TysonNisley Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 DID Y’ALL MISS ME?! If not, then hopefully you’ll at least like me enough to listen to what I’ve got to say. Because if there’s anyone in the state of Indiana with the best mind for predictions, it’s me (please don’t verify that). IHPO has already been one of my favorite tournaments to cover, especially as a 3x former competitor of the tournament, and there are always some HOT matchups that are really essential to figuring out who put in the work this summer. There’s everything from nationally ranked matchups, clashes of state champions, unlikely rivalries due to weight changes, and breakout performances at this absolutely brutal single day tournament, and I’m here to analyze it all, and try to not only improve my credibility as a writer and predictor through thorough research and unrivaled intuition, but also to give you all the right information going into the tournament, for both those from Indiana, and the hundreds of out-of-state invaders looking to capture the illustrious title of IHPO Champion. For this write-up, I’m going to follow a similar structure to how Flowrestling formats their World Championships previews, where I outline a couple title contenders, those who have a strong chance to win the tournament; placement contenders, those who aren’t quite at that level, but still very tough and capable of placing top 4; and a sleeper pick in each weight, chosen from the list of wrestlers not in the Stud List, that I think could make big things happen, and possibly claim that breakout performance that I mentioned happens so often in this tournament. I won’t ramble on anymore, here’s what’s going down this Sunday: -quick note that I do not have access to the seeds at this tournament, so my predictions will be made regardless of seed- 109: Title Contenders: Caleb Noble Mason Jones Brady Byrd A pair of Fargo All-Americans headline this weight, with 16U Fargo Runner-Up Caleb Noble and Junior Fargo 3rd Brady Byrd likely to hit in the finals. While Byrd did place in the junior division, which is typically a lot more difficult than 16U, it is important to note that Byrd competed at 100 pounds, while Noble wrestled at 106, meaning that Byrd is likely undersized going into this match. As much as I’d like to pick Indiana to win this match, Noble looked far too impressive during his Fargo run, and I think he is definitely the favorite to win this match, although a win from Byrd would not surprise me in the slightest. But that’s if he even makes it to the finals. 5th placer Mason Jones also strikes me as a title contender, which some really impressive results this off season validating his status as one of the best 106 pounders in the state, including a razor thin match with Delta’s Ayden Bollinger at Folkstyle State this year, in which he lost 8-7. I hate to define a guy by his losses (which you will see a lot in this write-up), but Bollinger was a bad dude going into last year’s state tournament, and was the man to beat in a lot of peoples’ eyes. Jones has proven that he’s now in that conversation too, so I’m excited to see him make his way through this bracket. Placement Contenders: Braeydn Tammarine Matthew Baylor Jullianna O’Campo Heather Crull Lincoln Rohr The 4th place spot seems up for grabs here, but Ohio 4th placer and Fargo bloodrounder Braedyn Tammarine seems to be the favorite, although there are a number of Indiana wrestlers that could possibly steal that spot from him. Indiana female superstars Julianna O’Campo and Heather Crull are looking to spoil a number of runs in this bracket, and have previously beaten many of the boys in this bracket. O’Campo specifically owns a win against Mason Jones in the finals of last year’s Al Smith, so it would not be surprising to see her best Jones again for a place on the podium. Has a girl ever placed at IHPO? I’m not sure, but if not, O’Campo is the one to do it. Indiana 8th placer Matthew Baylor also has a solid shot of making the podium, making it quite far in last year’s IHPO, even beating Michigan state champ Brady Baker along the way. Also don’t forget about Lincoln Rohr, a Super 32 MS 5th placer, and brother of Mason Rohr, who won at IHPO title just last year. He’ll be a threat to anyone in this bracket, and should be considered a dark horse here. Sleeper Pick: Jensen Boyd Speaking of dark horses, Jensen Boyd is my sleeper pick for this bracket, solidifying his status as a dangerous man with a fall over Matthew Baylor at Folkstyle State this year, paired with a really solid run at Fargo this year that put him a round away from the bloodround. Top 4: Caleb Noble Brady Byrd Mason Jones Braedyn Tammarine 116: Title Contenders: Revin Dickman Nathan Rioux This match intrigues me so much, and if you’ve seen only the previous results between these two, you might not understand why. State champion Revin Dickman had Rioux’s number last year, beating him a staggering SIX times in the past year, but since Rioux’s loss in the state finals last year, he’s been hard at work, building up quite the resume, one that has landed him in the #8 spot in the Flowrestling National Rankings, an honor that Dickman does not currently have. It should be noted that Rioux has remained at 106 for most of the off season, while Dickman has enjoyed most of his off season up at 113. Still, though, it’s hard to deny that Rioux has been impressive these past couple months, earning a 4th place finish at Fargo this year. I think that it’s too hard to blow off Dickman here, given their history, but I think this will be their closest meeting yet. Placement Contenders: Sammy Stewart Co’ji Campbell Brady Baker Conor Mc Alary Brice La Fleur Ayden Bollinger Jalen May Did you know that there are FIVE state champions in this weight class. A trio of champs from Michigan headline the list of placement contenders here, with Brady Baker, Sammy Stewart, and Conor Mc Alary trying to place at IHPO for the first time. Now, with no disrespect to Michigan, and respect only to the strength of this tournament, I don’t think any of these guys place. Co’ji Campbell is a two-time state champion from Wisconsin, and won his last state title with ease, and that’s saying something, given the strength of Wisconsin’s wrestling as of recently. He doesn’t have any results that I can effectively compare to other wrestlers, but I think he is a very solid third place pick. In addition to all of these state champs, there are a number of placers here that I think could also do well. Brice La Fleur has had success at IHPO before, beating O’Campo 7-3 last year, and losing only 3-0 to Rochester’s Layne Horn, who had the best tournament run of his career up to that point. Ayden Bollinger, as previously mentioned, is a bad dude, and he could very easily beat any of the wrestlers in this weight class. I have him taking 4th, likely beating one of Michigan’s invaders along the way, but ultimately struggling to get past Campbell. Jalen May is a multiple time state placer that has some really great wins in his career, such as a win over Purdue freshman and La Porte superstar Ashton Jackson, along with some other notable wins that could make him a threat, although his 7th place finish at last year’s state tournament means he’ll have to turn some things around in order to be a podium threat. Sleeper Pick: Gavin Ash One of two twins from Monrovia, Gavin Ash is looking to make some moves after a solid postseason run last year that unfortunately ended in the ticket round. His twin brother, Isaac Ash, made it out of semi-state last year en route to a 4th place finish, and although I don’t necessarily believe that being the twin of a state placer makes you a state placer caliber wrestler, Ash’s results make me believe that he can have a breakout performance of his own. Top 4: Revin Dickman Nate Rioux Co’ji Campbell Ayden Bollinger 123: Title Contenders: Charlie Larocca Mason Rohr Gavin Jendreas Preston Haines Joseph Curry This weight is arguably the deepest weight in the tournament. A couple state champs, along with a number of wrestlers that are as good, make this weight wildly unpredictable, which is why there are five wrestlers that I believe could win this bracket. Ohio 3rd placer Mason Rohr is the returning champ here, but he’s going to have a HARD time reproducing these results. Charlie Larocca was a quite unexpected state champ last year, making his way through a brutal bracket that included Gavin Jendreas and Preston Haines, both of who are also in this bracket. I’m not so quick to think that Larocca should be considered the favorite against these two however, as Jendreas owns multiple wins over Larocca, including an impressive 11-0 at last year’s IHPO, and a much closer 5-3 win at last year’s Al Smith. Haines has beaten Jendreas in their last two meetings as well, both of which were quite close, but still demonstrating a dominance over Jendreas. And to make things even more complicated, Larocca has beaten Haines in their last two meetings, one in overtime at Team State, and a 3-1 win at the Mooresville Regional, so we have a little circle here that makes it a little difficult for me. I want to say that Jendreas is the strongest out of these three as of now, with a really impressive Fargo run that ended in the bloodround to Hockaday, and might have gone further had the Indiana teamkill not happened. One more name I want to point out in this list is Ohio state champ Joseph Curry. Curry was a runner-up last year, taking out Jendreas in an 8-3 match along the way. I think both wrestlers are much better now, but there will have to be a lot of improvement on Jendreas’s part in order for him to take out Curry Placement Contenders: Michael Kapenga George Dennis Jaxson Rosselli Jack Guerrero Luke Rioux Layne Horn I had to leave out a lot of very talented wrestlers from this list, only because there are so many studs at this weight class. Michigan state champ Michael Kapenga headlines this group, but I’m not very confident that he’s the strongest one out of this group. A particular wrestler I have my eye on is Michigan 3rd placer Jack Guerrero, who defeated Kapenga 5-1 during their state series, and snagged a 7-5 win over Preston Haines at the Rumble HS Duals this year. In possibly my most ambitious pick of this whole write-up, I think Guerrero navigates through this loaded field of state champs and runner-ups to find his way on the podium. Looking to do the same will be George Dennis, a Kentucky state runner-up; Jaxson Rosselli, an Ohio 3rd placer that also owns a win over Preston Haines in the past year; Luke Rioux, who placed 4th at last year’s IHPO and defeated Larocca during his IHPO run; and Layne Horn, who went on an absolute tear at last year’s IHPO with a 1-0 win against Revin Dickman and a 3-0 win against #17 Javaan Harbrough en route to a 3rd place finish. Unfortunately, with the sheer depth of this weight class, I think it will be very hard for any of them to recreate their past success at this tournament. Sleeper Pick: Walter Hagedorn Despite falling in the ticket round last year to eventual 4th placer Isaac Ash 4-2, Hagedorn is a state caliber athlete, and has defeated multiple podium level wrestlers this off season, including Jalen May and 6th placer Aiden Dallinger. I don’t foresee that Hagedorn will place at this weight class, but he will definitely pick off a major name. Top 4: Joseph Curry Gavin Jendreas Charlie Larocca Jack Guerrero 129: Title Contenders: Landon Evans TJ Meyers LT Hawkins There’s a big question mark in this bracket that I’m very excited to see. That question mark is the return of IHPO 2022 3rd placer and Crown Point stud LT Hawkins. Hawkins beat multiple state placers and even a Michigan state champ en route to 3rd last year, losing only a 4-0 match to fellow teammate and Virginia Tech freshman Logan Frazier. Hawkins should be a heavy favorite to make the finals, but a pair of Kentucky hammers stand in the way of his first IHPO title. The first of these wrestlers, Landon Evans, took home a Kentucky state title last year, and is one of two state champions in this bracket. I don’t believe, however, that this will be the big test of the bracket for Hawkins. Instead, I think that Kentucky state runner-up TJ Meyers will be the one to bring Hawkins to deep waters here. Picking the runner-up over the champ here might seem odd, but Meyers had to take on #7 (at 120) Jayden Raney in the finals of the Kentucky state tournament, and he only lost 3-2. That, in my opinion, is much more impressive than a state title against a lesser opponent. This isn’t said to diminish Evans as a wrestler, but Meyers has proven to not only compete well against the highest level wrestlers, but I should add that is also a returning IHPO placer, taking 3rd last year, so I think it is much more likely that Meyers battles Hawkins in the finals. I know that I’m gonna hear it from Coach Hawkins for writing this, but I think that Meyers is probably the favorite here. I’m always gonna root for an Indiana guy over a non-Indiana guy, but Meyers is going to be a seriously tough opponent for Hawkins, but nevertheless, I can’t wait to see this match happen. Placement Contenders: Colton Bendure Eddie Goss Aiden Allen Tanner Tishner I want to preface this segment by saying that Tanner Tishner can absolutely win a title at this tournament. His peaks are very high, and he has a long list of very good wins. However, he has been a little bit inconsistent as of recently, and it’s hard for me to label him as a title contender based on this information. He’s very good though, so don’t overlook him against anyone in this bracket. Virginia state champ Colton Bendure leads this list of placement contenders, and I could have very reasonably put him in the title contenders section. He doesn’t have a lot of results I can very accurately make predictions off of though, and he’s a state champ from a state that isn’t particularly known for their wrestling, which doesn’t always mean that he’s not an Indiana state champion level wrestler, but I think it’s safer for the sake of predicting that he is not at that level just yet. Aiden Allen is an Ohio 3rd placer with some solid results all around, and I expect him to give a lot of guys in this bracket some fits. Eddie Goss placed 3rd last year at state, which included a 6-4 win over Tanner Tishner. He also claimed a big win last year against Michigan state champ Kade Kluce at the Detroit Central Catholic Super Duals, so he is capable of some big wins. Lastly, Braylon Reynolds is a young stud that already has multiple state placers under his belt of wins, and has a lot of potential to do well here. Sleeper Pick: Quinten Schoeff Quinten Schoeff had a quite successful freshman year, making it to the ticket round and beating multiple state qualifiers, despite missing out on the state tournament himself. Schoeff will very easily be a title contender in the next couple years, and could be a candidate for a breakout performer at this tournament. Top 4: TJ Meyers LT Hawkins Landon Evans Eddie Goss 135: Title Contenders: Leland Reeves Damian Resendez Evan Stanley I’m gonna show you all some prediction magic. This weight won’t be particularly interesting to most of you, as the top wrestlers in this field, aside from Evan Stanley, are from other states. Additionally, most of these guys have little to no experience against other Indiana wrestlers, so I can’t really make the comparisons there. So instead, I’m going to opt for some educational guessing, and I’ll bring you all along for the process. First, we have Kentucky state champ Leland Reeves. What do we know about Kentucky? Well, we know that they are not as strong as Illinois or Indiana. Sorry Kentucky fans, but it’s true. This doesn’t mean that he is not a strong wrestler, right? Imagine if I applied the same logic to the Raney brothers without additional information? I would be wildly incorrect. I also know that somewhere in his state series, he lost a match. This means that he’s not an outlier; he’s a champ, but he’s not a Raney, or a wrestler near that caliber. Next, we have Illinois state runner-up Damian Resendez. I don’t see any matches against Indiana guys, but I do see he has a win against Marmion Academy’s Zach Stewart. Marmion Academy was at Carnahan this year. So we go to see how he did, and incredibly enough, Stewart beat #6 Jake Hockaday at that tournament. So that’s a big win for Resendez. Combine that with the fact that he’s a Mt. Carmel wrestler, and we know that he’s pretty good. Now, the tricky part is that we are going to have to weave Evan Stanley through this fabric of “what ifs” and “maybes.” I know that Stanley is going to be competing at Mt. Carmel, so Resendez and Stanley are likely familiar with each other. Stanley hasn’t competed against a high caliber high school opponent in a while, so there’s not much to work with there, also he does have a win over 126 state champ Tylin Thrine, so that’s impressive enough. So, what’s the verdict here? The answer is that I’m not sure, but given the familiarity that these two likely have, and the difference in competition against high school opponents, I think I’ll take Resendez in a very close match. Placement Contenders: Sebastian Vega Connor Younts Dallas Korponic Vernon Riggins Adam Heckman Maksim Mukhamedaliyev Michael Esteban So now it gets trickier. Sebastian Vega was a state runner-up in 2022 at 113, and now at 135, he has been unable to recreate that success. Can’t exactly count them out, but with the information I have, he’s not in my top 4. Connor Younts and Dallas Korponic are both 3rd placers from Michigan. However, all of my Michigan wrestling friends tell me that D1 is much harder than D3, so while they are both 3rd placers, Korponic’s D1 3rd place finish is a lot more impressive to me. Combine that with a 6-5 loss in season to state champion Kade Kluce, and I think we have a winner here. Vernon Riggins is D4, which is the least strong division in Michigan (or so I hear), so he’s out as well. Adam Heckman placed 4th in Ohio, but hasn’t wrestled any Indiana guys recently. He did wrestle Collin Twigg though, and lost 11-2 in Ohio state. Who’s Collin Twigg? Well, he went 6-2 last year at IHPO, but did not place. If Twigg didn’t place, it’s likely Heckman is not either. There’s some magic for ya. Lastly, we have a pair of Illinois 6th placers in Maksim Mukhamedaliyev and Michael Esteban. However, Esteban’s placement was in 2022, where in 2023, he DNP’ed, while Mukhamedaliyev played this year. Now we fill in our checkmarks. Did he place in a tough division? D3 is the toughest in Illinois, so yes. Does he have any big wins? Let’s see. Freestyle win against Maximus Riggins of Iowa? Why is that important? Because Riggins was the ONE seed at Fargo this year in the 16U 126 division (he ended up going 0-2 though, but the one seed still says something. So, it seems that the 4th place spot is between Korponic and Mukhamedaliyev. I think Korponic is just a little stronger here, with a close match with not only a tough opponent, but an opponent that has been extremely successful in the past at IHPO. So, Korponic gets that fourth spot. Sleeper Pick: none No sleeper pick for this weight, since there is already so much information missing from this weight to make an accurate sleeper pick. Top 4: Damian Resendez Evan Stanley Leland Reeves Dallas Korponic 141: Title Contenders: Kyrell Leavell Brady Ison I think that state champ Kyrel Leavell and Brady Ison are a step above the field, and this Indiana matchup will headline the weight class. I will say, however, that Leavell has lost to quite a bit of the field here, with both Ison and Tony Wood beating him in the past year. Leavell’s resume makes him too strong to not pick here, especially with his quality of wins this off season, which includes a fall at the MCWC Duals over Jake Hockaday, and a 14-12 freestyle win at Central Regionals over #11 and Pittburgh commit Kade Brown. Having notched two nationally ranked wins this off season, I feel comfortable placing him as the top guy in this weight class. Placement Contenders: Cole Evans Holden Huhn Evan Gosz Tony Wood There are a number of state placers in this weight class, but I’ve narrowed down the field to just these four as potential podium candidates. Cole Evans is an Ohio state champion, which is quite impressive already, and could even qualify him as a title contender, however, his title was won in 2022, and at the 106 pound weight class, and at state this year, he did not place, making me believe that he still has some adjusting to do for this weight class, and won’t bring a huge threat to the top two guys in this weight. Holden Huhn took 2nd place in Ohio in 2022, but also regressed in placement in 2023 with a 7th place finish. This state run did include a fall over Cole Evans though, further validating my previous point about Evans and his influence in this bracket as a former state champion. Evan Gosz is an Illinois 3rd placer, losing only 2-1 to current Harvard freshman Jameson Garcia, so this kid is definitely a guy to watch out for in this bracket. Lastly, Tony Wood is in here with his win over Leavell, but he will have to pull off another win like that in order to make the podium. Sleeper Pick: Matthew Staples I can’t even call this a sleeper pick. I think Staples has been well awake at his past couple events, beating multiple state placers and wrestling overall quite impressively. Dare I say that this is the first sleeper pick of mine to reach the podium? I’m certainly predicting so. Top 4: Kyrel Leavell Brady Ison Evan Gosz Matthew Staples 147: Title Contenders: Wyatt Krejsa Brayden Brown Jeffrey Huyvaert Wyatt Krejsa turned himself into a title contender last IHPO, somewhat unexpectedly beating Cheaney Schoeff in the quarterfinals of this tournament. Now, he opens this year’s IHPO as the favorite to win, but there are a couple names in this bracket I think could give him fits. Firstly, Ohio 3rd placer Brayden Brown returns to this weight as the highest returning IHPO placer, taking 2nd last year. He will be a strong contender to make the finals. Also a strong contender to make the finals, Jeffrey Huyvaert is coming off of an extremely strong freshman campaign that included a 4th place finish and a win in the regional finals over eventual champ and Purdue freshman Cole Solomey. It is easy to assume that this kid is getting better at a very rapid pace, and we should definitely watch out for him in this tournament. Placement Contenders: Hayden Hughes Coltyn Reedy Aidan Rush Londen Murphy Dillon Graham Christian Arberry Ohio sends a strong group of state placers to this weight, and I could see them causing problems for our Indiana studs. State runner-up Hayden Hughes is probably the favorite over the rest of the field, aside from the title contenders, but a random loss by fall against Londen Murphy concerns me a bit. Coltyn Reedy is a 4th placer in Ohio, but likewise, I’m not too confident about his performance compared to the last Ohio placer in this field, who I think will be the most lethal. Ohio 5th placer Aidan Rush has a couple of really solid wins in the past year, including a 12-10 OT win over Dillon Graham at last year’s IHPO, and a win over #20 Grayson Woodcock 4-2 at the Brecksville Holiday Tournament. Speaking of Dillon Graham, I think that he is still a very solid wrestler that could beat any of Ohio’s invaders at this weight. Lastly, Christian Arberry placed 8th this past year, but has claimed some wins this off season that suggest he is at a much higher level than he was at the state tournament, beating both Matthew Staples and Jeffrey Huyvaert. Sleeper Pick: Tommy Gibbs Tommy Gibbs was not able to secure a starting spot this year in Brownsburg’s ridiculously stacked lineup, but with his recent improvement, that’s not likely to be the case anymore. His off season is highlighted by a 7-3 win at Folkstyle State over LT Hawkins, and had a 6-3 match at Freestyle State to Jeffrey Huyvaert, losing the match, but ultimately showing that he can hang with the better guys at this weight. Top 4: Wyatt Krejsa Jeffrey Huyvaert Brayden Brown Aidan Rush 153: Title Contenders: Jimmy Mastny Reese Stephen This is another weight class that includes mostly studs from other states, so I’ll try to breeze through it relatively quickly. Jimmy Mastny and Reese Stephen both stand out from this field, and should be considered the favorites to make the finals. Jimmy Mastny is going into his freshman year, but has already built up a very impressive resume, earning double All-American honors at Fargo this year with a 5th place finish in freestyle and a runner-up finish in Greco. He also has two nationally ranked wins this off season against #20 Grayson Woodock in freestyle and #12 Tyler Knaack in Greco. Reese Stephen is no stranger to battling high level guys either, having a solid Ironman run that included respectable losses to #14 Kael Voinovich (5-3) and #19 Jayden Robinson (7-2). I hate to define a guy by his losses, but these results do show that he can very easily take on Mastny. Oh, and he won a state title in Ohio this past year. That should help too. Placement Contenders: Jeremy Ginter Cooper Rathburn William Denny Layne Knisely Michael Major Several state placers look to fill out the 3rd and 4th place spots on the podium, and for Indiana fans, the hope is that 5th placer Michael Major claims that spot. However, it certainly won’t be easy for him. Jeremy Ginter is an Ohio state runner-up, losing only to Ohio State freshman Brock Herman 14-4. Cooper Rathburn took 3rd this past year in Ohio, and is also a threatening opponent here. William Denny is a 4th placer from Illinois, and owns a win over Brownsburg stud Parker Reynolds at the Walsh Ironman this past year. Finally, Layne Knisely is a Michigan 5th placer, and almost has a really cool last name. He rounds out the strong group of state placers in this weight class. Sleeper Pick: Silas Foster For most weight classes here, the sleeper pick is super easy to make, and it’s no exception in this weight class. Foster is very easily a state placer caliber wrestler, although he has not yet gotten the opportunity to prove it. His highlight wins this past year include a very impressive Greco win over Wyatt Krejsa by fall, and another win by fall over Tommy Gibbs at last year’s IHPO. Top 4: Jimmy Mastny Reese Stephen Jeremy Ginter Cooper Rathburn 160: Title Contenders: Tristin Greene Eddie Enright Bryce Griffin Indiana will have a hard time making the podium at this weight class, with three very good wrestlers almost indisputably taking the top three spots. Tristin Greene is an Ohio state champ and 16U Fargo Champ in Greco, making him the most credentialed wrestler by far in this weight class. He also has a Greco win this off season against #8 Latrell Shaffer, demonstrating just how dangerous he can be. Don’t go upper body with this guy. Next, we have Mt. Carmel’s Eddie Enright, who took 2nd this past year. He is one of two Illinois state runner-ups at this weight, although Bryce Griffin might be my pick to take second over Enright. Griffin’s run at state this year was stopped only by Illinois superfreshman Kannon Webster, and he has not bled against an Illinois wrestler yet this off season, taking first in both Freestyle and Greco state in Illinois. I think Enright can keep it close, but if this battle ends up happening, I expect Griffin to win. Placement Contenders: Lucas Boe Waylon Cressell Malachia Harris Beau Brabender Silas Stits There is another state champ among this group, being North Dakota state champ Waylon Cressell. Like I have said previously, just because someone wins a title in a “less talented” wrestling state, it does not necessarily mean they are not as good or better than someone that won in Illinois, or Indiana, for example. However, Cressell has not had any big tournament placements outside of the state tournament, and did relatively poorly at the Northern Plains regional, only winning 2 or 3 matches in each style. For this reason, I’m knocking him down a little bit, but the truth is that he is still a state champion, and a competitor to be feared for that reason. Lucas Boe has a big question mark over his head right now, destroying everyone at the middle school level and earning a #47 ranking on MatScouts. However, he has very limited results at the high school level, so we will have to see how that transition goes this weekend. Malachia Harris is a Kentucky state runner-up, but only went 2-2 at IHPO last year, losing to Greyson Gard in OT and to Hunter May by major decision, meaning he will need to have improved a lot in order for him to have a podium worthy tournament run. Lastly, Indiana studs Beau Brabender and Silas Stits are Indiana’s best chance to get somebody on the podium at this weight. Brabender made it all the way to the bloodround last year, demonstrating that he has had success on this very stage before, but Stits has a lot of potential here too, and even has a win over Brabender this past year at Al Smith, with a 5-2 win in the consolation semifinals of the tournament. I personally believe that Stits might be a bit underrated as of now, and he is capable of pulling off big upsets this weekend. Sleeper Pick: Zymarion Hollyfield Hollyfield had an unfortunate end to this state tournament last year, underperforming at regionals to get a brutal draw against Aidan Costello in the ticket round. But it should be noted that he is a state quality wrestler with lots of speed and athleticism, and it would shock me if he didn’t take out at least one person that he’s not supposed to on paper. Top 4: Tristin Greene Bryce Griffin Eddie Enright Waylon Cressell 168: Title Contenders: Benjamin Smith Brenton Russell Anthony Cashman Chase Leech I debated just putting the entire stud list in title contenders, but I decided not to, although I’m not going to be too confident with any pick in this weight class. Benjamin Smith is a transfer from Maryland, where he won a state title this past year. There’s not much information on him otherwise, which might lead me to underrate him a little bit, but there are a couple people at this weight that I think could potentially upset Smith. The first one of these challengers is Brenton Russell, who took 4th this past year, who has kept the ball rolling since then with a 14-14 criteria win at Freestyle State over Anthony Rinehart, and not one, not two, but THREE wins over Mitchell Betz. Anthony Cashman also took 4th last year, at a weight above Russell, and made it all the way to the bloodround at last year’s IHPO. Despite these two looking like Indiana’s strongest on paper, I think that another guy in this weight, one that has not placed yet in his high school career, is the best pick for tournament champion, and that is Chase Leech. Leech was upset in the ticket round last year in OT to Brant Beck, but has recorded some insanely impressive wins since then, including a 12-2 TF over state runner-up Luke Kemper, and not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE wins in the past year against Brenton Russell. That’s a history that’s hard to ignore, and if they meet up at any point in this tournament, it would be unwise to pick against Leech. Placement Contenders: Zachary Lopez Jack Hoffman Levi Abbott Brant Beck Like I said before, I could have put a number of these guys in the title contenders tier, but I ultimately decided to put them down here, although they should be considered title contenders anyways. Zachary Lopez took 5th last year in Ohio, and is another state placer in a field full of them. Jack Hoffman took 8th in Ohio last year, but I think that he will perform way above that standard, owning two very important Indiana wins over Anthony Cashman and Isaac Valdez in 7-3 and 4-3 victories, respectively. Brant Beck automatically becomes a title contender with a win over the guy that I am predicting to win the bracket, so he can certainly do some damage. If I apply that same logic, then Levi Abbott could also make a very deep win, with a win over the guy that has a win over the guy that I think is going to win, beating Beck 7-3 in the third place match at semi-state last year. Abbott is a bit more of a stretch to reach the finals, but it is certainly not impossible. Sleeper Pick: Jesse Derringer Jesse Derringer went out early in last year’s state series, losing in the regional bloodround, but his quality of wins relative to that, compared with his affiliation with Brownsburg, means that he should be considered a game opponent this weekend, and we should expect a fireworks match with any state caliber wrestler. Top 4: Chase Leech Brenton Russell Benjamin Smith Jack Hoffman 178: Title Contenders: Carson Thomas Collin Kelly Anthony Rinehart This weight class is super deep, with the top 3 in this weight class being absolutely lethal opponents with some very respectable credentials to their names. #20 Carson Thomas leads the field in this event, as a state runner-up from Ohio, losing only to Purdue freshman Joey Blaze 9-3. Here to challenge him is Colin Kelly, a state runner-up from Illinois, and Crown Point’s Anthony Rinehart. Colin Kelly has no results that I can effectively use to make comparisons, but he does own a GFC title in the Elite division, which is already a strong enough result to catapult him into the title contenders category. Anthony Rinehart is perhaps the most credentialed wrestler in this weight, even without a high state placement to his name, with a 6th place finish at the Walsh Ironman that included a win over Blair Academy’s and Penn commit #16 (at 152) Paul Ognissanti. He also placed 3rd at last year’s IHPO, which makes him the highest returning placer here. Placement Contenders: Eddie Neitenbach Matthew Kubas Aidan Costello These three wrestlers, although placed in a lower tier than the title contenders, are not very far off from the level of the three aforementioned wrestlers at this weight. Eddie Neitenbach is an Ohio 3rd placer, and had a very solid IHPO run two years ago in 2021, losing in overtime to The Citadel’s Hayden Watson. Matthew Kubas is an Illinois 4th placer, with two results that stand out to me, although losses, as indicators of his potential success here, losing 13-4 to Purdue freshman Orlando Cruz, and much more impressively, 6-3 to #6 Wyatt Ingham. I’m not sure what to make of these results, but I think that he can make a deep run in this weight and battle against the more prestigious opponents. Lastly, Aidan Costello made it known that he was a lot closer to the top level of the state this past year with a quarterfinal battle against Purdue’s Delaney Ruhlman that ended in a 7-5 loss. He also owns an impressive 8-2 win over Chase Leech at Folkstyle State, a result that gets amplified by Leech’s recent success. I think Costello will be the one to earn that last spot on the podium, but he is dangerous enough to go even further. Sleeper Pick: Ethan Farnell Ethan Farnell has a lot to prove, with his brother, Logan Farnell, showing incredible success at last year’s state tournament and paving the way for his brother to do the same. Ethan almost joined his brother at state last year, losing in the ticket round only 5-3 to Bellmont stud Duke Myers. I think that, like Logan, Ethan will improve greatly from last year and cause some problems for the state qualifiers in this weight. Top 4: Anthony Rinehart Carson Thomas Colin Kelly Aidan Costello 193: Title Contenders: Lane Kiser I’ve got to be honest, this might be the only lock in the tournament. Kiser placed 2nd this past year in Kentucky, and has been very impressive for years now. He doesn’t have a lot of results for me to give validation to my claim, but I really feel like he’s a step ahead of the field. Placement Contenders: Ronnie Thomas Rylan Breen Laish Detweiler Noah Weaver Noah Clouser Indiana has three wrestlers in this weight class that I think that potentially push Kiser. Laish Detwiler is the only state placer in this group, with an 8th place finish that included a win over Brownsburg’s Caden Brewer. Noah Weaver has also been very solid this past year, ending his state run last year with a Friday night appearance. I also think he was my sleeper pick last year, so it’s good to see my sleeper picks have success when I predict it so. I think the Indiana wrestler here with the most potential, however, is Center Grove’s Noah Clouser, who is all the way up at 193 now, which is pretty funny. Fun little fact: when I wrestled at Disney Duals during the summer before my senior year, Clouser was our 106 pounder. He reminds me of Jack Heldt, our 2023 NCAA Champion, who in his freshman year of high school, was a 113 pounder. You wouldn’t believe it if you saw him now. Anyways, Clouser had an unfortunate postseason run last year that was plagued by injuries, but anyone would agree that Clouser is one of the best in the state now, and I think that he will be the man to challenge Kiser in the finals. There are also a couple of non-Indiana state placers in this weight class, those being Ohio 4th placer Ronnie Thomas and Illinois 5th placer Rylan Breen. I don’t have a lot of information about these guys otherwise, but I think that Breen will likely best Thomas based on my intuition and nothing more than that. Sleeper Pick: Clay Guenin Clay Guenin is another wrestler in this group that is not technically a state placer, but is absolutely at that level. Guenin was ranked as high as 5th this past year, and was on the unfortunate end of a brutal ticket round matchup that ended in a 4-3 loss to eventual 6th placer Kyle Harden. He is ready to contend with some of these higher level guys, and I would go so far as to say that Guenin can find himself on the podium, although I’m not confident enough to predict him to do so. Top 4: Lane Kiser Noah Clouser Rylan Breen Ronnie Thomas 218: Title Contenders: Devin Kendrex Caden Brewer This should be an amazing finals match between 5th placer and Super 32 All-American Devin Kendrex and state qualifier and rapidly improving Caden Brewer. I don’t think that Brewer’s results have been consistent enough to predict an upset here, but I think that this match will be a lot closer than the stats might suggest. Placement Contenders: Brandon Johnson Keegan Martin Danny Zmorowski Brandon Johnson might have won the most improved award last year, going from a negative record in 2022 to a 6th place finish in 2023 that included a win over Kendrex at semi-state, and a fall over Julante Hinton. He should be considered a dark horse in this sense, and could potentially spoil some brackets. Keegan Martin is a state qualifier, but has claimed the names of a few state placers, including Kendrex at this last year’s Al Smith. Lastly, Danny Zmorowski is ranked #98 on MatScouts, but is a younger kid in a group of much older ones. This is an instance, similar to Lucas Boe, where I could put him on the podium, but we just don’t know enough yet to do so. This is easily another dark horse, however. Sleeper Pick: Ceasar Salas I’m incredibly biased here, because I spent a lot of Friday’s wrestling at Crown Point High School with all of Crown Point’s studs and anyone else from other schools who would come. Caesar Salas was a young kid that I would wrestle quite a bit, and this kid is insanely athletic. As a college senior, I would expect to just blast through a middle school kid, but I found myself often underneath him after taking shots, and I eventually resorted to not shooting on him at all. This kid has a lot of potential, and I wonder if this could be his breakout performance. Top 4: Devin Kendrex Caden Brewer Brandon Johnson Keegan Martin 288: Title Contenders: James Hartleroad Marko Ivanisevic Jeffrey Blair Brady Beck So, there’s an important question that has to be decided here in order for me to predict this weight class accurately: how important are Greco-Roman results to Folkstyle success? Because, if we want to talk about results in Greco, James Hartleroad most certainly has them, with an extremely impressive 16U Greco Fargo championship this summer. This comes after a state series run that ended in the ticket round, so he has most definitely improved since then, and is very easily a state caliber wrestler. However, there are some very good heavyweights in this field that will test just how good Hartleroad has gotten. Illinois’s Marko Ivanisevic took 5th this past year, going 44-3 for a quite impressive season. He also has Central Regional title this year, indicating that he is talented with the Olympic styles as well, which could spell trouble for Hartleroad. Jeffrey Blair is another out-of-state invader that has found previous success at this tournament, taking 3rd in 2022 with wins over state qualifiers Peyton Kendall and Hunter Brahnam. Lastly, Brady Beck was the #2 ranked wrestler last year on the bad side of one of the most ridiculous IHSAA State brackets that I have ever seen, and he unfortunately ended his tournament run at 7th. I expect that he will have a much stronger showing at IHPO this year than his state placement might indicate. Placement Contenders: Anthony Popi Gideon Castro Richard Thorton Anthony Popi ran into Brownsburg’s nationally ranked Leighton Jones in the Friday night match to dip out of the tournament far earlier than he was ranked to, but he should certainly be considered a threat for any wrestler in this bracket. Gideon Castro, although not a state qualifier, has had past success in this tournament, finishing two matches from the placement rounds in 2022, losing to the last contender in this bracket, Ohio state qualifier Richard Thorton. I don’t think that any of these three will make their way into the top 4 (unless the bracket path wills it so), but they are still dangerous opponents that are capable of such upsets. Sleeper Pick: Triston Meschede Although only a regional qualifier, Triston Meschede owns a very important win in this weight class that nobody else at this weight does: a win over Hartleroad. Immediately, this result catapults Meschede into placement contender status, and although Hartleroad’s off season has been much more successful, I don’t think a second win over Hartleroad is crazy. Top 4: Brady Beck Mario Ivanisevic James Hartleroad Jeffrey Blair JStits, Coplen187, MAJAM152 and 2 others 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TysonNisley Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 Believe it or not guys, I'm not perfect. If you guys see any mistakes, or if I omitted any big names that I should include in the write-up, please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JORVILLE Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 50 minutes ago, TysonNisley said: DID Y’ALL MISS ME?! If not, then hopefully you’ll at least like me enough to listen to what I’ve got to say. Because if there’s anyone in the state of Indiana with the best mind for predictions, it’s me (please don’t verify that). IHPO has already been one of my favorite tournaments to cover, especially as a 3x former competitor of the tournament, and there are always some HOT matchups that are really essential to figuring out who put in the work this summer. There’s everything from nationally ranked matchups, clashes of state champions, unlikely rivalries due to weight changes, and breakout performances at this absolutely brutal single day tournament, and I’m here to analyze it all, and try to not only improve my credibility as a writer and predictor through thorough research and unrivaled intuition, but also to give you all the right information going into the tournament, for both those from Indiana, and the hundreds of out-of-state invaders looking to capture the illustrious title of IHPO Champion. For this write-up, I’m going to follow a similar structure to how Flowrestling formats their World Championships previews, where I outline a couple title contenders, those who have a strong chance to win the tournament; placement contenders, those who aren’t quite at that level, but still very tough and capable of placing top 4; and a sleeper pick in each weight, chosen from the list of wrestlers not in the Stud List, that I think could make big things happen, and possibly claim that breakout performance that I mentioned happens so often in this tournament. I won’t ramble on anymore, here’s what’s going down this Sunday: -quick note that I do not have access to the seeds at this tournament, so my predictions will be made regardless of seed- 109: Title Contenders: Caleb Noble Mason Jones Brady Byrd A pair of Fargo All-Americans headline this weight, with 16U Fargo Runner-Up Caleb Noble and Junior Fargo 3rd Brady Byrd likely to hit in the finals. While Byrd did place in the junior division, which is typically a lot more difficult than 16U, it is important to note that Byrd competed at 100 pounds, while Noble wrestled at 106, meaning that Byrd is likely undersized going into this match. As much as I’d like to pick Indiana to win this match, Noble looked far too impressive during his Fargo run, and I think he is definitely the favorite to win this match, although a win from Byrd would not surprise me in the slightest. But that’s if he even makes it to the finals. 5th placer Mason Jones also strikes me as a title contender, which some really impressive results this off season validating his status as one of the best 106 pounders in the state, including a razor thin match with Delta’s Ayden Bollinger at Folkstyle State this year, in which he lost 8-7. I hate to define a guy by his losses (which you will see a lot in this write-up), but Bollinger was a bad dude going into last year’s state tournament, and was the man to beat in a lot of peoples’ eyes. Jones has proven that he’s now in that conversation too, so I’m excited to see him make his way through this bracket. Placement Contenders: Braeydn Tammarine Matthew Baylor Jullianna O’Campo Heather Crull Lincoln Rohr The 4th place spot seems up for grabs here, but Ohio 4th placer and Fargo bloodrounder Braedyn Tammarine seems to be the favorite, although there are a number of Indiana wrestlers that could possibly steal that spot from him. Indiana female superstars Julianna O’Campo and Heather Crull are looking to spoil a number of runs in this bracket, and have previously beaten many of the boys in this bracket. O’Campo specifically owns a win against Mason Jones in the finals of last year’s Al Smith, so it would not be surprising to see her best Jones again for a place on the podium. Has a girl ever placed at IHPO? I’m not sure, but if not, O’Campo is the one to do it. Indiana 8th placer Matthew Baylor also has a solid shot of making the podium, making it quite far in last year’s IHPO, even beating Michigan state champ Brady Baker along the way. Also don’t forget about Lincoln Rohr, a Super 32 MS 5th placer, and brother of Mason Rohr, who won at IHPO title just last year. He’ll be a threat to anyone in this bracket, and should be considered a dark horse here. Sleeper Pick: Jensen Boyd Speaking of dark horses, Jensen Boyd is my sleeper pick for this bracket, solidifying his status as a dangerous man with a fall over Matthew Baylor at Folkstyle State this year, paired with a really solid run at Fargo this year that put him a round away from the bloodround. Top 4: Caleb Noble Brady Byrd Mason Jones Braedyn Tammarine 116: Title Contenders: Revin Dickman Nathan Rioux This match intrigues me so much, and if you’ve seen only the previous results between these two, you might not understand why. State champion Revin Dickman had Rioux’s number last year, beating him a staggering SIX times in the past year, but since Rioux’s loss in the state finals last year, he’s been hard at work, building up quite the resume, one that has landed him in the #8 spot in the Flowrestling National Rankings, an honor that Dickman does not currently have. It should be noted that Rioux has remained at 106 for most of the off season, while Dickman has enjoyed most of his off season up at 113. Still, though, it’s hard to deny that Rioux has been impressive these past couple months, earning a 4th place finish at Fargo this year. I think that it’s too hard to blow off Dickman here, given their history, but I think this will be their closest meeting yet. Placement Contenders: Sammy Stewart Co’ji Campbell Brady Baker Conor Mc Alary Brice La Fleur Ayden Bollinger Jalen May Did you know that there are FIVE state champions in this weight class. A trio of champs from Michigan headline the list of placement contenders here, with Brady Baker, Sammy Stewart, and Conor Mc Alary trying to place at IHPO for the first time. Now, with no disrespect to Michigan, and respect only to the strength of this tournament, I don’t think any of these guys place. Co’ji Campbell is a two-time state champion from Wisconsin, and won his last state title with ease, and that’s saying something, given the strength of Wisconsin’s wrestling as of recently. He doesn’t have any results that I can effectively compare to other wrestlers, but I think he is a very solid third place pick. In addition to all of these state champs, there are a number of placers here that I think could also do well. Brice La Fleur has had success at IHPO before, beating O’Campo 7-3 last year, and losing only 3-0 to Rochester’s Layne Horn, who had the best tournament run of his career up to that point. Ayden Bollinger, as previously mentioned, is a bad dude, and he could very easily beat any of the wrestlers in this weight class. I have him taking 4th, likely beating one of Michigan’s invaders along the way, but ultimately struggling to get past Campbell. Jalen May is a multiple time state placer that has some really great wins in his career, such as a win over Purdue freshman and La Porte superstar Ashton Jackson, along with some other notable wins that could make him a threat, although his 7th place finish at last year’s state tournament means he’ll have to turn some things around in order to be a podium threat. Sleeper Pick: Gavin Ash One of two twins from Monrovia, Gavin Ash is looking to make some moves after a solid postseason run last year that unfortunately ended in the ticket round. His twin brother, Isaac Ash, made it out of semi-state last year en route to a 4th place finish, and although I don’t necessarily believe that being the twin of a state placer makes you a state placer caliber wrestler, Ash’s results make me believe that he can have a breakout performance of his own. Top 4: Revin Dickman Nate Rioux Co’ji Campbell Ayden Bollinger 123: Title Contenders: Charlie Larocca Mason Rohr Gavin Jendreas Preston Haines Joseph Curry This weight is arguably the deepest weight in the tournament. A couple state champs, along with a number of wrestlers that are as good, make this weight wildly unpredictable, which is why there are five wrestlers that I believe could win this bracket. Ohio 3rd placer Mason Rohr is the returning champ here, but he’s going to have a HARD time reproducing these results. Charlie Larocca was a quite unexpected state champ last year, making his way through a brutal bracket that included Gavin Jendreas and Preston Haines, both of who are also in this bracket. I’m not so quick to think that Larocca should be considered the favorite against these two however, as Jendreas owns multiple wins over Larocca, including an impressive 11-0 at last year’s IHPO, and a much closer 5-3 win at last year’s Al Smith. Haines has beaten Jendreas in their last two meetings as well, both of which were quite close, but still demonstrating a dominance over Jendreas. And to make things even more complicated, Larocca has beaten Haines in their last two meetings, one in overtime at Team State, and a 3-1 win at the Mooresville Regional, so we have a little circle here that makes it a little difficult for me. I want to say that Jendreas is the strongest out of these three as of now, with a really impressive Fargo run that ended in the bloodround to Hockaday, and might have gone further had the Indiana teamkill not happened. One more name I want to point out in this list is Ohio state champ Joseph Curry. Curry was a runner-up last year, taking out Jendreas in an 8-3 match along the way. I think both wrestlers are much better now, but there will have to be a lot of improvement on Jendreas’s part in order for him to take out Curry Placement Contenders: Michael Kapenga George Dennis Jaxson Rosselli Jack Guerrero Luke Rioux Layne Horn I had to leave out a lot of very talented wrestlers from this list, only because there are so many studs at this weight class. Michigan state champ Michael Kapenga headlines this group, but I’m not very confident that he’s the strongest one out of this group. A particular wrestler I have my eye on is Michigan 3rd placer Jack Guerrero, who defeated Kapenga 5-1 during their state series, and snagged a 7-5 win over Preston Haines at the Rumble HS Duals this year. In possibly my most ambitious pick of this whole write-up, I think Guerrero navigates through this loaded field of state champs and runner-ups to find his way on the podium. Looking to do the same will be George Dennis, a Kentucky state runner-up; Jaxson Rosselli, an Ohio 3rd placer that also owns a win over Preston Haines in the past year; Luke Rioux, who placed 4th at last year’s IHPO and defeated Larocca during his IHPO run; and Layne Horn, who went on an absolute tear at last year’s IHPO with a 1-0 win against Revin Dickman and a 3-0 win against #17 Javaan Harbrough en route to a 3rd place finish. Unfortunately, with the sheer depth of this weight class, I think it will be very hard for any of them to recreate their past success at this tournament. Sleeper Pick: Walter Hagedorn Despite falling in the ticket round last year to eventual 4th placer Isaac Ash 4-2, Hagedorn is a state caliber athlete, and has defeated multiple podium level wrestlers this off season, including Jalen May and 6th placer Aiden Dallinger. I don’t foresee that Hagedorn will place at this weight class, but he will definitely pick off a major name. Top 4: Joseph Curry Gavin Jendreas Charlie Larocca Jack Guerrero 129: Title Contenders: Landon Evans TJ Meyers LT Hawkins There’s a big question mark in this bracket that I’m very excited to see. That question mark is the return of IHPO 2022 3rd placer and Crown Point stud LT Hawkins. Hawkins beat multiple state placers and even a Michigan state champ en route to 3rd last year, losing only a 4-0 match to fellow teammate and Virginia Tech freshman Logan Frazier. Hawkins should be a heavy favorite to make the finals, but a pair of Kentucky hammers stand in the way of his first IHPO title. The first of these wrestlers, Landon Evans, took home a Kentucky state title last year, and is one of two state champions in this bracket. I don’t believe, however, that this will be the big test of the bracket for Hawkins. Instead, I think that Kentucky state runner-up TJ Meyers will be the one to bring Hawkins to deep waters here. Picking the runner-up over the champ here might seem odd, but Meyers had to take on #7 (at 120) Jayden Raney in the finals of the Kentucky state tournament, and he only lost 3-2. That, in my opinion, is much more impressive than a state title against a lesser opponent. This isn’t said to diminish Evans as a wrestler, but Meyers has proven to not only compete well against the highest level wrestlers, but I should add that is also a returning IHPO placer, taking 3rd last year, so I think it is much more likely that Meyers battles Hawkins in the finals. I know that I’m gonna hear it from Coach Hawkins for writing this, but I think that Meyers is probably the favorite here. I’m always gonna root for an Indiana guy over a non-Indiana guy, but Meyers is going to be a seriously tough opponent for Hawkins, but nevertheless, I can’t wait to see this match happen. Placement Contenders: Colton Bendure Eddie Goss Aiden Allen Tanner Tishner I want to preface this segment by saying that Tanner Tishner can absolutely win a title at this tournament. His peaks are very high, and he has a long list of very good wins. However, he has been a little bit inconsistent as of recently, and it’s hard for me to label him as a title contender based on this information. He’s very good though, so don’t overlook him against anyone in this bracket. Virginia state champ Colton Bendure leads this list of placement contenders, and I could have very reasonably put him in the title contenders section. He doesn’t have a lot of results I can very accurately make predictions off of though, and he’s a state champ from a state that isn’t particularly known for their wrestling, which doesn’t always mean that he’s not an Indiana state champion level wrestler, but I think it’s safer for the sake of predicting that he is not at that level just yet. Aiden Allen is an Ohio 3rd placer with some solid results all around, and I expect him to give a lot of guys in this bracket some fits. Eddie Goss placed 3rd last year at state, which included a 6-4 win over Tanner Tishner. He also claimed a big win last year against Michigan state champ Kade Kluce at the Detroit Central Catholic Super Duals, so he is capable of some big wins. Lastly, Braylon Reynolds is a young stud that already has multiple state placers under his belt of wins, and has a lot of potential to do well here. Sleeper Pick: Quinten Schoeff Quinten Schoeff had a quite successful freshman year, making it to the ticket round and beating multiple state qualifiers, despite missing out on the state tournament himself. Schoeff will very easily be a title contender in the next couple years, and could be a candidate for a breakout performer at this tournament. Top 4: TJ Meyers LT Hawkins Landon Evans Eddie Goss 135: Title Contenders: Leland Reeves Damian Resendez Evan Stanley I’m gonna show you all some prediction magic. This weight won’t be particularly interesting to most of you, as the top wrestlers in this field, aside from Evan Stanley, are from other states. Additionally, most of these guys have little to no experience against other Indiana wrestlers, so I can’t really make the comparisons there. So instead, I’m going to opt for some educational guessing, and I’ll bring you all along for the process. First, we have Kentucky state champ Leland Reeves. What do we know about Kentucky? Well, we know that they are not as strong as Illinois or Indiana. Sorry Kentucky fans, but it’s true. This doesn’t mean that he is not a strong wrestler, right? Imagine if I applied the same logic to the Raney brothers without additional information? I would be wildly incorrect. I also know that somewhere in his state series, he lost a match. This means that he’s not an outlier; he’s a champ, but he’s not a Raney, or a wrestler near that caliber. Next, we have Illinois state runner-up Damian Resendez. I don’t see any matches against Indiana guys, but I do see he has a win against Marmion Academy’s Zach Stewart. Marmion Academy was at Carnahan this year. So we go to see how he did, and incredibly enough, Stewart beat #6 Jake Hockaday at that tournament. So that’s a big win for Resendez. Combine that with the fact that he’s a Mt. Carmel wrestler, and we know that he’s pretty good. Now, the tricky part is that we are going to have to weave Evan Stanley through this fabric of “what ifs” and “maybes.” I know that Stanley is going to be competing at Mt. Carmel, so Resendez and Stanley are likely familiar with each other. Stanley hasn’t competed against a high caliber high school opponent in a while, so there’s not much to work with there, also he does have a win over 126 state champ Tylin Thrine, so that’s impressive enough. So, what’s the verdict here? The answer is that I’m not sure, but given the familiarity that these two likely have, and the difference in competition against high school opponents, I think I’ll take Resendez in a very close match. Placement Contenders: Sebastian Vega Connor Younts Dallas Korponic Vernon Riggins Adam Heckman Maksim Mukhamedaliyev Michael Esteban So now it gets trickier. Sebastian Vega was a state runner-up in 2022 at 113, and now at 135, he has been unable to recreate that success. Can’t exactly count them out, but with the information I have, he’s not in my top 4. Connor Younts and Dallas Korponic are both 3rd placers from Michigan. However, all of my Michigan wrestling friends tell me that D1 is much harder than D3, so while they are both 3rd placers, Korponic’s D1 3rd place finish is a lot more impressive to me. Combine that with a 6-5 loss in season to state champion Kade Kluce, and I think we have a winner here. Vernon Riggins is D4, which is the least strong division in Michigan (or so I hear), so he’s out as well. Adam Heckman placed 4th in Ohio, but hasn’t wrestled any Indiana guys recently. He did wrestle Collin Twigg though, and lost 11-2 in Ohio state. Who’s Collin Twigg? Well, he went 6-2 last year at IHPO, but did not place. If Twigg didn’t place, it’s likely Heckman is not either. There’s some magic for ya. Lastly, we have a pair of Illinois 6th placers in Maksim Mukhamedaliyev and Michael Esteban. However, Esteban’s placement was in 2022, where in 2023, he DNP’ed, while Mukhamedaliyev played this year. Now we fill in our checkmarks. Did he place in a tough division? D3 is the toughest in Illinois, so yes. Does he have any big wins? Let’s see. Freestyle win against Maximus Riggins of Iowa? Why is that important? Because Riggins was the ONE seed at Fargo this year in the 16U 126 division (he ended up going 0-2 though, but the one seed still says something. So, it seems that the 4th place spot is between Korponic and Mukhamedaliyev. I think Korponic is just a little stronger here, with a close match with not only a tough opponent, but an opponent that has been extremely successful in the past at IHPO. So, Korponic gets that fourth spot. Sleeper Pick: none No sleeper pick for this weight, since there is already so much information missing from this weight to make an accurate sleeper pick. Top 4: Damian Resendez Evan Stanley Leland Reeves Dallas Korponic 141: Title Contenders: Kyrell Leavell Brady Ison I think that state champ Kyrel Leavell and Brady Ison are a step above the field, and this Indiana matchup will headline the weight class. I will say, however, that Leavell has lost to quite a bit of the field here, with both Ison and Tony Wood beating him in the past year. Leavell’s resume makes him too strong to not pick here, especially with his quality of wins this off season, which includes a fall at the MCWC Duals over Jake Hockaday, and a 14-12 freestyle win at Central Regionals over #11 and Pittburgh commit Kade Brown. Having notched two nationally ranked wins this off season, I feel comfortable placing him as the top guy in this weight class. Placement Contenders: Cole Evans Holden Huhn Evan Gosz Tony Wood There are a number of state placers in this weight class, but I’ve narrowed down the field to just these four as potential podium candidates. Cole Evans is an Ohio state champion, which is quite impressive already, and could even qualify him as a title contender, however, his title was won in 2022, and at the 106 pound weight class, and at state this year, he did not place, making me believe that he still has some adjusting to do for this weight class, and won’t bring a huge threat to the top two guys in this weight. Holden Huhn took 2nd place in Ohio in 2022, but also regressed in placement in 2023 with a 7th place finish. This state run did include a fall over Cole Evans though, further validating my previous point about Evans and his influence in this bracket as a former state champion. Evan Gosz is an Illinois 3rd placer, losing only 2-1 to current Harvard freshman Jameson Garcia, so this kid is definitely a guy to watch out for in this bracket. Lastly, Tony Wood is in here with his win over Leavell, but he will have to pull off another win like that in order to make the podium. Sleeper Pick: Matthew Staples I can’t even call this a sleeper pick. I think Staples has been well awake at his past couple events, beating multiple state placers and wrestling overall quite impressively. Dare I say that this is the first sleeper pick of mine to reach the podium? I’m certainly predicting so. Top 4: Kyrel Leavell Brady Ison Evan Gosz Matthew Staples 147: Title Contenders: Wyatt Krejsa Brayden Brown Jeffrey Huyvaert Wyatt Krejsa turned himself into a title contender last IHPO, somewhat unexpectedly beating Cheaney Schoeff in the quarterfinals of this tournament. Now, he opens this year’s IHPO as the favorite to win, but there are a couple names in this bracket I think could give him fits. Firstly, Ohio 3rd placer Brayden Brown returns to this weight as the highest returning IHPO placer, taking 2nd last year. He will be a strong contender to make the finals. Also a strong contender to make the finals, Jeffrey Huyvaert is coming off of an extremely strong freshman campaign that included a 4th place finish and a win in the regional finals over eventual champ and Purdue freshman Cole Solomey. It is easy to assume that this kid is getting better at a very rapid pace, and we should definitely watch out for him in this tournament. Placement Contenders: Hayden Hughes Coltyn Reedy Aidan Rush Londen Murphy Dillon Graham Christian Arberry Ohio sends a strong group of state placers to this weight, and I could see them causing problems for our Indiana studs. State runner-up Hayden Hughes is probably the favorite over the rest of the field, aside from the title contenders, but a random loss by fall against Londen Murphy concerns me a bit. Coltyn Reedy is a 4th placer in Ohio, but likewise, I’m not too confident about his performance compared to the last Ohio placer in this field, who I think will be the most lethal. Ohio 5th placer Aidan Rush has a couple of really solid wins in the past year, including a 12-10 OT win over Dillon Graham at last year’s IHPO, and a win over #20 Grayson Woodcock 4-2 at the Brecksville Holiday Tournament. Speaking of Dillon Graham, I think that he is still a very solid wrestler that could beat any of Ohio’s invaders at this weight. Lastly, Christian Arberry placed 8th this past year, but has claimed some wins this off season that suggest he is at a much higher level than he was at the state tournament, beating both Matthew Staples and Jeffrey Huyvaert. Sleeper Pick: Tommy Gibbs Tommy Gibbs was not able to secure a starting spot this year in Brownsburg’s ridiculously stacked lineup, but with his recent improvement, that’s not likely to be the case anymore. His off season is highlighted by a 7-3 win at Folkstyle State over LT Hawkins, and had a 6-3 match at Freestyle State to Jeffrey Huyvaert, losing the match, but ultimately showing that he can hang with the better guys at this weight. Top 4: Wyatt Krejsa Jeffrey Huyvaert Brayden Brown Aidan Rush 153: Title Contenders: Jimmy Mastny Reese Stephen This is another weight class that includes mostly studs from other states, so I’ll try to breeze through it relatively quickly. Jimmy Mastny and Reese Stephen both stand out from this field, and should be considered the favorites to make the finals. Jimmy Mastny is going into his freshman year, but has already built up a very impressive resume, earning double All-American honors at Fargo this year with a 5th place finish in freestyle and a runner-up finish in Greco. He also has two nationally ranked wins this off season against #20 Grayson Woodock in freestyle and #12 Tyler Knaack in Greco. Reese Stephen is no stranger to battling high level guys either, having a solid Ironman run that included respectable losses to #14 Kael Voinovich (5-3) and #19 Jayden Robinson (7-2). I hate to define a guy by his losses, but these results do show that he can very easily take on Mastny. Oh, and he won a state title in Ohio this past year. That should help too. Placement Contenders: Jeremy Ginter Cooper Rathburn William Denny Layne Knisely Michael Major Several state placers look to fill out the 3rd and 4th place spots on the podium, and for Indiana fans, the hope is that 5th placer Michael Major claims that spot. However, it certainly won’t be easy for him. Jeremy Ginter is an Ohio state runner-up, losing only to Ohio State freshman Brock Herman 14-4. Cooper Rathburn took 3rd this past year in Ohio, and is also a threatening opponent here. William Denny is a 4th placer from Illinois, and owns a win over Brownsburg stud Parker Reynolds at the Walsh Ironman this past year. Finally, Layne Knisely is a Michigan 5th placer, and almost has a really cool last name. He rounds out the strong group of state placers in this weight class. Sleeper Pick: Silas Foster For most weight classes here, the sleeper pick is super easy to make, and it’s no exception in this weight class. Foster is very easily a state placer caliber wrestler, although he has not yet gotten the opportunity to prove it. His highlight wins this past year include a very impressive Greco win over Wyatt Krejsa by fall, and another win by fall over Tommy Gibbs at last year’s IHPO. Top 4: Jimmy Mastny Reese Stephen Jeremy Ginter Cooper Rathburn 160: Title Contenders: Tristin Greene Eddie Enright Bryce Griffin Indiana will have a hard time making the podium at this weight class, with three very good wrestlers almost indisputably taking the top three spots. Tristin Greene is an Ohio state champ and 16U Fargo Champ in Greco, making him the most credentialed wrestler by far in this weight class. He also has a Greco win this off season against #8 Latrell Shaffer, demonstrating just how dangerous he can be. Don’t go upper body with this guy. Next, we have Mt. Carmel’s Eddie Enright, who took 2nd this past year. He is one of two Illinois state runner-ups at this weight, although Bryce Griffin might be my pick to take second over Enright. Griffin’s run at state this year was stopped only by Illinois superfreshman Kannon Webster, and he has not bled against an Illinois wrestler yet this off season, taking first in both Freestyle and Greco state in Illinois. I think Enright can keep it close, but if this battle ends up happening, I expect Griffin to win. Placement Contenders: Lucas Boe Waylon Cressell Malachia Harris Beau Brabender Silas Stits There is another state champ among this group, being North Dakota state champ Waylon Cressell. Like I have said previously, just because someone wins a title in a “less talented” wrestling state, it does not necessarily mean they are not as good or better than someone that won in Illinois, or Indiana, for example. However, Cressell has not had any big tournament placements outside of the state tournament, and did relatively poorly at the Northern Plains regional, only winning 2 or 3 matches in each style. For this reason, I’m knocking him down a little bit, but the truth is that he is still a state champion, and a competitor to be feared for that reason. Lucas Boe has a big question mark over his head right now, destroying everyone at the middle school level and earning a #47 ranking on MatScouts. However, he has very limited results at the high school level, so we will have to see how that transition goes this weekend. Malachia Harris is a Kentucky state runner-up, but only went 2-2 at IHPO last year, losing to Greyson Gard in OT and to Hunter May by major decision, meaning he will need to have improved a lot in order for him to have a podium worthy tournament run. Lastly, Indiana studs Beau Brabender and Silas Stits are Indiana’s best chance to get somebody on the podium at this weight. Brabender made it all the way to the bloodround last year, demonstrating that he has had success on this very stage before, but Stits has a lot of potential here too, and even has a win over Brabender this past year at Al Smith, with a 5-2 win in the consolation semifinals of the tournament. I personally believe that Stits might be a bit underrated as of now, and he is capable of pulling off big upsets this weekend. Sleeper Pick: Zymarion Hollyfield Hollyfield had an unfortunate end to this state tournament last year, underperforming at regionals to get a brutal draw against Aidan Costello in the ticket round. But it should be noted that he is a state quality wrestler with lots of speed and athleticism, and it would shock me if he didn’t take out at least one person that he’s not supposed to on paper. Top 4: Tristin Greene Bryce Griffin Eddie Enright Waylon Cressell 168: Title Contenders: Benjamin Smith Brenton Russell Anthony Cashman Chase Leech I debated just putting the entire stud list in title contenders, but I decided not to, although I’m not going to be too confident with any pick in this weight class. Benjamin Smith is a transfer from Maryland, where he won a state title this past year. There’s not much information on him otherwise, which might lead me to underrate him a little bit, but there are a couple people at this weight that I think could potentially upset Smith. The first one of these challengers is Brenton Russell, who took 4th this past year, who has kept the ball rolling since then with a 14-14 criteria win at Freestyle State over Anthony Rinehart, and not one, not two, but THREE wins over Mitchell Betz. Anthony Cashman also took 4th last year, at a weight above Russell, and made it all the way to the bloodround at last year’s IHPO. Despite these two looking like Indiana’s strongest on paper, I think that another guy in this weight, one that has not placed yet in his high school career, is the best pick for tournament champion, and that is Chase Leech. Leech was upset in the ticket round last year in OT to Brant Beck, but has recorded some insanely impressive wins since then, including a 12-2 TF over state runner-up Luke Kemper, and not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE wins in the past year against Brenton Russell. That’s a history that’s hard to ignore, and if they meet up at any point in this tournament, it would be unwise to pick against Leech. Placement Contenders: Zachary Lopez Jack Hoffman Levi Abbott Brant Beck Like I said before, I could have put a number of these guys in the title contenders tier, but I ultimately decided to put them down here, although they should be considered title contenders anyways. Zachary Lopez took 5th last year in Ohio, and is another state placer in a field full of them. Jack Hoffman took 8th in Ohio last year, but I think that he will perform way above that standard, owning two very important Indiana wins over Anthony Cashman and Isaac Valdez in 7-3 and 4-3 victories, respectively. Brant Beck automatically becomes a title contender with a win over the guy that I am predicting to win the bracket, so he can certainly do some damage. If I apply that same logic, then Levi Abbott could also make a very deep win, with a win over the guy that has a win over the guy that I think is going to win, beating Beck 7-3 in the third place match at semi-state last year. Abbott is a bit more of a stretch to reach the finals, but it is certainly not impossible. Sleeper Pick: Jesse Derringer Jesse Derringer went out early in last year’s state series, losing in the regional bloodround, but his quality of wins relative to that, compared with his affiliation with Brownsburg, means that he should be considered a game opponent this weekend, and we should expect a fireworks match with any state caliber wrestler. Top 4: Chase Leech Brenton Russell Benjamin Smith Jack Hoffman 178: Title Contenders: Carson Thomas Collin Kelly Anthony Rinehart This weight class is super deep, with the top 3 in this weight class being absolutely lethal opponents with some very respectable credentials to their names. #20 Carson Thomas leads the field in this event, as a state runner-up from Ohio, losing only to Purdue freshman Joey Blaze 9-3. Here to challenge him is Colin Kelly, a state runner-up from Illinois, and Crown Point’s Anthony Rinehart. Colin Kelly has no results that I can effectively use to make comparisons, but he does own a GFC title in the Elite division, which is already a strong enough result to catapult him into the title contenders category. Anthony Rinehart is perhaps the most credentialed wrestler in this weight, even without a high state placement to his name, with a 6th place finish at the Walsh Ironman that included a win over Blair Academy’s and Penn commit #16 (at 152) Paul Ognissanti. He also placed 3rd at last year’s IHPO, which makes him the highest returning placer here. Placement Contenders: Eddie Neitenbach Matthew Kubas Aidan Costello These three wrestlers, although placed in a lower tier than the title contenders, are not very far off from the level of the three aforementioned wrestlers at this weight. Eddie Neitenbach is an Ohio 3rd placer, and had a very solid IHPO run two years ago in 2021, losing in overtime to The Citadel’s Hayden Watson. Matthew Kubas is an Illinois 4th placer, with two results that stand out to me, although losses, as indicators of his potential success here, losing 13-4 to Purdue freshman Orlando Cruz, and much more impressively, 6-3 to #6 Wyatt Ingham. I’m not sure what to make of these results, but I think that he can make a deep run in this weight and battle against the more prestigious opponents. Lastly, Aidan Costello made it known that he was a lot closer to the top level of the state this past year with a quarterfinal battle against Purdue’s Delaney Ruhlman that ended in a 7-5 loss. He also owns an impressive 8-2 win over Chase Leech at Folkstyle State, a result that gets amplified by Leech’s recent success. I think Costello will be the one to earn that last spot on the podium, but he is dangerous enough to go even further. Sleeper Pick: Ethan Farnell Ethan Farnell has a lot to prove, with his brother, Logan Farnell, showing incredible success at last year’s state tournament and paving the way for his brother to do the same. Ethan almost joined his brother at state last year, losing in the ticket round only 5-3 to Bellmont stud Duke Myers. I think that, like Logan, Ethan will improve greatly from last year and cause some problems for the state qualifiers in this weight. Top 4: Anthony Rinehart Carson Thomas Colin Kelly Aidan Costello 193: Title Contenders: Lane Kiser I’ve got to be honest, this might be the only lock in the tournament. Kiser placed 2nd this past year in Kentucky, and has been very impressive for years now. He doesn’t have a lot of results for me to give validation to my claim, but I really feel like he’s a step ahead of the field. Placement Contenders: Ronnie Thomas Rylan Breen Laish Detweiler Noah Weaver Noah Clouser Indiana has three wrestlers in this weight class that I think that potentially push Kiser. Laish Detwiler is the only state placer in this group, with an 8th place finish that included a win over Brownsburg’s Caden Brewer. Noah Weaver has also been very solid this past year, ending his state run last year with a Friday night appearance. I also think he was my sleeper pick last year, so it’s good to see my sleeper picks have success when I predict it so. I think the Indiana wrestler here with the most potential, however, is Center Grove’s Noah Clouser, who is all the way up at 193 now, which is pretty funny. Fun little fact: when I wrestled at Disney Duals during the summer before my senior year, Clouser was our 106 pounder. He reminds me of Jack Heldt, our 2023 NCAA Champion, who in his freshman year of high school, was a 113 pounder. You wouldn’t believe it if you saw him now. Anyways, Clouser had an unfortunate postseason run last year that was plagued by injuries, but anyone would agree that Clouser is one of the best in the state now, and I think that he will be the man to challenge Kiser in the finals. There are also a couple of non-Indiana state placers in this weight class, those being Ohio 4th placer Ronnie Thomas and Illinois 5th placer Rylan Breen. I don’t have a lot of information about these guys otherwise, but I think that Breen will likely best Thomas based on my intuition and nothing more than that. Sleeper Pick: Clay Guenin Clay Guenin is another wrestler in this group that is not technically a state placer, but is absolutely at that level. Guenin was ranked as high as 5th this past year, and was on the unfortunate end of a brutal ticket round matchup that ended in a 4-3 loss to eventual 6th placer Kyle Harden. He is ready to contend with some of these higher level guys, and I would go so far as to say that Guenin can find himself on the podium, although I’m not confident enough to predict him to do so. Top 4: Lane Kiser Noah Clouser Rylan Breen Ronnie Thomas 218: Title Contenders: Devin Kendrex Caden Brewer This should be an amazing finals match between 5th placer and Super 32 All-American Devin Kendrex and state qualifier and rapidly improving Caden Brewer. I don’t think that Brewer’s results have been consistent enough to predict an upset here, but I think that this match will be a lot closer than the stats might suggest. Placement Contenders: Brandon Johnson Keegan Martin Danny Zmorowski Brandon Johnson might have won the most improved award last year, going from a negative record in 2022 to a 6th place finish in 2023 that included a win over Kendrex at semi-state, and a fall over Julante Hinton. He should be considered a dark horse in this sense, and could potentially spoil some brackets. Keegan Martin is a state qualifier, but has claimed the names of a few state placers, including Kendrex at this last year’s Al Smith. Lastly, Danny Zmorowski is ranked #98 on MatScouts, but is a younger kid in a group of much older ones. This is an instance, similar to Lucas Boe, where I could put him on the podium, but we just don’t know enough yet to do so. This is easily another dark horse, however. Sleeper Pick: Ceasar Salas I’m incredibly biased here, because I spent a lot of Friday’s wrestling at Crown Point High School with all of Crown Point’s studs and anyone else from other schools who would come. Caesar Salas was a young kid that I would wrestle quite a bit, and this kid is insanely athletic. As a college senior, I would expect to just blast through a middle school kid, but I found myself often underneath him after taking shots, and I eventually resorted to not shooting on him at all. This kid has a lot of potential, and I wonder if this could be his breakout performance. Top 4: Devin Kendrex Caden Brewer Brandon Johnson Keegan Martin 288: Title Contenders: James Hartleroad Marko Ivanisevic Jeffrey Blair Brady Beck So, there’s an important question that has to be decided here in order for me to predict this weight class accurately: how important are Greco-Roman results to Folkstyle success? Because, if we want to talk about results in Greco, James Hartleroad most certainly has them, with an extremely impressive 16U Greco Fargo championship this summer. This comes after a state series run that ended in the ticket round, so he has most definitely improved since then, and is very easily a state caliber wrestler. However, there are some very good heavyweights in this field that will test just how good Hartleroad has gotten. Illinois’s Marko Ivanisevic took 5th this past year, going 44-3 for a quite impressive season. He also has Central Regional title this year, indicating that he is talented with the Olympic styles as well, which could spell trouble for Hartleroad. Jeffrey Blair is another out-of-state invader that has found previous success at this tournament, taking 3rd in 2022 with wins over state qualifiers Peyton Kendall and Hunter Brahnam. Lastly, Brady Beck was the #2 ranked wrestler last year on the bad side of one of the most ridiculous IHSAA State brackets that I have ever seen, and he unfortunately ended his tournament run at 7th. I expect that he will have a much stronger showing at IHPO this year than his state placement might indicate. Placement Contenders: Anthony Popi Gideon Castro Richard Thorton Anthony Popi ran into Brownsburg’s nationally ranked Leighton Jones in the Friday night match to dip out of the tournament far earlier than he was ranked to, but he should certainly be considered a threat for any wrestler in this bracket. Gideon Castro, although not a state qualifier, has had past success in this tournament, finishing two matches from the placement rounds in 2022, losing to the last contender in this bracket, Ohio state qualifier Richard Thorton. I don’t think that any of these three will make their way into the top 4 (unless the bracket path wills it so), but they are still dangerous opponents that are capable of such upsets. Sleeper Pick: Triston Meschede Although only a regional qualifier, Triston Meschede owns a very important win in this weight class that nobody else at this weight does: a win over Hartleroad. Immediately, this result catapults Meschede into placement contender status, and although Hartleroad’s off season has been much more successful, I don’t think a second win over Hartleroad is crazy. Top 4: Brady Beck Mario Ivanisevic James Hartleroad Jeffrey Blair Nice write up as I know this took some time . A little information is Evan has wrestled plenty of high school kids. At Cadet Duals this summer he beat 2 different high school state Champs from Oklahoma and Utah followed with wins over state runner ups from Washington and Wisconsin . And wins over 3rd place finishers from Minnesota and Missouri. At Fargo finished 6-2 with loss to the 1 seed from California twice. He beat an Iowa High School State Champ there as well. This will be our 3rd IHPO also. Excited for the chance to compete tomorrow with strong competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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