I attended last year's inaugural Soldier Salute & I tell you, what a well ran, fun and exciting tournament. My hat's off to Luke Eustice & those involved for how put together and fan friendly of an event this turned out to be. With that said, I still need to demonstrate a few complaints from a journalistic point of view. Tournaments like these are so hard to preview in terms of who is going to be there and what particular potential match ups to look forward to. I mean honestly, it's pretty damn cryptic. I mean look at it this way. You have a list of teams on the official Soldier Salute Website. Some of those teams have the Soldier Salute listed on their schedule pages & some of them don't. What to make of that? Well, it's a guess. I'm gonna guess that those that have it listed are sending their varsity squad & those who don't are sending their non-varsity. Then there are also teams listed on track, that are neither on the Soldier Salute website, nor do they have the tournament listed on their schedule. That makes it fun doesn't it? I mean either way, we're going to see some great wrestling at this tournament. There's no doubt about that. I just wish we knew who was gonna be here and who wasn't.
To many I guess it doesn't matter. I mean let's not split hairs here. Let's be honest. 80% of the people sitting in the stands are coming to watch Iowa & Iowa only. It's like they walk in decked out in black & gold & raise their right hand before Herky the bailiff. "I swear to pay attention to Hawkeye wrestling, all of Hawkeye wrestling, nothing but Hawkeye wrestling, I will not know a single wrestler from any other team, so help me if I do, Gable is God." Please don't take me too seriously on that, I like to test out humor every now and again, and this is my response to those in my area who always seem so astonished (some even offended) that I know my Hawkeye wrestlers, but I also know know a lot of other wrestlers from other teams too.
On a more serious note, the truth is I do have to kinda guess who's gonna be here & that's pretty typical with tournaments like these. It is a mixture of varsity, non-varsity & redshirts, which in a lot of ways can be a lot of fun. My job here is to try and guess who our place-winners might turn out to be. Try and figure out who our champion might be. IF there is any potential for some upsets? You know all the stuff that makes the sport of wrestling interesting and fun.
Here's thoughts on 125....
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| #7 Jore Volk Wyoming |
This is where many of us got our first glimpse (collegiately speaking) of Jore Volk last year, when he scored a number of takedowns against Spencer Lee, before ultimately falling to the Hawkeye in the semi-finals. He came back to take 3rd. This year, he looks to win the Solider Salute & is in good position to do so. Recently won RENO with a victory over Richard Figueroa of Arizona State. Adding another prestigious title would be very good for the young Cowboy. Has a 7-1 win over Tanner Jordan & both a 6-2 as well as a 4-2 win over Nick Babin.
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| #11 Patrick McKee Minnesota |
As if 125 lbs wasn't already chaotic enough. If Patrick McKee comes in here and wins this weight, which is a likely probability, it becomes all the more chaotic. It seems with everything else going on, there hasn't been a whole lot of talk concerning the Golden Gopher. That could all change at the Salute. He's 4-0 against Drake Ayala & he's 5-1 against Tanner Jordan. Champion material? I believe so.
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| #12 Drake Ayala Iowa |
Going in 0-4 against Patrick McKee, doesn't exactly put the odds in favor for Drake Ayala should he meet the Golden Gopher in route to trying to win his first Soldier Salute. However, this is the sport of wrestling & the idea of beating someone after losing to them four times, isn't that far fetched. Ayala was a runner-up here last year & he's also wrestling in front what will predominately be a Hawkeye crowd. I talk about the importance of competing in front of your fans & the advantage that can give you quite often. I don't think there's a time when it rings truer than when a Hawkeye competes in front of the black & gold faithful. I say in order to win the Soldier Salute, Ayala most likely will have to go through both McKee & Volk. If he does that, his stock will go up tremendously.
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| U.R. Tanner Jordan South Dakota State |
Does the 125 lbs bracket at the Soldier Salute have a darkhorse? Maybe. If South Dakota State's Tanner Jordan were to win the Soldier Salute, I think there's a possibility that he'd have to go through all three of the top seeds. Volk, McKee & Ayala. That'd be an awful, awful tough road for the Jackrabbit. The thing about Jordan is, he's steadily improved as the years have gone by. He recently picked up a 9-4 decision over McKee & that was after more or less getting destroyed in five other matches against the Golden Gopher which included three majors & a technical fall. To turn those types of losses into a win, really speaks volumes to me on where he's at as a wrestler. Let's also take into consideration that he recently placed 8th at CKLV, with wins over both Oklahoma State's Troy Spratley & Ohio State's Brendan McCrone. Putting together a quarter, a semi & a final to walk out of here champion? I don't know. Upsetting someone else, being their roadblock along the way? That seems much more plausible. Owns both an 11-0 major over Brandon Meredith & an 8-0 major over Trevor Anderson.
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| U.R. Trever Anderson Northern Iowa |
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| U.R. Nick Babin Columbia |
If you read my often, you know that I've been very complimentary & very high on all of the positive changes that have been going on at Columbia the past couple of years. I love seeing the school make strides to get better & challenge themselves by putting themselves in competitions such as these. A lot of our top academic schools, like Columbia (as well as Princeton & others) have made a commitment to wrestling & I love it. I'd really like to see them step it up a notch & perform well here at the Salute. It'll take guys like Nick Babin stepping it up & wrestling well.
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| U.R. Spencer Moore North Carolina |
With 125 lbs being as absolute bonkers as it has been this year, all we need now is some real scrapper to potentially come out of nowhere and score a huge upset, right? Real scrapper? Outta nowhere? Yeah, that might very well be Spencer Moore of North Carolina. The guy is a real goer & if he can keep the score close, he's in the game. Could I see the Tar Heel pulling off a big upset here in Coralville? Yep.
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| B.U. Brandon Meredith South Dakota State |
What do you say about Brandon Meredith? He's had his ups and downs. Here's a guy that does own a 3-2 decision over Patrick McKee & he was also one match shy of a top 8 showing at the Southern Scuffle two seasons ago. So he has potential to do great things. On the other hand, he missed out on all of last season & he's currently having some struggles with a 4-4 record. Truth is, I don't put your name and picture in one of my write-ups unless I think it has good reason to be there. You give me Brandon Meredith on a good day, and I'll give you someone to watch out for on the mat.
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| B.U. Luqman Masud Missouri |
To my understanding Missouri will be bringing their backups & I'm excited for that, because it'll give me the opportunity to see Luqman Masud in action. The NJCAA All American for Joliet Junior College last season is still making adjustments to the NCAA Division I life. It takes time sometimes & that's ok, it's not an easy adjustment to make. I really think as he gets better, learns and improves that he can really be a strong asset (already is, but I'm saying even stronger) to the Tiger lineup. The Soldier Salute wrestles to 7th-8th place, and I see no reason at all why Masud can't leave here with a top 8 finish.
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