The fall can be challenging for the NCAA's toughest premier athletes. Many are coming to the reality that the hedonism of the summer has been cooled by morning lifts, two-and-a-half hour practices, and a slate filled with classes.
Most are also coming to grips with a season of weight management, to which Thanksgiving's cranberry sauces and green bean casseroles are ill-aligned. The resulting caloric restriction and dinnertime sulking -- filled with gaunt faces and cries for time spent away from the food -- is all but an official scene in the tableau of a wrestler's life. Same is said for the dusky post-dinner jog around the neighborhood -- an immediate counterattack against whichever pie found its way past security.
These scenes in mind, be a little kinder this year to those young men and women at the table with big dreams and small stomachs. Don't bring up politics, stick to sports, and always be sure to pass the gravy.
Happy Thanksgiving.
To your questions …
Seth Gross defends a shot from Nick Suriano at the Bill Farrell Memorial International Open (Photo/Larry Slater)Q: Can Seth Gross win internationally with a predominantly shot-defense offense? Or will the Eastern Europeans finish clean when they need to?
-- Tony R.
Foley: The latter more than the former, but Gross' style does seem to frustrate a heck of a lot of guys including Nick Suriano who looked to have his early round match at the Farrell locked up before Gross pulled out some magic.
The cut to 57 kilograms had to be awful for Gross and it makes me wonder what he'll be like in a few months after having to pop down for big tournaments. Still, in regard to his style I tend to agree that the Russian wrestlers don't tend to find difficulty in finishing cleanly when they absolutely must in order to get their takedowns. On the occasion that they do engage in prolonged scrambles a number of the European wrestlers actually fair pretty well.
Oddly, I think that its Kumar Ravi of India who could really get under Gross' skin, as he does a lot of the same stuff and has an absolutely indomitable gas tank.
Will be interesting to see where Gross competes again this year in freestyle. But to my earlier point, he may avoid at least some of the injury from bouncing down to weight now that he is qualified for the Olympic Team Trials and can forgo the U.S. Open.
Q: What was your biggest takeaway from the Bill Farrell Memorial International Open?
-- Mike C.
Foley: The number of entries. The Olympic year prompted USA Wrestling to incentivize wrestlers to compete in as many tournaments as possible and for the Farrell the carrot was a pass to the Olympic Team Trials. That is HUGE for any athlete who wants to avoid the grind of the U.S. Open and focus entirely on peaking for the Trials.
Kyle Snyder gets his hand raised after winning the Bill Farrell Memorial International Open (Photo/Larry Slater)I was also impressed with Kyle Snyder's offense during the weekend. I think that he's often less cautious against American opponents, but it was nice to see him setting up more attacks and taking some more chances on the mat. I also thought he looked a little more fluid in his motion on his feet, but I also admit that seeing him wrestle is a Rorschach Test on how influential one thinks Cael can be on the style of a wrestler.
Jordan Oliver also looked pretty dope. Good for him to keep grinding and I think that Tony Ramos and Coleman Scott are having a positive impact on Oliver and his late career development.
Q: There was an ESPN "30 for 30" called The Prince of Pennsylvania on the Schultz brothers' relationship with John du Pont. If ESPN produced another 30 for 30 on wrestling, what subject do you think would appeal to the masses?
-- Mike C.
Foley: First, I think that the best documentary on the topic was John Greenhalgh's "Team Foxcatcher" which you can watch on Netflix right now. Gutting in every way, but also captures a moment in time that we forget wrestling had to trudge past. Not just the killing of Dave Schultz, but the mentality of subordinating our values to those who promise to find overseas competitions.
The 30 for 30 series tends to focus on moments that alter the national conscience and speak to some larger issue, but that happen to involve sports. The Rulon Gardner beating Aleksander Karelin story has layers (it'll be a documentary on Olympic Channel this spring) but it only vaguely touches on larger geopolitical tensions.
I think Helen Maroulis beating Saori Yoshida is a big moment, but it's probably not the larger story that would attract a 30 for 30. The Kaori Icho four-time champions and Me Too inspired actions could maybe qualify, but again not quite to the level of a 30 for 30.
The best might be Zhan Beleniuk. Zhan is the only son of a Rwandan-refugee father who died when he returned to his home country to fight in its Civil War. He grew up in a hard scrabble set of circumstances but eventually found his way through wrestling, winning Olympic silver and earlier this year was elected a member of Parliament at only 28 years old -- and the first person of color to ever do so in Ukraine.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Ravi Kumar
How good is Gadzhimurad Rashidov?
Freestyle highlights from the World Championships
MMA World Championships … hmmm
Q: What do you make of the Bo Nickal vs. Gordon Ryan match with modified grappling rules? Does Bo have a chance to win? Or is it just a way for him to get his name out there?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Well, I'm happy for Team USA and Bo Nickal's Olympic hopes that these rules forbid leg locks, because Gordon Ryan would absolutely grip it and rip it should he get within spitting distance of Bo Nickal's ankle. Gordon isn't a nice person. He won't take it easy.
I don't know that I completely understand the scoring for these hybrid event, but I do know that the match will end with a submission. That makes this somewhat anticlimactic as I'm 100 percent certain Bo is either going to get choked from the back, arm locked, or guillotined within the first ten minutes.
Look, I get it. This is a promotion and Nickal is raising his name ID by getting in front of another MMA-adjacent crowd. Kudos. But he should definitely be ready to defend himself for 15 straight minutes and be ready to tap. There is no pride in not being able to use your arm for three months or going to sleep for everyone to see.
Again, I get it … but as a professional athlete I wouldn't put myself in harm's way for the sake of some free promotion. I've trained jiu-jitsu for 8-9 years, can wrestle well enough, and am just about the same size as Ryan and Nickal and there is almost no chance I am beating Ryan in a submission grappling match. Nickal hasn't trained jiu-jitsu. This isn't sport, it's theater of the absurd.
I really, really hope Nickal doesn't get injured and we can just move past this moment.
Q: How about Rider? Upset Minnesota last week. What are they looking like as a program?
-- Donald B.
Foley: Outrageous result! Matches like these are exactly why the National Duals, or a dual team national championship is so viable, because any two jamokes can talk about lesser-known school upsetting the larger one. It draws fans in, makes them pay attention to their next matches more closely, and provides 2-3 days of extra stories in the paper. Individual tournaments are great, but they just can't generate the same type of press coverage.
Here's another one for you … what about a Premier League like standings where you earn points throughout the year, meaning every match counts toward your end-of-year viability. Instead of coaches making the schedule the NCAA does and then takes a top eight into the national dual meet championships. Could be a winning idea, especially once the NCAA collapses in on itself and explodes, like a dying star.
As for the match, I only saw the results, which I've added here as a box score. Really impressive win and great job by all the athletes and Coach Hangey.
Rider 21, Minnesota 17
125: Jonathan Tropea (Rider) dec. Patrick McKee (Minnesota), 10-3
133: Chris Wright (Rider) dec. Brent Jones (Minnesota), 6-5
141: Mitch McKee (Minnesota) pinned Herb Edwards (Rider), 0:40
149: Brayton Lee (Minnesota) dec. Gino Fluri (Rider), 11-7
157: Jesse Dellavecchia (Rider) dec. Carson Brolsma (Minnesota), 3-2
165: Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) maj. dec. Georgio Poullas (Rider), 17-9
174: Dean Sherry (Rider) pinned Devin Skatzka (Minnesota), 2:54
184: Owen Webster (Minnesota) maj. dec. George Walton (Rider) 11-3
197: Ethan Laird (Rider) dec. Dylan Anderson (Minnesota) 11-4
285: Ryan Cloud (Rider) dec. Boddy Stevenson (Minnesota), 1-0
Gable Steveson warms up before a dual meet against Purdue (Photo/David Peterson, Minnesota/USA Wrestling)Q: Do you think Gable Steveson will return to the Gopher lineup this season?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Impossible to tell. The length of the investigation and the fact it's now crested past the 90-day window that was previously announced could mean that they are days away from filing charges, or that they are waiting on some key piece of evidence to come back. I doubt that if things were concluded there would be much reason to pause before announcement, especially if they were doing so at the risk of not hitting their self-imposed 90-day timeline.
The matter within the university seems straightforward at the moment: as long as Steveson is under investigation he is suspended from the team. Should the county not file charges and removes him from investigation the school would have a pathway to reinstatement, but that doesn't mean he'd be welcomed back right away. There could be a school disciplinary actions taken that could either remove him from the team, and possibly the university.
Given the pace of the case thus far I'd find it difficult to believe that he'll be returning this semester. He can compete at the international level right now because he is under investigation and Safe Sport would only intercede if he were charged.
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