2021 NCAA All-American Brayton Lee (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)Each Monday, Big Ten correspondent Cody Goodwin recaps the biggest results from around the Big Ten Conference.
Illinois - Did not compete at the Mountaineer Invitational due to "COVID-19 issues within the program," and we begin here because this is a reminder that, yes, even though wrestling season has returned with more normalcy this season, we are still in a pandemic, so please stay vigilant so everybody can get their entire seasons in.
Penn State - Thumped both Sacred Heart, 47-3, and Oregon State, 32-7. Max Dean, not Michael Beard, went at 197 and scored a technical fall and major (Beard also competed in Spooky Nook this weekend, but at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, and went 3-0 with two majors and a technical fall). Baylor Shunk went 1-1 at 125. Creighton Edsell looks like a promising prospect at 165 if Alex Facundo ultimately stays in redshirt. The superstars did what the superstars do (and Greg Kerkvliet looks like he's going to be a MASSIVE problem now that he's fully healthy).
Iowa - Sent a handful of starters to the Luther Open, where the big highlight was Alex Marinelli's 3-2 win over Patrick Kennedy in the finals at 165 pounds. Elsewhere: Austin DeSanto's 8-4 win over Cullan Schriever at 133 was entertaining, too; true freshman Bretli Reyna beat Vince Turk, 6-5, at 149; Jesse Ybarra wrestled attached at 125 (and took first); and Abe Assad lost in the finals to Clayton Whiting, an impressive high-school senior from Wisconsin who has now won two college opens in as many weeks.
Michigan - Crushed Cal-State Bakersfield, 39-3. Fidel Mayora, not Will Lewan, got the start at 157, and scored five takedowns in a 12-4 major over Brock Rogers. Jack Medley (125) and Dylan Ragusin (133) both started and won, Medley in a wild 15-9 decision, Ragusin by forfeit. The Wolverines also got three-straight bonus wins starting at 174: Max Maylor by pin, Jelani Embree by major, Pat Brucki by pin.
Minnesota - Sent 25 wrestlers to the Bison Open in Fargo and came back with six champs, in Pat McKee (125), Jake Gliva (133), Michael Blockhus (149), Brayton Lee (157), Jared Krattiger (174) and Isaiah Salazar (184). Among the notable results: Gliva beat Vance Vombaur, 5-3 in overtime, in the semifinals; Jakob Bergeland beat Marcos Polanco, 6-4 in overtime, for third at 141; Blockhus pinned Blaine Brenner in the finals after Brenner beat SDSU's 20th-ranked Zach Price, 15-5, in the semifinals; Lee beat NDSU's 10th-ranked Jared Franek, 6-4, in the finals; and Michial Foy made the finals at 197 and lost to NDSU's Owen Pentz, who pinned everybody on Saturday.
Indiana - The Hoosiers did compete at the Mountaineer Invitational, and brought home five top-three finishes, led by Donnell Washington's first-place finish at 184 pounds. He pinned all three of his opponents, and is now 5-0 with five pins this season. He's on pace to pin everybody, which would probably earn him the Hodge Trophy. We're not sure if he's actually going to pin everybody, but it's the only thing he's done this season. We'll keep an eye on this development as the season continues.
Wisconsin - Beat up Arkansas-Little Rock, 32-13, rallying from down 9-0 thanks to pins from both Austin Gomez (149) and Trent Hillger (285). Eric Barnett did not wrestle at 125 (coach Chris Bono said he'll be back for the Garden State Grapple in two weeks), but the Badgers still won 7-of-10 bouts and scored bonus in five of them: Garrett Model added a 16-4 major decision over Chase Tebbets at 157, and both Chris Weiler (184) and Braxton Amos (197) added first-period technical falls.
Nebraska - Pummeled both Chadron State, 31-9, and Nebraska-Kearney, 45-6. Taylor Venz (184, two pins) and Ridge Lovett (149, tech and pin) were the only two regular starters to go in both duals. Jeremiah Reno went 1-1 at 125 while Liam Cronin continues to heal from a slight injury. Alex Thomsen, Chad Red, Peyton Robb, Eric Schultz all recorded bonus-point wins in their only matches. No Mikey Labs, though.
Purdue - Walloped Cleveland State, 39-7, thanks to oodles of bonus points. The Boilermakers won eight matches and scored bonus in seven: a pin from Michael Woulfe (285), technical falls from Devin Schroder (125) and Thomas Penola (197), majors from Parker Filius (141) and Gerrit Nijenhuis (174), and forfeits at 133 and 165.
Ohio State - Sent 28 wrestlers to the Ohio Intercollegiate Open and won eight of the 10 Gold Division weights. Dylan D'Emilio went at 141 and went tech, pin, then 5-2 over Ohio's Kyran Hagan in the finals. Bryce Hepner beat Isaac Wilcox, 4-2, in the finals at 157, and that came after Wilcox beat Kevon Freeman, 7-2, in the semifinals, and while Paddy Gallagher went 4-0 and obliterated the White Division bracket at the same weight. Sammy Sasso snatched souls in the form of 66 total points scored in four matches in less than 17 minutes of mat time, which equates to more than 4 points per minute.
Rutgers - All Rutgers does is win quad meets. This weekend, they beat Clarion 27-10, Davidson 34-6, and UT-Chattanooga 39-3. Dylan Shawver (125), Sammy Alvarez (133), Mike Van Brill (149), John Poznanski (184) all went 3-0; and Sebastian Rivera (141), Greg Bulsak (197), Boone McDermott (285) all went 2-0. The Scarlet Knights head to the Garden State Grapple in two weeks, where they'll face Hofstra and North Carolina, which raises the question about whether or not they'll wrestle multiple duals every time they compete this season (obviously they won't, but, honestly, that would be a lot of fun).
Maryland -Lost to Virginia, 24-9. Cavaliers took 7-of-10 matches, but the Terps lost two of them by two points (King Sandoval led 2-0 in the second before losing 4-2 at 133; Danny Bertoni lost, 4-2, in overtime at 141) and two more by three points. John Martin Best was also tied 4-4 with Justin McCoy before losing 9-4 at 165. As a team, the Terps gave up 11 takedowns in the third period and overtime and scored just four. Dom Solis (174), Kyle Cochran (184), Jaron Smith (197) all collected wins for Maryland.
Northwestern - Was supposed to host SIUE at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but the dual was postponed. A reason was not given. But, again, stay vigilant and be smart.
Michigan State did not compete this weekend.
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