PSU

[BAC]

Seeing that Penn State just received an award from USA Wrestling for its Olympic support (https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2022/December/01/USA-Wrestling-honors-Penn-State), I got to wondering:  How would an Olympic team (if it were in 2022) fare if composed of ONLY current PSU wrestlers?  

Its a surprisingly strong team -- better than any recent roster of current collegiate wrestlers I can think of.

55Kg:  Howard.  He's injured now and he wouldn't be a medal threat, but he's made a multiple cadet world teams.  Took 5th once and a Youth Olympic gold.  A weak link here but could win a match with a good draw.

60Kg:  RBY.  He has multiple folkstyle wins over world silver medalist Fix, and his style is well suited to freestyle with his neutral prowess.  He'd be a definite medal threat.

65Kg:  Bartlett.  Though he isn't lighting it up in folkstyle, his freestyle background is strong.  He's a past junior world medalist and a PanAm champ.  Could he medal at the Olympics?  Well, not now.  But competitive?  Yes.

74Kg:  Starocci.  He made the senior world team last go-round.  After JB and Dake, he's already right there in the mix with the likes of Marstellar, Vincenzo and Dieringer.  He narrowly lost at U23s this year and took a bronze.  Probably not likely to medal but a threat?  I think so.

86Kg:  Brooks.  Has multiple folk wins over Olympic bronze medalist.  Heir apparent to DT.  A plausible medal threat.

97Kg:  Dean.  Don't know much about his freestyle background, but the weight class is pretty barren after Snyder.  Not a medal threat, but has beaten multiple age-group medalists in folk and could sneak in a win.

120kg:  Kerkvliet.  1x Cadet gold, 2x Cadet/Junior silver, 1x U23 5th -- all from 2019 and earlier, before his level jump at PSU.  Just beat past U23 champ Cassioppi in folk. Tough to medal at senior level with how good the top 3 are internationally but still a threat with the right draw.

OK, so its not like they'd light it up, but nor would they embarrass themselves.  Curious to see how many of these guys end up with senior level medals.

[mspart]

I think a better measure of PSU is look at who on the world team is associated with it right now.   Gilman, Retherford, Dake, Taylor, Snyder.   Of those, three are transplants from other areas.   That there tells you they are doing something right over there. 

mspart

[BigRedFan]

7 minutes ago, mspart said:

That there tells you they are doing something right over there. 

mspart

Slush fund?

[mspart]

Better training coaches and partners?

mspart

 

[nhs67]

Did the UWW weight classes change?

[Dark Energy]

Not a single current PSU team member would win any medal at senior worlds.  Not at this time at least.  

[Theo Brixton]

1 hour ago, Dark Energy said:

Not a single current PSU team member would win any medal at senior worlds.  Not at this time at least.  

I would really like to see what RBY can do. Curious how his style would translate to FS. I suspect he would do quite well at 60 kg.

I also think that Brooks could medal with the right draw. Outside of Taylor and Yazdani (and no Naifonov), 86 kg is a weak weight. Ethan Ramos wrestled for a medal this year.

[Cherkov]

Well Adam Coon was, charitably assessing his abilities, perhaps the 6th best wrestler in the field when he won a world silver. And his level wasn't even competitive (tech loss type) against multiple entrants. 

So with double bronzes, one weight per country, and still no real ranking system to make fair draws.

[nhs67]

13 hours ago, Theo Brixton said:

I would really like to see what RBY can do. Curious how his style would translate to FS. I suspect he would do quite well at 60 kg.

60 KG isn't a Freestyle weight, it is a Greco weight.

[D3 for LU]

... I wish they just use the same weight for BOTH styles!

D3

[Theo Brixton]

7 hours ago, nhs67 said:

60 KG isn't a Freestyle weight, it is a Greco weight.

61, my apologies...

[nhs67]

1 hour ago, Theo Brixton said:

61, my apologies...

You were repeating the OP, which listed off two Greco weights and one weight that doesn't exist.

[Theo Brixton]

7 hours ago, nhs67 said:

You were repeating the OP, which listed off two Greco weights and one weight that doesn't exist.

"What's a couple pounds amongst friends?"

--J'den Cox

[nhs67]

6 hours ago, Theo Brixton said:

"What's a couple pounds amongst friends?"

--J'den Cox

Fair enough.  I am not a Penn State insider, however I know more than most folks who don't care to follow wrestling too greatly.  Some folks might have confused it for Greco, is all.  The Ohio State has a bunch of Greco gents, after all.

[MPhillips]

7 hours ago, Theo Brixton said:

"What's a couple pounds minutes amongst friends?"

--J'den Cox

FIFY...

[mspart]

Back to PSU, the current PSU team might not place in a Senior World Championship, but they do quite well at an NCAA level.   We should not expect college age folks to do well at senior worlds.   But, we do have some outliers that have done well.   But generally speaking no.

PSU has put together the NLWC which has attracted half the world team.   They  must be doing something right.   Maybe they have more fun there.

mspart

[Mike Parrish]

On 12/4/2022 at 12:19 AM, Theo Brixton said:

"What's a couple pounds amongst friends?"

--J'den Cox

Ow.

I believe it was minutes and not pounds.

[Theo Brixton]

1 hour ago, Mike Parrish said:

Ow.

I believe it was minutes and not pounds.

Haha. I know but the quote didn't work in this particular case otherwise.

[Antitroll2828]

On 12/2/2022 at 8:02 PM, Dark Energy said:

Not a single current PSU team member would win any medal at senior worlds.  Not at this time at least.  

Amine is a Olympic medalist and brooks has beaten him multiple times and fix is a world silver and couldn’t score on rby if you gave him a full weekend , both of those guys ( depending on draw like everyone else) could both medal right now , and starocci could compete at 79 

[CA_Wrestler]

17 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Amine is a Olympic medalist and brooks has beaten him multiple times and fix is a world silver and couldn’t score on rby if you gave him a full weekend , both of those guys ( depending on draw like everyone else) could both medal right now , and starocci could compete at 79 

As far as the matchups you mentioned, all of those were folk, right?

[Dark Energy]

14 hours ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Amine is a Olympic medalist and brooks has beaten him multiple times and fix is a world silver and couldn’t score on rby if you gave him a full weekend , both of those guys ( depending on draw like everyone else) could both medal right now , and starocci could compete at 79 

Your Amine point is a good one.  Surprises do happen.  Until I see RBY place high at a big freestyle tournament I’m not convinced.  Fix does freestyle different from folk (e.g., push outs / shot clock strategy).  Not seeing it from Star.

[Antitroll2828]

33 minutes ago, Dark Energy said:

Your Amine point is a good one.  Surprises do happen.  Until I see RBY place high at a big freestyle tournament I’m not convinced.  Fix does freestyle different from folk (e.g., push outs / shot clock strategy).  Not seeing it from Star.

Star just took 3rd at U23s , dropped an 8-7 tough semi and teched everyone else he wrestled , with a year of just freestyle training I think he could definitely medal, obviously don’t see him getting past JB just yet tho for 79…
I understand your point about fix , but he’s never even been close to scoring on RBY in over 15 minutes of wrestling , not to mention in the past 5 years , Joe Colon has medaled at 61 , graff and gross have wrestled for a medal , and fix has a silver ….RBY is arguably better than all 3 of them , he’s beaten fix multiple times , last time him and gross wrestled gross needed a late comeback to win 6-5 when he was a 6th yr senior national champ and rby was a true sophomore and folk was gross better style ..I understand the strategy aspect but fix isn’t beating rby in free on just push outs , then second he starts trying to push into rby he’s going to get countered 

[BAC]

On 12/3/2022 at 8:16 PM, nhs67 said:

You were repeating the OP, which listed off two Greco weights and one weight that doesn't exist.

Just a brief note to acknowledge my idiocy on the weights.  Typed from memory, and clearly my memory stinks.

[nhs67]

42 minutes ago, BAC said:

Just a brief note to acknowledge my idiocy on the weights.  Typed from memory, and clearly my memory stinks.

They weren't wrong weights, just wrong style.  We see collegiate guys go Greco as well - even in their room (Mason Manville).

I thought perhaps you could have been listing it because you thought they may compete better at that weight in Greco, too?

[BAC]

4 hours ago, nhs67 said:

They weren't wrong weights, just wrong style.  We see collegiate guys go Greco as well - even in their room (Mason Manville).

I thought perhaps you could have been listing it because you thought they may compete better at that weight in Greco, too?

You're giving me too much credit.  55kg should have been 57kg, and 60kg was doubly wrong because I meant to say 61kg, but it shouldn't have been included at all since its not an Olympic weight, only worlds.