The Keith Young Invitational, hosted by Cedar Falls High School, is arguably the best tournament (and clearly among the top five events) held all year in the state of Iowa -- and it is on the opening weekend. The stellar field, which includes all three teams to sweep individual and dual meet titles last year in the state of Iowa -- No. 11 Waverly-Shell Rock, Denver-Tripoli, and Don Bosco -- is bolstered by the addition of Apple Valley, Minnesota, the nation’s top ranked team.
The sixteen team field also includes No. 12 Bettendorf, which is ranked first in state rankings for Iowa Class 3A, ahead of Waverly-Shell Rock; rankings published on November 22 by The Predicament. Other top ten teams from the state of Iowa in this field include North Scott, Mason City, and West Des Moines Valley.
Sixteen wrestlers in this field are the top ranked wrestler in their state tournament classification by either The Predicament (Iowa) or The Guillotine (Minnesota). Eleven of those are among the thirteen nationally-ranked wrestlers in this field. Nationally-ranked wrestlers marked with *, wrestlers ranked first in their weight class for their state tournament classification marked with ^.
103: ^Andrew Steiert (Waverly-Shell Rock)
112: *^Dylan Peters (Denver-Tripoli), *^Jordan Kingsley (Apple Valley, MN)
119: *Eric Devos (Waverly-Shell Rock)
125: ^Connor Ryan (Bettendorf), ^Gunner Wolfensperger (Denver-Tripoli)
130: *^Brandon Sorensen (Denver-Tripoli), *^Dakota Trom (Apple Valley, MN)
135: *^Matt Kelliher (Apple Valley, MN)
140: *^Bo Schlosser (Bettendorf)
145: ^Daniel Woiwor (Apple Valley, MN)
152: *^Destin McCauley (Apple Valley, MN), *^Cody Caldwell (Waverly-Shell Rock)
160: *^Steven Keogh (Apple Valley, MN)
171: *^Jake Waste (Apple Valley, MN)
189: ^Matt Hechsel (Apple Valley, MN)
285: *^Cody Krumwiede (Waverly-Shell Rock), *Brody Berrie (Bettendorf)
Cougar Invitational another Southeast showcase
Though this is not the opening weekend for high school wrestling in either Florida or Georgia, the Cougar Invitational hosted by Durant High School in Plant City, Florida will serve as another excellent showcase for the quality of wrestling present in the southeastern portion of the United States. There are three teams nationally ranked among the 32-team field: No. 4 Brandon, No. 23 Springstead, and No. 50 Collins Hill, Georgia.
Five other teams in this field finished in the top five of their respective state tournament classifications last year: Osceola, Lake Gibson, South Dade, Riverdale, and Valdosta, Georgia. Eight wrestlers in this tournament are nationally ranked, while eighteen others are also ranked first in their state tournament classification for the preseason. Credit for the state rankings goes to Scout's Florida Wrestling Rankings and those posted on GNWA.org
103: *Richie Bliss (Springstead), Darshawn Sharp (Valdosta, GA), Abe Fernandez (Strawberry Crest)
112: Shiquan Hall (South Dade), Dalton Langford (Riverdale), Drew Ferguson-Mitchell (Collins Hill, GA)
119: *Earl Hall (South Dade)
125: *Kevin Norstrem (Brandon), ranked at 130, Brandon Jorge (Lake Gibson), Bazell Partridge (Collins Hill, GA)
130: *Rossi Bruno (Brandon), ranked at 125, Nick Soto (Springstead), Spencer Rickman (Collins Hill, GA)
135: *Tyler Liberatore (Brandon)
140: Eric O’Neil (Winter Springs), Cody Ross (Springstead)
145: *Pete Baldwin (Osceola), Jose Lopez (Riverdale), Jovon Scott (Valdosta, GA)
152: *Clark Glass (Brandon), Shawn Landgraff (Springstead)
160: *Wally Figaro (Brandon)
171: Kyle Koziel (Brandon)
189: Mike Ettore (Brandon), Ty Cartmell (Viera), Mac Bennett (Collins Hill, GA)
*Indicates nationally-ranked wrestler
Tournament website: http://www.cougarinvitational.com
Early-season Panther Power
The story of the opening week of wrestling in the Land of Lincoln has to be the fantastic start for Glenbard North. Not mentioned among the top 50 teams in the preseason rankings, the Panthers have shown that this was probably a significant mistake. On Wednesday night, they hosted a quadrangular and swept the trio of matches: 57-12 over Lincoln Way Central, 55-13 over No. 43 Minooka, and 74-6 over Batavia. Then on Friday and Saturday, they dominated the field at the C.O. Feutz Wrestling Classic hosted by Conant High school.
The Panthers scored 270-1/2 points anchored by five champions, one runner-up, and three third place finishers. That was enough to significantly surpass the 211-1/2 total put up by No. 36 Crystal Lake Central on the strength of three champs, one runner-up, and three third-place finishers. The rest of the field could not even put up one-half the points that Glenbard North totaled over the two day event.
Champions for the Panthers were Jon Marmolejo (103), John Gosinski (112), Bryan Gonzalez (119), Joey Gosinski (130), and Brian Murphy (145), Don Boyle (285) finished in second place, while Wade Hazard (125), Mario Rodriguez (152), and Zach Durkee (215) took third place. Winning titles for Crystal Lake Central were three of their nationally ranked wrestlers -- Joey Kielbasa (152), Gage Harrah (189), and Austin Marsden (215). The fourth of the Tigers’ nationally ranked wrestlers -- Trevor Jauch, ranked ninth at 135 pounds -- wrestled up at 140 pounds, however, he was upended 3-1 by Mike Togher of Providence Catholic in the quarterfinals before coming back to finish third place. Kyle Fugiel (103) and Mike Zelasco (112) joined Jauch with a third place finish, while Clayton Lutzow (130) had a runner-up finish.
The absence of multiple nationally ranked wrestlers was as much of a story as the dominance of Glenbard North at the Feutz Classic. Notably not among those in the brackets were Eddie Klimara and Edwin Cooper for Providence Catholic, Sam Brooks for Oak Park River Forest, and Josh Marchok for Schaumburg. Other champions in the tournament were Isaiah Vela (125) from St. Charles East, Frank McKeown (135) from Naperville North, Mike Togher (140) from Providence Catholic, Stephan Kunca (160) from Leyden, Joe Caprio (171) from Rolling Meadows, and James Buss (285) from De La Salle.
Grade level rankings update
Almost three weeks ago, the initial weight class rankings for the 2010-11 season were unveiled. The corresponding update to the grade level rankings was just completed.
There is one new No. 1, and that is Brooks Black (Blair Academy, NJ) in the Class of 2013. Prior No. 1 Bo Jordan (Graham, OH) drops to the second position. Remaining in the catbird positions are Destin McCauley (Apple Valley, MN) for the Class of 2011, Taylor Massa (St. John’s, MI) for the Class of 2012, Chance Marstellar (Kennard Dale, PA) for the Class of 2014, and Mark Hall (Minnesota) for junior high wrestlers.
Catching up on the Tulsa Kickoff Classic
The following is a list of placers from the 2010 Tulsa Kickoff Classic, the opening event of the Roller World of Wrestling Triple Crown: http://www.worldofwrestling-roller.com/assets/0000/0614/results.pdf
Other highlights for the initial weekend of December
Coming off of a 51-24 loss to No. 43 Minooka, Illinois, during a quadrangular meet last weekend, No. 30 Mount Carmel, Illinois will compete in dual meets against fellow nationally ranked teams -- No. 18 Marmion Academy, Illinois on Thursday; No. 20 Montini Catholic, Illinois on Saturday.
A pair of nationally ranked teams -- No. 32 Christiansburg, Virginia, and No. 35 Cox, Virginia, headline the 17-team Hopewell Classic this Friday and Saturday.
McDonogh, Maryland hosts the Ray Oliver Tournament this Friday and Saturday, a 21-team field that includes notable teams from Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Both the Hopewell Classic and Ray Oliver Tournament can be followed through Track Wrestling.
Look for updated national team rankings to be published next week to reflect the happenings of the first week or so of scholastic wrestling from across the country.
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