JT#1's Notes, Thoughts and Observations for Week 7 of Collegiate Wrestling (Dec 13th-19th, 2021)

 

Intermat's Seth Duckworth recently commented on how Oklahoma State has looked extremely solid this year in beating the pants off of Oklahoma, Wyoming and Air Force.  He's 100% correct and I'm going to take it a step further and note that what is really making the difference in Cowboy wrestling this year, is that they are winning nearly all of the toss up matches.  Vs Air Force, Carter Young & Cody Phippen was a toss up, Young pulled out a 3-1 victroy. Vs Wyoming Wyatt Sheets won his toss up with Jacob Wright 2-1 t.b.  A.J. Ferarri won his toss up with Stephen Buchanan 4-2 & Trevor Mastrogiovanni won his toss up with Jake Svihel 7-5 sudden victory.   This is NCAA Division I wrestling, a lot of matches are going to be close. Especially in important duals and tournaments. Winning those toss ups is key & the Orange and Black is doing a very good job of it. 

Ohio Bobcat true freshman Zayne Lehman had himself a pretty good little weekend.  A major decision over George Mason's Kyle Davis & a 3-1 decision over Gardner Webb's Jha'Quan Anderson.  

As usual with most tournaments, there were wrestlers there that I had no idea were going to be there and there were wrestlers missing that I thought were going to be there.  Nevertheless, still a great tournament. 

I probably put a little more faith into the NAIA than I should have, but I can't help it. I love NAIA wrestling and I knew that they'd have a handful of wrestlers have a good showing here at Reno.  Jack Latimer with a huge 2-1 victory over Clarion's Brent Moore in route to a 4th place finish. Trevor Anderson & Ben Lee both placing 6th.  Casey Randles making the finals at 174 & how about Isaac Bartel of Montana State Northern making the finals at 197?  K.C. Buday with a fine 3rd place finish at HWT.  I was hoping to see a few more NAIA guys make the award stand, but these were some tough brackets.  If Reno went to 8 places instead of just 6, more would have medaled in the 7th/8th place match such as Shea Ruffridge.  I'll digress on that. 

It was nice to see J.J. Dixon finally get a nice win. He has struggled like mad thus far this season. To be honest I was shocked to see him handle Stanford's Nick Stemmet the way that he did. Darn near majored him 11-4.  

Hey, hey Trey Munoz is back & I guess now we know that he is a member of the Oregon State Beavers.  I'm surprised this wasn't bigger news.  I figured in the way that Logan Massa returning to Michigan was a huge deal, this would be too. I figure the only reason why it isn't, is because the wrestling community isn't as familiar with Munoz or how good he is.  They will be soon enough. His 3-2 decision over Wyoming's Tate Samuelson for a RENO title is only the beginning. 

What a great tournament! Holy cow. There are a million stories I could write about the Midwest Classic but I'm going to stick with my two favorites. 

How rewarding was it to see senior Andrew Sams win a championship in front of his home town crowd?  Man that was awesome! Sent chills up and down my spine. Love seeing that kind of stuff happen in wrestling.  

You know a bad tournament can make all the difference in the world. A lot of wrestlers know that unfortunate fact to be a reality. BUT...a good tournament can make all the difference in the world as well.  Tiffin's Nick Mason a DII National champion in 2019, failed to place at the 2021 championships. He wrestled very well here, showing his comeback with a 3rd place finish.  I was surprised when he lost in the quarter finals 9-8 to Gino Sita of Alderson Broaddus, but man did he storm through the consolations in route to 3rd place, including sticking Sita at 5:44. 








This upcoming week is a going to be a short one as a ton of DI teams head to Florida for some competition. It's not too cold where I'm at right now, but man Florida would be nice. Be even nicer in about a month! 

See you next week wrestling fans!!