One of the, if not THE best in-season wrestling tournament is here! The Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational & here at JT#1 we are going to take a look at each individual weight class one by one. Today we start at 125 lbs with a few notes indicated before we get started.
First and foremost, since we haven't seen Brandon Courtney of Arizona State yet, I am going to imagine that he will not be making his 22'-23' debut here. Therefore I am going to treat this tournament as if the Sun Devil's starter will be Richard Figueroa. Of course, if Courtney enters this bracket, it will completely change the dynamic of what I think will happen. At this point I think if he WERE to enter, you'd have to give him the #2 seed. However, as stated, I'm treating this as if Figueroa will be the representative.
Another question mark we have is Virginia Tech. Seeing how Eddie Ventresca is currently 4-0 against Cooper Flynn, I imagine that Ventresca will be who the Hokies put out on the mat. This is collegiate wrestling though & anything can happen. Nevertheless, treating this preview as if Ventresca is who they will be going with.
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Ranking & Name
School Name
Placements at CKLV in the Past
What I would Seed
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| 125 lbs |
I'll probably be saying this about every weight class, but 125 lbs is loaded! It'll be extremely difficult to crack into the top 8 and bring home a medal from Vegas. Very, very tough weight class.
I don't see how you can give the *1 seed to anyone else other than Michael DeAugustino of Northwestern. The Wildcat is currently ranked #3 in the nation & he has victories multiple victories over both Liam Cronin of Nebraska & Malik Heinselman of Ohio State. He also owns a 6-1 victory over who I would put at the *2 seed, Brandon Kaylor of Oregon State.
Kaylor, had a very impressive showing here last season, finishing 3rd. Over all he is 4-0 against Cal Poly's Antonio Lorenzo and he has a 5-3 victory over Malik Heinselman of Ohio State, who I would personally seed *3.
I realize not everyone would put Heinselman at *3, but I'll tell you why I would. A match away from placing here last season, he owns both a 9-5 victory over Cronin & a 6-2 victory over DeAugustino. He's been at 125 lbs his entire career & I think that trumps a guy who was at 133 all of last season & has thus not wrestled any top 33 wrestlers during his month at 125.
Speaking Matt Ramos of Purdue though, I give him the #4 seed making a similar assumption to that of those who have ranked him #8. I give him the #4 seed because he did quite well at 133 last season, placing 8th here & R12 at the NCAA's. It's often presumed that if someone did well at a higher weight class, they surely will do better down a weight. It's often the case, but not always the case. We'll find out this weekend.
*5 I give to Antonio Lorezno of Cal Poly. He was 5th here last season & he's currently ranked #12.
I debated on *6 & *7 between Appalachian State's Caleb Smith & Kent State's Jake Ferri. Ferri owns a 5-2 victory over Smith and Smith owns a 4:34 fall over Ferri. Ferri was 7th here last season as Smith owns victories over both Jarrett Trombley of North Carolina State & Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech. Ferri is ranked #22 to Smith's #23 ranking. Flip a quarter, it's what I did.
I felt really weird putting Liam Cronin of Nebraska at *8, but at this point where else do you put him? Being injured last season didn't do him any favors at all & this early into the season it's really hard to judge exactly where he's at. As to potential and capability, let's keep in mind a healthy Cronin stuck Ferri in 6:29, owns both a 8-3 & 8-2 victory over Heinselman & most importantly owns a 3-2 victory of DeAugustino. If he's 100%, I wouldn't want to go up against him.
*9 I give to Ventresca, with *10 going to Figueroa & *11 going Eli Griffin of California Baptist. All three of these guys are easily ones we could very well find on the award stand by tournament's end.
Lastly, as to the seeds, *12 Jarrett Trombley of North Carolina State. I'm not sure what the deal is with him thus far this season, but he has not looked good at all. A two time NCAA qualifier & so far he's 1-3. Hopefully he puts it together and has a better showing here.
As to the others....
I wouldn't at all be surprised if Joey Fisher of Clarion steps it up a notch and has a good showing. A runner-up in the MAC last season, I feel he's been overlooked by nearly all of those that take the time to do rankings. He's a very tough kid & I can't believe that out of the 10,000 media outlets that do rankings, that no one feels he's a top 33 wrestler. Well, that's the entire point of a tournament like this one. Come in and make a name for yourself. Make it so that you cannot be ignored. Fisher could very well do that. Kaylor only defeated him by a point, 4-3.
Another guy to watch for is Tanner Jordan of South Dakota State. He's an up & down wrestler, but every now and again he pulls off some good wins. He recently defeated Cronin 5-2. Not sure if that was a sign of Cronin still recovering from some nasty injuries or Jordan wrestling really well. We'll find out.
Garrett Ricks of Wyoming may be another one to watch for. He was an absolutely standout at the NJCAA level, winning a title for Western Wyoming. In matches Vs DI competition he took both Kaylor as well as Courtney to 9-5 decisions. If he's gonna be a star in DI like he was in NJCAA, this is the time & this is the place to do it.
Lastly, another guy to look for is Ohio's Oscar Sanchez. As to inconsistency, he's worse than Jordan, but again like Jordan, capable of looking good from time to time. He's had close matches with Ferri as well as Heinselman.
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