***Midlands Championships Dec 29/30th***

[crawfy54]

"That Rutgers kid" is a 2-time All American. Also, the first ever undefeated 4 time state champ in NJ history. I didn't see the match, but sounds like a great performance from Storr.

Thanks for the info. I didn't mean for it to sound like i thought the Rutgers wrestler looked like a scrub, just that I thought Storr looked better.

 

[Judoka]

Here's all the finals with Intermat rankings:
125: #1 Thomas Gilman of Iowa vs. #8 Tim Lambert of Nebraska
133: #2 Zane Richards of Illinois vs.#4 Eric Montoya of Nebraska
141: #3 Matthew Kolodzik of Princeton vs. #5 Kevin Jack of NC State
149: #2 Brandon Sorenson of Iowa vs. #6 Justin Oliver of Central Michigan
157: #5 Tyler Berger of Nebraska vs. #4 Mike Kemerer of Iowa
165: #1 Isaiah Martinez of Illinois vs. #9 Chad Walsh of Rider
174: #4 Zahid Valencia of Arizona State vs. #9 Lelund Weatherspoon of Iowa State
184: #3 Timothy Dudley of Nebraska vs. #10 Jack Dechow of Old Dominion
197: #4 Nate Rotert of SDSU vs. #8 Aaron Studebaker of Nebraska
HWT: #4 Tanner Hall of Arizona State vs. #13 Jordan Wood of Lehigh

 

[ArgentCy]

Only two #1 seeds made the finals? Interesting.

 

[Judoka]

Only two #1 seeds made the finals? Interesting.

That's ranking, not seeds.

 

[Judoka]

Hall did not come to wrestle tonight. He goes down 13-1 to #6 ranked Gross and finishes te same as he was seeded, 4th.

 

[LindenCy]

Hall did not come to wrestle tonight. He goes down 13-1 to #6 ranked Gross and finishes te same as he was seeded, 4th.

Gross has really been on a tear this year, hasn't he?

 

[Judoka]

Gross has really been on a tear this year, hasn't he?

Yeah, that's not a loss that's gonna hurt his ranking. A win or a closer loss just would have been nice.

 

[Judoka]

9-7 win for Storr over the #16 ranked kid from CSU-Bakersfield. If he was eligible to be ranked on Tuesday I think he'd be about 12th. But like I posted earlier, since he's indicated he wants to stay in redshirt I hope they keep him in redshirt.

 

[Judoka]

Spoon goes down 11-2 to Valencia.

I think Valencia is going to win the title this year. He's a beast.

 

[CyGold]

He looked a lot bigger and stronger than Spoon. Made me wonder how we might be with Spoon at 165 and Dane at 174

 

[Judoka]

I just looked at the remaining schedule and 165 is gonna be rough going. Six of Pestano's eight remaining matches are against guys currently ranked in the top 13.

 

[NEICyFan]

He looked a lot bigger and stronger than Spoon. Made me wonder how we might be with Spoon at 165 and Dane at 174

Valencia is a huge 174. Don't let that effect your thought of where our guys should be.

 

[NEICyFan]

So, in spite of his early quarterfinal loss, Earl has wrestled back at least to where he was seeded (#4).

This tournament showed the continued growth of Storr, Straw, and DiBlasi from the beginning of the season. I wonder if we'll see any new entries (other than Storr who isn't eligible) in the national rankings this week.

Weatherspoon exceeds his placement, and does it by defeating a Hawkeye. Just on memory, I don't think we had any other head-to-head matches in this tournament, which is kind of surprising since both teams brought full squads.

The only ones of our 14 who probably fell short of expectations were Smith and Briceno (both 0-2)--and Moreno who evidently is hurt. Also, Harrington who went 1-2 with an 11 seed. And 165 doesn't seem to be the optimal weight for Pestano. That's already been said.

The issues with Hall are that he was seeded 4th in the first place then got beat by a true freshman who lost his next two matches and didn't place.

 

[clonedude]

The issues with Hall are that he was seeded 4th in the first place then got beat by a true freshman who lost his next two matches and didn't place.

Hall is our Deonte Burton of wrestling. He's either focused and really good, or he's horrible.

And just looking at Valencia and Spoon wrestle last night, you would never think they were the same weight. Valencia looks to be about the same height or maybe even taller than Spoon, but also bigger arms, bigger shoulders, bigger legs, etc. Doesn't even look like a fair fight going in.

Once Valencia got on top of Spoon, Spoon couldn't do anything. Didn't look like he was even trying to get out, but I'm sure he was. Valencia must have racked up about 3 mins of riding time or more.

 

[matclone]

The issues with Hall are that he was seeded 4th in the first place then got beat by a true freshman who lost his next two matches and didn't place.

I agree. He shouldn't have lost that match. But then he wrestled back. Then he fell flat again in the match with Gross. It seems he's done that quite a few times, but he's still a 2x All-American.

 

[buf87]

In the wrestlebacks (except Gross match), I saw some of the Earl Hall that made him a 2 time AA. I think he could have takedown clinics with many of these guys and rarely shoots. I have not seen many blast doubles by him, but when he explodes, he rarely is denied.

 

[NEICyFan]

Hall is our Deonte Burton of wrestling. He's either focused and really good, or he's horrible.

And just looking at Valencia and Spoon wrestle last night, you would never think they were the same weight. Valencia looks to be about the same height or maybe even taller than Spoon, but also bigger arms, bigger shoulders, bigger legs, etc. Doesn't even look like a fair fight going in.

Once Valencia got on top of Spoon, Spoon couldn't do anything. Didn't look like he was even trying to get out, but I'm sure he was. Valencia must have racked up about 3 mins of riding time or more.

The Valencia's are famous for their ability to cut weight, going back to kids wrestling. They are simply giants.

 

[NYWRESTLER94]

So would YOU pull his shirt? I hope your right but that is yet to be determined.

You're referring to storr? If so I think he's clearly shown he's the best option for you guys at 141. It's not like in past years where shirts were pulled after 1 or 2 tournaments he's had some pretty good success through the first semester and when you take into account Gomez could be there you want to get some productivity