournament.  Look for Michigan State's Christian Rebottaro or Chase Beard (either one) to place fourth.

THE PATRIOT OPEN: Preview and Thoughts

With all focus on the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational it'd be easy to forget all of the other great competitions going on this weekend.  One of which will be the PATRIOT OPEN hosted by George Mason.

Let's take a look at the weight classes

*NOTE - Rankings used are of intermatwrestle.com 12-1-2019*


125 lbs 


#13 Gage Curry of American who has thus far made a career out of coming into tournaments either unseeded or with a low seed and then upsetting his way to a higher finish will now be on the opposite end of the spectrum.  He'll most likely be seeded first.   His stiffest competition will come from #14 Killian Cardinale of Old Dominion who is still filling in for Michael McGee.  Challenging both for the title will be #17 Joe Manchio of Columbia.

With the Patriot Open hosting seven teams I'm not positive if they'll recognize the top six at each weight or only the top four or maybe even only the top three.  Not sure on that.  For all I know, maybe they'll recognize all seven.

With that said I'm anxious to see if being an open Lock Haven's Luke Werner competes and if he does, if he can knock off one of the if not more of the ranked wrestlers.  Curious as to the health of TyShawn White, I'd also like to see him competing for the Eagles.


133 lbs 

I don't own a crystal ball but if I did I imagine that it would predict a final between Lock Haven's D.J. Fehlman and Army's Lane Peters.   Both are having rather rocky seasons & a title here would do them both good.

141 lbs 

No question the most competitive weight class within the tournament.  #8 Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven will be the number one seed and on paper doesn't look to have much challenge.  However, on the mat, things may be different.  #15 Sa'Derian Perry of Lock Haven is working hard to position himself back into the top eight.  He could challenge Shoop for the title. 

Look for a strong third place showing out of #20 Sal Profaci of American who might even surprise us and challenge Perry for a spot in the finals.

If only the top four are recognized, look for the fight for fourth place to be an all out war between Army's Corey Shie, Old Dominion's Alex Madrigal & if he enters the tournament Columbia's Matt Kazimir.


149 lbs 

Being his home tournament and his last one at that, it'd be nice to see Colston DiBlasi of George Mason win the title.   Easier said than done with #15 Kizhan Clarke of American in the bracket most likely as the number one seed.  With DiBlasi's inconsistency it is plausible that he upsets Clarke and wins the title. On the same hand it is every bit as possible that he ends up upset himself by Army's P.J. Ogunsanya and has to settle for third.  With DiBlasi you can feel confident making either prediction.


157 lbs 

#5 Larry Early of Old Dominion should win the title without much if any struggle.  #17 Alex Klucker of Lock Haven will most likely be his finals opponent although I wouldn't right off either of Army's participants.  Both Lucas Weiland and Markus Hartman continue to fight for a starting spot come the EIWA tournament.  Who places higher here could be one of the factors for that determination.


165 lbs 

Racking up some wins on the way to a title looks to be the case for #10 Cael McCormick of Army although Shane Jones of Old Dominion could give him a match in the finals.   One would think that perhaps Columbia's Laurence Kosoy who is currently redshirting might enter the tournament.  He has yet to wrestle a match this season and if he wants to get any matches in, now would be the time to do it.

174 lbs 

As is for teammate McCormick, this looks to be three wins to a title for #12 Ben Harvey of Army.  The real question here is who he'll face in the finals.  Jared Siegrist of Lock Haven looks to be the most likely candidate, although I wouldn't count out Old Dominion's Alex Cramer quite yet.


184 lbs 

Look forward to a very good match between #12 Tanner Harvey of American and #13 Noah Stewart of Army in the finals, if it happens. Unranked Corey Hazel of Lock Haven does own an 11-5 decision over Stewart so he could upset his way to the finals.  Old Dominion's Antonio Agee should take fourth.


197 lbs 

With Alex Hopkins, Jack Brown & Bennett Paulson this feels like a wrestle-off for the Black Knights.  The only plausible way I foresee someone other than the Army taking this weight is if Tim Young of Old Dominion were to get past all three in route to the title.


HWT 

If Army hasn't shown its dominance by now, they certainly will here.  Being an open, I see a finals match between Bobby Heald and Ben Sullivan.

CKLV: Preview and Thoughts

For the last few seasons and rightly so the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational has been deemed the toughest in season tournament in collegiate wrestling. With 14 teams ranked in the top 25 & 90 wrestlers ranked in the top twenty the 2019 tournament looks to be the toughest it has ever been.

*NOTE - Rankings used are of intermatwrestle.com 12-1-2019*

If he's wrestling I would have to give the top seed to NCAA runner up #2 Jack Mueller of Virginia who finished third here a year ago. I can't see anyone challenging him for this year's title.  As to who takes runner-up honors, that will be a fight determined as early as round two.  While Iowa State's Alex Mackall with his #6 ranking seems the most likely, it is anything but a shoe-in.  While he looked great tech falling #16 Jay Schwarm of Northern Iowa in his first match of the season, among last year's losses are to both #15 Jakob Camacho of North Carolina State & U.R. Malik Heinselman of Ohio State.  Let's also not forget Devin Schroeder of Purdue who has looked rather sharp lately. He finished eighth last year.  Nor should we forget Joey Prata of Virginia Tech who with a good showing will be right back in the top twenty.

#19 Brandon Courtney of Arizona State of course looks to take home a medal but he'll have his work cut out for him with those who are unranked but every bit as hungry.  One can never count out Oklahoma's Christian Moody who placing eighth two seasons ago has already proven that he can show up when it counts.

Patrick McKee of Minnesota has the tools to place here, so I'll give him the nod. Dylan Ryder of Hofstra although he has yet to win a match this season, did manage a few upsets in route to a R12 finish here last year.  As to both Cole Verner of Wyoming and Jake Gromacki of Clarion, neither have looked all that great so far into the 2019-2020 season, but both are the type that if I leave them off of the contenders list will make me regret it.

With eleven wrestlers ranked in the top twenty and six wrestlers being returning medalists, "loaded" is an understatement.  This weight class is insane.  First and foremost their are two returning champions. Albeit, both of them won their titles at 125 lbs but  both #3 Sebastian Rivera of Northwestern who won the 2018 title and #9 Taylor LaMont who won the 2017 title are both here.  Now there is a chance that Northwestern could wrestle Colin Valdiviez instead but that wouldn't seem to be a wise move.  If Rivera is at 133 lbs for good, we might as well see where he stands. CKLV is a great opportunity to do just that.

Neither of these guys have made the finals yet.  Iowa State's Austin Gomez has yet to wrestle this season but he remains ranked #6.  If still out due to injury that opens up the doors for others who might not have other wise placed.   This is a golden opportunity for Cornell's #7 Chas Tucker who placed 7th here last year as well as Wyoming's #6 Montorie Bridges  who placed sixth, to cement themselves above the rest.

Fighting it out for the remaining medals will be #10 Cam Sykora of North Dakota State who was eighth last season, #12 Zach Trampe of Binghamton, #13 Jarrett Trombley of North Carolina State, #14 Josh Kramer of Arizona State, #15 Anthony Madrigal of Oklahoma & #20 Tim Rooney of Kent State.

Who I suggest to keep an eye on the most is Virginia's Louie Hayes who despite being suited for 125 lbs is doing quite well at 133.  He recently won Keystone and looks to do well here despite being unranked.

Others I'd keep an eye on that could pull off an upset or two in route to a placement are Bakersfield's Chance Rich, Edinboro's Tye Varndell, Fresno State's Gary Joint, Northern Colorado's Ricky Padilla, Ohio State's Quinn Kinner & Virginia Tech's Collin Gerardi.

My hat's off to #1 Luke Pletcher of Ohio State who has thus far taken everything that has been thrown at him and made like Wilson Phillips and held on to his top ranking.  He's defeated #2 Dom Demas of Oklahoma this season & he'll most likely have to again if he wants to call himself a two time CKLV champion.  #4 Mitch Mckee of Minnesota as well as #6 Chad Red of Nebraska also have their eye on the title.

A lot of interesting things could happen here at 141 lbs.  Wolfpack fans continue to wonder if #12 Tariq Wilson will ever open up like he did at the 2018 NCAA championships where he annihilated the competition in route to a third place finish. If he wrestles anything like he did that tournament, everyone else is in for a rude awakening. 

#13 Ian Parker of Iowa State, I would call a darkhorse. Not 100% positive if #16 Sam Turner of Wyoming will be wrestling or not and I still think Mitch Moore of Virginia Tech is better than the #18 ranking he currently holds. There is certainly enough opportunity here for him to prove that.

A question to be answered is to what Michigan plans to do.  Cole Mattin has fared a bit better than Drew Mattin, but Drew with fourth and fifth place finishes has placed at this tournament twice. Granted, both were at 125 lbs.  Not sure if that weighs into the Wolverine's decision or not.

Lastly look for Binghamton's Anthony Sparacio, Fresno State's Durbin Lloren & especially Cornell's Noah Baughman to perhaps pull off an upset or two in route to making their way onto the award stand. Baughman took #1 Luke Pletcher of Ohio State to the distance in a dual this past Sunday losing 8-6.

Another weight class that is loaded with an unbelievable amount of talent.  Eleven ranked wrestlers, six of whom are returning place-winners.  I would imagine that the top seed would go to two time CKLV place-winner #5 Max Thomsen of Northern Iowa who placed seventh last season and fourth the year before that. Challenging him for the title will be #6 Jarrett Degen of Iowa State and #7 Griffin Parriott of Purdue who upset his way to a runner-up finish last year. Clarion's #5 Brock Zacherl who finished in fourth place will also be gunning for that title.

Minnesota's Brayton Lee currently ranked #9 has been having a phenomenal freshman campaign thus far with only one loss.  I'm not sure I agree with Matt Findlay of Utah Valley being as high as #10.  He has spent his entire career at 141 lbs thus far and has yet to wrestle a match at 149.  Not knocking his talent or his ability but eight pounds of muscle is a huge change. So in other words, I welcome it with arms wide open....prove me wrong.

In the same breath, I feel that #12 is far lower than what Ohio State's Sammy Sasso will perform.  I'm not sure if I see him in the title picture, but I think he'll finish better than one match shy of placing.

I think something should be said about Mark Manning's retention rate at Nebraska. At many schools in many circumstances a kid doesn't make the varsity lineup and become a star in his freshman year, he either transfers or gives up on himself. Not at Nebraska.  Collin Purinton hasn't wrestled in a conference tournament since he was a freshman where he went 0-2 on a season of 12-15.  Now a senior he's undefeated and ranked #13.  One of his wins against #5 Thomsen.  What a story it'd make if he were to win this weight class.

Northern Colorado's #18 Andrew Alirez, Northwestern's #19 Yahya Thomas & Virginia's #20 Denton Spencer all fight for a spot in the top eight as well.

Who to look out for here though that could easily sneak his way into the semi-finals is Arizona State's Josh Maruca.  He has his ups and downs, but when he's hot, he's hot.  He placed fifth here as a sophomore two years ago.

Henry Pohlmeyer of South Dakota State has a habit of catching people on their backs and it doesn't take a referee more than a second to register a pin.  Speaking of which if Brent Moore of Virginia Tech can pull off what he did to Sammy Sasso in the recent Ohio State Vs Virginia Tech dual, he'll open up a few eyes himself.

I'm still not ready to give up on Bakersfield's Russell Rohlfing yet.  He has it in him and besides this has traditionally been a tournament he's performed well in. As a freshman he placed 4th and as a sophomore he was one match shy of placing.  He gets out of his own head, he'll do well here.

Fresno State's Greg Gaxiola looked pretty good at the Road-Runner Open, taking Runner-up honors.  I think a top 12 finish is very doable for the bulldog.


 

There is a lot to be determined here.

After upsetting Iowa's Kaleb Young who was ranked #2 at the time, some fans are already listing #3 David Carr of Iowa State among Pat Smith, Cael Sanderson, Logan Stieber and Kyle Dake as our next four time NCAA Division I champion.  My thinking is, let's see him win his first CKLV title before we talk about him winning his fourth NCAA title.   With North Carolina State's Hayden Hidlay ranked #1 & Northwestern's Ryan Deakin the returning champ from last year, I see Carr receiving the number three seed.  Which means that he would have to go through both Deakin and Hidlay in order to win the title.

The real wrench in this weight class is Ke-Shawn Hayes of Ohio State.  Now the Buckeyes might not wrestle him but he's more than proven what he's capable of here in the past.  He placed fourth last year as a junior and third as a sophomore. Very confident that if he is entered, he becomes a three time CKLV place-winner.

#8 Kendall Coleman of Purdue is poised to have a great tournament sporting a 12-0 record thus far.  During his redshirt last season he suffered a loss to Edinboro's Peter Pappas.  It'll be interesting to see what happens if the two meet again.

#11 Will Lewan of Michigan, #15 Justin Thomas of Oklahoma and #19 B.C. LaPrade will all contend for medal status as well.  Among those unranked at the moment, Jacori Teemer of Arizona State, Pedon Moore of Northern Iowa, Jacob Wright of Fresno State and Justin McCoy of Virginia are all more than capable of pulling off an upset of two.

While not as likely, Harvard's Hunter Ladnier could pull off an upset somewhere in here as well.




Another weight class with two returning champions.  Last year's champion #4 Isaiah White of Nebraska and 2018's Champion #6 David McFadden of Virginia Tech.  Both of these guys have their hands full if either wants to repeat as champion.  #5 Josh Shields of Arizona State who has thus far finished in fifth and third place, would like to add a CKLV title to his resume before he graduates.  Also in the hunt is North Dakota State's Andrew Fogarty who despite always having a fairly high ranking do to dual performances, has yet to make his mark in a tournament such as this one.  Ironically the polar opposite can be found in Utah Valley's Demetrius Romero.  Despite being out of the top twenty at the moment, Romero had the most impressive tournament of his career here last year when he finished third.  While some would conclude it is, I do not think it is a stretch to think he could contend for this year's title.

#13 Thomas Bullard of North Carolina State, #12 Ethan Smith of Ohio State & #15 Philip Conigliaro of Harvard will not only have a chore in trying to place, but in also keeping their ranking.  Conigliaro is one of the best wrestlers Harvard has produced in quite a while, and it'd be nice to see him do well.

Speaking of schools that haven't had a lot of success in recent years, that is the beauty of this weight class.  I'm not sure if Sacred Heart has ever had a CKLV place-winner before. I'm thinking that 197 lbs'er Anthony Reynolds may have placed at this tournament nearly twenty years ago but I'm not for certain on that.  Regardless the Pioneers haven't had many CKLV medalists and I believe that if he wrestles well Brandon Levesque will bring home a medal.  I'll say the same for The Citadel in regards to Dazjon Casto, who still searches for that pivotal moment in his career where he shows the wrestling world how good he truly is.

Easier said than done though....

Still have BIG XII champion Chase Straw of Iowa State to contend with.  He has placed at this tournament before and most certainly plans to again.

Now wrestling at his third school, Northern Colorado's, who was Edinboro's, who was Clarion's Austin Matthews stands a legitimate shot at earning a medal himself.

Other potential medalists here that could sneak on to the award stand are Cam Coy of Virginia, Emil Soehnlen of Purdue, Shayne Oster of Northwestern and Dewey Krueger of Wyoming.




This is a fun weight class.  Ten ranked wrestlers and six returning place-winners, four of which are two-time medalists.  As far as I'm concerned this is a five man race, with two plausible darkhorses mixed in for the title.  This isn't a battle, this is an all out war.

 #4 Bryce Steiert of Northern Iowa who has placed sixth the previous two seasons at 165 lbs & #5 Mikey Labriola of Nebraska who placed fourth last year have already met once this season in a tight match which went to Steiert.  A finals match between the two rivals would prove to be an exciting one.

Let's face it both #7 Dylan Lydy of Purdue and #8 Anthony Valencia of Arizona State both have something to prove. Lydy is one of the best wrestlers in the nation yet to be an All American.  Winning this weight class as stacked a it is would be an incredible statement for his confidence and his career.  Valencia is consistently taking a backseat to his brother's accomplishments.  Winning this weight class would be an incredible statement for his confidence and his career.

With that said, I dare not dismiss the ability of #9 Devin Skatzka of Minnesota.  An early season blemish seems to have lit the fuse, and he's ready to explode.   Last but certainly not least in the title picture are the names Kaleb Romero of Ohio State and Brandon Womack of Cornell who are currently ranked #19 and #14 respectively.  Romero recently defeated Womack 6-5 on Sunday, and for either of them to win this tournament, they'll both have to go through Hell.

I'm sure #13 Daniel Bullard and the North Carolina State faithful wonder why I put Womack in as a darkhorse and not him.  Fair enough question and gut feeling is the best I can answer it.  I do feel that Bullard is very capable of having a great tournament though.

I'm anxious to see where unranked Kimball Bastian of Utah Valley ends up being seeded.  Hopefully a respectable seed in which he deserves.  The two time CKLV place-winner who has finished in seventh and eighth place during his career, has managed to find his way on to the award stand more than once.  If snubbed, I feel bad for anyone that has to face him in the early rounds.

#15 Jackson Hemauer of Fresno State & #20 Hayden Hastings of Wyoming will also make a run for medals against a pool of unranked talent.

Oklahoma's Anthony Mantanona has certainly stepped it up a notch since last season as it is more than apparent to notice his improvement.  Placing here would further the statement.

Other's to watch out for are Edinboro's Jacob Oliver, Iowa State's Marcus Coleman, Kent State's Andrew McNally and Virginia's Robert Patrick.

IF North Dakota State's Lorenzo De La Riva is fully healed and 100% from the injury he suffered earlier this season, he too will be a force to be reckoned with. 

In wrestling you never say never.  Impossible is a word with no meaning.  The second you think something cannot happen, it will.  With that said, I find it hard to believe that #1 Zahid Valencia of Arizona State  will do anything other than win his third CKLV title.

The real battle here is for runner-up honors and for those on the same side of the bracket as Valencia, who takes the bronze.  Nebraska's #6 Taylor Venz has medals of both bronze and silver.  He took third here as a freshman and second last year as a sophomore.  Down a weight, Northern Iowa's #3 Taylor Lujan took third last season as well.

Then there's #4 Trent Hidlay of North Carolina State who has been on one heck of a streak lately with wins over #5 Lou DePrez of Binghamton & #7 Ben Darmstadt of Cornell, who in their own right are also both contenders for those silver and bronze medals.

If your mind isn't blown yet with the enormity of skill in this weight class we also have to factor in #9 Hunter Bolen of Virginia Tech, looking to make his mark.

If that isn't enough #11 Sam Colbray of Iowa State also throws his hat into the mix.

It's difficult to think that after mentioning these eight guys that there is even anyone else in honorable mention, let alone serious contention for a medal.  There is.

#15 Jelani Embree of Michigan is bound and determined to make a name for himself this season and if he wants to get an early start, this is the place to do it.   #18 Zach Carlson of South Dakota State and #19 Owen Webster of Minnesota look to do the same.

Former Mountaineer now Bear, Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado has looked pretty good thus far this year and could pull off an upset.   Could also see notable performances out of Gavin Hoffman of Ohio State, Max Lyon of Purdue, and Tate Samuelson of Wyoming.

When last writing about Sacred Heart, sophomore Kyle Davis asked that I not forget about him.  I like that kind of attitude.  I hope to see him do well.




As said before, there are no guarantees in this sport.  However, if I were a man with money and a man who wanted to place that money on a bet, I'd feel very comfortable placing it on #1 Kollin Moore of Ohio State. Like Zahid Valencia a weight class below him, he'll be going for his third title.

Nick Reenan of North Carolina State based on his ranking of #5 could be the number two seed but he has yet to wrestle a match this season.  If that factors in, I would imagine that #10 Eric Schultz of Nebraska gets the nod over #8 Tanner Sloan of South Dakota State and I'll tell you why.  Sloan recently got upset by #18 Tanner Orndorff of Utah Valley. Schultz who finished in second place here last year, is currently undefeated.

I didn't forget about #7 Jay Aiello of Virginia who is also undefeated who could also wind up being the number two seed.

Regardless of who is seeded what, simply placing in the top eight will be a chore.

#12 Tom Lane of Cal Poly looks to medal after finishing one match shy of placing last season.  I thought by now #16 Jake Woodley of Oklahoma would've established himself as a top eight wrestler in the nation. Placing high at a prestigious tournament like this one would do just that.   

#17 C.J. Brunner of Purdue who placed fifth last year and #19 Kordell Norfleet of Arizona State on a high after knocking off Penn State's Kyle Conel both look to place themselves.  It'll be interesting to see if Norfleet's victory over Conel was an indication of what to expect from him or if it was more an indication that Conel isn't the same wrestler he was two years ago.  CKLV will be rather revealing.

Ironically enough, two previous place-winners Greg Bulsak of Clarion who placed sixth last season and Jacob Seely of Northern Colorado who placed eighth in 2017, are not currently ranked. Both look to earn another medal.

Among the names already mentioned look for Lucas Davison of Northwestern, Cordell Eaton of North Dakota State, Jackson Striggow of Michigan, Colin McCracken of Kent State, Joel Shapiro of Iowa State and Dom Ducharme of Bakersfield to possible contend for a spot on the award stand as well.

The hunt for a CKLV title at HWT looks to be a three man race with the possibility of a fourth sneaking in. #3 Mason Parris of Michigan is looking hotter than ever and should receive the top seed. Likely to meet him in the finals will be determined in what should be a semi-final between #4 Tate Orndorff of Utah Valley and #5 Tanner Hall of Arizona State. While not a high probability, give it at least a chance that as well as #7 Chase Singletary of Ohio State has been wrestling lately, he could upset his way into the finals.

Fort Hays State transfer Christian Lance of Nebraska seems to be finding his way around the world of Division I just fine as he's currently ranked #13. With the grind that is a tournament such as CKLV, it'll be interesting to see how he fares in a situation where he has to string together multiple matches against top ranked talent.

#14 Brian Andrews of Wyoming was seventh a year ago and he is capable of improving upon both that finish and his current ranking.

Look for #19 Brandon Metz of North Dakota, #20 Carter Isley of Northern Iowa, #16 Gannon Gremmell of Iowa State, Jon Spaulding of Edinboro, Quinn Miller of Virginia and Jon Borst of Virginia Tech to all contend for medals.

Not sure if he'll be wrestling or not, but if he is A.J. Nevills of Fresno State will be a thorn in somebody's side. He was one match shy of placing last season and won't settle for anything but a spot on the stand.

Lastly, I hope to see Bobby Steveson of Minnesota have some success at this tournament.  He has more than taken the role for younger brother Gable who is currently suspended. He's stepped up and taken the HWT position with honor, class and pride. Love to see him bring home a medal and hear the Minnesota faithful praise him for a change.

And there you have it!  My preview and thoughts for this year's CKLV!  What a tournament it's going to be!