2024 U23 Nationals: By the Numbers

There are always some standout statistical performances at the big summer tournaments, but the recent U23 Nationals event appeared to really turn some heads. The following looks at some of the top performances and some other odd statistical occurrences. Point Differential After a big tournament, point differential is often one of the most interesting metrics to look at, because it measures both a wrestler’s offensive and defensive performance simultaneously. In most cases, the top performers in terms of point differential have had the most impressive tournaments. That is certainly the case when looking at this past weekend’s U23 freestyle nationals. The heavyweight champion Lucas Stoddard averaged 4.92 points per minute while allowing his opponents to only score 0.07. His resulting +4.85 point differential was the highest across the tournament by a pretty wide margin. This past season as a freshman at Army West Point, Stoddard went 22-16 and qualified for the NCAA tournament. He came up short in his quest to become an All-American as he dropped both of his NCAA matches against veterans Lucas Davison (Michigan) and Hunter Catka (Virginia Tech). Stoddard’s performance in freestyle paints the picture of a competitor ready to take another step forward. The Black Knight wrestler entered the event as the 30th seed, but he was still able to win all seven of his matches by superiority. He allowed only a single match point in the event. That point came against Logan Shephard in the quarterfinals. In the first 30 seconds of the match, the Bucknell wrestler was able to get to a standing single. It looked like he was going to be able to finish the hold, but Stoddard held his whizzer, and Shephard was forced to settle for a step out. Stoddard then took over. By the time the buzzer sounded for the end of the first period, he was up 11-1, and the match was over. In the finals, Stoddard faced off against a familiar opponent. This past college season, he faced off twice against conference rival Nathan Taylor of Lehigh. Their first meeting came in early November. Taylor scored a 19-3 technical fall with nearly two minutes left in the bout. They rematched in February, and the Lehigh wrestler was slightly less dominant and walked away with a 15-3 major decision. Perhaps Stoddard learned something from those encounters, he has an edge in freestyle or both. This past weekend, it was entirely one-way traffic in the opposite direction. Stoddard scored a pair of 10-0 victories, and Taylor failed to even make it out of the first period. Top Five Point Differentials 125 kg: Lucas Stoddard +4.85 79 kg: Patrick Kennedy +3.63 86 kg: John Gunderson +3.51 61 kg: Drake Ayala +3.11 61 kg: Nic Bouzakis +2.71 Points per Minute East Stroudsburg wrestler Luke Ciampa went 26-10 this past season but came up short of qualifying for the NCAA Division II tournament. He has one year left to try to earn a trip to the national tournament. If his performance at U23 nationals is any indication, he will not be afraid to go for it. He finished only 2-2 at 86 kg in the event, but all of his matches were fast and decisive. Both of Ciampa’s victories were finished inside the first period. He scored a 13-2 superiority victory over Luke Justice and pinned Jet Galbreath while leading by a 10-2 score. On the other side of the equation, both of his losses were shutout 10-0 victories in under a minute. Interestingly, all of the quick matches left him with the highest scoring rate of the entire tournament. He averaged 5.17 points per minute, which slightly outpaced Stoddard. Even with the high scoring rate, his boom-or-bust style left him with a substandard point differential. He actually finished with a negative point differential (-0.22) as his opponents average 5.39 points per minute Top Five Points per Minute 86 kg: Luke Ciampa 5.17 125 kg: Lucas Stoddard 4.92 70 kg: Samuel Hillegas 4.66 79 kg: Brendon Abdon 4.56 65 kg: Carter Schmidt 4.55 Points Against per Minute As previously established, Stoddard allowed only one point on his way to the title at 125 kg. However, he surprisingly did not have the best points against per minute rate. That honor belongs to Massoma Endene. Like Stoddard, he only allowed a single point on his path to the title at 97 kg. However, he had slightly less match time, so he finished with 0.05 points against per minute rate, which eclipses Stoddard’s 0.07. The score against Endene came in the semifinals where he faced off against Stanford’s Nick Stemmet. While holding a 7-0 lead, Endene avoided a hard charge from Stemmet. He held off the takedown, but he did step out in the scramble. That was the only point he allowed in the tournament. For the last two seasons, Endene was wrestling for Wartburg. He was 54-1 and captured a pair of Division III national titles at 197 pounds. This past season, he transferred to Wisconsin, and he is expected to start for the Badgers in the brutal Big Ten conference. Top Five Points Against Per Minute 97 kg: Massoma Endene 0.05 125 kg: Lucas Stoddard 0.07 92 kg: Jacob Cardenas 0.14 65 kg: Roman De La Cruz 0.17 79 kg: Patrick Kennedy 0.20 Highest Scoring Match In some big tournaments like this, wrestlers will drop out of the event once they hit the consolation bracket. Some other wrestlers will end up in shootouts and fill up the scoreboard. Benjamin Mower and Mikey Squires met in the 86 kg consolation Round of 16 and ended up combining for a whopping 52 points, which was the most of the tournament. It was clear from the start that it was going to be a high-scoring match. Mower scored a step out in the first five seconds of the contest. He then scored a takedown and a pair of gut wrenches to go up 7-0. However, Squires scored a reversal of his own and followed that up with a turn. After multiple scrambles and reviews, the two went to the break with Mower leading by a 14-13 score. The second period was more of the same as both wrestlers continued to get to their offense. Eventually, Mower was able to take over late in the contest. He held a 23-21 lead with 1:16 left in the bout. He spun behind for a takedown and then went to work on top with a pair of gut wrenches. That put him up 29-21. When the match returned to its feet, Squires was visibly exhausted, and Mower got behind for another score. The match was finally over. Top Four Highest Scoring Matches 86 kg: Benjamin Mower defeated Mikey Squires 31-21 79 kg: Brodie Porter defeated Brady Schuh 26-20 74 kg: Christopher Earnest defeated Tyler Swiderski 21-19 61 kg: Kevin Honas defeated Genaro De La Garza 20-19 Will Lewan Most Match Time Award The large brackets can also make for some extensive runs through the consolation bracket. Nobody in the tournament spent more time on the mats than Oklahoma State’s Brayden Thomspon. The redshirt freshman lost against Maximus Hale in the Round of 16, but he fought all the way back to a sixth-place finish. Along the way, Thompson wrestled nine matches and collected 47:55 of match time. Multiple wrestlers had 10 matches in the bracket, but nobody spent more time wrestling than Thompson. Victory From the Mouth of Defeat With the ability to win by fall, a wrestler is never technically out of a match until the final buzzer. That was likely never more true than it was for Cole Handlovic. The Cornell wrestler was trailing West Virginia wrestler Samuel Hillegas by an 8-0 score when he reversed a chest wrap and locked up the fall. He scored the victory despite trailing 8-2 on the scoreboard. Across the event, there were 14 matches where the trailing wrestler won by fall, but nobody accomplished this with a greater deficit than Handlovic did against Hillegas.

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2024 U23 Nationals: By the Numbers

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