2024 Louisiana State Finals
Welcome to the Louisiana State Finals home page. Here, you’ll find the top 6 from each weight class in all 3 divisions. I’ll also be putting together more information on the state tournament, possibly an interview or two that will also be here. Division Results Multi Time Champions (2024 weight | Name (national rank) | School | Grade | Champion Seasons)*bold = eligible for 4 state titles. D1 120 | Bodi Harris | Jesuit | 11 | (2023, 2024) 138 | #25 Richie Clementi | Brother Martin | 11 | (2022, 2023, 2024) 157 | Nick DiGerolamo | Holy Cross | 11 (2023, 2024) 285 | #14 Spencer Lanosga | Jesuit | 12 | (2022, 2023, 2024) D2 120 | Alex Rozas | Teurlings Catholic | 10 | (2023, 2024) 126 | Kaiden Triche | Archbishop Rummel | 11 | (2023, 2024) 144 | Dalton Compton | North DeSoto | 10 | (2023, 2024) 165 | Braeden Simoneaux | Teurlings Catholic | 10 | (2023, 2024) D3 120 | Dylan Duvarney | De La Salle | 12 | (2022, 2023, 2024) 157 | Michael Gilreath | Evangel Christian | 12 | (2023, 2024)
2024 State Finals Dates – All States, National Preps, and New England Championships
A look at the state finals dates for every state, national preps, and New England championships. Alabama Feb 15-17 _ Alaska Dec 15-16 _ Arizona Feb 15-17 _ Arkansas Feb 23-24 _ California Feb 22-24 _ Colorado Feb 15-17 _ Connecticut Feb 23-24 _ Delaware Mar 1-2 _ Florida Feb 29-Mar 2 _ Georgia Feb 15-17 Hawaii Feb 17 _ Idaho Feb 23 _ Illinois Boys: Feb 15-17; Girls: Feb 23-24 _ Indiana Feb 16-17 _ Iowa Feb 14-17 _ Kansas Boys: Feb 24; Girls: Feb 22 _ Kentucky Feb 15-16 _ Louisiana Feb 2-3 _ Maine Feb 20 _ Maryland Independent: Feb 16-17; Feb 29-Mar 2 Massachusetts Feb 16-17 _ Michigan Mar 1-2 _ Minnesota Feb 29-Mar 2 _ Mississippi Feb 23-24 _ Missouri Feb 21-24 _ Montana Feb 9-10 _ Nebraska Feb 15-17 _ Nevada Feb 16-17 New Hampshire _ New Jersey Feb 29-Mar 2 New Mexico Feb 23-24 _ New York Feb 23-24 _ North Carolina Feb 15-17 _ North Dakota Feb 15-16 _ Ohio Mar 8-9 _ Oklahoma Feb 22-24 _ Oregon Feb 22-24 _ Pennsylvania Mar 7-9 _ Rhode Island Mar 1-2 _ South Carolina Feb 24-25 South Dakota Feb 22-24 _ Tennessee Div 1 & Girls: Feb 23-24; Div 2: Feb 16-17 _ Texas Feb 16-17 _ Utah Girls 4, 5, 6: Feb 14-15; Girls 3, Boys: Feb 16-17 _ Vermont Feb 23-24 _ Virginia Feb 16-17 _ Washington Feb 16-17 _ West Virginia Feb 24-25 _ Wisconsin Mar 1-2 _ Wyoming Feb 22-24 Preps Feb 23-24 _ New England Mar 1-2
Delbarton at Blair Dual Preview – Feb. 1, 2024
Delbarton at Blair Dual Preview Projected Line Up: Weight Delbarton Blair Season Head To Head Winner Team Points Running Team Score Predicted Final Score 106 #3 Cam Sontz #7 Vincenzo Anello – Sontz Delbarton 3 D 3 Blair 28 113 PJ Terranova #18 Mike Batista – Batista Blair 3 B 3 Delbarton 18 120 #7 Dan Jones #2 Leo DeLuca – DeLuca Blair 4 B 7 126 Ryan DeGeorge Ryan Meier – DeGeorge Delbarton 3 D 6 132 Chase Quenalt #5 Matty Lopes – Lopes Blair 3 B 10 138 #5 Jayden James #12 Billy Dekraker Beast Finals: 5-3 James James Delbarton 3 D 9 144 Trevor Jones #9 Logan Rozynski – Rozynski Blair 3 B 13 150 Gabe Logan Joseph Schinder – Logan Delbarton 3 D 12 157 Carl Betz #16 Paul Ognissanti – Ognissanti Blair 3 B 16 165 #7 Alessio Perentin #8 Will Henckel – Henckel Blair 3 B 19 175 #8 Louie Cerchio Cael Mielnik – Cerchio Delbarton 3 D 15 190 Austin Quandt Pete Snyder – Snyder Blair 3 B 22 215 Vinnie Lee Yanik Gallego – Lee Delbarton 3 D 18 285 Connor Martin #6 Carter Neves – Neves Blair 6 B 28 Surprisingly, this season to date has only given us one previous head to head. Jayden James, making his season debut at Beast of the East, would ultimately win that tournament with a 5-3 win over Billy Dekraker in the finals. That was a week after Dekraker placed at Ironman. New Jersey season starts later than most so Delbarton – among others – doesn’t get to make that trip to Ohio. That back to back is a gauntlet for the few teams that choose to run it. Could that have factored into the results there? Possibly. Am I predicting the Blair Buccaneer to flip it in his favor today? No. But he could. He definitely could. So, other than 138, we don’t have any other recent results to go off of, but we do have some possible rematches from last year’s dual. However, as we sit right now, even those we only have two: at 120 and 285. There are plenty of names still in these line ups that were in last year’s dual but many at different weights. It was Perentin vs Ognissanti and Cerchio vs Snyder as examples. Could Blair mix up their line up in a way that we get those again? Sure. But as I usually mention in these dual write ups, it’s rare to see the favorite take an aggressive stance with their line up, rather than the underdog trying to get creative. So I would call each of those unlikely. The past 2 years, this dual has been supremely close. Last year’s version was about as exciting as it gets, perhaps the best dual I’ve ever been too. Not just with regard to the energy from the Delbarton student section, which seemed to never take a second off from screaming at the top of their lungs, and jumping around like the gym was the new House of Pain, but the wrestling itself. Blair would ultimately win, 26-24, trailing 24-20 heading into 285 and getting the pin by their hammer at the back of the line up, Carter Neves. As I say, it doesn’t get better than last year’s dual between these two. And the task ahead of Delbarton appears to be a little more daunting on paper. They lost two mainstays in the line up, Tyler Vazquez and Simon Ruiz, to the Ivy League – both winning key matches in this dual. Blair also lost a pair of top kids in Marc-Anthony McGown and Lorenzo Norman. Truth be told I would say the Ruiz Norman match was the single match of the night. And now both are gone. Side note: Norman made waves in his redshirt season for Stanford beating Shane Griffith. Anyway, back to the lecture at hand. Both teams lose some elite level wrestlers but the way they line up heading into this it appears to be a bit stronger in Blair’s favor. I’ll run through the weights and then as I like to do, see if there’s a path for Delbarton to take to turn it in their favor. Right away, you see 10 weights will have at least 1 ranked wrestler, 4 matches look to be nationally ranked showdowns. Now, it’s possible that for Delbarton to have a chance here they have to shift some of their ranked guys around. Meaning we may not actually see all of these. But for now, we’re proceeding as close to the status quo as we can. I also don’t know what weight they’ll start at. With 285 being the biggest favorite of all the weights, if I’m Delbarton I hope it starts there, and that way right away we know what kind of night we’re in for. If Neves gets the fall again, we have our work cut out. If Martin can limit it to a major – or imagine a decision – we have some wiggle room. Alright, enough of that, on to the weights. 106 is one of the 4 possible nationally ranked bouts of this dual, and possibly the single best one of the bunch. You have the 3rd ranked Sontz taking on the 7th ranked Anello. I think I have Anello ranked the highest of all the national outlets but I also think I’m the most accurate, especially in the top 10 across all weights. This should be a great one. Sontz has had a nice season series with Sem’s Shamus Regan, now he gets the other prep 106 stud. Another freshman. Anello picked up a massive win at Ironman over Ignacio Villasenor and that’s the sort of result that gives pause to calling this for Sontz with any sort of strong confidence. I am giving this to the Green Wave in the prediction but I wouldn’t be
Blair at Delbarton
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CA #1 Poway v CA #2 Buchanan Dual Preview
#1 Poway vs #2 Buchanan Preview Weight Buchanan Poway Winner Team Points Running Team Score Final Score 106 Blake Woodward #24 Arseni Kikiniou Kikiniou Poway 3 Poway 3 Poway 25 113 #12 Rocklin Zinkin #11 Edwin Sierra Zinkin Buchanan 3 Buchanan 3 Buchanan 21 120 CJ Huerta Devin Bobzien Huerta Buchanan 3 Buchanan 6 126 Ashton Besmer Billy Townson Townson Poway 3 Poway 6 132 Paris Ruiz Elias Navida Navida Poway 3 Poway 9 138 Gavin Bauder #7 Paul Kelly Kelly Poway 3 Poway 12 144 #6 Joe Toscano Mario Carini Toscano Buchanan 3 Buchanan 9 150 Jaxtyn Frost #7 Laird Root Root Poway 4 Poway 16 157 #14 Leo Contino Jack Estevez Contino Buchanan 3 Buchanan 12 165 #23 Branson John Sasha Kikiniou John Buchanan 3 Buchanan 15 175 Brock Kitchen #14 Angelo Posada Posada Poway 6 Poway 22 190 Sean-Michael Roberts Ben Bomberger Roberts Buchanan 3 Buchanan 18 215 Alec Dansby #13 Robert Platt Platt Poway 3 Poway 25 285 Bryson Harrington Adam Farha Harrington Buchanan 3 Buchanan 21 As you would expect when the two top teams in the state of California get together for a dual, basically every wrestler is in the top 15 of the state and there are 10 carrying national rankings. We’ll get one nationally ranked match up at 113 that we already saw at Doc B and should see yet again at the state finals. I’d call that the headliner here and, with as close as the dual score should be, making that the final bout would be a potentially phenomenal finish to the proceedings. With both teams being at Doc B, we have some head to heads from the current season that obviously inform some of the predictions this weekend. But so many of these are close, of the toss up variety, that a flip of a result isn’t out of the question at all. At 106, Kikiniou and Woodward haven’t wrestled this season but were both at Doc B where they have a common opponent in Clovis’ Anthony Garza. Woodward has actually wrestled Garza 3 times this year, going 1-2. At Doc B, it was Garza who got the win first and then Woodward came back to beat him for 3rd. Kikiniou is 1-0 against him. The other point of note is who they have lost to. For Woodward, it’s been Garza twice and Carlos Melgoza. For Kikiniou, it’s Siraj Sidhu, Paulo Valdez, and Elijah Almarinez. All three losses for Kikiniou have been at 113. All of this to say, the season resume to date favors Poway. The location favors Buchanan. I think a lot will be determined by where they start the dual. If they start at 120, this match up happens after a likely Buchanan win at 285. The buzz will be electric. I probably go Woodward. If the dual starts here at 106, I think Kikiniou gets it done. At 113, you have the best match in the dual and one of the best in the state at any weight. You have two nationally ranked wrestlers who are currently number 1 and 2 in the state. It was Zinkin who entered the year atop the state rankings but Sierra beat him at Doc B. That was a 6-3 decision, and any reasonable analysis would give him the edge off of that result coming in this weekend. For Zinkin, he doesn’t lose in the state of CA often: in the state finals against a senior, Scotty Moore, on a mission in Bakersfield; once to Thunder Lewis; and this season to Sierra. He never got the chance to avenge the loss to Moore, he did beat Lewis the next time they wrestled, and now he gets to try to do the same this weekend. This really could go either way, and with an overall dual this close, this has the makings of a classic. At 120, CJ Huerta was part of a trio of Buchanan freshmen that were all atop their weight classes last season. While none of the three came away from Bakersfield with that 1st state title, they were all top 3. Huerta, like Zinkin and Toscano, will have his eyes set on a return trip to the podium. At last year’s dual, Huerta got Sierra at 113 and was able to come away with the win. As we discussed at 113, Sierra has elevated his game a lot, developing into a bonafide state champion contender. Huerta has displayed that level of wrestling himself, even if this year he comes into the weekend ranked 7th in the state – a little lower than where he was consistently in the top 3 all last year. Bobzien got a huge win after Doc B over Slater Hicks. That shows he is a threat here. Huerta is my slight favorite but this is another one of those quality, toss ups you get throughout the 14. At 126, you have a pair of kids who have both spent time in their careers with national rankings by their name. Besmer can lay claim to that as recently as this season, coming off the Zinkin Classic. For Townson, it’s been previously in his career, after national performances garnering attention. Last year, Towson put together a 4th place finish in the state, and so far this season, appears to be on track to repeat at least that. His only loss in CA to date has come against current #1, Nikade Zinkin. He finished 4th at Doc B, losing twice to Bixby’s nationally ranked Gage Walker. Besmer went 1-2 in the same bracket. But don’t let that finish fool you, even if we give a slight edge to Townson here, Besmer is live to flip this for the Bears and could be one of those results that determines this dual winner. At 132, we have another match up with a current season head to head result. As with 113, this also went
Buchanan at Clovis “The Big One” Dual Preview
Buchanan at Clovis Preview Export XLSExport CSV Weight Buchanan Clovis Season Head To Head Winner Team Points Running Team Score Predicted Final Score 106 Blake Woodward CA #4 Anthony Garza CA #3 Garza 2-0 Garza 10-4 Woodward 5-1 Garza Clovis 3 Clovis 3 Buchanan 33 Clovis 21 113 #11 Rocklin Zinkin CA #3 Thunder Lewis CA #9 none Zinkin Buchanan 3 Buchanan 3 120 Christopher Huerta CA #6 Simon Cervantes CA #14 none Huerta Buchanan 3 Buchanan 6 126 Ashton Besmer CA #6 #15 Nikade Zinkin CA #2 Besmer 4-3 Zinkin Clovis 3 Clovis 6 132 Paris Ruiz CA #11 Anthony Harris CA #11 Eli Granada CA #13 Ruiz vs Granada = none Harris vs Granada = Granada 1-0 Ruiz Buchanan3 Buchanan 9 138 Gavin Bauder CA #3 Wyatt Lewis CA #7 Bauder 8-5 Bauder Buchanan 3 Buchanan 12 144 #7 Joseph Toscano CA #1 James Wright CA #20 none Toscano Buchanan 6 Buchanan 18 150 Jaxtyn Frost CA #10 Noah Reynolds CA #6 none Reynolds Clovis 3 Clovis 9 157 #14 Leo Contino CA #3 Samuel Chacon CA #18 Contino 2:44 Contino Buchanan 6 Buchanan 24 165 #22 Branson John CA #4 Adrien Reyes CA #5 John 1-0 Reyes Clovis 3 Clovis 12 175 Brock Kitchen CA #14 Joseph Buck CA #3 none Buck Clovis 6 Clovis 18 190 Sean-Mitchel Roberts CA #9 Mark Marin CA #8 Sean-Michael Roberts vs Marin = none Dansby vs Marin = Marin 7-2 Marin Clovis 3 Clovis 21 215 Alec Dansby CA #6 Noah Martinez CA #16 Dansby vs Marin = Marin 7-2 Martinez 6-2 Dansby 5-1 Dansby Buchanan 3 Buchanan 27 285 Byson Harrington CA #3 Jordan Gonzales CA #32 Harrington 13-4 Harrington Buchanan 6 Buchanan 33 In the state of CA, there is no bigger dual event than The Big One. The Buchanan and Clovis rivalry is one that you must mark your calendars for every season – presuming you’re a wrestling fan. And if you’re not one, we want you to become one, so this might be the single high school event I’d have you watch. To bring you on board. The only downside to this being your first wrestling rodeo is that no other dual, or even tournament, around the country lives up to the production in any way, shape or form. The Doc B tournament (hosted by Clovis) comes close, in terms of the way they do the finals. No other major tournament runs its finals in the same way. To their detriment and Doc B’s advantage. Similarly, nobody else does a dual like these Clovis schools do their rivalry. And so for that reason it is both the one event to bring new folks on board and also the one to set unreasonable expectations of what all duals are like. But we like to stick to the positive and the positive says that this is one to tune into and this year it should be a pretty competitive back and forth between these two. While Buchanan is a deserving favorite coming in, it’s not by as much as they have been in the past, and not as much as you might think. So I’ll give you my prediction based on the most likely line ups for each team referring to state ranking, and what weight kids were at for Doc B. But I’ll also give you my best attempt at a Clovis upset. If there’s one thing I love, it’s an upset. Heck, how do you think I won that NFL pool? Upsets, baby! The good thing for us with a rivalry like this is that we have a lot of history between many of the wrestlers, including head to heads from this season. I would guess that’s not as good for the wrestlers themselves who may want new competition. But their loss is our gain. I’ll start with the weights where they have already wrestled and move from there. There have been 9 total matches between kids currently slotted to face each other. In those 9, Buchanan has won 7. Three of those were the same match (106) three times. In that match up, Garza won twice, but the first two. Woodward has won the most recent between them, at Doc B. I expect Garza to come out fired up in front of the Cougar faithful and get back on the winning side in this one. At 126, Besmer got the better of Zinkin at Buchanan’s Zinkin Classic but that’s one of the earliest tournaments of the season. Early enough that a lot has happened since then. Like Nikade finishing 2nd at Doc B and Besmer not placing. That’s why Nikade carries the national ranking and Besmer once did but has since dropped out. None of this is to say Besmer can’t (or won’t) beat him again here. But now it’s in the rivalry dual. In Zinkin’s home gym. This is one of the main event weights so to speak. At 132, Buchanan has two possible state medalists. Paris Ruiz just won 5 Counties, picking up a pair of nationally ranked wins. But Ruiz also has a loss to his teammate Harris 2-1 at Zinkin. But it was Ruiz who went to the HOF duals and Ruiz who placed at Doc B. Harris lost to Granada there. So that’s the current head to head. Granada over Harris 1-0. Based on the most recent results, I’m guessing they go with Ruiz here but who knows in duals. Either way, Ruiz is the most up and down but appears to have the highest upside of all 3. Coming off the 5 Counties performance, I think he gets it done here too. Bauder has been on the national radar for some time. He’s currently in that next 25, top 40, range. He has the results – CA state runner up – to support that, but hasn’t put together the string of wins against top out of state guys to sustain a higher ranking. Lewis is a promising freshman
Delbarton at Wyoming Seminary Dual Preview
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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 Delbarton at Sem Preview 1st Dual Results: Export XLSExport CSV 285 Connor Martin (Delbarton School) over Unknown (For.) 6 0 106 Cameron Sontz (Delbarton School) over Shamus Regan (Wyoming Seminary) (SV-1 3-1) 3 0 113 Davis Motyka (Wyoming Seminary) over Peter Terranova (Delbarton School) (TF 16-0 0:00) 0 5 120 Nathan Desmond (Wyoming Seminary) over Daniel Jones (Delbarton School) (MD 9-1) 0 4 126 Ryan DeGeorge (Delbarton School) over Dale Corbin (Wyoming Seminary) (Dec 6-5) 3 0 132 Luke Lilledahl (Wyoming Seminary) over Chase Napeloni (Delbarton School) (Fall 0:00) 0 6 138 Matthew Botello (Wyoming Seminary) over Chase Quenault (Delbarton School) (Dec 5-2) 0 3 144 Michael Trujillo (Wyoming Seminary) over Trevor Jones (Delbarton School) (SV-1 3-1) 0 3 150 Gabe Logan (Delbarton School) over Smokey McClure (Wyoming Seminary) (Dec 11-4) 3 0 157 Anthony Evanitsky (Wyoming Seminary) over Carl Betz (Delbarton School) (Dec 3-2) 0 3 165 Alessio Perentin (Delbarton School) over Unknown (For.) 6 0 175 Dominic Federici (Wyoming Seminary) over Louis Cerchio (Delbarton School) (SV-1 6-4) 0 3 190 Jake Dailey (Wyoming Seminary) over Austin Quandt (Delbarton School) (Fall 0:00) 0 6 215 Jude Correa (Wyoming Seminary) over Elbrus Majagah (Delbarton School) (Fall 0:00) 0 6 Team Score 21 39 Line Ups Closest To Season To Date: Export XLSExport CSV Weight Delbarton Wyoming Seminary Winner Team Points Running Team Score Final Score 106 #3 Cam Sontz Evan Aftewicz Sontz Del 4 Del 4 Wyoming Seminary 32 113 PJ Terranova #5 Davis Motyka Motyka Sem 6 Sem 6 Delbarton 22 120 #8 Dan Jones #3 Nate Desmond Desmond Sem 4 Sem 10 126 Ryan DeGeorge Dale Corbin DeGeorge Del 3 Del 7 132 Chase Quenalt #1 Luke Lilledahl Lilledahl Sem 3 Sem 13 138 #7 Jayden James #8 Matt “Chewy” Botello James Del 3 Del 10 144 Trevor Jones Mike Trujillo Trujillo Sem 3 Sem 16 150 Gabe Logan Anthony Evanitsky Logan Del 3 Del 13 157 Carl Betz #2 Vince Bouzakis Bouzakis Sem 3 Sem 19 165 #8 Alessio Parentin #2 Joe Sealey Sealey Sem 3 Sem 22 175 #8 Louie Cerchio #11 Dom Federici Cerchio Del 3 Del 16 190 Austin Quandt #13 Jake Dailey Dailey Sem 6 Sem 28 215 Vinnie Lee #1 Jude Correa Correa Sem 4 Sem 32 285 Connor Martin – Martin Del 6 Del 22 Can you believe you get all this for free? Last night Blair Academy traveled west to rival Wyoming Seminary and the only thing better than my preview for it was the actual wrestling. And I expect the same thing to be true today as the Blue Knights host back to back national top 10 teams with New Jersey’s Delbarton coming into town. I seem to always mention this sort of thing whenever Blair or Sem or even Delbarton are in the mix for a big event. For the people who criticize “non-boundary” schools, and recruiting, look at this competition, look at the travel opportunities, look at the number of kids from all these schools heading to the Ivy League, why would you NOT want to send your kid to one of them if you had the chance? My high school had a pipeline to CSUN, these schools have pipelines to Cornell, Columbia, and Penn. Like what are we talking about. But this isn’t a prep and private school advertisement so I’ll get back to the wrestling. Which, as I mentioned, these schools tend to have schedules full of the toughest competition. And tonight’s dual is just one more in the middle of that. And I have the best preview for it yet again. And it’s freeeeeeeeeeee. Yet again. So unlike Blair, Delbarton doesn’t compete directly against Wyoming Seminary under the same jurisdiction, and duals against them aren’t annual events. But this year, we get to see it twice. They were both in Oklahoma for the Hall of Fame Duals and ended up wrestling in the semifinals on day 2, after pool action on day 1. Obviously, that gives us a little insight into this match up, but we also saw the Sem line up last night against Blair and I’ll try to combine both of those pieces of information into a comprehensive final “projected” line up. Emphasis on projected because we never know until the name is called out who actually takes the mat. But we do what we can with what we got. Starting with that first meeting in December, we have to mention that neither team used their full line ups. And again, they might not here either. But I’m proceeding with the maximum strength possible for each. In which case, Delbarton was without Jayden James and Sem was without Sealey and Bouzakis. And the final score with some shuffling all around was Sem 39 Delbarton 21. I think even keeping things relatively the same, Delbarton closes the gap a little. However, it’s more than likely not enough. Like an underdog football team kicking an onside kick or a fake punt turning momentum in their favor, there probably has to be a little shuffling of the Green Wave line up yet again. And I think I found a possible “path to victory” for them. Keeping weights relatively “standard” to what Delbarton has looked like at major tournaments, we should expect 4 ranked matches and even more individually ranked wrestlers. We already saw Dan Jones against Desmond and Cerchio against Federici. Both of those went to Sem the first round. Cerchio was able to get a win over Federici in the most recent battle between them, but Jones hasn’t had that chance yet. Could he flip the result as well? Sure. But as we sit here typing this, I’d say it’s a long shot. The other two ranked matches we’ll be seeing for the first time,
Blair at Wyoming Seminary Dual Preview
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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 Sem at Blair Preview Export XLSExport CSV Weight Blair Wyoming Seminary Winner Team Points Running Team Score Final Score 106 #7 Vincenzo Anello #4 Shamus Regan Regan Sem 3 Sem 3 Wyoming Seminary 36 113 #14 Mike Batista #5 Davis Motyka Motyka Sem 3 Sem 6 Blair 23 120 #1 Leo DeLuca #3 Nate Desmond DeLuca Blair 3 Blair 3 126 Ryan Meier #1 Luke Lilledahl Lilledahl Sem 6 Sem 12 132 #5 Matty Lopes #8 Matt “Chewy” Botello Lopes Blair 3 Blair 6 138 #13 Billy Dekraker Mike Trujillo Dekraker Blair 3 Blair 9 144 #13 Logan Rozynski Smokey McClure Rozynski Blair 4 Blair 13 150 Barry Norman #2 Vince Bouzakis Bouzakis Sem 6 Sem 18 157 #16 Paul Ognissanti Anthony Evanitsky Ognissanti Blair 4 Blair 17 165 #7 Will Henckel #2 Joe Sealey Sealey Sem 3 Sem 21 175 Pete Snyder #11 Dom Federici Federici Sem 3 Sem 24 190 Cael Mielnik #13 Jake Dailey Dailey Sem 4 Sem 28 215 Yaneik Gallego #1 Jude Correa Correa Sem 6 Sem 34 285 #6 Carter Neves – Neves Blair 6 Blair 23 It seems every year, the annual Blair vs Sem dual is a top 2, top 3, top 5, some level of highly elite match up. Of course naysayers will say, yeah but how many are home grown, they recruit. Whatever, if you like wrestling, especially at the high school level, but any level really, then how could you not like this one every year? What more do you want? As someone who has no rooting interest in any particular team – just kidding Selma people, just playing Joliet Catholic fam, Delbarton, even the Blair faithful have shown me an outsized level of support and for that I am grateful. And so in return, I shall predict an 84-0 Blair win because I’m only human and bias is a thing. Stupidity is also a thing. A thing I have plenty of at times, but this is not one of those times so I will not be predicting a Blair shutout win. In fact, setting everything aside, Wyoming Seminary should be considered heavy favorites in every dual they could possibly wrestle this season, this one included. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a path to a Blair win, and it definitely doesn’t mean that there won’t be some classic individual performances along the way. And in this dual, a lot of unpredictable things take place. I remember looking so forward to a Beau Bartlett Shayne Van Ness battle. Got home, fired up the live stream, and there went Bartlett winning by fall in like 22 seconds. Maybe something like that happens. Last year, at Blair (which you can read about here https://tkdwnmedia.com/sem-at-blair-dual-recap/) Wyoming Seminary entered as a slight favorite and the home Buccaneers came away with the win. And they did it by flipping 2 previous head to head results, and then a huge win by pin by Logan Rozynski which absolutely changed the course of the evening for good. So what will it take this go round, in their rival’s home gym? A little bit of the same and even more. This Wyoming Seminary team is something a little different. Even when compared to the most recent powerhouse Blair teams, this Blue Knight line up finished in the top 5 all time in Ironman points, Ironman finalists, and more. But the quality of this Blair squad might be sliding under the radar somewhat. Every single weight in this dual features at least one ranked wrestler. Five matches will pit two against each other. Owing to very similar schedules, we do get some early season results between some of them and that gives a little picture of what to expect. At 106 Regan currently holds the 1-0 advantage over Anello. But we’ve seen with Cam Sontz someone get revenge against Regan this season. Anello could do the same. At the same time, Anello is a freshman stepping into the enemy’s lair so to speak and I have to side with the Blue Knight. That first match up was 4-3 in the Ironman semifinals so should be close either way. 113 is another solid one – Motyka won Ironman. Batista didn’t place there but he’s been steadily climbing since. Maybe he’s been working toward this moment. There’s no recent history between these two but there is a relatively recent match up for Batista with Nikos Fillipos. He’s behind Motyka on the B team. That’s no knock on him or Batista, he’s also really good. But it is simply to say the reasonable expectation is a Motyka controlled win. If this were at Blair I might give more thought to the upset. On paper, 120 should be the best individual match up of the evening. The issue with paper is that that’s not where wrestling happens. That’s ok because even on the mat, I have this as the best match of the dual. Once Anthony Knox moved up to 126, and DeLuca took over the top spot at this weight, there have been fewer more dominant #1’s in the country. He’s the Buccaneers top dog and will have to come through here for any chance of the team upset. Could Desmond win this one? His first Blair Sem rodeo? In his new home? Sure could. And whatever happens here, we might be in for a huge Big 10 rivalry with DeLuca heading to Iowa and Desmond going to PSU. For now, I give the edge to Leo but it’ll be close. 126 is one of the weights where the Blue Knights dominate and should separate on the scoreboard. There might not be two kids anywhere in the country who have wrestled each other more than Botello and Lopes. However, ironically, they haven’t met yet this
2023 Powerade Preview: Weight By Weight
2023 Powerade Tournament Preview When you look at the teams in the field and the wrestlers heading to Canon Mac this weekend, I think it’s pretty fair to say this year’s Powerade will be the 2nd toughest tournament overall around the country. While Ironman is in a class by itself atop that list, some years the battle for that 2nd spot is won by Beast, Doc B, and this year it’s here at Powerade. Below, we have the top 8 seeds at each weight, where they’re ranked and then some thoughts about the top contenders. The names I’m most excited to see against some elite competition are Killian Colluccio, Cooper Hornack, Alex Nini, Shawn Taylor and Vaughn Spencer. I’m also anxious to see if Logan Fowler proves me right lol. 107 Export XLSExport CSV Seed Rank Name School 1 8 (113) Dominic Deputy Chestnut Ridge 2 2 Cameron Sontz Delbarton-NJ 3 3 Shamus Regan Wyoming Seminary 4 8 Killian Colluccio Christian Brothers Acad.-NJ 5 11 Anthony Mason Southern Regional-NJ 6 20 Alex Diaz Council Rock North 7 NR Cam Baker Burrell 8 10 Timmy Mazur St. Edward-OH There’s a few things to watch at 107 this weekend. Deputy is a returning PA state finalist who actually owns the last domestic loss for Joe Bachmann. He’s definitely formidable, but we had him at the next weight up. Looks like he’s dropping down to 107 and we’ll see what that has in store for him. Sontz and Regan are embroiled a nice back and forth. It’s crazy what some of these kids take on for a season schedule but you have Regan who has already wrestled the top kid in the country 3 times and now he should get to see Sontz for the 3rd time already. Unlike the 3 against Bachmann, he has a win over Sontz. Sontz just avenged that last week in Oklahoma. I think Regan gets him back but that is finals level quality right there. Something I’m really curious to see is the two New Jersey kids in the middle of the top 8 seeds. I have them both right at that top 10 level and in the case of Mason, all alone on a ledge. I think that should be a great one that might be slipping a little under the radar outside the Garden State. The way this seeding worked out, Deputy actually has about as tough a quarterfinals as any top seed. He could get upended there by Mazur who was hot for Ironman and might be riding high. In the end, I think Regan comes away the champion but I got Colluccio as his {somewhat} surprising finals opponent. Some unseeded kids to watch: #18 Tanner Tran and Chazz Robinson. They could each “upset” someone. Quarterfinals: Deputy vs Mazur Colluccio vs Mason Sontz v Baker Regan vs Diaz Semifinals: Deputy vs Colluccio Sontz vs Regan Finals: Colluccio vs Regan Champion: Shamus Regan (Wyoming Seminary) 114 Export XLSExport CSV Seed Rank Name School 1 3 Davis Motyka Wyoming Seminary 2 4 Ayden Smith Notre Dame GP 3 1 Paul Kenny Christian Brothers Acad.-NJ 4 NR Ethan Timar St. Edward-OH 5 10 (120) Ladon Sidun Norwin 6 NR Liam Davis Lake Highland Prep-FL 7 NR Tyler Conroy Malvern Prep 8 24 Jon McGinty St. Joseph Regional-NJ I got some push back a couple weeks ago when I had Paul Kenny at #1 to start the season even though New Jersey starts later than most states and he hadn’t yet taken the mat at 113. I felt pretty good about that decision then and I feel just as good about it now. He’s seeded 3rd here, not quite sure why, but he’s the favorite no matter where he is. The two seeded ahead of him, Motyka and Smith, are both seniors and I always point that out in these lower weights where physical maturity can override natural talent. If Smith gets past Kenny in the semis, that could set up a rematch with Motyka. As we sit right now, that is 1-0 for the Sem Blue Knight. Timar has spent time in the top 25 and could very well be the semis opponent for Motyka. However, I think Sidun at the 5 seed should get the job done in that one. Of the 6, 7, and 8, McGinty is a New Jersey state champion and might make that quarterfinal with Motyka interesting. A name to watch outside of the ranked group is Nate Braun from Bergen Catholic. He had a great run in Atlantic City last season and could be a “surprise” quarterfinalist or more. Since he’s unseeded there’s no telling what his path looks like. Quarterfinals: Motyka vs McGinty Timar vs Sidun Smith vs Conroy Kenny vs Davis Semifinals: Motyka vs Sidun Smith vs Kenny Finals: Motyka vs Kenny Champion: Paul Kenny (Christian Brothers) 121 Export XLSExport CSV Seed Rank Name School 1 4 Nate Desmond Wyoming Seminary 2 7 Dan Jones Delbarton-NJ 3 13 Karson Brown St. Edward-OH 4 8 Ethan Rivera Lake Highland Prep-FL 5 9 Louie Gill Reynolds 6 11 Lukas Littleton Mascaro Malvern Prep 7 NR Ty Kapusta Franklin Regional 8 NR Connor Smith Seneca Valley The biggest news, or story, here is Desmond committing to Penn State. I don’t know, I think I’ve heard of it. We can look ahead to some possible DeLuca Desmond matches in the Big 10. For now, I like to consider what sort of excitement or extra energy a kid might have coming off a huge decision like that. In the case of Desmond, he’s already the favorite to win this bracket. Now, it seems even less likely he slips up. The battle for 2nd and 3rd should be great here. I mean who knows, maybe someone trips Desmond up too, these are all very good wrestlers coming in. But the most recent results do give a lot of support for Desmond’s place atop the bracket. He just beat Jones who just beat Rivera.
2023 Walsh Ironman Preview: Weight By Weight
The 2023 Walsh Ironman Tournament Preview There is no question what the toughest in-season tournament is every year. It’s this one. Just like there is no question what the toughest preview for this tournament is every year. It’s this one. Let’s get to it. 106 Export XLSExport CSV Seed Rank Name School State 1 1 Joe Bachmann Faith Christian PA 2 2 Ignacio Villasenor Pomona CO 3 4 Shamus Regan Wyoming Seminary Preps 4 7 Caleb Noble Warren Township IL 5 8 Rocco Cassioppi Hononengah IL 6 12 Ayden Dodd Perrysburg OH 7 20 Vincenzo Anello Blair Preps 8 NR Brighton Karvoski Green Farms Preps This is basically all freshmen. I don’t know who was in line for 4 Ironman titles prior to Covid, but there are couple sophomores who won last year back again, and this entire group is eligible for that should they come out crowned the champion. The favorite has to be Bachmann. He’s one of the top 2, 3 freshmen in the country and has done nothing coming into the season to give us reason to think otherwise. Villasenor was supposed to be a big challenger at Super 32 but suffered an injury and forfeited out. Assuming he’s rested, recovered, and ready I think he poses a nice challenge here. Regan battled Bachmann in the Super 32 semis to 1-0. They just wrestled again in last week’s headlining dual. Bachmann came out 7-3 that time. So, we’d give the edge to Bachmann again but these kids are super familiar with each other so you never know. Noble had an impressive Spring and Summer heading into his first HS season. I think right now you make him a clear candidate to reach the podium but not quite the title contender of the top 3. Cassioppi, like Noble, has been everywhere it seems. He’s picked up big wins – Dodd at Super 32 for example – and taken some tough losses. No one is more battle-tested. We’ll see if that serves him well through the frontside or even to spur a top 3 consolation run. Dodd is joined his teammate, Grey Burnett (113), to make up one of the most formidable lower weight duos in the country. When Burnett was at 106, he was top 5. Dodd comes in just outside our top 10 but should do substantially better than last year’s 1-2 showing. This might be some folks’ first time catching Anello. He enters this season as a super heralded youth star. He should be a fixture in the Blair lineup for years. I would be surprised and impressed if he knocked off one of the top 3. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he beat anyone else. Darkhorse(s): I think we always see Ohio guys overperform. That might be someone like Lincoln Rohr of Massillon Perry. Most Interesting Round Of 16: Caleb Noble vs Mason Rohr Potential Quarterfinals: Bachmann vs Karvoski Noble vs Cassioppi Villasenor vs Anello Regan vs Dodd Semifinals: Bachmann vs Cassioppi Villasenor vs Regan Finals: Bachmann vs Villasenor Champion: Joe Bachmann (Faith Christian, PA) 113 Export XLSExport CSV Seed Rank Name School State 1 2 Dom Munaretto St Charles East IL 2 5 Ayden Smith Notre Dame Green Pond PA 3 12 Grey Burnett Perrysburg OH 4 25 Hunter Taylor Liberty MO 5 20 Ethan Timar St Edward OH 6 8 Davis Motyka Wyoming Seminary Preps 7 11 Nicholas Garcia Marmion Academy IL 8 23 Aydan Thomas Stillwater OK We didn’t have to wait long to find our first returning champion. Last year, Munaretto was a freshman at 106 and left the weekend with the gold. His toughest battle proved to be the semifinals match up with Smith. Ayden is a multi-time PIAA state champ and I’m sure would love that rematch, since it’s most likely to occur in the finals. Smith would ultimately take 3rd last year. As mentioned with Dodd at 106, Burnett is the freshman phenom of this bunch and could definitely shake things up (as much as you’d say a 3 seed shakes things up). He took a slight upset loss at Super 32 to Rocco Hayes and while Hayes isn’t here for any possible revenge, what better way to get back to national prominence than a deep Ironman run? I have him coming in ranked 12th at 113 but he’s certainly capable of making me look dumb there. Hunter Taylor gets the 4 seed and you won’t find him ranked by anyone nationally but me. So who is right? We shall see. He’s the elder statesman of the group, a senior committed to Oregon State. That could prove valuable in tough spots. Last year he finished 8th with 2 losses to Sebastian DeGennaro and a respectable loss at the hands of Marcus Blaze. There’s a couple Ohio kids that seem to fluctuate in other rankings, Timar is one of them. He finished 4th last year, ultimately losing to Smith in the consolation finals. He would go on to capture an Ohio D1 state title, that included a finals over Rylan Seacrist (seeded 9 here). Perhaps a bit of discrepancy between the 6 seeded Motyka and where I have him ranked among the group. As mentioned with Burnett, this could be the sort of match up Burnett ultimately wins. I just have to give a little credit to Motyka at this weight. Garcia has been a fast riser after a very impressive Super 32 performance. Last year at Ironman, Garcia took a big loss to Javaan Yarbrough and then to Motyka. He avenged Motyka as part of that Super 32 run. Perhaps they get a rubber match of sorts this weekend. Aydan Thomas has had some really high moments and some sort of head scratching losses over the last year. I believe at his best, he could probably take out anyone here but Munaretto. But it’s tough to predict that for him. Darkhorse(s): Kole Davidheiser is the highest ranked unseeded. Depending where he lines up, he could