Yours truly will be in attendance covering the duals between St. Ambrose, York (NEB) & Missouri Baptist this Saturday. Looking very forward to my first college wrestling event of the 2025-2026. By April 1st of 2024, I was ready for a break, but right around the middle of July I was ready to get back in the swing of things & it has been a long, grueling 3 month wait.
Without a doubt there is going to be some great wrestling between these three teams, but I have to say I was vastly disappointed to not see Ernest Grant on the York (NEB) roster. Last season as a freshman, the Bakersfield, California native had a standout year, nearly capturing NAIA All American honors, finishing in the R12. I really thought he would be the Panthers standout star this season, but he's no longer on their roster.
With that said, there are two matches on Saturday that I am looking very forward to.
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| 141 lbs |
This my friends will be the marquee match of the evening. The "main event" if you will. I've been waiting for head coach Bo Bettinson to crown his first NAIA All American & over the years he's had some great talent. Diego Machado, Dylan Meiners, Mick Chagnon, Jayden Terronez, some extremely tough wrestlers, who haven't quite reached that top 8 status yet. I think Guiseppe Guerra has the tools and talent to become the Bees first All American. With that said, Daryl Mills is an All-American candidate in his own right. A runner-up at last year's AMC/SAC, he was also 4th at the prestigious Missouri Valley Invitational.
The last these two met, Guerra pulled off a tight 4-3 decision. For ranking purposes, it would suit Guerra once again to pull off the upset. What better way to start off your season?
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| HWT |
This is the other match of the evening that I'm looking very forward to. Tyler Casey, a surprise Heart of America Conference finalist last year, taking on a fellow NAIA qualifier Amad Soufi. I'm a little surprised with the NAIA ranking the top 25 at each weight class that they didn't feel that Casey was worthy of a top 25 ranking, but whatever. He'll either show us this season that indeed he is worthy of being ranked, or he won't. I say he will & I say he will this Saturday. The Kurdistan who competed for Oakville High School, just outside of St. Louis, Missouri will be an extremely tough opponent. Matter of fact, from both vantage points, this is a great test to see where you're at, at the beginning of the season.
Looks like Ernest is on Fort Hays Tech Northwest roster this year.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, glad to see he's continuing his wrestling career.
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