Wrestling Session I Recap

There was solid action, and quite a bit of chalk in Round 1 of the Wrestling Nationals today.

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Our Guy

Womp womp, hopefully next year.

Field Notes

Each of the top four seeds earned Bonus.

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Roman Bravo-Young looked tentative, but he stayed in position, won a Decision victory, advanced and sent 1 Advancement Point to his team. Shout out to a new update on the Penn State Wrestling Club’s website: bout scoring breakouts for our boys on the front page.

Up next: a rematch with Iowa’s Austin Desanto. BSD broke down their last bout and found a few reasons, perhaps, for some optimism.

Field Notes

Michigan’s 2-seed Stevan Micic looked ok in a 15-7 MD win, but maybe not the dominant force we saw prior to the Big Ten Tournament.

Beyond that, it was pretty chalky here, too. Pitt’s 4-seed Mickey Phillippi struggled to a 4-2 win, but he advanced.

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Nick Lee’s been wrestling with Cael and Penn Staters for 3 years now.

It’s really showing.

Up next is a rematch of last year’s Consolation Quarterfinals against Sa’Derrian Perry, which Lee won 12-4.

Field Notes

Lock Haven’s Kyle Shoop, the nation’s leader in technical falls, advanced and might give UNI’s Josh Alber some trouble tonight.

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Berge scored early with this his trademark shrug and go-behind and went back to it a couple times. He kept his feet moving. He didn’t get horsed and he didn’t give up his legs.

He slowed down a bit in the third, but with day of hydration and some food getting him further away from this morning’s weigh-in, perhaps he could freshen up. Up next is Princeton’s Matthew Kolodzik, a 5-seed, who spent some time at #1 this year and who placed 3rd last year. He’s very solid, but doesn’t attack much. So maybe Berge can hang around and steal another shrug for a takedown, then hold on to advance?

Field Notes

The big upset here was 26-seed Ryan Blees dominating Oklahoma State’s Kaden Gfeller, delighting Hokies fans and keeping the orange-clad end zone of Cowboy fans quiet.

2-Seed Micah Jordan looked great again and earned an early pin. He’s wrestling with the peace of mind that there’s no Zain Retherford or Jason Nolf ahead of him in the bracket.

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Our Guy

Jason Nolf’s wrestling is becoming the meme.

Next Topic.

Field Notes

Missouri’s Jarret Jacques, a 13-seed, dropped his opening round bout to Army’s 20-seed Luke Weiland, so Scaff’s pleas for our community to cheer for Army paid off.

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If there were any ill effects from his loss to Alex Marinelli at Big Ten’s, Cenzo didn’t show them in round one. Our little meatball looked right at home in, well, what is essentially his home as he took on Clarion’s Evan Delong. He scored on a drag go-behind to take an early 2-0 lead, he then picked up a set of four nearfall before pinning Delong in a tilt at the 2:57 mark.

Field Notes

Marinelli’s brutal road to a title started with a hard-fought 7-4 win over Oklahoma State’s JoJo Smith. Smith jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first period but Marinelli rode out the second and made his pace and pressure count with a pair of takedowns in the final period. He’ll have Daniel Bullard of NC State next after Bullard took out Brown’s Jonathan Viruet. Elsewhere, ninth-seeded Demetrius Romero of Utah Valley was upset.

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Mark Hall put in a workmanlike effort in his first-round match with Gavin Kane of North Carolina. Hall built up over three minutes of riding time and picked up a 10-2 major decision. He’ll have Brandon Womack of Cornell in the second round after Womack took out Neil Richards 11-10 in ride outs.

Field Notes

The rest of the bracket held to seed other than Spencer Carey of Navy, who was seeded 20th, taking out 13th-seeded Brit Wilson of Northern Illinois.

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Shakur Rasheed just about scared the life out of the Penn State fan base in his opening match. Rasheed got out to a 4-0 lead before taking himself to his back against Kevin Parker of Princeton.

From there on, Rasheed was all business. He built up nearly six minutes of riding time and dominated Parker en route to an 11-2 major decision.

Field Notes

The biggest upset in this one came in the 7-26 matchup as Oklahoma State’s Dakota Geer upended a clearly hobbled Nick Reenan of N.C. State in the first round. On the top half of the bracket, fan favorite an 19 seed Cameron Caffey of Michigan pulled out a 7-5 win over 14th-seeded Dylan Wisman of Mizzou. Caffey now has third-seeded Zack Zavatsky of Virginia Tech in the next round.

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Bo Nickal did Bo Nickal things. The top seed and Hodge Trophy favorite jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead over Ethan Laird of Rider before catching Laird with a cement mixer at the 2:34 mark to grab the fall. Nickal will have running back turned wrestler Josh Hokit of Fresno State in the evening.

Field Notes

Jake Jakobsen of Lehigh, a famed all-name team selection, pulled off the biggest upset at the weight as he pulled off an 8-5 upset in the 9-24 matchup. Thomas Lane, the 21-seed out of Cal Poly also knocked off 12th-seeded Rocco Caywood of Army.

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Tony Double Legs started pretty slowly against Anthony Pelusi of Franklin & Marshall, but a takedown in short time gave him a 2-0 lead after the first period. He opened it up in the second, grabbing an escape and another takedown before taking Pelusi over for the fall at the 4:20 (nice) mark.

Field Notes

The big one in this session was fifth-seeded Mason Parris who had the unfortunate task of wrestling 28th-seeded Sam Stoll of Iowa. Stoll asserted his dominance and the referee made his presence known early and often as the Stolldozer went on to grab the 8-5 upset win. Mizzou picked up an upset victory as true freshman Zach Elam, who entered as the 20th seed, downed 13-seed Matt Voss of George Mason University. Lastly, Brian Andrews of Wyoming dispatched of AJ Nevills of Fresno State in an upset win.

Team Race

1. Penn State 21.0
2. Ohio State 15.5
3. Oklahoma State 14.5
4. Iowa 14.0
5. Minnesota 13.5

The Nittany Lions took a lead that it will likely not relinquish, picking up 12 bonus points in the first nine matches. Otherwise, it was a strong session for both Iowa and Minnesota and the Big Ten occupies six of the top eight spots in the team race.

Continuing to use the amazing resources of the internet, with proper attribution, check out this live-scoring gsheet from a guy I’ve never met named James Worm. It’s got brackets completed live and a dope team charts running score that we’re showcasing here.

Penn State

Ohio State

Oklahoma State

Iowa

Minnesota