2023 GIRLS PNL RESULTS
2023 GIRLS PNL RESULTS RESULTS 100 1st Place – Erica Irvine of Immortal Athletics WC 2nd Place – Ann Porter of Daniel Cormier Wrestling Club 3rd Place – Lily Enos of Izzy Style Wrestling 110 1st Place – Makenize Smith of Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club 2nd Place – Harlee Hiller of Izzy Style Wrestling 3rd Place – Madison Heinzer of Daniel Cormier Wrestling Club 4th Place – Layla Phillips of Immortal Athletics WC 5th Place – Bianca Eide of Pinnacle Wrestling Club 6th Place – Annie Rohret of Immortal Athletics WC 120 1st Place – Aspen Blasko of Pinnacle Wrestling Club 2nd Place – Camille Schult of Immortal Athletics WC 3rd Place – Grace Patterson of Big Game Wrestling Club 135 1st Place – Madilyn Peach of Askren Wrestling Academy 2nd Place – Tammy Grace of Daniel Cormier Wrestling Club 3rd Place – Mary Jane Porter of Daniel Cormier Wrestling Club 4th Place – Sophie Glaser of Immortal Athletics WC 5th Place – Forfeit Forfeit of Unattached 5th Place – Lana Schafer of Immortal Athletics WC 150 1st Place – Sydney Perry of Izzy Style Wrestling 2nd Place – Grace Alagbo of Pinnacle Wrestling Club 3rd Place – Brynn Shepardson of Journeymen Wrestling Club 4th Place – Isabella Gretzinger of Journeymen Wrestling Club 5th Place – Madison Edens of Big Game Wrestling Club More News
2023 Boys PNL Notable Results
PNL BOYS RESULTS Notable Matches: 107: Gavin Landers over Cooper Merli dec. UTB 1-0 107: Cooper Merli over Nico DeSalvo dec. 2-0 114: Tanner Guenot over Abdi Unle fall 5:01 121: Dawson Youngblut over Konner Larkin fall 1:52 133: Adrian Meza over Kellen Wolbert dec. 7-2 145: Dalton Perry over Kane Naaktgeboren dec. 5-3 160: Charlie Millard over Asher Cunningham dec. 13-9 189: Cade Ziola over Cole Han-Lindemeyer dec. 7-4 189: Connor Mirasola over Cade Ziola dec. 9-4 215: Cole Mirasola over Noah Wenzel 15-8 Top 8 Medalists: 100 1st Place – Hayden Schwab of Immortals Athletic Wrestling Club 2nd Place – Cruzer Dominguez of MWC Wrestlilng Academy 3rd Place – Mateo Gallegos of M2 Training Center 4th Place – Jax Fuhrman of M2 Training Center 5th Place – Max Dinges of M2 Training Center 6th Place – Kael Davis of M2 Training Center 7th Place – Kaiden Belinsky of Immortals Athletic Wrestling Club 8th Place – Vincent DeMarco of Askren Wrestling Academy 107 1st Place – Gavin Landers of Immortals Athletic Wrestling Club 2nd Place – Cooper Merli of Journeymen Wrestling Club 3rd Place – Cole Caniglia of MWC Wrestlilng Academy 4th Place – Brady Byrd of Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club 5th Place – Camden Rugg of Askren Wrestling Academy 6th Place – Landen Bogard of Askren Wrestling Academy 7th Place – Carmine Sipper of M2 Training Center 8th Place – Westin Ingham of PINnacle Wrestling 114 1st Place – Bradley Wagner of M2 Training Center 2nd Place – Alexander Pierce of Big Game Wrestling Club 3rd Place – Mycah Beckett of Askren Wrestling Academy 4th Place – Tanner Guenot of M2 Training Center 5th Place – Abdirahman Unle of MWC Wrestlilng Academy 6th Place – Brett Swenson of PINnacle Wrestling 7th Place – Caleb Schaefer of Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club 8th Place – Treynor Curtin of Askren Wrestling Academy 121 1st Place – Konner Larkin of Valiant Wrestling Club 2nd Place – Liam Neitzel of PINnacle Wrestling 3rd Place – Kody Tanimoto of Spartan Mat Club 4th Place – Elijah Hedges of Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club 5th Place – Aiden Arnett of Izzy Style Wrestling 6th Place – Nathan Nash of M2 Training Center 7th Place – Ethan Mora of Bear Cave Wrestling 8th Place – Corbyn Robison of Sanderson Wrestling Academy 121 1st Place – Dawson Youngblut of Immortals Athletic Wrestling Club 2nd Place – Deven Casey of Izzy Style Wrestling 3rd Place – Lawson Eller of PINnacle Wrestling 4th Place – Max Gonzalez of Askren Wrestling Academy 5th Place – Inocencio Garcia of Izzy Style Wrestling 6th Place – Lander Bosh of Sanderson Wrestling Academy 7th Place – Elijah Sierra of Izzy Style Wrestling 8th Place – Jiovanni Chavez of Valiant Wrestling Club 127 1st Place – Isaiah Schaefer of Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club 2nd Place – Mason Carlson of Sanderson Wrestling Academy 3rd Place – Timothy Koester of Big Game Wrestling Club 4th Place – Gavin Green of M2 Training Center 5th Place – Theodore Flores of Izzy Style Wrestling 6th Place – Jonathan Morrison of Bear Cave Wrestling 7th Place – Brodie Christmas of Ironclad Wrestling 8th Place – Gregory Green of Journeymen Wrestling Club 127 1st Place – Geronimo Rivera of Sanderson Wrestling Academy 2nd Place – Caio Aron of Spartan Mat Club 3rd Place – Alexander Hague of Bear Cave Wrestling 4th Place – Jayden Rinken of Immortals Athletic Wrestling Club 5th Place – Tyler Kapusta of Young Guns Wrestling 6th Place – Grant Madl of Izzy Style Wrestling 7th Place – Benjamin Straub of M2 Training Center 8th Place – Aiden Kunes of M2 Training Center 133 1st Place – Adrian Meza of Valiant Wrestling Club 2nd Place – Kellen Wolbert of Askren Wrestling Academy 3rd Place – Max Wirnsberger of M2 Training Center 4th Place – Chris Lalonde of Bear Cave Wrestling 5th Place – Nick Dardanes of Bear Cave Wrestling 6th Place – Maksim Mukhamedaliyev of Izzy Style Wrestling 7th Place – Ethan Immel of Askren Wrestling Academy 8th Place – Zachary Parisi of Izzy Style Wrestling 139 1st Place – Tyson Peach of Askren Wrestling Academy 2nd Place – William Anderson of Ironclad Wrestling 3rd Place – Collin McDowell of Askren Wrestling Academy 4th Place – Luke Burgar of Spartan Mat Club 5th Place – Chase Stephens of Maurer Coughlin Wrestling Club 6th Place – Jason Worthley of Sanderson Wrestling Academy 7th Place – James Whitbred of M2 Training Center 8th Place – Austin Herbst of PINnacle Wrestling 145 1st Place – Dalton Perry of M2 Training Center 2nd Place – Carson Weber of Izzy Style Wrestling 3rd Place – Kane Naaktgeboren of Big Game Wrestling Club 4th Place – Liam Pionkowski of Askren Wrestling Academy 5th Place – Kieran Cullen of Journeymen Wrestling Club 6th Place – Boden White of Immortals Athletic Wrestling Club 7th Place – Omar Samayoa of Izzy Style Wrestling 8th Place – Luke Simcox of M2 Training Center 152 1st Place – Reagan Milheim of M2 Training Center 2nd Place – Brayden Robison of Sanderson Wrestling Academy 3rd Place – Cooper Rowe of PINnacle Wrestling 4th Place – Jacob Schmadeke of Valiant Wrestling Club 5th Place – Jackson Ricks of Sanderson Wrestling Academy 6th Place – Jaden Wehler of M2 Training Center 7th Place – Josh Fish of Sanderson Wrestling Academy 8th Place – Cole Dummer of Askren Wrestling Academy 160 1st Place – Charlie Millard of Askren Wrestling Academy 2nd Place – Asher Cunningham of M2 Training Center 3rd Place – Colin Young of Izzy Style Wrestling 4th Place – Isaias Jimenez of Valiant Wrestling Club 5th Place – Riley Johnson of MWC Wrestlilng Academy 6th Place – Brodie Bedford of Spartan Mat Club 7th Place – Kyler Walters of PINnacle Wrestling 8th Place – Cameron Milheim of M2 Training Center 170 1st Place – Collin Carrigan of Izzy Style Wrestling 2nd Place – Andrew McMonagle of M2 Training Center 3rd Place – Toren Vandenbush of Askren Wrestling Academy 4th Place
2023 Elite 8 Folkstyle Duals Recap
Add Your Heading Text Here Great two days of some elite folkstyle wrestling. We’re starting to gear up for Super 32 and then the season is here before you know it. Just some things to keep in mind through the recap: 1) The rankings are mine so you get a little preview into how some of these break down. 2) The weights are based on where they competed and wrestled most this weekend. 3) The records for the event are with forfeits out. So some kids were officially 7-0 but only wrestled 6 matches. 4) Head to head was a big factor in some, where the performances were close otherwise. 5) Dynasty won the freestyle tournament in the Spring and followed it up with a win here. 6) Bo Bassett and Jax Forrest continue to be one of the best 1-2 punches in the country 7) Some relatively unknown kids made a lot of noise, looking at you Zack Ballante. 8) For my Cali fans, some really interesting results. 9) Hope Nate Blanchette is alright. Team Results Champions: Dynasty 7-0 Runner-Up: POWA 6-1 3rd Place: Carnage 5-2 4th Place: Team Thunder 4-3 Pool A Dynasty 4-0 Team Thunder 3-1 Roundtree 2-2 Minion Legends 2-2 Poway 1-3 Scarlet Knights 0-4 Pool B POWA 4-0 Carnage 3-1 Kansas Marshals 2-2 Oklahoma Black Ops 2-2 Stronghold 1-3 Black Mambas 0-4 100/106: #12 Rocco Cassioppi (7-0) #13 Ezekiel Witt (5-2) #15 Caleb Noble (7-0) #19 John McGinty (5-2) #22 Gabe Ballard (6-1) #23 Kole Davidheiser (6-1) #24 Brandon Bickerton (5-2) #25 Henry Aslikyan (4-3) Notes: Cassioppi set the pace among the 106 field. He went undefeated and picked up 3 wins over wrestlers I have ranked in the top 25. The best match of the entire bunch was probably the 16-11 battle with Ezekiel Witt. Witt entered the weekend with the highest ranking and taking the loss to Rocco and then one to Ballard doesn’t drop him too far. But the win for Ballard does get him into the mix heading into the Super 32 season. You could literally interchange the last 4 here in any order, I give Ballard the slight nod simply for having the best win (Witt) of the bunch. Noble is an incoming freshman who should continue to rise. 113: #3 Dom Munaretto (7-0) #9 JoJo Uhorchuk (6-1) #19 Aydan Thomas (3-4) #22 Abram Cline (4-3) Notes: So the standout was clearly Munaretto. He swept the field, including a pin over Uhorchuk. Aside from that, Uhorchuk was more than solid the entire event, including a tech fall over Cline and a major over Thomas. Thomas is the surprise here, losing 4 matches, 2 of them to kids currently unranked. He’s built up too much equity to drop out completely or anything, but making the move up from 106 where he was ranked before, it could take a little adjustment. Cline’s win over Thomas was a big one for the CA senior. 120: #6 Seth Mendoza (7-0) #10 Gauge Botero (6-1) #15 Moses Mendoza (5-2) #16 Keanu Dillard (4-3) #19 Antonio Mills (4-3) #24 Edwin Sierra (4-3) #25 Devon Miller (4-2) Notes: Similar to Munaretto, another Illinois kid was the standout here. Mendoza picked up wins over Botero, Dillard, Mendoza, Sierra, and Miller. His closest match was with Moses (5-3) but otherwise wasn’t really challenged much. Dillard is someone I expect to get back into the top 10 but coming off this weekend, he slips a bit. Devon Miller is a name to watch. A greco stud, he held his own among this field. I’ll be interested to see how his season goes. Moses Mendoza is another monster from Gilroy, CA. His brother Daniel Zepeda just won Who’s #1, I wonder how often they battle for who’s #1 at the dinner table? 126: #2 Jax Forrest (7-0) #10 Eren Sement (5-2) #11 Sebastian DeGennaro (5-1) #12 Jake Hockaday (5-2) #13 Jake Crapps (5-2) #20 Vinnie Paino (5-2) Notes: Jax was the big favorite among this group coming in, and he leaves the same way. His closest match was 10-1 over Sement. Other than the loss to Jax, Eren also lost a heartbreaker to Hockaday, 10-9. Hocakaday himself lost decisively to DeGennaro. Sement picked up a win over Crapps and DeGennaro. It seems like these 4 could be slotted any which way. Right now, I’ll give it to Sement leading the four-some with a major decision over DeGennaro. Paino is acquitting himself well this month, sitting at 11-3 between Elite 8 and Waterway. 132: #2 Bo Bassett (6-0) #8 Cooper Hilton (6-1) #9 Nik O’Neill (3-2) #10 Drew Gorman (4-0) #15 Logan Swensen (4-2) #17 Noah Nininger (4-3) Notes: Whew. You blink and you might miss it. 10 takedowns from Bo Bassett. He blitzed this field something fierce. 4 tech falls and a major. And the major was a 14-2 domination over Hilton. Hilton for his part picked up wins over O’Neill, Swensen, and NIninger. Gorman finished without a loss and a nice win over Nininger. O’Neill picked up wins over Swensen and Nininger. 138: #3 Landon Robideau (7-0) #4 Alex Braun (6-0) #5 Paul Kelly (6-0) #16 Hunter Hollingsworth (5-1) #18 Tyler Guerra (3-2) #21 Gavin Linsman (2-5) #22 Tahir Parkins (2-3) Notes: Unfortunately for us, none of the top 3 in the mix met up. So we got 3 undefeated wrestlers over the two days. Robideau was the most consistently dominant so he gets the top nod. There’s a good chance we see them all in North Carolina next month. Don’t be fooled – by the rocks that I got – but also Hunter Hollingsworth being down at 16. It’s probably a tighter gap than that between the top 5 and him. There’s just some really good kids all over this weight. His only loss here was a decision to Braun. Linsman had a rough outing, though his 5 losses were all to kids above him. He did pick up the head to head over Parkins to keep him
Elite 8 Folkstyle Tournament
This week, Elite 8 returns for its annual Fall event. As a production series, Elite 8 runs two events every year. A freestyle tournament in the Spring after the scholastic season ends and then a folkstyle tournament at this time of year before we get into Super 32 and the upcoming school season. What Elite 8 has managed to do better than the other all-star type events out there is present itself as easy to follow, providing rosters beforehand, and bringing awareness leading up to it. I’ll have a full event preview this week. Date & Location: Sept. 16 & 17 at the Georgia Convention Center More News
Wittlake Goes Home
Travis Wittlake is headed home. Like that old P Diddy song. Tell the world. Or at least the wrestling world. Truthfully, Eugene is a little closer to Marshfield, Oregon than Corvallis is but there’s no wrestling for the Ducks so Oregon State is the next best thing. Wittlake was a 4-time Oregon state champion, a multi-time Fargo champion, and was certainly good enough to catch the Cael Sanderson eye at Penn State. He settled on Stillwater, John Smith, and the Oklahoma State cowboys, where he’s been in the line-up earning three trips to NCAAs. His best finish so far has been 4th during the Covid year, and he’ll look to make the podium for the Beavers in what I believe will be his last time out. But who knows with eligibility anymore. He’s competed from 165 to 184, and figures to manage the 174 spot in between a pair of Cali guys in Matt Olguin and Trey Munoz. He’s 79-19 for his career. More News
Sauce Money: Daniel Zepeda
Flip Through To Read Story:
Who’s #1 Preview
Flip Through To Read Story:
Miguel Estrada: Newest Hawkeye’s Future Comes Into Clearer Focus
TKDWN Flip Through To Read Story: More Interviews Nuthin But A G Thang: Alex Gutierrez Sauce Money: Daniel Zepeda Miguel Estrada: Newest Hawkeye’s Future Comes Into Clearer Focus Rocco Welsh: Umma Do Me Load More RANKINGS INTERVIEWS NEWS EVENTS THREE MAGAZINE NOFREE LUNCH
2023 Elite 8 Duals
TKDWN STORE The best apparel you’ve ever seen. No Really. Enter Store Hot TKDWN ntl ca pa nj il girls ncaa news Hot News 2023 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS ROCCO WELSH DANIEL ZEPEDA PRESEASON NCAA RANKINGS RESULTS Day 1 Day 2 POOL A Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Standings Carnage vs JK Edit Wt Match Results Carnage JK 38kg Carter Smith (Team Carnage) over Noah Watkins (JK Squad) TF 13-2 4.0 1 41kg Nico DeSalvo (Team Carnage) over Eli Herring (JK Squad) TF 10-0 4.0 0 44kg Gavin Landers (Team Carnage) over Audit Carfley (JK Squad) TF 19-8 4.0 1 48kg Eric Casula (Team Carnage) over Jose Cordero (JK Squad) TF 12-2 4.0 1 51kg Dawson Youngblut (Team Carnage) over Dale Corbin (JK Squad) Dec 10-1 3.0 1 55kg Luke Lilledahl (JK Squad) over Marcello Milani (Team Carnage) Dec 6-2 1 3.0 59kg Noah Ninninger (JK Squad) over Dawson Johnson (Team Carnage) TF 10-0 0 4.0 63kg Cole Brooks (Team Carnage) over Maddox Shaw (JK Squad) Dec 8-6 3.0 1 67kg Drayden Morton (Team Carnage) over Kael Voinovich (JK Squad) Dec 8-2 3.0 1 70kg Brock Herman (JK Squad) over Chris Crawford (Team Carnage) Dec 10-9 1 3.0 74kg Joe Sealey (JK Squad) over Andrew Christie (Team Carnage) TF 13-2 1 4.0 79kg Tyler Secoy (JK Squad) over Brett Smith (Team Carnage) Dec 6-6 1 3.0 86kg Payton Thomas (Team Carnage) over Kingsley Menifee (JK Squad) Dec 8-8 3.0 1 92kg Sonny Sasso (JK Squad) over Sean Carroll (Team Carnage) Fall 0:43 0 5.0 97kg Adam Haselius (Team Carnage) over Christian Bell (JK Squad) Fall 0:24 5.0 0 Dual Meet Score 37 29 (Carnage 1-0; JK 0-1) Poway vs Alien Edit Wt Match Summary Poway Alien 38kg Rylen Wax (Team Alien) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 0 5.0 41kg Sammy Sanchez (POWAY) over Deklan Barr (Team Alien) TF 11-0 4.0 0 44kg Arseni Kikiniou (POWAY) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 5.0 0 48kg Madden Skidmore (POWAY) over Gabe Ballard (Team Alien) Dec 14-11 3.0 1 51kg Ayden Smith (Team Alien) over Edwin Sierra (POWAY) Dec 6-3 1 3.0 55kg Chris Fretwell (Team Alien) over Tas Storer (POWAY) TF 13-2 1 4.0 59kg Billy Townson (POWAY) over Tahir Perkins (Team Alien) Dec 3-2 3.0 1 63kg Jalen Concepcion (POWAY) over Ronnie Christolin (Team Alien) Dec 4-2 3.0 1 67kg August Hibler (Team Alien) over Paul Kelly (POWAY) Dec 6-4 1 3.0 70kg Laird Root (POWAY) over Jordan Chapman (Team Alien) TF 23-12 4.0 1 74kg Max Nevlin (Team Alien) over Dom Dotson (POWAY) TF 16-5 1 4.0 79kg Angelo Posada (POWAY) over Israel Perez (Team Alien) TF 10-0 4.0 0 86kg Double Forfeit 0 0.0 92kg Xavier Williams (Team Alien) over Robert Platt (POWAY) Dec 23-16 1 3.0 97kg Adam Farha (POWAY) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 5.0 0 Dual Meet Score 36 26 (Poway 1-0; Alien 0-1) Dynasty vs Alien Edit Wt Match Summary Dynasty Alien 38kg Keegan Bassett (Dynasty) over Rylen Wax (Team Alien) TF 11-0 4.0 0 41kg Sean Kenny (Dynasty) over Deklan Barr (Team Alien) TF 11-1 4.0 1 44kg Ben Ziola (Dynasty) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 5.0 0 48kg Dominic Munaretto (Dynasty) over Gabe Ballard (Team Alien) TF 10-0 4.0 0 51kg Ayden Smith (Team Alien) over Paul Kenny (Dynasty) Dec 10-6 1 3.0 55kg Bo Bassett (Dynasty) over Chris Fretwell (Team Alien) TF 10-0 4.0 0 59kg Jax Forrest (Dynasty) over Tahir Perkins (Team Alien) TF 14-4 4.0 1 63kg Ronnie Christolin (Team Alien) over Giovanni Scafaldi (Dynasty) TF 14-3 1 4.0 67kg Vince Bouzakis (Dynasty) over August Hibler (Team Alien) Dec 8-8 3.0 1 70kg David Mayora (Dynasty) over Jordan Chapman (Team Alien) Dec 9-8 3.0 1 74kg Nick Kunstek (Dynasty) over Max Nevlin (Team Alien) Dec 8-2 3.0 1 79kg Cade Ziola (Dynasty) over Israel Perez (Team Alien) TF 10-0 4.0 0 86kg Connor Mirasola (Dynasty) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 5.0 0 92kg Cole Mirasola (Dynasty) over Xavier Williams (Team Alien) TF 10-0 4.0 0 97kg Jackson Dewald (Dynasty) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 5.0 0 Dual Meet Score 54 12.0 (Dynasty 1-0; Alien 0-2) Carnage vs Poway Edit Wt Match Summary Carnage Poway 38kg Carter Smith (Team Carnage) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 5.0 0 41kg Nico DeSalvo (Team Carnage) over Sammy Sanchez (POWAY) Dec 6-4 3.0 1 44kg Gavin Landers (Team Carnage) over Arseni Kikiniou (POWAY) TF 11-1 4.0 1 48kg Madden Skidmore (POWAY) over Eric Casula (Team Carnage) Dec 5-3 1 3.0 51kg Edwin Sierra (POWAY) over Dawson Youngblut (Team Carnage) Dec 9-2 1 3.0 55kg Marcello Milani (Team Carnage) over Tas Storer (POWAY) Fall 0:24 5.0 0 59kg Dawson Johnson (Team Carnage) over Elias Navida (POWAY) Dec 8-6 3.0 1 63kg Paul Kelly (POWAY) over Cole Brooks (Team Carnage) Dec 7-5 1 3.0 67kg Drayden Morton (Team Carnage) over Jack Esteves (POWAY) TF 10-0 4.0 0 70kg Laird Root (POWAY) over Chris Crawford (Team Carnage) Dec 10-3 1 3.0 74kg Dom Dotson (POWAY) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 0 5.0 79kg Brett Smith (Team Carnage) over Angelo Posada (POWAY) Fall 2:04 5.0 0 86kg Payton Thomas (Team Carnage) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 5.0 0 92kg Josh Cordio (Team Carnage) over Robert Platt (POWAY) TF 11-1 4.0 1 97kg Adam Haselius (Team Carnage) over Adam Farha (POWAY) Fall 0:27 5.0 0 Dual Meet Score 47 21 (Carnage 2-0; Poway 1-1) Dynasty vs Poway Edit Wt Match Summary Dynasty Poway 38kg Keegan Bassett (Dynasty) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf 5.0 0 41kg Sammy Sanchez (POWAY) over Sean Kenny (Dynasty) Dec 8-0 0 3.0 44kg Arseni Kikiniou (POWAY) over Ben Ziola (Dynasty) Dec 9-2 1 3.0 48kg Dominic Munaretto (Dynasty) over Madden Skidmore (POWAY) Dec 12-3 3.0 1 51kg Edwin Sierra (POWAY) over Paul Kenny (Dynasty) TF 11-0 0 4.0 55kg Bo Bassett (Dynasty) over Tas Storer (POWAY) Fall 0:58 5.0 0 59kg Jax Forrest (Dynasty) over Billy Townson (POWAY) TF 10-0 4.0 0 63kg Jalen Concepcion (POWAY) over Giovanni Scafaldi (Dynasty) Fall 4:44 0 5.0 67kg Vince Bouzakis (Dynasty) over Paul Kelly (POWAY)
2023 Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic Preview
TKDWN STORE The best apparel you’ve ever seen. No Really. Enter Store Hot TKDWN ntl ca pa nj il girls ncaa news Hot News 2023 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS ROCCO WELSH DANIEL ZEPEDA PRESEASON NCAA RANKINGS Welsh vs Barr Easily the main event of the festivities, Rocco Welsh from the host PA squad takes on Josh Barr. Now this one here is notable for a few reasons. First, Welsh will be spending his college years in Columbus competing for the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Barr is traveling east from Michigan to compete for the Nittany Lions of State College, PA. As far as teams go, they aren’t rivals per se, for one thing Penn State has no rival currently, but OSU has a bona fide rival in all things called Michigan. However, they are rivals in the sense that teams in the same conference see each other that way. Welsh will be doing what he can to get the Buckeyes back on top of the conference and Barr figures to be there for the Nittany Lions to keep that from happening. So, whatever rivalry there already is between them figures to continue and combat sports feed off rivalries. Second, they already have established a rivalry between themselves. They’ve met twice. Barr won in Fargo (which is freestyle) and Welsh won at Who’s #1. We might say Welsh enters as the slight favorite based on the fact that Barr’s victory was in a different style of wrestling and Welsh’s is more recent. However, it is safe to say that neither wrestler has had this level of test all season. Rocco did compete at Ironman and Powerade whereas Davison didn’t compete there so you would have to say his regular season was a bit more robust. But, in the end it not’s a huge issue because the only real threat to either one is the other one. Anyway, we’ll find out tomorrow night who wins the rubber match and heads into the freestyle season with the upper hand. Before the first whistle, be sure to check out the interview I did with Rocco prior to the PA state finals -> https://tkdwnmedia.com/2023/03/rocco-welsh-umma-do-me/ (note: PWC and the event organizers are missing an opportunity to showcase this match. Promo should be everywhere and I don’t see any anywhere really.) Team USA The Favorite This won’t be the first time Team USA enters as the favorite and we’ve seen over the years that making the trip to Western PA doesn’t always turn out in favor of the visiting squad. But we can’t ignore that coming into this event, the PA team is only the favorite on paper at 172. And as we just discussed that’s as slight a favorite as it gets. On the other hand, you would be wise to predict bonus for Team USA at 133, 189 and possibly at 285 as well. Now, we all know how much rankings really mean, and we just saw a historic upset at NCAA’s. No win here would be anywhere near that level so I don’t want to exaggerate the discrepancy. But, it is just a fact that the USA squad is ranked higher at every weight but 172, and I’ll throw 139 in there since Kasak hasn’t been included in rankings once he stopped competing in the HS season, and where the opponents have history they mostly favor the visitor as well. Rest of the Matches 121 gives us PA state champion Cael Nasdeo, newly ranked nationally, taking on a top 3 staple in MAM. Nasdeo is the rare PA kid staying in-state for the Nittany Lions. I say rare because you see all these kids in the PA line up heading elsewhere. Does Cael even recruit the best wrestling state in the country? McGowan is headed to Princeton where he might be next in line after NCAA champ Glory. 127 features #6 Davis vs #7 Kilkeary in a battle of state champions. They have some history between them as Kilkeary was able to beat Davis in the Super 32 finals a few years ago. That was at 106. Like Welsh and Barr this is a battle between a future Buckeye and Nittany Lion. And just like with the other one it is the PA kid traveling west to OSU and the Michigan kid heading east. 133 sees top in the country Cael Hughes take on unranked Jayden Pepe. Hughes is headed to Oklahoma State to take over for Daton Fix presumably. Although Fix has another year left, if we assume Hughes redshirts it times up well for them. Pepe is committed to Harvard. I’ve heard of it. They wrestled like 4 years ago in a freestyle match, does that even matter? If it does, Hughes won by tech fall. Hughes hasn’t gotten worse we would imagine. 139 is the other PA kid staying home to wrestle for PSU. Tyler Kasak hasn’t been competing in the HS season – I actually think that should be a requirement to compete here – but he’s obviously an elite talent. Block is staying in-state for the Hawkeyes so this sets up another possible collegiate Big 10 rivalry. They’ve wrestled twice before, splitting them 1-1. At 145 future Wolfpack of NC State Buesgens takes on future Hokie Mac Church. Church is coming off a PA state runner up finish while Buesgens was the state champion and carries a top 1 national ranking. They’ve met up head to head three times, with Buesgens winning the most dominant of the three as well as the most recent. 152 is a PA state champion in Watters taking on Michigan – another kid from Michigan, this is basically PA vs Michigan with a couple Stillwater kids for good measure or something. Anyway, Gilcher is the Michigan state champion and they are currently ranked #2 and #3 nationally. Who’s 2 and who’s 3? Flip a coin. Watters is headed to West Virginia while Gilcher is staying home for the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. This may