In terms of the Southern Conference this ought to be a very good year for Appalachian State. I see six, maybe even seven SOCON champions for the Mountaineers this season. I need to point out that three of the plausible champions for Appalachian State this year are from Georgia. I make the argument all the time that a school in Georgia, with wrestlers from Georgia could be competitive. Imagine if you will the University of Georgia, Georgia State or Kennesaw State if they still had teams. Or if Mercer were to get a team. (Georgia Tech would be in the ACC). No guarantee that any of these wrestlers would've stayed home to wrestle had they had the chance. No guarantee that any of these teams would necessarily be in the Southern Conference. Imagine though if they were. That could possibly mean that the Bulldogs or the Panthers or the Owls or the Bears would have three conference champions. I digress.
 |
| 125 Codi Russell OR Caleb Smith Senior OR Freshman Record: 74-38 OR Record: 32-11 NCAA: 19'NQ, 20'NQ, 21'NQ OR SOCON: 19'1st, 20'2nd, 21'1st OR SOUTHERN SCUFFLE: OR 20'5th |
The spot is going to be Russell's. That I have no doubt of. Including Smith for the simple fact that Russell has a great backup as well as a great replacement for the 2022-2023 season. Russell's competition in the SOCON as he guns for his third conference title is Campbell's Zurich Storm, whom he defeated comfortably twice last season as well as Chattanooga's Fabian Gutierrez who he also defeated last season. There is a chance that Korbin Meink might take Storm's spot. Still believe that is a match that Russell could win. As to the NCAA's? Russell gave All American Killian Cardinale of West Virginia all he could handle in a 7-6 tiebreaker. Going to call Russell a darkhorse All American at this point.
 |
| 133 Sean Carter Sophomore Record: 41-22 NCAA: 21'NQ SOCON: 21'1st SOUTHERN SCUFFLE: 20'7th |
I don't see Carter having any trouble at all in securing his second SOCON title this season.
 |
| 141 Anthony Brito Junior Record: 53-31 NCAA: 21'NQ SOCON: 21'1st |
Like Carter, I think Brito breezes through the SOCON this season.
 |
| 149 Jonathan Millner Junior Record: 79-25 NCAA: 20'NQ, 21'8th SOCON: 20'1st, 21'1st SOUTHERN SCUFFLE: 19'R12, 20'4th |
Not only was Millner Appalachian State's sole All American last season, he was the entire Southern Conference's sole All American. With that said, earning a third SOCON title isn't going to be a picnic. He has Campbell's Josh Heil to contend with for top honors, whom he squeaked by last season in a 2-0 match. I would think that they'd meet at least twice this season, if not more times. Should be good matches.
 |
| 157 Cody Bond Junior Record: 31-21 NCAA: 21'NQ SOCON: 21'1st |
I was going to say to look forward to the feud with Ben Barton of Campbell over the SOCON title this season, but Barton has since transferred to Lock Haven. With Barton out of the way, a second SOCON championship looks all but won for Bond.
 |
| 165 Will Formato Sophomore Record: 61-26 NCAA: 21'NQ SOCON: 21'3rd |
165 lbs is my favorite weight class in the SOCON & for good reason. I can see the top four in the weight class being given automatic allocation or in the least the top three with 4th place in serious contention for an at large bid. With that said, I think Formato stands a very good shot at being this year's SOCON champion. He's 3-0 Vs last year's champion Drew Nicholson of Chattanooga. He's 2-1 Vs last year's SOCON Runner-up Dazjon Casto of The Citadel and he's 3-1 Vs Rod Mosley of Gardner Webb.
 |
| 174 Thomas Flitz Senior Record: 81-57 NCAA: 20'NQ, 21'NQ SOCON: 20'2nd, 21'2nd |
A two time SOCON runner-up at this point it looks like Flitz is headed for a third 2nd place finish. He has given Campbell's Austin Murphy a competitive match, but he has yet to defeat the Camel. At this point Flitz's claim to fame are two victories, 8-6 & 6-4 sudden victory over All American Daniel Bullard of North Carolina State. More wins like those, he'll move up in the rankings.
====
125 - Darkhorse All American
133 - NQ
141 - NQ
149 - All American
157 - NQ
165 - NQ
174 - NQ
184 - DNQ
197 - DNQ
HWT - DNQ
For a southern school made up with mostly kids from the South, I think this is pretty good showing. I don't expect going toe to toe with Iowa or Penn State, but from the perspective of the entire body of NCAA wrestling, this is a pretty competitive team.
No comments:
Post a Comment