SWINfan

Lucas Davison had to go to SV to gain his AA status again.  Now a 2X All-American!

Man what a tough road for Silas Allred, coming up a bit sort of AA status.  

2nd Round vs. defending NCAA Champ Dean - Win
3rd Round vs. #1 seed Bonaccorsi - lost 5-3
Consolation Blood Round vs. returning National Finalist Jacob Warner - lost 1-0

Better days ahead!

1 minute ago, beaner2 said:

No way can the rest of these weights live up to the excitement of the first 2...

The fan in me hopes your wrong.  My dog and possibly my heart are on your side

What a freaking night of wrestling and we're only 2 weight classes into the Semis!  

Spencer Lee and Daton Fix both lose in the semifinals and somehow  RBY survives.  He kept his cool in a big way to win in sudden victory 6-4!

Jesse pulls a rabbit out of a hat to earn AA Status.  Unfortunately, Rooks couldn't get it done and loses 6-2

Holy crap!  Mendez got a takedown with 4 seconds left in OT to take a 3-2 lead and then let him up to tie at 3.  But Byrd had chosen down and took 17 seconds to escape.  Mendez chose neutral so Byrd had no riding time and Jesse gets the win.  

Personally, I don't like that rule and how it can be manipulated.  If riding time is the tie breaker, I don't think you should be able to choose neutral.  Nonetheless, kudos to Jesse and OSU for taking advantage of the rules in place.  And KUDOS to him for getting the late takedown when Byrd chose to retreat rather than wrestle.  We discussed that and the often negative results that happen too often.  

Congrats, All-American Jesse Mendez!

SIGH - wow, took a minute to get my breath back.  Think I scared the hell out of my dog!  

Ramos had a helluva game plan and shocked the wrestling world!
 

Jesse won his first match this morning by fall and came back to win (on criteria?) against Dylan Ragusin.  He'll face Lucas Byrd in the blood round this evening.  Win that one and he'll face either Micky Philippi from Pitt or Sam Latona.  He's in the thick of it, but the sledding from this point ain't easy!

Damn, Bonaccorsi was really good on the edge and held off Allred 5-3.

Not so breaking news....  Levi Haines is freaking good!!

He lost a scramble with Bryce Andonian and found himself down 6-0 early.  He worked his way back, eventually tying the match at 8 in the 3rd period before getting turn and the fall.  What a comeback against a tough, tough opponent.
 

The arena announcer does a helluva job, I'm impressed with his ability to keep up with all 8 mats, announcing results and some play by play as well as sharing tidbits on the wrestlers.  You can hear him if watching on the ESPN app when you select an individual mat that doesn't have specific announcers.  

Just now, nk140 said:

When Rooks was attacking he was scoring.  I wish he kept trying to score and not keep getting backed to the edge to get those stall calles

Sadly you see it a lot.  When an aggressive wrestler stops being aggressive and goes into protective mode (whether intentional or not), bad things happen

46 minutes ago, navy80 said:

Mendez gets beat by McGee 6-2.  He was my sleeper to the semi finals. 

Looks like Jesse will need to win 3 to AA, including likely Dylan Ragusin and Lucas Byrd.  Doable, but won't be easy.

30 minutes ago, RAJR said:

You referring to 133?  If so McGonagol is out. Jesse Mendez moved to the 13 seed so moved away from Vito.

That makes sense, thanks

Kendall Coleman won as well.

On 3/9/2023 at 3:19 PM, maligned said:

 

I'm not sure it's quite as dire as that. If he wins first round, then loses to Vito, his most likely scenario for the 3 wins he'd need would be 

 

Consi R2: Someone seeded below him

Consi R3: Someone seeded near him

Blood round: Someone seeded in the 5-8 range

 

Until Big 10s, no one would have thought he couldn't win that run of 3 matches. It would be a tall order, but a path will be there for him.

Did the seeds change?  Vito is on the opposite side of the bracket.  McGhee is his 2nd round opponent.

Graham Rooks picks up a 4-3 win in his first round match and will face 4-seed Caleb Henson of VT.

Shayne Van Ness of Penn St. was down 8-0 early and 8-1 after 2 periods.  Then started a takedown clinic in the 3rd period getting 3 in a row before winning by fall.  

Jesse Mendez won his 1st round match with a 12-4 Major.  

Purdue got wins from Ramos (3-2) and Filius (8-3). Some early upsets, including a few of Big Ten wrestlers...

125

13-seed Dean Peterson, Rutgers

12-seed Michael DeAugustino, Northwestern

133

12-seed Chris Cannon, Northwestern
11-seed Dylan Ragusin, Michigan

A few other notes:
- Former All-American (and the last to beat Nick Lee in the NCAA Tournament, I believe) Dom Demas transferred to Cal Poly and did not qualify.  He got the call as an alternate and stepped in as the 33 seed at 149, and promptly won by tech fall in the pig tail match and will face Yianni in the next round.  I believe they said he was recovering from an injury.  Will make for an interesting match early on.

- WV's Killian Cardinale was 10-1 coming off a knee injury and got the 28 seed,  He won a 3-2 over 5-seed Caleb Smith of App State.

- Brandon Kaylor, 7 seed lost to 26-seed Jack Wagner of NC.

- Lucas Bird won 13-10 over Iowa's Brody Teske. Not an upset per se, but an Iowa loss early is notable, and Teske is dangerous.

I'll post related results here as I can.  As always, comments, complaints and anything else related are welcome :

Not a bad showing for Mason Parris either!  Kerk tried to control his wrist and did a little, but much less than in their matches last year.  And when Kerk did have the wrist, Mason kept him at bay and held off the attempts at the outside single.  Great adjustments by Parris.  Hope he can keep it going in 2 weeks and bring home a National Title!

Also Andrew Davison won the 9th Place bracket, beating Nick Willham to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships

Nice win for Silas!  Big Ten Champ!!

Not to mention beating the defending National Champion and depriving Penn State from their opportunity to have 6 BT Champs, which they have never done.

On 2/28/2023 at 7:54 PM, Disco said:

 

It is getting really bad. Guys 24 and 25 years old  still collegiate eligible. They are graduating from high school at 19 years old. Or past that. 

Kind of like last year Micic and Nick Lee were both Seniors at the same time after being Senior/Freshman in HS? 

Looking forward to Parris vs. Kerkvliet again. 

Key to the match: Watch Mason's left arm in neutral position.  Kerk has had success against Parris previously by grabbing and controlling his left wrist.  When the left wrist is controlled, Mason's offense is severely limited and allows Kerk to get to the legs easier.  

It has been a consistent key to their matches since Mason beat him his freshman year.  Mason could still win, but it'll be a much tougher task.

On 3/2/2023 at 11:30 AM, Wrestling Scholar said:

The Indiana Geographical population center is in a corn a mile North of Sheridan.    Purdue win's big in that category only a half hour away.  Think of it this way.   The average drive of fans, coach and contestants on average is 3 hours closer to Purdue.   Lets calculate: 13K people traveling  3 hours less  there and back or 6 hours in total will save 78,000 hours of travel.   Think how much fuel saving we'll have that we can throw back into local school districts budgets.

Or think about how much money would be spent in different parts of the state that normally wouldn't see it?  Does that not count for anything?  Just thinking about the travel distance alone is such a myopic view.  Yeah, traveling would be farther for some and it would be a pain in the ass.  But it's for 2 days.  Does no one north of Indy ever go on vacation to anywhere other than Chicago or Indiana Dunes?  Southern schools travel to Ft. Wayne for Team State.  Kids from that area drive to IHPO.  Hell, wrestling and other sports have been clamoring with the IHSAA to change the travel rules beyond the 300 mile for awhile.  So we can say to the IHSAA "Please change the rule so we can travel farther out of state to tournaments, but don't make us drive a couple hours longer for the freaking State Championship? 

Not to mention, while there is no guarantees, the odds of snow and crappy weather are much less in Evansville that weekend.  

I don't care where they have it, but someone please make an argument that includes more than BS about extra drive time and hotel scores. How bad would it be from the IHSAA's larger perspective to throw a bone to a part of the state that is normally ignored?  No goodwill gained there?  Not everyone is going to be happy.  Period.  But there is a much bigger picture here.  

We all love our own part of the state and Indy and the way it is set up downtown is great to have the Championships.  But it ain't happening next year.    

On 3/2/2023 at 11:16 AM, aoberlin said:

I disagree. I am sure the facility was subsidized and has been given tax breaks to be there. To my knowledge Gainbridge is a fieldhouse used for many different things. Basketball being the main one. IHSAA is a non-profit that promotes amateur youth sports in the State of Indiana. Our tax dollars help keep that place alive. I am sure they make plenty of money for IHSAA State wrestling and have over the years. Just because they can make more money than what they make on us doesn't make it right. I guess choose your battles but as a tax payer and someone that has spent a ton of money in Indy over the last 30 years during this weekend I feel slighted. Also I have sour grapes because I know Fort Wayne was not really considered in this process so I am being petty.

 

To add to that the IHSAA is no joke. They hold real weight. Youth sports is a huge money maker for local businesses. They have levers they can use for sure. 

Generally in an arena like Gainbridge, there is a primary leaseholder.  That would be the Pacers. So the Pacers would absolutely have something to say and leverage.  I'm sure they're between a rock and a hard place.  But the IHSAA likely doesn't want to pick a fight with a community partner, one who sponsors their championships as well.  I have no idea if the Pacers pay the IHSAA sponsorship money or just provide a venue.  My guess is the venue availability is provided at X rate and the Pacers pay the IHSAA to sponsor.  It would be a fairly typical agreement.  So I think there is a lot more than just one year of wrestling State.  It's relationships that would be damaged as well as the potential to lose the site in the future.  Would you trade this situation, if in say 3-5 years Gainbridge was no longer available?  What if it affected the IHSAA's standing in using it for basketball as well.  Just because they hold weight, doesn't mean they should use it.