Northwestern 174 lber Troy Fisher (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)
ACC WEEK 1 RECAP
By Robbie Wendell
Duke: The Blue Devils traveled south to the Citadel Open to start the season. Their day was highlighted by both Finesilver brothers bringing home a championship. Josh (#12) went 4-0 at 149 and Matt (#8) went 4-0 at 174 to claim the top spot. Logan Agin (125) brought home a 3rd place finish while Bryson Neason (165) and Kaden Russell (197) placed 4th. The Blue Devils finished 3rd as a team and will be back in action next weekend at the Mountaineer Invite at Appalachian State.
North Carolina: The Tar Heels took on #8 Ohio State in a top-15 matchup in Columbus. The Buckeyes set the tone early and took the 23-12 win. UNC was led by Austin O'Connor (#2), picking up a pin at 157, while Jaime Hernandez (#13) won by decision at 133 and Kizhan Clarke (#14) won in OT at 141. Zach Sherman (#5) dropped a 4-3 decision to top-ranked Sammy Sasso. The Tar Heels are off this week before another Big 10 challenge when they travel to Lincoln to face #9 Nebraska.
North Carolina State: The Wolfpack also opened up with the Citadel Open; they sent a mixture of starters and backups to get mat time. It was a good day for the Wolfpack as they had several individual champions. There were three weights with an all NC State final; at 157, AJ Kovacs won a 9-8 decision over Ed Scott, at 197, Isaac Trumble took a 4-2 decision over Jacob Ferreira and at 285, Owen Trephan repeated his wrestle-off result, knocking off Deonte Wilson (#18) 10-3. Other champs on the day were Stevo Poulin (125), Ryan Jack (#21 at 141), and Joey Milano (184). NC State will host the Wolfpack Open next weekend.
Pittsburgh: The Panthers took the short drive to Clarion to open the season at the Clarion Open. They were led by Hunter Kernan, who took the title at 174. Kernan avenged his sudden victory defeat in the wrestle-off to freshman Luca Augustine; they met in the semifinals, where Kernan took the 3-2 decision with a riding time point. Augustine finished in 4th on the weekend, the highest of the unattached wrestlers for Pitt. Other placers include runners-up Gage Curry (#22) at 125 and James Lledo at 184, while Jake Slinger finished in 3rd place at 285. The Panthers will have their first duals of the year this week, traveling to Buffalo Friday and Edinboro on Saturday. Pitt's Nino Bonaccorsi was in action representing the USA at the U23 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, this weekend as well.
Virginia: UVA kicked off the season with a dual against American on Saturday Night. The Hoos took a decisive 33-6 win, led by bonus-point wins from pins by Quinn Miller (#21) at 285 and Dylan Cedeno at 141 and a tech fall from Jon Errico at 157. Two Cavaliers had their first matches at new weight classes this year. Brian Courtney (#19) picked up a comfortable decision at 133 and Justin McCoy (#20) won by major decision at 165. Jarod Verkleeren saw his first action in a UVA singlet, claimed a win by decision. Another UVA wrestler made big news across the globe this weekend; Jay Aiello (#16 at 197) brought home a Bronze Medal from the U23 World Championships in Serbia, winning his medal match by tech fall. The Hoos are back in action this week, traveling to College Park to face the Maryland Terrapins, who are led by Alex Clemsen, who coached at UVA under Coach Garland.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies hosted the tournament formerly known as the Hokie Open this weekend in Roanoke and had some solid results from starters, redshirts and a championship finish by a commit. Mekhi Lewis (#4) made his return to the mat at 174 and captured the title for the Hokies. Also finishing atop the podium were All-Americans Korbin Myers (#5) at 133 and Hunter Bolen (#9) at 184. Nathan Traxler (#15) made his Virginia Tech debut, pinning his way into the finals and winning the title at 285 and also brought home the Most Outstanding Hair award for the tournament. The Hokies saw silver from Sam Latona (#8) at 125, Colin Gerardi at 141, Conor Brady (#30) at 157 and Dakota Howard at 197. One of the biggest highlights of the weekend wasn't from a current Hokie wrestler, but a high school senior committed to VT. Caleb Henson, Fargo and Super32 Champ, #16 on the MatScouts Senior Big Board, wanted to test the waters in a college open, and ran his way through the 149 bracket to a title, beating Marshall Keller of Princeton in the finals. The Hokies will travel to Raleigh for the Wolfpack Open next weekend.
Big Ten WEEK 1 RECAP
By Cody Goodwin
New Look Wisconsin: The Badgers went first - not just in the Big Ten, but literally, they were one of the first programs around the country to compete on Nov. 1 - so it's only fair we start there.
Wisconsin beat Buffalo, 30-3, to kick off the 2021-22 college wrestling season last Monday night in Madison. Wisconsin won 9-of-10 bouts, with three bonus-point wins, all major decisions, all coming right in a row from 165-184.
This was an expected result, mostly, but it was also our first opportunity to see the new look Wisconsin.
We saw a couple of transfers, Austin Gomez and Andrew McNally, for the first time in Badger singlets. Gomez, now up at 149 pounds, scored four first-period takedowns in a 9-4 win over John Aceri. McNally scored four takedowns, too, including two in the third period for a 10-2 major decision over Giuseppe Hoose at 174.
We saw a few freshmen, in Joey Zargo, Dean Hamiti and Braxton Amos. Zargo won a hard-fought 3-2 decision over Ben Freeman at 141, Hamiti scored seven takedowns in an 18-5 major over Jay Nivison at 165, and Amos scored two takedowns and added riding-time in an 8-2 win over Samuel Mitchell at 197.
And we saw the usual vets: Eric Barnett with a 4-2 win over Tristan Daugherty at 125, Chris Weiler with a 10-2 major over Peter Acciardi at 184, and Trent Hillger with an 11-4 win over Tobin Cahill at heavyweight.
Again, this was an expected result, this dominant 30-3 victory. Tougher tests await, like North Carolina later this month at the Garden State Grapple event, the Midlands in December, and the Big Ten slate starting in January. Those results will reveal just how good this Wisconsin team really is.
But the new look Badgers passed their first test - and looked pretty good doing it, too.
Ohio State tops North Carolina: The Buckeyes opened their season with a decisive 23-12 win over the Tar Heels on Sunday at the Covelli Center, in really one of the only marquee duals of the opening week.
Ohio State won the first six matches and ultimately took 7-of-10, and Carson Kharchla kicked the whole thing off with a 10-2 major-decision victory over Sonny Santiago at 165 pounds. He returned to action after missing last season with an injury. He might be a problem at this weight this year.
At 141, Jordan Decatur, who beat both Anthony Echemendia and Dylan D'Emilio in the Buckeyes' wrestle-offs to win the starting spot, took 14th-ranked Kizhan Clarke to overtime. Clarke scored a takedown to win, 3-1, in sudden victory, but perhaps Decatur could take a step forward this year at his new weight.
At 149, top-ranked Sammy Sasso beat fifth-ranked Zach Sherman, 4-3. Sasso led 3-0 at the start of the third period, then gave Sherman two points on an illegal cutback and locked hands. Sherman escaped at the buzzer, but Sasso won on riding-time.
And at 157, Austin O'Connor also looks comfortable at his new weight, pinning Jashon Hubbard early in the second period in the dual's final match. Hubbard actually led 2-1 entering the second period after a takedown on the edge. Then O'Connor reversed him to start the second and locked up the fall in 3:43.
Those were the big takeaways, or at least my big takeaways. Elsewhere: Ethan Smith put up 16 points but won by just six over Gavin Kane at 174; Rocky Jordan, not Kaleb Romero, started at 184 and beat Clay Lautt, 4-1; Gavin Hoffman put up 14 points and beat Mark Chaid by major decision at 197; and Jamie Hernandez first put the Tar Heels on the board with a 5-3 win over Dylan Koontz at 133.
Big Cass Wins World Title: Five Big Ten wrestlers repped the United States at the U23 world championships last week, and Iowa's Tony Cassioppi led the way by winning a gold medal at 125 kilograms (275 pounds). A leaner, meaner Big Cass went 4-0 and outscored his opponents 36-8 en route to first in the men's freestyle competition, which included a first-period pin in the finals over Greece's Azamat Khosonov in the finals.
Northwestern's Chris Cannon went 3-2 and took fifth at 61 kilos (134). He won twice and reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to Russia's Artur Chebodaev, 7-0. Chebodaev made the finals, and Cannon won again to reach the bronze-medal match, but lost to Mongolia's Narankhuu Narmandakh, 10-0.
The other three Big Ten wrestlers were: Iowa's Myles Wilson (1-1 at 86-kg), Nebraska's Peyton Robb (1-1 at 74-kg), and Ohio State's Nick Boykin (1-2 at 96-kg in Greco-Roman).
Purdue Wins Two: The Boilermakers took down both Drexel, 29-18, and Rider, 33-3, on Saturday, and this was really a tale of two duals.
Purdue had to muscle through the Dragons, who led 18-14 at one point after winning four in a row from 149-174, a stretch that included Luke Nichter beating Alec White via injury-default at 149 and Michael O'Malley pinned Gerrit Nijenhuis at 174. But Max Lyon stopped the bleeding with a 10-8 overtime win at 184, and both Thomas Penola and Michael Woulfe won at 197 and 285 to give Purdue the win.
The Boilermakers mostly returned to form in a lopsided win over Rider, taking 9-of-10 with two pins, from Matt Ramos, who went 2-0 with a pin and technical fall at 133 -against Rider's Richie Koehler, Ramos rallied from down 4-1 thanks to two third-period takedowns to force sudden victory, then took Koehler to his back for the fall - and Woulfe, who also went 2-0 with two pins.
Both Parker Filius and Trey Kruse had to score late to win their matches, too. Filius rallied from down 4-1 to beat Quinn Kinner, 7-5 in overtime, at 141. Kruse, who stepped in after White's injury against Drexel, gave up some early takedowns but scored in the second and third periods to beat Cole McComas, 8-7, at 149.
Indiana Wins Two: The Hoosiers opened with back-to-back 40-3 victories over Bellarmine and SIUE on Sunday, and the most noteworthy results here were two of Indiana's stars changing weights.
Brock Hudkins, a two-time NCAA qualifier at 125, started at 133 and won twice, a 13-4 major over Bellarmine's Max Dansereau and first-period fall over SIUE's Matt Malavsky. Donnell Washington, an NCAA qualifier last year at 174, bumped to 184 and also won twice, pinning both Bellarmine's Sam Schroeder and SIUE's Sergio Villalobos.
Rutgers Wins Three: The Scarlet Knights went a combined 27-3 in individual matches in three dual victories over Cleveland State, Binghamton, and New Jersey City University, which is an actual school that exists about 35 miles away from the RAC - err, Jersey Mike's Arena.
Anyway, yeah, Rutgers went 3-0. Boone McDermott went 2-0 at heavyweight; John Poznanski went 3-0 at 184; Greg Bulsak won his first two matches in a Rutgers singlet at 197; Dylan Shawver (125), Mike Van Brill (149), Robert Kanniard (157) all went 2-0; Sebastian Rivera recorded a 4-1 win over Binghamton's Ryan Anderson, the same Ryan Anderson who was a one-time Iowa State commit who went to Division III Centenary before joining Binghamton; and Binghamton's Anthony Sobotker pinned Sammy Alvarez in a nasty head-and-arm toss in the first period.
Interesting Open Results: Buckle up. There were a lot.
Let's start with the Michigan State Open. These are strictly from the Open Division.
At 133, Michigan State's Rayvon Foley made the finals and beat both Wisconsin's Kyle Burwick and Michigan's Drew Mattin; Illinois's Lucas Byrd took third and beat both Burwick and Michigan's Dylan Ragusin; and Ragusin beat Mattin for fifth in a matchup that could decide who starts for the Wolverines at that weight.
At 157, Michigan State's Chase Saldate took first, going 5-0 with four pins. At 174, Northwestern's Troy Fisher took first and registered wins over Michigan's Jaden Bullock, Illinois's DJ Shannon and, in the finals, Oklahoma's Anthony Mantanona.
At 165, Evan Wick, a former Badger who is now at Cal Poly, went 4-0 to take first, outscoring his opponents 56-4 along the way. But Northwestern's David Ferrante, who is contending to start for the Wildcats this year, beat Illinois's Danny Braunagel, 14-6, for third.
At 197, Oklahoma's Jake Woodley beat Michigan's Bobby Striggow, Northwestern's Andrew Davison, Michigan State's Cam Caffey and, in the finals, Michigan's Pat Brucki. Davison wrestled back for third with wins over Michigan State's Ryan Vasbinder and Illinois's Matt Wroblewski.
At 285, Northwestern's Lucas Davison took first with wins over Illinois's Luke Luffman, 10-4, in the semifinals, and Oklahoma's Josh Heindselman, 2-0, in the finals.
At the Clarion Open, a handful of Maryland wrestlers put up noteworthy performances:
The EIWA WEEK 1 RECAP
By Austin Sommer
Lehigh got upset by Campbell but beat Oregon State. I'm not worried about them just yet.
Princeton performed well at the Southeast Open. Monday (157) and Stout (197) took home titles.
The Pac-12 WEEK 1 RECAP
By Darius Levan
While its conference opponents were abroad, Arizona State conducted its intrasquad meet on November 5th with an exciting ten-match docket providing interesting results. While many presumptions regarding the Sun Devil line-up were confirmed by lopsided decisions and majors, a few weight classes were particularly noteworthy. At 174lbs, true-freshman Cael Valencia put together a 10-5 decision over RS-freshman Zane Coleman. At 141lbs, Jesse Vasquez was 2-0 on the day, notching two ten-point major decisions over Dom DiGena and Ethan Pickren. Finally, at 133lbs, All-American and #9 Michael McGee topped Julian Chlebove, scoring three takedowns to none in a match Assistant Coach Frank Molinaro described as "marquee" and "as scrappy as a[n] NCAA quarterfinal match."
Pac-12 wrestlers impressed onlookers in their first week on the mat against national competition. The Little Rock Trojans made their inaugural Trojan Open a memorable one, winning seven of ten weights and pushing a total of fourteen unattached and starting wrestlers into the tournament finals on November 6th. Of particular importance to the Trojans' line-up were a few head-to-head finals among their wrestlers. In the 133lbs finals, Jaylen Carson topped teammate Aidan Cambell, 6-0. At 149lbs, Joey Bianchi beat Austin Keal in a closer match, 6-4. At 174lbs, Triston Wills topped fellow Trojan Alexander Hernandez, 9-3. Tanner Mendoza topped Mason Diel for the tournament title at 184lbs, 7-5. Finally, in a round-robin bracket at 197lbs, Brooks Sacharczyk earned a first-period fall over teammate Matthew Weinert.
Also wrestling on Saturday the 6th were #18 Cal Poly, at the Michigan State Open, and #21 Oregon State, hosting Campbell and #24 Lehigh. The Mustangs had a strong showing, as their No. 1's demonstrated their mettle against a competitive early-season field. #3 Evan Wick showed his excellence in the 165lbs weight class with a bonus-point laden tournament victory, earning two hefty major decisions over #22 Danny Braunagel (Michigan) and #18 Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois). #6 Bernie Truax also advanced to the finals at 184lbs, notching a ranked win over #24 Layne Malczewski (Michigan State) in the semi-finals before medically forfeiting in the final against top-seed, #8 Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois). #33 Lawrence Saenz (141) was workmanlike on his run to the finals, defeating unranked but game competitors in Oklahoma's Jacob Butler (who upset Ohio State's Dylan D'Emilio in the second-round) and Northern Illinois's Jaivon Jones both by a 9-5 score. In the finals, favoring a shoulder throughout, Saenz dropped a 10-4 decision to Chance Lamer (Unattached-Michigan). Chance Lamer, who is coincidentally the brother of Cal Poly Mustangs, Legend and Brawley Lamer, advanced to the finals from the quarters on back-to-back medical forfeits from #12 Dresden Simon (Central Michigan) and UR Anthony Echemendia (Ohio State). At 174lbs, UR Adam Kemp put together a sound tournament, topping #23 Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois) along the way, to finish 3rd. #14 Legend Lamer (149) advanced to the tournament semis before medically bowing out of the tournament.
The #21 Oregon State Beavers split their season-opening duals, topping Campbell (23-12) and falling to #24 Lehigh (21-12). Across both duals, the Beavers had their share of elating highs and brow-raising lows. Currently unranked at 174lbs (with teammate #19 Trey Munoz the representative in the rankings at present), Mateo Olmos impressed spectators with two ranked wins over #12 Austin Murphy (Campbell), 6-4, and #24 Jake Logan (Lehigh), 4-1. The effort earned Olmos the season's first Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week honors. #10 Grant Willits was undefeated on his day, as well, earning two decisions. At 133lbs, #15 Devan Turner was upset by unranked Domenic Zaccone (Campbell), 5-4. This upset loss was juxtaposed by UR Jason Shaner's ranked-upset victory in the following dual-meet. Getting the nod against Lehigh, Shaner, an NJCAA All-American, defeated #17 (141) Malyke Hines, 10-8, to welcome the Mountain Hawk to 133lbs.
At the Menlo Open on November 7th, CSU Bakersfield and #15 Stanford took the mat against California teams from across the collegiate levels. For the Roadrunners, Head Coach Luke Smith was pleased with performances from tournament runner-up, UR Josh Brown -- who reached the 149lbs finals against Stanford's #7 Jaden Abas -- UR Albert Urias at 174lbs, a 3rd-place finisher whose only loss was a 10-7 decision to #31 Tyler Eischens (Stanford), and UR Augustin Garcia (165), another 3rd-place finisher on the day that topped teammate UR Hunter LaRue by 4-1 decision in the consolation-final. Garcia's only loss on the day was to #1 Shane Griffith (Stanford).
In addition to tournament titles from the aforementioned Jaden Abas, Tyler Eischens, and Shane Griffith, Stanford enjoyed titles from #29 (125) Jackson DiSario at 133lbs, UR Charlie Darracott at 157lbs, #28 Nick Stemmet at 197lbs, and UR Peter Ming at heavyweight for a total of seven champions across the ten weights. Competing unattached, Nico Provo won the lightweight title at 125lbs, bringing the title count to eight for Stanford. Additionally, UR Jason Miranda made the tournament finals before falling to teammate DiSario. Quite the start for Head Coach Rob Koll and company.
Altogether, Week 1 provided a good start for the teams across the Pac-12 as they get ready to enter the more challenging portions of their schedule. We will continue to eagerly observe the teams as they settle their line-ups and weather the first-semester's competition schedules. Look out for the upcoming Week 2 preview!
The SoCon WEEK 1 RECAP
By Rachel Gallardo
The Citadel Open
The Citadel
Presbyterian College
Southeast Open
Six of the nine schools in the #SoCon were represented this weekend at the #SouthEastOpen, picking up some big wins over the weekend
Placements (Top Four):
App State:
Campbell
Justin Rivera (149) and Cole Rees (184) took home championships in the Fr/So Division, while in the Open Division, heavyweight Taye Ghadali and 125-lb Joziah Fry took second and third place finishes, respectively.
Fourth place finishes for the Camels include Callum Sitek (141 Fr/So) and Conor Maslanek (197 Open).
UTC
Davidson
Gardner-Webb
VMI
Dual Meet Action
Chattanooga beats Cumberland, 25 - 15
The Mocs picked up six wins against Cumberland, with big wins coming from:
Campbell beats No. 16 Lehigh, 22 - 11
Notable matches of the dual include:
165/184: Troy Nation and #18 Caleb Hopkins both won bouts in Sudden Victory overtime, Nation beating #30 Brian Meyer 8-6 and Hopkins claiming a win over AJ Burkhart 4-2
197: Chris Kober with a Major Decision (12-2) over JT Davis
Campbell drops a loss to Oregon State, 23 - 12
Wins of the evening include:
Bellarmine beats SIUE, 19 - 18
After the match was tied up 18 - 18 after all ten bouts, the total points scored of the match were added, and the Knights outscored SIUE 57 - 53 in total match points.
All matches were close, but the big win of the day for the Knights came from Cole Nance (157) with a 6:35 Fall over Max Kristoff
Bellarmine takes a loss to Indiana, 40-3
The sole win of the day for the Knights during the bout against Indiana was for Devan Hendricks (165) with a 4-1 Decision over Sammy Cokeley
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