Isaiah White was a Walsh Ironman champ, and is ranked No. 1 at 152 pounds (Photo/Rob Preston)The Clash XIII National Wrestling Duals come to Rochester, Minn. on Friday and Saturday. Ten of the Fab 50 nationally ranked teams are among the field of 32. The format of the Clash is that on Friday the 32 teams are split into four eight-team brackets, where each squad will get three matches to determine their placement. Then on Saturday, there will be eight four-team pools, each involving the quartet of teams earning the same placement on Friday; again, the teams will compete in three matches.
On Friday, two of the brackets will be conducted in a morning/afternoon session, matches scheduled for 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. Central Time starts; while the other two brackets will be contested in the afternoon/evening session, matches stating at 4 p.m., 6 p.m., and 8 p.m. The morning/afternoon session on Saturday will involve teams that finish fifth through eighth place on Friday, while the afternoon/evening session features those that finish in the top four (i.e. win their opening dual meet on Friday).
Even though the event takes on a dual meet format, there are many excellent individuals across the 32 teams competing at The Clash XII. The following individuals appear in the most recent national weight class rankings:
106: No. 14 Kirk Johansen (Glenbard North, Ill.), No. 16 Anthony Madrigal (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.)
113: No. 4 Jason Renteria (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), No. 5 Austin Gomez (Glenbard North, Ill.), No. 19 Alec Kelly (St. Peter's Prep, N.J.)
120: No. 16 Alex Madrigal (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.)
126: No. 2 Mitch McKee (St. Michael-Albertville, Minn.), No. 20 Alex Lloyd (Shakopee, Minn.)
145: No. 2 Fredy Stroker (Bettendorf, Iowa), No. 3 Max Thomsen (Union, Iowa), No. 4 Larry Early (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.)
152: No. 1 Isaiah White (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.)
160: No. 10 Dayton Racer (Bettendorf, Iowa), No. 17 Matthew Rundell (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.)
170: No. 1 Mark Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.), No. 6 Kamal Bey (Oak Park River Forest, Ill.), No. 8 Josh Ugalde (Bound Brook, N.J.), No. 10 Jacob Holschlag (Union, Iowa), No. 17 Luke Norland (Jackson County Central, Minn.)
182: No. 4 Keegan Moore (Jackson County Central, Minn.), No. 8 Nathan Traxler (Marmion Academy, Ill.), No. 16 Tyler DeMoss (Hononegah, Ill.)
195: No. 1 Lance Benick (Totino-Grace, Minn.), No. 2 Bobby Steveson (Apple Valley, Minn.), No. 12 Steven Holloway (Mediapolis, Iowa)
220: No. 12 Christian Colucci (St. Peter's Prep, N.J.), No. 14 Lucas Warren (Marmion Academy, Ill.), No. 19 Gable Steveson (Apple Valley, Minn.)
285: No. 9 Brady Reiff (Parkston, S.D.), No. 15 Alex Hart (Prior Lake, Minn.)
Brackets "B" and "D" have been assigned to the Friday morning session.
Bracket "B"
The top seed in Bracket "B" is No. 19 St. Peter's Prep, N.J. They have a pretty balanced team across the lineup. Notable pieces include nationally ranked Kelly at 113, a state alternate from last year at 126, a Beast of the East placer at 132, two-time state placers in Connor and Ryan Burkert at 138 and 145, state qualifiers at 152 and 195, nationally ranked Colucci at 220, and a state placer at 285. Their first round opponent is Parkston, S.D. That should be a mismatch, though the opportunity to see Reiff facing legitimate competition is a good thing.
The likely semifinal opponent for St. Peter's Prep will be Marist, Ill. The Redhawks are not as balanced as they have been in past years, and it has shown in some early season dual meet losses. Key wrestlers include a state qualifier at 120, two-time state placer David Kasper at 145, a two-time state qualifier at 152, three-time state placer Alex Benoit at 182, along with formidable competitors at 195 and 285.
The other half of the bracket is looking at a likely semifinal battle between No. 26 St. Michael-Albertville, Minn. and No. 42 Carl Sandburg, Ill. That presumes those teams clear Totino-Grace, Minn. and Grand Island in their opening matches respectively, which they should; an interesting note is that STMA and Totino-Grace are both ranked No. 2 in their respective Minnesota state tournament classification. Looking at that semifinal more closely, it will be a clash between the star power of STMA and the across the board lineup balance of Carl Sandburg.
Predicted finishes: (1) St. Peter's Prep (2) Carl Sandburg (3) St. Michael-Albertville (4) Marist (5) Totino-Grace (6) Vacaville (7) Grand Island (8) Parkston
Bracket "D"
The top seed in Bracket "D" is No. 17 Marmion Academy, Ill. The Cadets are led by a pair of nationally ranked upper-weights in Traxler at 182 and Warren at 220; Warren has been held out of tournaments so far this season, but should compete during dual meets. Additional known commodities include state qualifier and Cadet freestyle All-American A.J. Jaffe (132), returning state placer Trace Carello (160), along with a pair of 2013 Cadet freestyle All-Americans in Matt Ferraro (152) and Riley DeMoss (170). They also got placement finishes at the Dvorak out of a freshman at 106, a senior first-time starter at 120, sophomores at 126 and 138, and a junior at 145 whom is in his first year as the full-time starter. One other name to watch out for in dual meets should Marmion flex the back half of the lineup is freshman Nate Jimenez (160-182).
Marmion draws Lake Crystal in the first round, but beyond multi-time state champion Louis Sanders (132/138), there is little in that squad. The semifinal bout should be against either Hastings, Minn. or Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Iowa. Jefferson may be under-seeded as a five in the brackets, featuring six state ranked wrestlers (big-school division) in the lineup: returning state placers Brendan Baker (No. 2 at 113) and Kyle Briggs (No. 5 at 132); along with state qualifier Tavian Rasheed (No. 7 at 152), Luke Sedlacek (No. 6 at 160), Kelly May (No. 9 at 182), and Dalton Kuehl (No. 6 at 285).
No. 24 Bettendorf, Iowa is the second seed in this bracket. The Bulldogs fit the description of a "stars-and-scrubs" squad. In their last competition, they had five weight class finalists at the Kansas City Stampede; however, only two other wrestlers even appeared in the upper bracket (i.e. top 16 overall from 30-plus person weight classes). Nationally ranked wrestlers Stroker (145) and Racer (160) anchor the squad; while returning state champions Jack Wagner (113) and Jacob Schwarm (120), along with state runner-up Paul Glynn (132) and 2013 state champion Jacob Woodward (152) are the other core pieces. Also ranked in Iowa is Jackson Gallagher, sixth at 126.
They face Adrian, Minn. in a relatively non-competitive first round match. That squad is anchored by state champion Skyler Hieronimous at 113. The other opening match in that half-bracket places Hononegah, Ill. against Anoka, Minn. It should be Hononegah to clear that, but it's not likely that they are capable of upending Bettendorf.
Predicted finishes: (1) Marmion Academy (2) Bettendorf (3) Cedar Rapids Jefferson (4) Hononegah (5) Hastings (6) Anoka (7) Adrian (8) LCWM
Brackets "A" and "C" have been assigned to the Friday afternoon session.
Bracket "A"
Bracket "A" is anchored by No. 2 in the nation Oak Park River Forest, Ill., which finished as runners-up in last year's edition of The Clash. However, the Huskies enter this year's event as the prohibitive favorites. They have seven wrestlers within the national weight class rankings: 106, 113, 120, 145, 152, 160, and 170. Where there is not a nationally ranked wrestler, there is a darn good wrestler: for instance returning state placer Townsell at 126, Cadet freestyle runner-up Hernandez at 132, state qualifier Bennette at 138, and state qualifier Stallings at 220. Pleasant Valley, Iowa is the opening first round match for the Huskies, and the only question in that one is how many bouts OPRF takes.
The opening bout for the right to face OPRF in the semifinal features teams ranked first in Minnesota Class AA and Class A, Simley and Minneota. Interestingly, neither Simley nor Minneota not feature a single wrestler ranked first in their weight class; Simley is led by returning state placers Anthony Jackson (132) and Jack Ryan (195/22), while Minneota is led by returning state runner-up Brock Buysse at 113.
Moving onto the other half of Bracket "A", there are a pair of nationally ranked teams seeded second and third. No. 41 Union, Iowa is the two seed, and No. 46 Shakopee, Minn. is the three seed. Union should clear their opening round bout against Kenyon-Wanamingo (Minn.), which is led by junior Ethan Cota at 106. The nationally ranked Knights are led by nationally ranked wrestlers in Thomsen at 145 and Holschlag at 170. Other returning state placers Derek Holschlag (113) and McLaughlin (160), while additional notables appear at 106, 126, 138, and 220.
Shakopee should clear their opening round match against Wasatch, Utah, whose notable wrestler is two-time state runner-up Spencer Heywood (160). Key wrestlers for Shakopee are state champions Brent Jones (120) and Owen Webster (160), along with nationally ranked Alex Lloyd (126). One concern in their lineup is the lack of quality past Webster; while they have projected state placers in seven of nine weight classes through 160, only King (10th at 182) is state ranked among their back five weight classes.
Predicted finishes: (1) OPRF (2) Union (3) Shakopee (4) Simley (5) Minneota (6) Wasatch (7) Pleasant Valley (8) Kenyon-Wanamingo
Bracket "C"
Finally, defending Clash champions Apple Valley, Minn. are the top seeds in Bracket "C", which is the strongest and most wide open of the four brackets. The No. 17 ranked Eagles showed some susceptibility for dual meet competition during the Minnesota Christmas Tournament, as they only placed wrestlers in six weight classes. However, they have three absolute hammers in the back five weight classes: Hall at 170, Bobby Steveson at 195, and Gable Steveson at 220. Those wrestlers can obviously be flexed around as necessary in the back five weights. Other wrestlers to note are at 106, 113, 145, and 152; so they are vulnerable to a team with really good down low into the middle. The opening round match against Fox Lake Grant, Ill. is a non-issue.
Looking ahead to the semifinal, Apple Valley could hit just the wrong matchup in Glenbard North, Ill. The Panthers are superlative in the lower weights with nationally ranked wrestlers in Johansen and Gomez at 106 and 113. Joining those two in placing at the Dvorak were wrestlers at 120 through 132. Other Dvorak placers came at 160, 182, 195, and 220; while they also have wrestlers ranked around the top ten at 170 and 285. Of course that presumes Glenbard North is able to clear Prior Lake, Minn. in the opening match. That squad is anchored by nationally ranked Hart at 285 pounds and Junior freestyle All-American Streifel at 220. Other key wrestlers are at 106, 120, 138, and 145.
The second seed in this bracket is No. 25 Bound Brook, N.J. They are led by nationally ranked Ugalde at 170, state placer Lewis at 138, along with state qualifiers at 132, 152, and 182. Other solid wrestlers are at 106, 126, 138, 160, and 195. Their opening match is against Jackson County Central (Minn.), who would be very dangerous if they had anything to go with the three hammers on their team at 160-182 in Paden Moore, Norland, and Keegan Moore; however, they really don't.
The third seed here is Mediapolis (Iowa), which is led by nationally ranked Holloway at 195. They also have returning state placers in Swofford (126), Buster (138), Cole Erickson (152), and Conley (160); along with state ranked wrestlers at 132 and 170. First round opposition for the Bulldogs comes in the form of Jefferson (Ga.), which is led by state champions Chase Piperato (145) and Caleb Little (170).
Predicted finishes: (1) Bound Brook (2) Glenbard North (3) Apple Valley (4) Mediapolis (5) Prior Lake (6) Jefferson (7) Jackson County Central (8) Fox Lake Grant
Based on the finishes this preview predicts for the Day 1, these are projected finishes for Day 2:
Championship Pool: (1) Oak Park River Forest (2) Marmion Academy (3) St. Peter's Prep (4) Bound Brook
Second Pool: (1) Carl Sandburg (2) Glenbard North (3) Bettendorf (4) Union
Third Pool: (1) Apple Valley (2) STMA (3) Shakopee (4) Cedar Rapids Jefferson
Fourth Pool: (1) Mediapolis (2) Marist (3) Simley (4) Hononegah
Fifth Pool: (1) Prior Lake (2) Minneota (3) Hastings (4) Totino-Grace
Sixth Pool: (1) Jefferson (2) Vacaville (3) Wasatch (4) Anoka
Seventh Pool: (1) Grand Island (2) Pleasant Valley (3) Adrian (4) Jackson County Central
Eighth Pool: (1) LCWM (2) Parkston(3) Kenyon-Wanamingo (4) Fox Lake Grant
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