At least I wasn't alone -- not a single national ranking service had the nation's best 112, Anthony Robles, ranked prior to NHSCA Senior Nationals.
It is something that happens every year. National rankings are necessarily based on results that may have happened over a year ago, sometimes several years ago. However, a 17-18-year-old wrestler can improve dramatically in a year. So every year, there is one who comes seemingly out of nowhere and defeats all the conventional favorites at Senior Nationals. In 2003, Daniel Mason-Strauss went from never being a state finalist in Ohio to being a national champion. In 2004, it was unheralded Tyler Sherfey upending highly decorated Angel Cejudo and Alex Tsirtsis. In 2005, one-time Illinois state champion Travis Hammons prevailed over an illustrious field. So, in actuality, the only question was not whether there would be an unknown seize the golden chalice, but who it would be.
But there was a twist -- I certainly didn't count on the unknown wrestler having only one leg.
While Anthony Robles was born without a right leg -- the term "handicapped" would be quite possibly the least appropriate word I can think of to describe him. Simply put, the 112-pounder from Mesa, Arizona, crushed a tough field to win Senior Nationals in Pittsburgh. While he had dominated the field up to the finals, including a first period fall over Jay Cobbs of Virginia in the semifinals, I thought for certain his undefeated season would come to an end in the finals against one of the nation's best 112's, Justin Paulsen of California.
The first period ended scoreless as Paulsen appeared understandably uncertain as to how to attack Robles. In the second period, Paulsen made the mistake of choosing to wrestle on the mat with Robles instead of "cutting" him. Robles struck almost immediately with a switch. Once on top, Robles was able to take advantage of his tremendous upper-body strength advantage. He quickly titled Paulsen for three and simply punished him for the rest of the period. Paulsen wisely chose neutral in the third period, only for Robles to shoot in on a single, again use his power to convert the shot into a double and a 7-0 lead. After Paulsen finally got on the board with an escape, Robles added another takedown for a 9-1 final. I understand that Robles is currently unsigned. I would not expect that will last long!
While Robles was by far the most powerful wrestler "pound for pound" in the competition, Lou Ruggirello, the 119-pound champion from New York, was probably second. "King Lou" made a great case for himself as the nation's best 119, though, unfortunately, Ben Ashmore was not there to settle that issue with him (more on that below). Only Tyler Zukerman of Oklahoma was able to slow down the onslaught of Ruggirello in a 7-2 loss, all other opponents succumbed by fall or technical fall. In this final against three-time state champion Walker Faison of Virginia, Ruggirello powered a first period chicken wing that was just plain painful to watch. Faison fought hard off his back for a very long time, but with 19 seconds to go in the first, could hold on no more as Ruggirello secured the fall.
Adam Hall (Photo/Jon Malinowski)Reader struck quickly with his patented "barrel roll" for a 2-0 lead. Hall escaped, and then barely managed to fight off another Reader takedown late in the first. Hall started down in the second, and managed an escape. Then the fireworks began. After escaping, Hall immediately shot in on a low single, seemingly catching Reader by surprise for a 4-2 lead. Reader struck back with a Granby Roll and immediately converted a single leg takedown of his own for a 5-4 lead, as order seemed to be restored. Reader opened the third period with an escape to extend his lead to 6-4. With about 30 seconds to go, Reader appeared to be tiring, and Hall blew through him with a double to knot the score at 6-6. A Reader escape made it 7-6. Hall wasted little time in shooting in. He appeared to be about to get the winning takedown, but Reader scrambled and managed to cling to a leg as Hall desperately tried to get behind him. It looked like Reader was going to be able to hold it off, but he literally seemed to "hit the wall" with two seconds to go and relinquished the leg as Hall went behind for the winning takedown, 8-7, in one of the best Senior Nationals matches I have ever seen.
The theme for Bubba Jenkins of Virginia was "redemption." After missing state for the second year in a row for disciplinary reasons, Jenkins clearly came to Pittsburgh with an "ax to grind." Jenkins torched the field leading up to the finals: with two falls, a technical fall, a 14-4 major, and a 7-4 win over third-place finisher Josh Wilson of Utah. It appeared he might have his hands full in the finals with another Utah grappler, Nathaniel Holt of Utah. Holt knocked off highly regarded Travis Blasco of Blair Academy in the semifinals, preventing a Jenkins-Blasco rematch (won by Jenkins at the Beast of the East).
However, Jenkins came out on fire with an almost immediate single-leg takedown and "dump" finish. He quickly followed that up with a breathtaking lift from a "claw" ride, putting Holt to his back and nearly securing the fall but settling for a 5-0 lead. Jenkins continued to simply overwhelm Holt, adding two more takedowns for a 9-2 lead midway through the match. With such a lead in the national finals, most would shut down their offense. However, Jenkins went for, of all things, a cement mixer … and nailed it for a five-point move. Holt was going nowhere, and the inevitable came at 3:21. Jenkins would have been leading 14-2 if not for the fall! Jenkins is another unsigned wrestler who could make a college wrestling coach very, very happy.
Ryan Patrovich (Photo/Jon Malinowski)As great as the tournament was (as usual) there were, in my view, three huge errors. First, the consolation rounds amounted to little more than an endurance contest on Sunday morning. The wrestling started at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, by 11:30, the 103's and 112's who started in the All-American round could have wrestled four matches. Wrestlers eventually need some time to regroup between bouts, replenish themselves (i.e. eat and drink water) especially at this level of competition. The wrestlers who started in the "All-American Round" were at a huge disadvantage as compared to those who made the semifinals and thus started in the consolation semifinals -- having already wrestled two matches in the previous 1-1.5 hours. The consolations were completed shortly after noon, leaving an unnecessarily long six hour break. Not only would it have been better for the wrestlers, but better for the fans as well since they could have watch more matches.
Secondly, the Sophomore and Junior Nationals need to be done on a weekend rather than making it one long event. The action for these divisions started on Tuesday and concluded on Friday. With Monday being weigh-ins, this meant it was necessary for competitors to miss an entire week of school, very difficult considering they likely have already missed school for their state tournaments at the minimum. The sophomore event was a national championship in name only, with only five of the sophomores who entered ranked in the Rev Power Rankings Top 50 competing.
Finally, and most importantly, this event simply cannot be held the same weekend as the Dapper Dan again. Not only did this event drain away at least one elite wrestler from each weight class, but it took nearly every top wrestler from the nation's top wrestling state, Pennsylvania, plus those who competed in the WPIAL versus Delaware undercard. With nearly all of the Pennsylvania stars not competing, the arena was shockingly empty. Whatever ego-driven agendas need to be put aside hopefully will be next year for the good of the sport.
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