157 lbs is equally as interesting as are the first four weights I've previewed for CKLV, but for completely different reasons. Here I feel those I have seeded will indeed most likely be those who end up finishing in the top 12. Yet there are an assortment of unranked, unknows at this weight dying to pull off some upsets and make a name for themselves. Strange things have happened in Vegas before and they're bound to again.
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Ranking & Name
School Name
Previous CKLV finishes
What I would Seed
I think any which way you slice at at this point in the season you have to go with Will Lewan of Michigan as the *1 seed. A returning All American, he was 4th here last season & he not only has a win over Kendall Coleman of Purdue, he also owns two victories over Peyton Robb of Nebraska.
Robb shared the 5th/6th place spot here last season with Coleman in a double medical forfeit. When the two have actually wrestled, Robb has came out on top 8-0 & 6-4 sudden victory to Coleman's 3-2 win. As to other criteria, Robb owns both a 4:36 fall as well as a 8-2 decision over Ed Scott of North Carolina State & he nearly majored Derek Holschlag of Northern Iowa 10-3.
With ranking, NCAA finish & two victories over Scott, I give Virginia Tech's Bryce Andonian the *3 seed.
You may disagree with me putting Jacob Wright of Wyoming at *4, but this is where something Britt "Seton Hall Pirate" Mallinsky said about me rings absolutely true. There's more to NCAA DI wrestling than the last three days of it in March. Wright hasn't been able to put together the post season he's capable of yet, but there's six months worth of wrestling to examine when determining what seed to give him. Let's look at a couple of facts. In an argument against me, Coleman who I seed *5, has a 7-5 head to head victory over Wright & he is ranked higher. However, Wright was 3rd here last season, he owns a 4-3 victory over Robb & most notable a 3-2 victory over Lewan. It all depends on what you feel holds more water. Regardless of our subjective views, I'll give you an objective truth. Wright is one of the most underrated, overlooked and I don't know if I'd say disrespected, but I'll definitely go with not near respected enough wrestlers in the nation. He's a title contender here at CKLV, make no mistake about it.
As to seed *6, I'll say this about Ed Scott of North Carolina State. It's been a slower start to 22'-23' than what it was in 21'-22'. He started off with such a bang last season & he has yet to find the spark to light his fire. Once he does, it could very well spell disaster for anyone he steps on the mat with. The headlock of his is absolutely n to the a to the s to the t to the y. He can hit it without notice and everyone is susceptible to it.
*7 I give to Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern who has looked exceptionally good thus far this season. It's obvious he's made some vast improvements over the summer & while some big wins have done wonders for his confidence, placing top 8 here would do even more. Thus far he owns a 5-3 sudden victory over Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State who I would personally give the *8 seed. The young Buckeye has already proven he's a top 20 wrestler, this is his chance to prove he's even better.
8th here last season, I give Navy's Andrew Cerniglia the *8 seed. He's wrestled Lewan well, a 5-3 loss & he's very capable of knocking off those ranked above him.
Derek Holschalg of Northern Iowa may be ranked a few spaces above Colton Yapoujian of Cornell, but it is Yapoujian who owns a 2-1 head to head decision over Holschlag hence the *10 & *11 seeds as I'd give them out. May I also point out that Yapoujian could very well be a surprise this tournament. Against Coleman he took the Boilermaker into sudden victory before dropping a 3-1 decision.
Lastly, I think *12 while it can certainly be debated goes to Peyten Kellar of Ohio. The young Bobcat has thus far had himself a pretty good season against some decent competition & now he gets to test himself against some even better competition.
NOW, here comes the real question....Are there any wrestlers in this bracket that could come in here, pull off some huge upsets and put there names on the map? Yes, in fact there are a lot of them.
Are any of these guys getting past the 12 already mentioned above? It'd be a huge upset, but I'll be if all eight of these guys ain't capable of pulling them off.
Nick Delp of Bucknell is always tough. He can be game when he wants to be.
Cal Poly's Luka Wick is still currently in the shadow of three time All American brother Evan & having an outstanding performance here would certainly get out him out of it. The wrestling world can be brutal within its depiction & right now many seem him as "Evan's little brother." He comes in here & kicks some gluteus maximus, now he's LUKA.
Health hasn't been kind to Trevor Elfvin of Clarion, but he's made a comeback & if that comeback is 100%, I wouldn't count him out.
Cesar Alvan of Columbia is a PAN-AMERICAN bronze medalist. If you're good enough to take home bronze from the PAN-AMERICAN's, then you're good enough to pull off an upset or two.
As a guy who loves make predictions and talking about what ifs and plausible scenarios in collegiate wrestling, a guy like Luke Kemerer of Edinboro wants to make you pull the hair straight out of your head. The second you forget about this guy or give up on him, WHAMMO he's right back in the fold. I know good and well that if I left him off of this preview, it'd come back to haunt me. Don't include his name in the list, the top headline of day one at CKLV will read, "Kemerer with a huge upset!!" He's just one of those guys you never know what to expect. He owns a 3-2 victory over Scott.
I'm gonna say the same thing for Trevor Tarsi of Harvard that I say for Nick Palumbo of Sacred Heart. Both of these guys are NCAA qualification material. In fact, Palumbo already has an NCAA qualification. Either one of these guys gets hot, they could find themselves in the quarters, the R12 match or even better.
Lastly is Selwyn Porter of the Citadel. I don't know what it is about the Bulldogs, but I'll be if "locked potential" hasn't and still does describe so many of them. I said this about Dazjon Casto who is now at Pittsburgh for years. Guy has the talent and the ability, he simply has to let loose and let it out. Does that mean I think he can come in here and beat absolutely anyone? No, but it does mean that I think he's better than the current unranked status he's at now. He IS a top 33 wrestler & here at CKLV he has the opportunity to prove it.
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