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| #3 Vitali Arujau Cornell |
One of two men who could possibly pose a threat to Iowa's Spencer Lee by season's end, Cornell's Vitali Arujau has thus far established himself as the man to beat at the Southern Scuffle. Having missed the last two seasons, one may have questioned his capabilities, but after seeing him dismantle NCAA All American Sam Latona of Virginia Tech 12-2 and have his way with NCAA R12 Brody Teske of Northern Iowa 18-7, those questions have subsided. The real question at this point is, who meets him in the finals?
I see it being one of four wrestlers.
It very well could turn out to be Latona. Despite the ugly loss to Arujau and having slipped a bit in the rankings, per result, there is an argument on his behalf here. He owns a 3-1 victory over Pat McKee of Minnesota, he's 4-0 overall against Jakob Camacho of North Carolina State and he's 2-0 against West Virginia's Killian Cardinale.
McKee has shown us through example at last year's NCAA championships that despite whatever else has happened during the season, he can turn it on in high pressure situations. Enough to overcome Arujau? Don't know, but certainly enough to beat anyone else in the bracket.
Camacho as noted has yet to defeat Latona, but with some of the out of character losses Latona has suffered this season, Camacho finally getting a W over the Hokie wouldn't surprise me.
Cardinale is the Darkhorse here, having never defeated Latona or Camacho, yet like McKee showing that he can turn it on in high pressure situations.
125 lbs is such a shenanigan of parity that it is difficult to predict who will round out our other three place-winners. In all sense of reality, the candidates for plausible runner-up honestly increase from four to maybe as many as seven. On the surface that may seem rash, but take the following into consideration; Joe Manchio of Columbia owns a 10-8 victory over Latona on the season and for that matter Missouri's Noah Surtin recently pinned Latona in the first period. That alone is enough evidence to suggest their capabilities, as Surtin also owns a 7-4 decision of Camacho. Oklahoma State's Trevor (sorry about above, brother mixup) Mastrogiovanni is yet another candidate for place-winner status as he owns a 10-6 decision over Mckee on the season.
Appalachian State's Caleb Smith, 5th at the last Scuffle is certainly a candidate to place again.
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| #21 Fabian Gutierrez Chattanooga |
Having been one match shy of placing at the last two Southern Scuffle's, Fabian Gutierrez of Chattanooga is long overdue to keep a medal at home from his own tournament. Unfortunately it won't be any easier than it was the last two times and he's going to have to wrestle a tremendous tournament to earn it. Win matches that on paper he 'shouldn't win' and turn close losses into wins.
Others to watch for include...
Surtin's backup Dack Punke of Missouri
Jace Koelzer of Northern Colorado
Mastrogiovanni's backup Reece Witcraft of Oklahoma State
Tanner Jordan of South Dakota State
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