Taylor Massa (Photo/Rob Preston)Note: Recap items use the previous rankings (team rankings updated Jan. 18 and individual rankings updated Jan. 11). Preview items use the new team rankings and individual rankings as of Jan. 11.
Michigan's best come into the Eagles' nest
No. 2 St. Edward, Ohio will host No. 3 St. Johns, Mich., and No. 15 Detroit Catholic Central, Mich., as part of a double dual on Saturday starting at 4:00 p.m. ET. As part of the event, the two Michigan schools will also compete in dual meet competition against Akron SVSM, Ohio. The following are expected lineups for St. Edward, St. Johns, and Detroit Catholic Central.
106: L.J. Bentley (SE), Drew Wixsom (SJ), Trevor Zdebski (DCC)
113: Alex Moore, No. 14 Zac Hall, Myles Amine
120: Colin Heffernan, Logan Massa, T.J. Fagan
126: No. 2 Dean Heil, Jacob Schmitt, Ken Bade
132: No. 8 Edgar Bright, Brant Schafer, Malik Amine
138: Nick Barber, Josh Pennell, Logan Marcicki
145: Markus Scheidel, No. 2 Ben Whitford, No. 19 Alec Mooradian
152: Matt Van Curen, Travis Curley, Nick Mason
160: Jacob Davis, No. 20 Jordan Wohlfert, Andrew Garcia
170: No. 5 Mark Martin, No. 1 Taylor Massa, Nick Giese
182: No. 11 Domenic Abounader, Mike Schafer, Kevin Beazley
195: No. 20 James Suvak, Payne Hayden, J.T. Ayotte
220: No. 14 Ty Walz, Conrado Dominguez/Blake Cooper, Jay Peterson
285: Joe Belford, Blake Cooper/Nick Proctor, Bob Coe
In the matchup of No. 2 against No. 3, St. Edward would be rated as favorites in five matches (106, 126, 132, 182, and 220), St. Johns the favorite in four (113, 145, 152, and 170), with five key swing matchups (120, 138, 160, 195, and 285). In the matchup against Detroit Catholic Central, St. Edward would be rated as favorites in eight matches (113, 126, 132, 160, 170, 182, 195, and 220), Detroit Catholic Central has the edge in three (106, 145, 285), with four somewhat tossup matches (120, 138, and 152).
Clark falls, but Southeast Polk still wins loaded Ed Winger Invitational
Two days after Topher Carton (see note below) fell of the list of career undefeated, there were two such seniors featured in this loaded tournament hosted by Urbandale (Iowa) High School -- Cory Clark (Southeast Polk, Iowa) ranked No. 3 at 126 pounds, and John Meeks (Des Moines Roosevelt, Iowa) raked No. 1 at 138 pounds. Each wrestler would have a high profile opponent in their championship final match.
Meeks extended his career undefeated mark to 149 wins without a loss, when he upended No. 9 Brandon Sorenson (Denver-Tripoli, Iowa) who bumped up a weight class seeking out this match; Sorenson beat a formidable three-time state runner-up Connor Ryan (Bettendorf, Iowa), 4-1, to make that match happen. On the other hand, with a late third period takedown, No. 18 Jack Hathaway (Iowa City West) pulled off his second big-time win in as many weeks with a 2-1 victory over Clark that ended the streak of 163 straight wins to start his career.
Each of the big three teams -- No. 10 Bettendorf, No. 14 Southeast Polk, and No. 21 Iowa City West, placed eleven wrestlers. Despite having Clark fall to defeat it was Southeast Polk that emerged as champions with three titlists; three runners-up; one each in third, fifth, and sixth; as well as a pair finishing seventh in amassing 207 points. Champions for the Rams were No. 6 Alex Meyer (170), Bud Smith (195), and No. 3 Willie Miklus (220); while Clark was joined by Dylan Blackford (152) and Bryce Fisher (285) as second place finishers; with Tim Miklus (160) taking third place.
Despite ten top-three finishers, Bettendorf finished in second place with 201.5 points due in part to a 1-5 record in championship matches, as well as the absence of two wrestlers ranked No. 5 in Class 3A according to The Predicament (Jacob Woodard at 126 and Keaton Jurevitz at 195). The lone Bulldog championship came from InterMat JJ Classic champion Fredy Stroker at 113 pounds, who won by medical forfeit over No. 20 Phillip Laux (Iowa City West). Second-place finishers were Jacob Schwarm (106), Logan Ryan (132), Bubba Hernandez (145), Colby Vance (170), and No. 19 Nate Shaw (220). Finishing in third place for Bettendorf were Drake Swarm (120), Connor Ryan (138), Drake Chase (152), and Bryan Levsen (170).
Iowa City West scored 193.5 points anchored by titles from Hathaway as well as No. 15 Dakota Bauer (132) and No. 16 Justin Koethe (160). The Trojans also had a pair of wrestlers take second, fourth, and sixth place with additional individuals taking seventh and eighth. Runner-up finishes came from Laux ad Mickey Pelfrey (195).
Rounding out the list of weight class champions were Taner Rohweder (Dowling Catholic, Iowa) at 106 pounds; No. 7 Dylan Peters (Denver-Tripoli, Iowa) at 120, a two-time state champion who extended his consecutive win streak to 139 matches; No. 1 Meeks at 138; No. 6 Gabriel Moreno (Urbandale, Iowa) at 145, Keegan Mumma (ADM-Adel, Iowa) at 152; Garrett Smith (Denver-Tripoli) at 182; and Dan Dawson (Indianola, Iowa) at 285.
Results: http://static.psbin.com/m/4/nfq7gay6g9ap2w/Ed_Winger_Invite_-_Final_Results.pdf
Detroit Catholic Central splits duals against nationally ranked opposition
No. 15 Detroit Catholic Central, Mich., invited No. 16 Cincinnati Moeller, Ohio, and No. 29 Lowell, Mich., into town as part of a double dual this past Saturday (Richmond, Mich. was the other team in on the festivities. The first of the matches featured DCC facing Lowell, with Lowell getting the 27-24 upset victory in a dual meet which was 7-7 in terms of matches. The Red Arrows won the majority of the critical tossup matches, including the biggest match swing in all at 171 pounds as Garrett Stehley was able to erase a 6-3 deficit against Andrew Garcia by catching him to his back and earning the fall at the 5:08 mark.
Prior to that, momentum was headed in Lowell's direction anyway, as Angus Arthur had pulled off an opening match upset over Logan Marcicki with a 4-2 overtime victory at 145, with No. 16 Andrew Morse scoring a 4-0 victory sealed by a third period near-fall from a spladle to upend No. 19 (at 145) Alec Mooradian. Morse and Mooradian are the top two rated 152 pound wrestlers in Michigan, though Mooradian competes at 145 in out-of-state events using the NFHS weights. Nick Mason had weathered the storm (somewhat) for the Shamrocks with a 7-3 victory over Jake Stehley at 160.
Detroit Catholic Central was able to momentarily weather the Lowell storm in the upper weights, with a mild upset victory from Kevin Beazley at 189 pounds, when he scored a 2-1 overtime tiebreak victory over No. 6 (at 195) Gabe Dean to reduce the deficit to 12-6. With an 18-12 lead heading into the 112 match, Lowell put the final key piece of the victory in place with a 7-6 ultimate tiebreak victory for Bailey Jack over Myles Amine. The Shamrocks were able to pull back into a 24-24 tie with one match remaining, but state champion Gabe Morse closed out the dual meet at 140 pounds with a 7-2 victory over Riley Hanson.
In the afternoon's second dual meet, it was a slightly different story, as the Shamrocks bounced back to upend Cincinnati Moeller 34-19. As somewhat expected based on the matchups using Michigan weight classes, Detroit Catholic Central was able to win nine matches. Keys to the dual meet victory included a pair of wins over Ironman placers within the first three matches of the dual meet -- No. 19 (at 145) Alec Mooradian defeated Dakota Sizemore 1-0 at 152 pounds, while Andrew Garcia beat Michael Blum 4-2 at 171. Moeller did have a 12-11 lead after six matches, which were 152 through 285, but key lower weight wins from Trevor Zdebski (103), Myles Amine (112), Ken Bade (125), Malik Amine (130), Riley Hanson (140), and a pin from Logan Marcicki (145) sealed the deal.
Mendenhall Duals championship likely to feature Iowa's top two teams
No. 10 Bettendorf and No. 14 Southeast Polk are the anchor teams at the Mendenhall Duals to be hosted by Ames High School this Saturday. It is highly likely that these two teams will meet in dual meet competition for the first time this year. In early January, Bettendorf out-pointed Southeast Polk at the Cheesehead Invitational in Wisconsin; while this past weekend, Southeast Polk did the same to Bettendorf, though the Bulldogs were without two key starters. Here are the projected lineups for this dual meet -- listed in parentheses is the most recent Class 3A ranking for each wrestler per The Predicament. Based on those rankings, each team would be favored in seven matches (Bettendorf in six of the first seven weights, Southeast Polk in six of the last seven weights).
106: (No. 5) Jacob Schwarm (Bett) vs. (No. 6) Aaron Meyer (SEP)
113: (No. 2) Fredy Stroker vs. Keegan Shaw
120: (No. 7) Drake Swarm vs. Cory Parsons
126: (No. 5) Jacob Woodard vs. No. 3 (No. 1) Cory Clark
132: (No. 5) Logan Ryan vs. (No. 6) Dylan Buchheit
138: (No. 3) Connor Ryan vs. Briar Dittmer
145: (No. 2) Bubba Hernandez vs. Spencer Chismore
152: (No. 8) Drake Chase vs. (No. 5) Dylan Blackford
160: Eli Pressier/AJ Dougherty vs. (No. 7) Tim Miklus
170: (No. 4) Colby Vance vs. No. 6 (No. 1) Alex Meyer
182: (No. 2) Bryan Levsen vs. (No. 4) Casey Marnin
195: (No. 5) Keaton Jurevitz vs. (No. 2) Bud Smith
220: No. 19 (No. 2) Nate Shaw vs. No. 3 (No. 1) Willie Miklus
285: Anthony Cavanagh vs. (No. 2) Bryce Fisher
Unfortunate injury news ...
No. 4 ranked 285 pound wrestler Greg Kuhar (St. Edward, Ohio) will see his wrestling career come to an end as he undergoes major knee surgery this coming week. Ranked No. 64 overall in the Class of 2012, Kuhar will play football at Northwestern as a defensive lineman.
The rest of the week that was ...
No. 1 Blair Academy, N.J., dominated five opponents at the NHSCA Final Four of Wrestling on Saturday in Easton, Pa. The Buccaneers substituted somewhat liberally through their lineup over the course of the dual meets, with only six of their eleven individual match losses coming from members of the starting lineup. Blair Academy defeated Delaware Valley, Pa., 53-9, Franklin, Mass., 64-6, Council Rock South, Pa., 60-13, Robinson, Va., 60-7, and Easton, Pa., 53-6. Easton came up with a big win during preliminary competition when they upset No. 30 Collins Hill by a 43-19 score. 113 pound wrestler Ryan Millhof (Collins Hill, Ga.) won outstanding wrestler honors for the event, most notably due to his 3-0 victory over No. 11 Billy Rappo (Council Rock South). The most intriguing match of the day saw No. 5 (at 152) Mitch Minotti (Easton) defeat No. 9 Dylan Milonas, 4-2, at 145 pounds.
No. 2 St. Edward, Ohio, beat No. 7 St. Paris Graham, Ohio, 39-17, in a battle of the Buckeye State's best two teams on Saturday evening. The Eagles won ten of the weight classes, partly due to a 3-0 record in overtime matches, which included a 3-2 victory in the tiebreakers for No. 11 Domenic Abounader over No. 4 Huston Evans to avenge a loss in the Ironman final earlier this season. Other matches of interest include No. 2 Dean Heil (St. Edward), a junior, earning a 7-5 victory over sophomore Micah Jordan in a battle of wrestlers that could win four state titles; No. 13 Blake Kastl (St. Paris Graham) sneaking out of Lakewood with a 4-3 victory over Markus Scheidel; and No. 4 Isaac Jordan (St. Paris Graham) earning a major decision against Jacob Davis.
No. 3 St. Johns, Mich., upended No. 29 Lowell, Mich. 41-18 on Wednesday night winning nine of the fourteen weight classes (Detroit Catholic Central had lost to St. Johns 31-21 while splitting the fourteen weight classes 7-7 the previous Saturday). Each team was missing a nationally ranked wrestler that took away a probable win from their totals -- St. Johns was without No. 14 Zac Hall at 113, while Lowell was without No. 16 Andrew Morse at 152. Two key matches of interest went in Lowell's favor as well -- Gabe Morse upended Josh Pennell at 140 by 3-2 score, which was his second win over Pennell this year, and No. 6 (at 195) Gabe Dean beat Payne Hayden 5-3 at 189.
No. 10 Bettendorf, Iowa, took it to rival Davenport Assumption, Iowa, 47-21, in a Thursday night dual meet. Of more import was the fact that senior 132 pound wrestler Topher Carton (Davenport Assumption), who had yet to lose in his high school career, fell to an 8-5 defeat by sophomore Logan Ryan. Carton had beaten Ryan by major decision at their conference meet the prior Saturday.
No. 20 Tulsa Union, Okla., won the championship at the Midwest Duals hosted by Oklahoma City University with a 34-30 victory over No. 17 Allen, Texas. The dual came down to the final match at 220 pounds, where Abdul Alyia upended Stone Drulman 3-2 in the ultimate tiebreaker. In the previous weight class, at 195 pounds, the Redskins had the chance to cinch the dual, but Nick Cobb was able to outlast Blasé Walser 4-3 in overtime. This came after Allen had to win the last three matches to beat Collinsville, Okla. 28-26 in the semifinal round. This came after a double forfeit at 160 pounds; and then No. 7 (at 152) Oliver Pierce bumped up one weight class from a 160 weigh-in to get a major decision, Mark Meyer (182) got a major decision, and Nick Cobb (195) scored a regular decision to secure the victory. Also key was a 4-1 victory from Jarred Trotter at 126 pounds over Gary Wayne Harding. Not helping the Allen cause was the absence of No. 14 Jack Bass from the lineup at 138 pounds.
The absolute chaos and anarchy, parity and mediocrity which is NJSIAA wrestling in the Garden State continued this past week. No. 36 Jackson Memorial escaped with a 27-26 victory over Southern Regional at midweek, despite winning only six of the fourteen weight classes (although the Jaguars were without key starter Alec Huxford at 106). Then, on Sunday, No. 45 St. Peter's Prep was upset 29-28 by Brick Memorial.
The rest of the coming week ...
No. 12 Bethlehem Catholic, Pa., travels to No. 30 Easton, Pa., for a dual meet on Saturday.
No. 13 Christiansburg, Va., hosts No. 41 Colonial Forge, Va., in a dual meet on Saturday.
No. 29 Oak Park River Forest, Ill., travels to No. 27 Montini Catholic, Ill., for a dual meet this evening.
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