At this point, I've already made my point. You're either with me that other accomplishments such as Midlands, Southern Scuffle, CKLV, ect are worth celebrating, remembering & keeping in the record books, or you're not. You see the vital importance of keeping these major in-season tournaments at some level, even if we do move towards a more dual focused season or you don't. I'm not going to keep going on and on with examples even though I easily could. I'm simply doing one more in the More Than 3 Days series because there were names I just could not leave off the list. Hope you have enjoyed this series so far.
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| Rollie Peterkin Pennsylvania |
During his illustrious career at Pennsylvania, Rollie Peterkin not only won a CKLV title, he also won a Southern Scuffle title. In Vegas he upended four time NCAA DI All American Zac Sanders of Minnesota to claim his gold & stood a top a podium that also graced the presence of NCAA champion Anthony Robles of Arizona State as well as All Americans Jarrod Garnett of Virginia Tech & Ben Kjar of Utah Valley. To earn Southern Scuffle gold, he defeated Hofstra All American Lou Ruggirello.
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| Todd Preston Harvard |
It's amazing sometimes how much brothers can have in common. Like Robbie, who I wrote about in part III of More Than 3 Days, Todd too was a great wrestler who never reached the NCAA podium. And also like Robbie, Todd too was a wrestler who shined at other times throughout his collegiate career. One of those times was at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational his senior season. Wrestling one of the best tournaments he had during his time with the Crimson, he made the finals with a 5-4 victory over Minnesota All American Tommy Thorn.
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| Josh Alber Northern Iowa |
Stories don't always end the way they're supposed to. I've been a fan of this sport for 30 years & I've been passionately following it for over 20. You follow certain wrestlers & you become a fan. Sometimes you can to watch them end their careers in a blaze of glory & other times your heart goes out to them as you watch their world fall apart. I used to look at Josh Alber's career with a hint of sorrow, but why should I? Furthermore, why should he or anyone else? Yeah, he never did make All American, but my Gawd look at all he did accomplish during his career.
Midlands? He took runner-up honors as a sophomore & won the whole freakin' thing as a senior. In making the finals as a sophomore, he defeated All American Scott DelVecchio of Rutgers 11-6 along the way. When he won the tournament as a senior, this included a 5-2 victory over Iowa's Max Murin & a 5-1 victory over Yahya Thomas of Northwestern.
CKLV? Sophomore year defeats All Americans Thomas Thorn (4-3 in quarters) & Chad Red (3-2 in semis) to make the finals. Placed 5th his junior season.
Scuffle? Sophomore & Junior seasons takes back to back 3rd place finishes. In his junior season this included defeating NCAA finalist Kyle Shoop of Lock Haven twice. First match 16-3, second match 18-3 technical fall.
Things never did come together for Alber during the last 3 days of the season, but man did they on damn near every other day of the season.
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| Ricky Deubel Edinboro |
When it came to the Southern Scuffle, Ricky Deubel always showed up. This was his tournament & his time to shine. 6th-6th-7th in his first three seasons, it was his senior year when Deubel had the tournament of his life. He shocked the wrestling world upsetting Cornell All American Mike Grey 6-4 in the semi-finals. Then he took it one step further & defeated Hofstra All American Lou Ruggirello 2-1 in the finals.
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| Chris Stith Virginia Tech |
Now this one you may need to put an * next to. Chris Stith WAS an NJCAA All American for Neosho Community College. So technically, maybe he doesn't belong on a list like this. Yet during his two seasons with Virginia Tech, he was not an NCAA DI All American. What he was though, is a place-winner at both CKLV & the Southern Scuffle. After taking 8th place honors at CKLV as a junior, he really stepped it up and had an outstanding Southern Scuffle. There he defeated All American Dan Thompson of The Citadel 7-5 s.v. in round two, following it up with a huge 3-2 victory over Matt R King of Edinboro to make the finals. Stith was also 6th at the Scuffle his senior season.
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| Nestor Taffur Boston |
The pressure was on Nestor Taffur his senior season with the Terriers of Boston. Soulless Mike Lynch, the braindead athletic director at the time announced the discontinuation of wrestling. Taffur put it upon himself to be one more success story in the legacy of Terrier wrestling before the doors slammed shut. While that success story wasn't in the final 3 days of the season, as far as I'm concerned Taffur made out like Stevie Wonder, because he signed, sealed and delivered. Some will point at the final EIWA title he won for Boston. I point there too. I also point at a 3rd place finish at the Southern Scuffle. In the quarter-finals he majored North Carolina State All American Thomas Gantt 9-0. Then in the consolation finals he upended three time All American/NCAA finalist Brian Realbuto 5-3. For 3rd place, it was a 13-10 decision over Oregon State All American R.J. Pena.
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| Nick Catone Rider |
Nick Catone's collegiate career may have never resulted in an All American honor, but he more than proved that he is worth remembering when he defeated two time All American Matt Pell of Missouri 7-3 for a Southern Scuffle title. While the future MMA star had many successes during his collegiate career, I would have to call that his best.
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| Gabriel Dretch Minnesota |
If nothing else, I hope that I have at least shown you how many outstanding wrestlers we have had come through collegiate wrestling who never did make All American during their careers. Yet this series is so much more than just a "best to never AA" list. It is an illustration of how there are OTHER accomplishments to pedestal than just the ones that happen at the NCAA tournament. Again, this is why I hope to always see these tournaments (Southern Scuffle, CKLV, Midlands, ect) around & why I hope they get more recognition in the future. Gabriel Dretsch may never have taken home a medal from the NCAA tournament, but he took home four medals from the Southern Scuffle. 3rd-2nd-4th-5th during his time as a Golden Gopher.
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| Sean Boyle Michigan/Chattanooga |
Sean Boyle had many great moments during his collegiate career, but I would argue that his best days were wrestling at his new (transferred from Michigan) home, during Chattanooga's Southern Scuffle his senior season. There he took 3rd with some very impressive wins. Defeated Wyoming All American Tyler Cox 8-4 in the consolation semi-finals & then turned around handing Eddie Klimara of Oklahoma State an 11-9 loss to take 3rd place.
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| Adam Frey Cornell |
I wrote earlier that the thing I hate in wrestling the most is injuries. I take that back because there is one thing in wrestling I hate far worse than injuries. Something that is far more unfair. I don't know if there is a more heartbreaking story than that of Adam Frey of Cornell. This life can be so cruel, unforgiving and just plain inequitable. There's no doubt in my mind that Adam Frey would have been an All American. Matter of fact it's not hard to imagine that in the last 3 days of the season, he might have been standing on that blue mat with the white lettering with his hand raised high in the air. Instead he was fighting for his life against cancer, a battle that would see us lose the outstanding young man in 2009. Nevertheless did he have his moments as a collegiate wrestler? I'd argue that he did. One of those moments was at the 2006 Southern Scuffle his freshman season. What an outstanding tournament he had in taking home the gold.
Quarter finals defeats Matt Keller of Chattanooga 10-9 (Keller is another wrestler we have unfortunately lose over the years)
Semi-finals defeats another two time All American, Joey Baker of Navy 10-9.
Then in the finals, defeats yet another two time All American! Upends Evan Sola of North Carolina 4-2.
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You know what puts me in a good mood? In More Than 3 Days I wrote about 44 different wrestlers. I nearly came up with 50 different names. I already know that no one is gonna come to me & say, "You listed too many wrestlers." Instead, I'll be bombarded with, "Why didn't you list ' '?" "How could you forget ' '?" That makes me happy. It shows that we already know how many great wrestlers there have been whose best days weren't the final three days of the season. Let the broken record repeat itself one more time. This is why these in-season tournaments are so important to our sport. We don't need a million of them like we have now. Not saying that. Yet to see a wrestling season where it is all duals & the only two tournaments are conferences & the NCAA's? Nope, that isn't right either. We need these tournaments. How many? That may be up for debate, but zero isn't the answer.
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