Virginia Tech Vs Stanford Dual Meet Preview (Sunday 12-17-2023)

 

Both of these programs remind me a bit of one another. You have Stanford, a school whose own athletic director Bernard Muir could care less about them. Hell, he did everything in his power to try and get rid of the program. It's one thing to have absolutely no support from your A.D. but it's a whole other thing when the guy outright tries to be rid you. On top of it, they took a hard hit losing some of their top wrestlers due to transferring.  Shane Griffith, Real Woods, it can devastate a team to lose that type of talent. Then if they don't already have enough obstacles, they're in California a state that probably has more discontinued collegiate wrestling programs than any other state in the nation. I'm not 100% positive on that, but I can name you 75 colleges in California that used to have wrestling that no longer do. So if it's not the most, it's up there.  Yet here is Stanford still plugging along. Still fighting the fight.  Ranked #16 in the nation & multiple ranked wrestlers on the team.  As Elmo from Vision Quest would say, "There's something pretty God damned glorious" about it.  I don't care if you're bleeding black & gold, or if all you can see is blue & white, you can't know the full story of Stanford & tell me that you don't admire and respect where they are considering everything they've gone through. 

Virginia Tech's story isn't as fresh and isn't as recent, but it's similar. You got a school that put in a lot of time, money and resources into building its wrestling program & it hasn't always received the same gratitude that it has given. I feel there have been times in the past when the administration in Blacksburg could have turned on the sport of wrestling & knowing all that I do know, dare I say I'm not sure if I would have blamed them if they did.  Knowing the history of 462 discontinued wrestling programs, let's just say that I'm damn happy that we didn't see that happen. Instead we saw the school continue to support its wrestling program and the wrestling program continue to grow into one of the most respected in the nation.  If you know college wrestling as well as I do, then you know just how insanely rare that truly is.  

#3 Nico Provo Vs U.R. Eddie Ventresca
125 lbs 

If we're treating wrestling like the stock market, I can tell you who is up and who is down.  Talk about making leaps & bounds in improvement. Nico Provo is one of the most improved wrestlers in the nation right now & he more than proved it by winning a stacked Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational last weekend.  Eddie Ventresca on the other hand, has seemed to regress.  An All American last season, he went out early at CKLV, with two ugly losses.  The reasoning behind why a wrestler struggles to perform up to expectation is rather cryptic in our sport. While Football and Basketball announces injuries almost as quickly as they happen, wrestling usually waits until about mid-July before it'll reveal any information. Not saying necessarily that Ventresca is hurt, but it's painfully obvious, something is wrong. You don't go from 7th in the nation to unranked unless something is wrong.  Nevertheless, wrestling is a sport that quickly forgives and quickly forgets.  All it would take is one noteworthy win and Ventresca is back in the game. Much easier said than done against the likes of Nico Provo.  Yet think of how testimonial it would truly be to the parity of wrestling if Ventresca were to pull this off. Flabbergasting isn't it? 

#16 Tyler Knox Vs #6 Sam Latona
133 lbs 

Newcomer Tyler Knox was one of the biggest surprises a couple of weekends ago when he pulled off impressive win after impressive win at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, eventually finishing in 5th place. Now he'll get to test himself against two time All American Sam Latona.  Should be a good match as youth battles experience. 

U.R. Jason Miranda Vs U.R. Hunter Mason
141 lbs 

I thought that after finishing R12 at CKLV two weekends ago Jason Miranda might sneak into the rankings somewhere, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It seems that ever since moving up weight classes he's been somewhere between #34 & #38, just barely outside of that top 33. Nevertheless despite being unranked, he's been an pertinent part of the Cardinal wrestling program & often comes through in dual situations such as this.  This will be an opportunity for him to win an important match in an important dual. With that said, Hunter Mason is a bit in the same situation. The young Hokie is looking to garner some important wins & against Miranda in this dual would be one of them. 

#9 Jaden Abas Vs #3 Caleb Henson
149 lbs 

Things certainly favor the Hokies here.  Not only did Caleb Henson make the CKLV finals compared to Jaden Abas not placing, the last time the two met, it was all Henson in an 11-1 major decision. With that said, I know better than to completely count Abas out in this match. He is an Abas after all, with the same blood flowing through his veins as father Gerry & uncle Stephen. He's turned ugly losses into wins before & I wouldn't put it past him to do so again. With that said, Caleb Henson has his sights set on an NCAA DI title and in being on that path, will look to have his way with Abas yet again. 

#8 Daniel Cardenas Vs #7 Bryce Andonian
157 lbs 

Here's another match that highly favors the Hokies, despite the two wrestlers only being separated by one ranking.  Bryce Andonian scored a 17-7 major decision over Daniel Cardenas in the consolation semi-finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. As he finished in 4th place, Cardenas battled back to take 5th.  I do think that this match in this dual will be a much closer contest. Still favoring Andonian but more likely to end in a decision. I say this because as we spoke earlier, momentum effects performance. When Andonian & Cardenas met at CKLV, Andonian was on a high having came off of victories over both Cael Swenson of South Dakota State & Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State.  Cardenas on the other hand had just lost a tough match to Arizona State's Jacori Teemer.  Where you're at mentally when you step out on the mat can make all the difference in the world.  Still going with V.T. on this one, but I do think we're looking at a decision & not a major. 

#17 Hunter Garvin Vs U.R. Connor Brady
165 lbs 

The tide turns here as this particular match favors the Cardinal.  Hunter Garvin placed 6th recently at CKLV while Connor Brady finished with a record of 2-2. While these sorts of results can be rather telling, they aren't quite the soothsayers some would make them out to be. Connor Brady has been more of a dual performer than a tournament performer thus far in his career & he could display that fact on Sunday. With that said, Garvin has proven himself to be a hot commodity for the Cardinal. Simply beating out Charlie Darracott for the varsity position alone is testimony to that. Should be a good match. 

U.R. Lorenzo Norman Vs #2 Mekhi Lewis
174 lbs 

Two weekends ago Lorenzo Norman shocked the nation when he upset NCAA DI Champ/two time NCAA DI finalist Shane Griffith of Michigan (ironically enough formally of Stanford himself) in route to an eventual 7th place CKLV finish. Can you imagine the hype this young man would receive if he were able to upend yet another NCAA DI Champ/two time finalist? Much easier said than done against the likes of Mekhi Lewis. While Cardinal fans are hoping for another huge upset, Hokie fans are envisioning Lewis welcoming Norman to the big time the hard way. I can see either scenario being a reality. 

#18 Nick Stemmet Vs U.R. Andy Smith
197 lbs 

Here's a match that favors the Cardinal, but again, not a shoe-in.  Nick Stemmet is coming off of a 7th place CKLV finish & he also owns an 11-5 victory over Andy Smith. Yet, here's the kicker. Smith is an on and off wrestler & when he's on, he's on. Although he didn't compete at this year's CKLV, he did finish 6th at last year's championships.  Upsets seem to happen left & right in this sport, especially at this level. I'm sure we may see some in this dual.