Welcome to my second “week in college wrestling”, where I look back at interesting developments in the past week of NCAA Division I wrestling and give a look forward to the events in the coming week.
I’ll repeat my warning from last time that these posts will not be exhaustive treatments of everything significant that occurs within the landscape of college wrestling; I will miss some worthwhile stuff, and invite readers to mention these in the comments.
Also, the fact that I cover on NCAA Division I wrestling has nothing to do with some sort of dismissal of other divisions, I simply must abide to restrictions on my time.
Also, here is a link to the current Intermat national rankings.
Week in Review
Lehigh beats Pitt 19-12: Pitt, fresh off an upset win over Edinboro, falls to Lehigh. In the marquee matchup of the dual, top 184 pounders collided with Pitt’s Max Thomusseit defeating Nate Brown 6-4. Thomusseit now climbs to the number 4 ranking in the nation.
UVA beats North Dakota State 20-15: Steve Garland has assembled a hell of a lineup at Virginia, and has even cultivated some impressive depth. The Wahoos, ranked in the top 10 in some services, miss a couple key starters and still defeat a very good North Dakota side. Speaking of good coaching jobs, Roger Kish is doing great things in Fargo.
As a side note, Virginia Tech also beat NDSU in a dual this past week.
Iowa uses the Luther Open as a de facto wrestle off: You would think that picking the optimum starting lineup for a wrestling team would be relatively easy, but sometimes that isn’t the case. Intrasquad wrestle off sometimes yield unreliable results, even if they are the most equitable and transparent way of resolving lineup quandaries.
Instead of, or in addition to, having wrestlers duke it out in the sanitized confines of the wrestling room, some teams will field several wrestlers at the same weight at an early season open, under the theory that the cream will rise to the top. In Iowa’s case, they have a real controversy for the starting spot at 149, but after Brody Grothus beat both Brandon Sorenson and Edwin Cooper to win this weekend’s Luther Open, it looks like Grothus has the inside track to claiming the starting spot.
Chance Marsteller win the Oklahoma Open at 157 pounds: The super recruit’s second tournament title this year. I’m not sure what to make of Marsteller at this point but his presence at this tournament suggests that he still may red shirt this season.
Oklahoma State beats South Dakota State, but has reasons for concern: Despite the win, this is not a very good OSU lineup. I had heard that Anthony Collica had outgrown 141, but I’m shocked that John Smith would waste a year of his eligibility wrestling him up at 157.
Taylor Meeks wins the Road Runner Open: Meeks was an NCAA semifinalist at 197 two years ago, but then fizzled out at the end of last year. This season, by some feat of magical weight management, he’s back down at 184 pounds, and he looked pretty good beating a tough Nikko Reyes of Illinois in the Road Runner finals.
Virginia Tech’s Devin Carter rumored to move down to 141: Carter, an NCAA finalist last year at 141, has been wrestling at 149 but word round the campfire has him dropping to 141 as soon as weight-management regulations will allow it. This will make room for Sal Mastriani at 149 who beat Carter at last week’s Hokie Open.
Penn State freshmen shine at ESU Open: Penn State redshirts Jason Nolf and Nick Nevills both won titles at the ESU Open. Nevills, the nation’s top heavyweight recruit, beat Edinboro’s Billy Miller in the finals.
Upset of the week:
Sorry guys, I got nothing for you, but I do have some nice Flo Wrestling videos of pins from Dylan Ness
and Devin Carter
Look ahead to next week:
Thanks to Richard Immel at USA Wrestling, I have a list of all matches that readers may actually watch in the next week.
TV Broadcast
Monday, November 24, 2014 Arizona State vs. Oregon State 10:00 p.m. Pac 12 Network
Webcast
Thursday, November 20, 2014 Wisconsin vs. Rider 7:00 p.m. Rider Broncvision
Friday, November 21, 2014 Penn State vs. Pittsburgh 7:00 p.m. ESPN3
Friday, November 21, 2014 Northern Colorado vs. Cal Poly 6:00 p.m. Cal Poly Athletics
Friday, November 21, 2014 Iowa City Duals 10:00 a.m. BTN Plus
Friday, November 21, 2014 Michigan St. vs. Minnesota 8:30 p.m. BTN Plus
Saturday, November 22, 2014 Nebraska vs. NC State 7:00 p.m. ESPN3
Saturday, November 22, 2014 Oklahoma vs. Cornell 6:30 p.m. Ivy League Digital Network
Saturday, November 22, 2014 Navy Classic 10:00 a.m. Flowrestling
Sunday, November 23, 2014 Ohio State vs. Virginia Tech 2:00 p.m. ESPN3
Sunday, November 23, 2014 TBA vs. Penn – Keystone Classic 10:00 a.m. Ivy League Digital Network
Monday, November 24, 2014 Ohio State vs. Virginia 7:00 p.m. ACC Digital Network
Tuesday, November 25, 2014 Michigan vs. Central Michigan 7:00 p.m. ESPN3
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