Dingo Brigade

Hey there. Just wanted to let everyone know why I was MIA today. I had a health scare last night and I was unable to make it today. Pretty big bummer, but I'm heading home early today. Thanks for those of you who experienced this with me and it looks like we have a great shot at having 3 Indiana Olympians, which is absolutely incredible. I'm sad about Nick Lee but still a phenomenal showing by him. Mendez and Carroll both showed up and got some big scalps. I'll be rooting from afar for our 3 to finish the deal tonight.

Thanks for the pic and the clarification. Good call, Valencia lost fair and square.

Valencia's length helping him fend off Brooks. BIG blast double by Brooks, but the referee bumps into Valencia as he attempted to fight off the attack. Not sure what the rules are on this, but Valencia's corner threw the brick. Changed to a stepout. 1-1 with a minute gone in the period. Brooks in deep again, Valencia tries to whizzer his way out, 2 for Brooks. 3-1 now. Valencia WITH A HUGE feet to back, gets a 4 pointer and takes the lead 5-3. Valencia pumping his fists and working the partisan PSU crowd up into a lather. 4 pointer confirmed, plus the point for the failed challenged. 6-3 Valencia with a solid lead, but we know Brooks is a champion and he beat Valencia last time out. Valencia doing a good job of using up time, just 45 secs for Brooks to do something....Valencia with a quick, slick single, Brooks defends, but less than 30 seconds and Brooks needs some quick scores. Gets a slideby after a headlock, cuts it to 6-5. The stepout for Brooks ties it at 6-6 but Valencia has criteria....penalty point of some kind (sorry I was typing), makes it 7-6 in favor of Brooks. Not sure I love how that ended, but great match and an impressive win for Brooks. See you all tomorrow!

Last match and it's a doozy. Valencia and the home favorite Aaron Brooks for a spot in the best of 3 with the winner to get the pleasure of facing the Unicorn, David Taylor. No score first minute. Heavy hands, Brooks hard on Valencia's head. They seem to be physically evenly matched. Passivity warning on Valencia, super slick duck under, but Brooks sprawls it out. No score for either guy. They are locking up with intensity, Valencia gets a point for Brooks' passivity. Brooks nearly gets a TD on the edge, Valencia whizzers out. 1-0 Valencia to start the 2nd.

Winchester up 3-0 in the 2nd. Hedrick with a near-4 pointer on the edge of the mat, makes it 3-2 Winchester. Hedrick running out of time.....Winchester wins 4-2, will face Maroulis tomorrow for a spot. Kilty up 4-3 on Page. Kilty immediately jumps in on Page's legs, Page is able to turn Kilty, but Kilty reverses, making it 6-5 Kilty. 90 secs left, could be a barn burner. 9-8 Kilty with 1 second left...Kilty wins will face Miracle for an Olympic berth. Tough matchup.

Jen Page and Macey Kilty at 62kg for the women. Hedrick and Winchester at 57kg

Big scramble leads to a TD for Zillmer on the edge. Gets another stepout, wins it 5-1. Another nice senior level win for Zillmer. Will face our very own Mason Parris for the HWT spot in men's freestyle

Mayoked survives the 1st period. Blades ends it pretty quickly in the 2nd. 11-0 final, nearly pins her. Zillmer and Gwiz just unable to do much with each other. Gwiz gets a passivity point, ties it 1-1, criteria with Gwiz.

Molinari will face the red hot Amit Elor in a best of 3 with the 68kg spot on the line. Zillmer and Gwiz should be a good one. No score early. Zillmer gets a point with a step out. 1-0 to start the 2nd The Queen of Blades opens up against Makoyed. Blades with a quick 2, leads 2-0, quickly up 6-0. She's really in control of this opponent. 7-0 now, looking for the 1st period tech. Gets 2 more, leads 9-0.

Molinari wills herself to grind and gets Glaude out for the stepout, 4-3, short time...Molinari wins a very close one with a real up and comer in Glaude.

Moore is going to need to turn this match around and fairly quickly. He's dug himself a deep hole. Stepout point for Trumble, then another TD. I'm shocked at this dominance by Trumble. I was thinking earlier that Carroll would fare well against Trumble. Who knows? Trumble wins it and gets the reward of facing Kyle Snyder tomorrow for the spot. Glaude with an explosive TD on the edge, leads Molinari 2-1 in the 2nd. Molinari pays her back with 2 of her own. 3-2, less than 1:30 left. Stepout point for Glaude...3-3 and Glaude gets to try to turn her. Gonna be hard to turn Molinari I'm thinking....no dice, still 3-3, Glaude leads on criteria

Pretty quick TD on the edge of the mat for Trumble. Leads Moore 2-0. Moore is coming off of a match that retired J'Den Cox. Trumble has impressive length at this weight. Tough to get in on him with his long arms and legs (and overall head/hands defense, of course). Trumble starts to pour it on, leads 6-1, still in the 1st. Still 6-1 to start the 2nd Molinari scores first on Glaude, looking to make another Olympic run. Gets a stepout, leads 1-0 over Glaude.

Izzy Style's Augello wins 3-0 and will face Dom Parrish for the Olympic Team slot on the women's team. Arujau was just honored with men's freestyle wrestler of the year, which is a little ironic because he's not participating here, but what a year he had in folk and free. Molinari and Glaude up. Trumble and Moore up now.

The savvy Augello up first 2-0 on Villaescusa. She's looked strong the entire day. Coon looks physically bigger and stronger than Attao. Coon pancakes him, gets the tech fall 9-0, will face Cohlton Schultz again. Coon beat him the last Olympic cycle but couldn't get the weight class qualifed for the Olympics. Should be a lot of beef banging into each other tomorrow with those 2 giants.

No way is JB going to retire in this overly hostile environment. Great match by Nolf, he earned it, but it's a little bit of a bummer seeing Burroughs fall and especially without being celebrated by the fans. Augello and Villaescus up at 53 KG for the ladies. Aden Atao and Adam Coon up at 130 kg Greco.