Ahap88

Announces retirement
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/college/cowboys/2024/04/11/oklahoma-state-wrestling-coach-john-smith-announces-retirement-osu-cowboys/73294107007/

I don't doubt that, but it doesn't change the fact that 97 kg (214 lbs) is a long way away from 197 pounds. That is a lot of weight for someone with Christian Carroll's frame to cut.
 
But if he is able to do it, there is no guarantee that he will be as dominate as he was this past weekend at 97 kg.
 
I'm not trying to knock Christian Carroll here. I'm all about the success of our Indiana guys. My comments were more about raising the topic of the need for a weight class between 197 & HWT at the college level. Christian is one individual that I feel would greatly benefit from just such a weight class.

I am an avid proponent of a class in the 215-220 range for college.

I'm no expert & am in no way close to the situation. But looking at it from a far, 17 pounds is a lot of weight to shed & keep off for an entire college wrestling season for someone built like Christian Carroll. I would suspect he is already on a pretty strict diet just to be at 97 kg, but again I have no real insight except that he wrestled 220 as a junior in HS.
 
Cutting that kind of weight & being competitive at the college level can be extremely difficult. Mendez is a good example. He was a completely different animal this year at 141 vs 133 his freshman season. He was much more powerful this year.
 
Chrisian is a perfect example of why college wrestling needs a weight class between 197 & HWT. And with the recent development of the competitors in the HWT class in college, it is only getting tougher for guys who are at their best around 210-220 pounds.
 
I'm not actually suggesting adding a weight class to college but just restructuring the classes to:
125
133
141
150
160
172
184
197
215
HWT
 
It more closely follows the international weight classes to boot.
 
 
 
 

Bullock, up 5-0 early gave it away 6-5 by wrestling the rest of the match to "not lose". It didn't work. Carroll looked fantastic today and earned an 11-0 tech in the final. I can't stress enough how sharp he was. I would be surprised if he drops another 16-17 lbs and wrestles 197 next college season, but it's been mentioned as possible, at least by the guys on Flo.
 

Christian Carroll and Jacob Bullock are both in the finals at 97kg and 125kg, respectively. Carroll looks really good at 97, quick, and has wrestled really well, beating Iowa's Jacob Warner to get there. Derek Gilcher and Henry Porter also had nice days. Finals are at, I believe 3:00 on Flo. 

While I would absolutely love the single point of contact for inbounds, it can create madness for us refs due to majority of high school mats being smaller (on the outside) than college mats. I won't complain if they make that change as the current out of bounds rules are insane right now. 

He will be at 197 for sure next season 

Not sure that 41 & 57 were that wide open, especially 157 as Haines had been #1 there all year. I think it had more to do with the fact that you can only pick two #1's or #2's & most people had more faith elsewhere.
 
Brooks was by far the most popular #1 as 24 out of 29 contestants choose him. Kirkvliet was the next most popular #1 followed by Keckheisen. 19 of the 29 contestants had Brooks with either Kirkvliet or Keckeisen, and one person had Kirkvliet & Keckheisen as their top picks. So 20 out of 29 had some combination of those 3 as their top picks.
 
But I will say that after the top guys at 41 & 57, it was wide open & most of us didn't do a very good job of handicapping those weights.
 
I would also say the scores this year far exceeded those from last year, because of Starocci, Vito & Carr being seeded 9, 6 & 4 respectively. Those to me were 3 very obvious picks outside of the top 2 seeds, and 20 of 29 contestants had all 3 of them. And the top 16 finishers had all three. If you didn't have all 3 of those guys you had zero chance of winning. Heck, I had all three of them & Brooks & Keckheisen & still only managed to finish 11th.
 
One last thought, Starocci was clearly the easiest pick of the contest as 28 of 29 people had him and 23 took him as their wildcard.

Vito just looked like last year's Vito again. 

Final Standings are below. Congratulations to TeamGarcia!
 
Click a couple times to zoom in:

Davison definitely deserves some love. That was one heck of a tournament run. Unfortunately Kerkvliet stood in the way of a story book ending.
 
But hey he gave us Indiana boys two NCAA D1 finalists & fun ride.
 
Hats off to Mr. Lucas Davison!

That roll to turn Barletts takedown into his own was insane. JESSIEEE MENDEZZZ!
 

Poor struggling program, they need all the help they can get. 🙄

Mendez v. Bartlett
Speechless! Insane defense and scrambling from JM! 
 

These are the Top 4 headed into tonight. There's a winning scenario available for all four contestants!
 

Vito just looked like last year's Vito again. 

Frustrating that schools like Rider, Little Rock (x2), Campbell, and Columbia can put people on the podium, but both our B1G schools are shut out again.  
 
I know IU is getting better, and Purdue had success last year, but still frustrating nonetheless.

Carr v. O’Toole match was a thing of beauty! What a match.

Vito just looked like last year's Vito again. 

Ritchie Figs!!!
You and I are on a collision course at 184 & 285, my friend. 👍
 

Fellas … if you didn’t pick #12 at 157 Andonian “the funk” you haven’t watched NCAA Nationals past few years and as I type this he knocks off #5 seed . 

Yep, that's why I didn't pick him as my wild card.  It would have better that you kept this comment to yourself until after the tournament started.......LOL

Poor struggling program, they need all the help they can get. 🙄

@UncleJimmy