WIN’S “This Week in Wrestling”

Nov. 6, 2014

Looking Ahead …

 Pennsylvania Powerhouse Duals

There are two dual meets that will feature four programs within the borders of the Keystone State. They include:

• #16 Lehigh at #4 Penn State, Nov. 9 — There could be several match-ups of wrestlers who first made national names while wrestling in high school within the Pennsylvania borders. That includes at 133 pounds, where Lehigh’s Mason Beckman (#2 from Reynolds HS in Transfer, Pa.) will take on Penn State’s Jimmy Gulibon (#9 from Latrobe, Pa., and Derry Area HS). Another battle between ranked wrestlers will come at 197 pounds, where Lehigh’s #18 Elliot Riddick will look to upset PSU’s #5 Morgan McIntosh. Riddick moved up two weight classes this winter after qualifying for the NCAAs at 174 pounds last winter. Lehigh defeated Hofstra, 27-9 on Nov. 6 to open the season at home.
• #18 Pittsburgh 25, at #9 Edinboro 13,  Nov. 6 — Pitt’s fifth-ranked Max Thomusseit defeated Edinboro’s No. 10-ranked Victor Avery,  5-3 at 184 pounds to give the Panthers a 16-13 lead they never relinquished in a meeting between two programs that used to be rivals in the Eastern Wrestling League until Pittsburgh chose to join the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) a year ago. Edinoro led 10-3 after three matches as top-ranked  A.J. Schopp majored Nick Zanetta 10-0 at 133 pounds and second-ranked Mitchell Port pinned Travis Shaffer in 5:10 at 141.

Eastern Open tournaments

There will be two tournaments on the East Coast that could feature several match-ups of nationally-ranked wrestlers:

• Brockport/Oklahoma Open, Nov. 8 — The communities of Norman, Okla. — the home site of the Oklahoma Sooners — and Brockport, N.Y. — a Division III program — are separated by over 1,300 miles. But once again these programs will unite for a 16^th consecutive year in Brockport this Saturday, when they also entertain Bloomsburg, the U.S. Military Academy, Lock Haven, Buffalo and Kent State.

Nationally-ranked wrestlers could meet at the following weights:

• 133 – Cody Brewer (#4, Oklahoma) vs. Mack McGuire (#18, Kent State);
• 157 – Ian Miller (#3, Kent State) vs. Justin DeAngelis (#13, Oklahoma).
• Hokie Open, Nov. 9 — Over 300 wrestlers from 18 Division I schools will be in Blacksburg, Va., on Sunday for the seventh annual tournament hosted by Virginia Tech.

The most notable schools and wrestlers include: American University (David Terao, #9/125); Chattanooga (Sean Boyle, #18/125; and Nick Soto (#11/133); Duke (Immanuel Kerr-Brown, #16/157); Virginia (George DiCamillo, #17/133; Joe Spisak, #13/141; Gus Sako, #12/157; Nick Sulzer, #2/165; Blaise Butler, #12/174; and Zach Nye, #16/197); and the host school, Virginia Tech (Joey Dance, #4/125; Devin Carter, #4/149; Zach Epperly, #19/174; and Ty Walz, #20/Hwt.)

Dual, then tournament

The night before the Hokie Open, Virginia Tech will wrestle its first dual meet against Newberry College. The same thing is happening in Laramie, Wyom., where the University of Wyoming will first entertain No. 10 Nebraska in a dual meet on Nov. 7, then will play host to the 37^th annual Cowboy Open, Nov. 8. In addition to the Cornhuskers, other schools entered in this tournament are Air Force, Boise State, Northern Colorado and Wisconsin.

 What’s happening with other highly-ranked teams

The following is a list of the other schools that are ranked in WIN’s Tournament Power Index:

1. Minnesota – travels to Bison Open in Fargo, N.D., Nov. 8
2. Iowa – Opens season Nov. 15 at Luther Open in Decorah, Iowa
3. Cornell – Opens season Nov. 22 in home dual vs. Oklahoma
4. Ohio State — Plays host to Kent State on Nov. 13
5. Oklahoma State — Opens season Nov. 16 in Miami, Okla., in duals vs. NE Oklahoma and South Dakota State
6. Missouri — Opens season this Saturday, Nov. 8 at Iowa State Cyclone Open
7. Northwestern — Opens season this Saturday, Nov. 8, in dual at Stanford
8. Illinois — Opens season this Sunday, Nov. 9 in home Quad vs. Northern Illinois, Rider and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville

Looking Back …

 Upsets at NWCA All-Star Classic

The college season officially opened last Saturday, Nov. 1, when the University of Pennsylvania played host to the 49^th annual National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic at the Palestra, where there were six match-ups of No. 1 vs. No. 2 wrestlers.

Of those the lower-ranked wrestler earned upsets at:

197 – No. 2 Scott Schiller (Minnesota) defeated No. 1 and defending national champ J’den Cox (Missouri), 5-3 in sudden victory;

Hwt — No. 2 Mike McMullen (Northwestern) defeated No. 1 and defending national champ Nick Gwiazdowski (NC State), 8-4

In the other four matches where No. 1 defeated No. 2:

133 — A.J. Schopp (Edinboro) defeated Mason Beckman (Lehigh), 4-2

149 — Alex Tsirtis (Northwestern) defeated Josh Kindig (Oklahoma State), 4-1 (this was a rematch of last year’s NCAA final)

165 — Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) defeated Nick Sulzer (Virginia), 4-2

184 — Gabe Dean (Cornell) defeated Jack Dechow (Old Dominion), 5-2

There was supposed to be another No. 1 vs. No. 2 meeting at 141, but Ohio State’s three-time NCAA champ Logan Stieber was unable to wrestle against No. 2 Mitchell Port of Edinboro.

Super 32 Results

The following are the championship match results of the Super 32 tournament, which was held in Greensboro, N.C., on Nov. 1-2. The rankings were from WIN’s preseason ratings.

106 — No. 1 Cade Olivas (St. John Bosco-Bellflower, Calif.) major dec. Unranked Thomas Cox (Deer Park, NY), 16-2

113 — Spencer Lee (No. 1 at 120 from Franklin Regional-Murrysville, Pa.) pinned unranked Noah Baughman (Wadsworth, Ohio), 0:26

120 — No. 14 Yianni Diakomihalis (Hilton, N.Y.) dec. No. 3 Daton Fix (Sand Springs, Okla.), 5-0

126 — No. 11 Chad Red (New Palestine, Ind.) dec. No. 14 Jose Rodriguez (Massillon Perry, Ohio), 7-0

132 — Luke Pletcher (No. 2 at 126, Greater Latrobe, Pa) dec. unranked Mike D’Angelo (Commack, N.Y.), 4-2

138 — Sam Krivus (No. 13 at 132, Hempfield Area, Pa.) dec. Davion Jeffries (No. 7 at 132, Broken Arrow, Okla.), 5-2

145 — No. 4 Michael Kemerer (Franklin Regional, Pa.) dec. No. 12 Max Thomsen (Union, Iowa), 9-4

152 — No. 12 Thomas Bullard (Archer, Ga.) dec. No. 9 Dayton Racer (Bettendorf, Iowa), 5-4, tiebreaker

160 — Fox Baldwin (No. 1 at 160, Osceola, Fla.) dec. Alex Marinelli (No. 6 at 160, St. Paris Graham, Ohio), 8-6

170 — No. 6 Taylor Lujan (Carrollton, Ga.) dec. unranked Brett Donner (Wall Township, N.J.), 11-5

182 — No. 1 Zahid Valencia (St. John Bosco, Calif.) dec. Kollin Moore (No. 14 at 170, Norwayne, Ohio), 9-4

195 — No. 4 Hunter Ritter (John Carroll, Md.) dec. unranked Kevin Mulligan (Bergen Catholic, N.J.), 8-2

220 — No. 14 Patrick Grayson (Colonial Forge, Va.) dec. unranked Yousef Hemida (Mamaroneck, N.Y.), 8-6

Hwt — Unranked Andrew Dunn (Bethlehem Catholic, Pa.) dec. unranked Ian Butterbrodt (St. John’s Prep, Mass.), 8-5