From the edge of the mat (12/16)......

It's your faithful narrator Dingo with the weekly recap of Indiana's finest athletes.

Let's start with one of my favorite wrestlers of the past decade, Alex Dolly, formerly of Mishawaka High School. As reported this past week, Dolly was granted another year of eligibility, due to an injury plagued 2005-2006 season.

Alex has had a great collegiate career already, following an excellent high school career that saw him lose only twice during his entire junior and senior season. As a junior, Dolly lost a one point match to eventual state champ, senior Chris Cooper of Whiteland, en route to a strong 3rd place finish. He placed 2nd as a senior, losing on a rideout in double OT to four-time state champ Blake Maurer of Evansville Mater Dei.  That match stands out in many people's minds as one of the best at the state finals in recent memory. For what it's worth, he also finished 5th as a sophomore, starting a trend that would follow him the rest of his HS postseason career--he lost a one point match, this time to state runner-up, senior Mike McCarthy of Mt. Vernon. Three one point losses, two to dominant champions and one to a runner-up, which brings us to Dolly's collegiate career.....

Following a redshirt season, Alex qualified for Nationals despite a sub .500 record, and he quickly made a mark on the national wrestling scene. He beat 2X All-American and eventual national champion Shane Webster of Oregon, ultimately falling short of All-American status as a freshman by just one match.

Dolly's second active season was basically washed away by injuries, but he won 21 matches as a junior and qualified for Nationals again.

Last season, a season which many thought would be his last at Northern Iowa, Dolly again qualified for Nationals after a successful regular season. He again fell just short of obtaining All-American status, losing in the Round of 12.

All of this brings us back to the original point--although he's rusty and not ready to go right this second, according to Coach Penrith, Alex gets another chance to finally get over the hump and get the national recognition he truly deserves. All Indiana wrestling fans will be cheering Alex on as he gets back on the mat this season.

In Juggernaut-related news, Andrew Howe got back in action after an uneven but impressive performance at Cliff Keen. Howe bested Northern Iowa junior Tyson Reiner 3-2. Reiner was a Nationals qualifier last year and won a match in the big tourney. There will be no Juggernaut sightings until the Midlands.

Alex Tsirtsis followed up his stirring win over then #1 ranked Nick Gallick with a dominant 14-2 shellacking of promising young Northern Iowa wresler Trenton Washington. As with Howe, Tsirtsis won't be back in action until the Midlands.

Still no Angel Escobedo so far this season. Angel, Kinser, Hernandez, Young and company will join Howe and Tsirtsis at the Midlands. The Midlands should be a riveting couple of days for Indiana wrestling fans.

Casey Caldwell (Union County HS) of the Naval Academy placed fourth at 184 at the Nittany Lion Open. Casey has shown that he can hang with the better wrestlers at his weight class and will be a darkhorse candidate this year at Nationals.

In closing, the following former Indiana high school wrestlers are ranked:

RevWrestling rankings:

125 #2 Angel Escobedo IU

133 #9 Reece Humphrey OSU

141 #1 Alex Tsirtsis Iowa

157 #13 Kurt Kinser IU

165 #9 Andrew Howe Wisc

AWN rankings:

125 #1 Escobedo

133 #10 Humphrey

141 #1 Tsirtsis

157 #11 Kinser IU

Intermat rankings:

125 #1 Escobedo

133 #8 Humphrey

141 #1 Tsirtsis

141 #13 Hernandez

157 #12 Kinser

165 #15 Andrew Howe Wisc

WIN rankings:

125 #1 Escobedo

133 #9 Humphrey

141 #2 Tsirtsis

157 #16 Kinser