The Clash XIV National Wrestling Duals
Ten nationally ranked teams will be among the 32 in attendance at this event in Rochester, Minn. on New Year's Day and January 2, 2016. The assignment of teams into day one brackets will be unveiled at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, December 28th. Nationally ranked teams include No. 7 Buchanan (Calif.); No. 8 Oak Park River Forest (Ill.), the defending tournament champions; No. 9 St. Edward (Ohio), champions in the 2011-12 season; No. 11 St. Michael-Albertville (Minn.), champions in the 2012-13 season; No. 13 Tuttle (Okla.); No. 14 Archer (Ga.); No. 19 Marmion Academy (Ill.); No. 26 Apple Valley (Minn.), five-time champions of this tournament; No. 29 Washington (Ill.); and No. 41 Park Hill (Mo.)
For the first day, there will be four eight-team brackets. Each team will compete three times, winners of the opening match will seek first through fourth place, while losers in that opening match will compete for fifth through eighth place. On the second day, there will eight four-team pools, with each team wrestling in a dual meet against the three other squads that finished in the same place they did on day one. Competition on each day takes place in two sessions, the first of them at 9 a.m., 11, and 1 p.m. Central Time; the second at 4 p.m., 6, and 8 (the late session on day two will have teams that finish first through fourth on day one).
Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament
Wyoming Seminary (Pa.), ranked No. 1 in the nation, will be making its debut in this prestigious event held south of Pittsburgh at Canon-McMillan High School on December 29 and 30. The Blue Knights are joined by five other Fab 50 teams in the field: No. 15 Belle Vernon Area (Pa.), No. 42 Kiski Area (Pa.), No. 44 Delbarton (N.J.), No. 45 Reynolds (Pa.), and No. 50 Good Counsel (Md.). In all, teams from nine different states are present in the 48-school field.
Twenty-eight nationally ranked wrestlers are slated to be in the tournament this coming week, including three ranked first in the country, and another four ranked second nationally. Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe, Pa.) seeks to be the sixth ever four-time champion in tournament history, while Gavin Teasale (Jefferson-Morgan, Pa.) is a junior after his third title in this event. Below is a list of all the nationally ranked wrestlers in the field.
106: No. 19 Kurt McHenry (St. Pauls, Md.)
113: No. 1 Gavin Teasdale (Jefferson-Morgan, Pa.), No. 4 Patrick Glory (Delbarton, N.J.), and No. 7 Matthew Parker (Pennridge, Pa.)
120: No. 3 Ty Agaisse (Delbarton, N.J.)
126: No. 9 Ethan McCoy (Greater Latrobe, Pa.), No. 15 Cole Matthews (Reynolds, Pa.)
132: No. 2 Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe, Pa.), No. 10 Gus Solomon (Franklin Regional, Pa.), and No. 17 Nick Farro (Delbarton, N.J.)
138: No. 2 George Phillippi (Derry Area, Pa.), No. 19 Patrick Munn (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.)
145: No. 2 Jarod Verkleeren (Belle Vernon Area, Pa.), No. 3 Cameron Coy (Penn Trafford, Pa.)
152: No. 1 Mason Manville (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), No. 3 Hayden Hidlay (Mifflin County, Pa.), and No. 15 Stephan Glasgow (Bound Brook, N.J.)
160: No. 5 Jake Wentzel (South Park, Pa.)
170: No. 2 Austin Bell (Belle Vernon Area, Pa.), No. 15 Nino Bonaccorsi (Bethel Park, Pa.)
182: No. 1 Nick Reenan (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), No. 9 Kyle Gentile (Pennridge, Pa.), and No. 15 Greg Bulsak (South Park, Pa.)
195: No. 9 Christian Dietrich (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), No. 12 Drew Phipps (Norwin, Pa.), and No. 20 Kevin Snyder (Good Counsel, Md.)
220: No. 11 Will Hilliard (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), No. 18 Cole Nye (Bishop McDevitt, Pa.)
Brecksville Holiday Invitational Tournament
Four nationally ranked teams will be among the 49 squads in the 55th annual Brecksville (Ohio) Holiday Invitational Tournament on December 29 and 30. Those teams are No. 18 Elyria (Ohio), defending tournament champion No. 23 Delta (Ohio), No. 35 Dundee (Mich.), and No. 38 Olentangy Liberty (Ohio). A couple other teams will be contesting for the team title as well, the hosts Brecksville and Davison (Mich.).
Three weight classes have possible showdowns involving a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers: No. 8 Tommy Hoskins (Dayton Christian, Ohio) and No. 9 Jordan Decatur (CVCA, Ohio) at 113 pounds, No. 14 Mario Guillen (Perrysburg, Ohio) and No. 17 Drew Mattin (Delta, Ohio) at 120, along with No. 9 Kyle Lawson (Olentangy Liberty, Ohio) and No. 12 Kaleb Romero (Mechanicsburg, Ohio) at 160; Lawson and Romero are both juniors, each of whom has already won two state titles.
Five other nationally ranked wrestlers potentially feature in the field: No. 16 Alex Mackall (Walsh Jesuit, Ohio) at 126 pounds, No. 11 Brandon Whitman (Dundee, Mich.) at 182, No. 2 Ben Darmstadt (Elyria, Ohio) at 195, No. 3 Matt Stencel (Oregon Clay, Ohio) at 220, and No. 3 Kevin Vough (Elyria, Ohio) at 285; it is possible that Whitman could also be at 195, which would put him in the same weight class as Darmstadt.
Knockout Christmas Classic
Two nationally ranked teams, No. 12 Lake Highland Prep (Fla.) and No. 36 Camden County (Ga.), are among the 26 schools slated to compete in Osceola (Fla.) on December 29 and 30 for this relatively new event that has shown the ability to get a more than solid field.
Six nationally ranked wrestlers are among the formidable competitors in the field. Listed below are some of the wrestlers to watch in this tournament.
106: Ryan Chauvin (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), Elijah Varona (South Dade, Fla.)
113: Angel Perez (Southwest Miami, Fla.), Alex Victor (Braddock, Fla.)
120: Mason Wohltman (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.)
126: No. 8 Joey Silva (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), Brevin Balmaceda (South Dade, Fla.), Jacob Conrad (Tampa Jesuit, Fla.), Jordan Marshall (Miami Southridge, Fla.), and Francisco Valdes (Southwest Miami, Fla.)
138: No. 20 Grant Aronoff (St. Thomas Aquinas, Fla.), Denton Spencer (Camden County, Ga.)
145: No. 16 Anthony Artalona (Tampa Prep, Fla.), Jake Brindley (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), Adam Lewis (Tampa Jesuit, Fla.), and Ozzy Lugo (South Dade, Fla.)
152: No. 19 Julian Ramirez (Tampa Jesuit, Fla.), Erich Byelick (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), and James Nereim (Winter Springs, Fla.)
160: Giovanni Bonilla (Osceola, Fla.), Bryce Rogers (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), Bunmi Smith (Camden County, Ga.), Leo Tarantino (Tampa Prep, Fla.), and Max Wohlabaugh (Winter Springs, Fla.)
170: No. 12 Elijah Cleary (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), Brian Buser (Tampa Jesuit, Fla.)
182: Dominique Hargrave (Camden County, Ga.)
195: Ryan Thomas (American Heritage, Fla.)
220: No. 14 Dylan Meeks (Dr. Phillips, Fla.), Darius Hamilton (Miami Southridge, Fla.), and Chei Hill (South Dade, Fla.)
285: Kyron Taylor (South Dade, Fla.)
Blair Academy travels to St. Paris Graham for January 2 dual meet
Last year St. Paris Graham (Ohio) made the trip to Blair Academy in New Jersey on the first Saturday in January coming off a title at the Walsh Ironman. The Falcons, ranked first in the nation, took one on the chin in the form of an unexpected upset loss. It temporarily dropped them from the top spot in the Fab 50, and created a rankings debate for the rest of the season, one though that would end in favor of St. Paris Graham as they won the national title.
This year, it's No. 2 Blair Academy who makes the trip to west-central Ohio in hopes of not being upset by No. 4 St. Paris Graham. The Buccaneers will do so in all likelihood missing No. 9 Requir van der Merwe from the lineup at 132 pounds, his return is more likely to come the next week at the Geary Invitational in Oklahoma. Below are the projected matchups:
106: No. 14 Michael Colaiocco (Blair Academy) vs. Jordan Crace (St. Paris Graham)
113: Chris Cannon (Blair) vs. Jeffrey Thomas (Graham)
120: Zach Sherman (Blair) vs. Justin Stickley (Graham)
126: Josh Gobencion (Blair) vs. No. 13 Mitch Moore (Graham)
132: Mekhi Holley (Blair) vs. Ryan Thomas (Graham)
138: Shane Brackup (Blair) vs. No. 6 Brent Moore (Graham)
145: Andrew Merola (Blair) vs. No. 18 Rocky Jordan (Graham)
152: John Manning (Blair) vs. Joey Sanchez (Graham)
160: No. 17 Ryan Karoly (Blair) vs. No. 1 Alex Marinelli (Graham)
170: No. 3 Brandon Dallavia (Blair) vs. Garrett Jordan (Graham)
182: Jimmy Stillerman (Blair) vs. Gage Braun (Graham)
195: No. 3 Chase Singletary (Blair) vs. Kanan Sarver (Graham)
220: Nick Mosco (Blair) vs. Johnny Shafer (Graham)
285: Neil Putnam (Blair) vs. Nick Newport (Graham)
The national rankings would give Graham an advantage in four weight class, with Blair having the edge in three weight class. Looking at those matches that are bereft a nationally ranked wrestler, Blair would have a clear edge in three (113, 152, and 285) with Graham favored in one (132). The other three matchups have some degree of tossup to them, though Blair would appear to have the slight edge in each (120, 182, and 220). In order to get this to a seven-all dual meet, it looks like the Falcons will have to get some combination of an upset over one of the Blair Academy ranked wrestlers or steal one/some of the slight tossups involving non-ranked wrestlers.
Again, the above presumes this is the list of contested matches in the dual meet on January 2nd.
Quick hitters
Before traveling to The Clash National Wrestling Duals in Minnesota, No. 14 Archer (Ga.) hosts the Takedown Sportswear Invitational on December 28 and 29. The field also includes No. 47 Father Ryan (Tenn.)
No. 31 Nazareth (Pa.) travels to neighboring Liberty High School for the 27-team Bethlehem (Pa.) Holiday Wrestling Classic. Other notable teams in the field include Central Dauphin (Pa.), Council Rock South (Pa.), Northampton (Pa.), and Phillipsburg (N.J.)
No. 10 Bethlehem Catholic (Pa.) and No. 20 Malvern Prep (Pa.) will be among the attendees at the Easton (Pa.) Invitational on January 2nd, though that is a dual meet event, with the schedule of matchups unknown at this time.
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