12 ranked wrestlers featured in this weight class, with three ranked in the top 10. With only three returning place-winners, plenty of room for new blood to find success and make a name for themselves.
I trust the finals will be Mikey Labriola of Nebraska Vs Ethan Smith of Ohio State, but 3rd though 8th place looks to be a free for all of chaos with plenty of eligible candidates. Currently ranked third in the country, having taken NCAA champion Carter Starocci into sudden victory, I am surprised the high number of wrestling fans & media who are not taking Labriola as a threat to this year's NCAA title. The competition isn't fierce enough to change many minds this weekend, but Labriola who will take the #1 seed here, will easily prove why he was the favorite.
On paper Cornell's Chris Foca would look to battle it out with South Dakota's Cade DeVos for 3rd place, but their will be plenty of competition for those positions. Hayden Hastings of Wyoming can wrestle tough when he wants to, Troy Fisher of Northwestern has made some great improvements since last season and I wouldn't put it past Stanford's Tyler Eischens to pull off an upset or two.
Even though Jared Krattiger is the varsity starter and the one currently ranked for the Golden Gophers, remember that Bailee O'Reilly has placed in this tournament before. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see O'Reilly earn back his starting spot with a good finish at CKLV.
A guy that will put a thorn into any soothsayer's side is Oklahoma's Anthony Mantanona. You can never know what to expect out of him. He could just as easily go 0-2 as he could end up in the semi-finals. And if Mantanona is a thorn in the side, Purdue's Emil Soehnlen is the whole bush! At first glance one could easily roll their eyes and question why I even have him listed as a threat to potentially place at CKLV. Upon further inspection you will notice in three matches, he has Fisher figured out. That says something to me, potential.
Lastly you know that Adam Kemp is eventually going to get real good. It's in his blood. He isn't going to stay in his father's shadow forever. Hard to believe that he only qualified for state twice & only placed once. It'll be even harder to believe once he starts accomplishing big things at the NCAA Division I level. Start this weekend at CKLV? We'll see.
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