So this isn't for most, but Joony, did you see Dake from Cornell? 3rd straight national championship at 3 different weights! And the cat has a chance to come back next year and make it a fourth. If he makes it next year as a National Champ at a fourth different weight, you have to put him in talks of the greatest Collegiate wrestler ever. That kid from Minnesota, Nelson, to defeat the senior from Lehigh who is the reigning national HW champ as a sophmore is phenomenal. I am pulling for him to repeat next year!:Thumbs:
great tournament. a lot of upsets from freshmans defeating high seeded seniors. not sure what kyle dake's doing next year. he could redshirt since he's wrestled three straight years. david taylor DOMINATED through the entire division, but he's in for some tough matchups and tyler caldwell and andrew howe comeback next season from their redshirt season. i thought the guy Trotman from app. st was impressive taking down the no. 1 seed and then edging out the no. 2 seed to take 3rd. he has potential to become an mma guy. so does ed ruth from psu, who imo is not only the most dominant wrestler in the entire ncaa, but is also the most athletic and charismatic. either way, espn u provided great coverage throughout and it was good to see the finals on regular espn. i went to philly last year to watch the finals, and it was probably one of the best live sporting event i've attended and certainly topped several boxing events i've covered and a few mma events i've covered.
i thought flores from american u was gonna win the whole thing, but he looked like he suffered concussion in the semi's vs. rey (lehigh) and was stumbling all over the place. he ended up medical forfeiting his consolation matches. anyways, yea it was good to see minnesota dude win. i think he's the first heavyweight from minnesota to win since brock lesnar.
Good call on Ed Ruth, I can easily see him going into MMA. You would think his athleticism would translate nicely. PSU really made a strong showing all together. Great year for their program.
if anyone cares, u.s olympic trials will be held this weekend and should be broadcasted live. check themat.com on friday and saturday. jarhead, since you'd probably be the only one knowledgeable about amateur wrestling, kyle dake and david taylor both have earned wildcard draws at 73kg and there's a possibility that they might face each other. former unbeaten 4 time collegiate champ, 2004 olympic gold medalist and psu head coach cael sanderson recently announced that he will NOT be competing in the trials to focus more on his coaching career.
http://www.mmafighting.com/news/2012/3/16/2878354/ncaa-wrestling-championships-2012-results I wanted to find a printout with seeding, but couldn't. 125lbs FINAL: Matt McDonough (Iowa) vs. Nicholas Megaludis (Penn State) Winner: McDonough dec. Megaludis, 4-1 133lbs FINAL: Logan Stieber (Ohio State) vs. Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) Winner: Stieber dec. Oliver, 4-3 141lbs FINAL: Kellen Russell (Michigan) vs. Montell Marion (Iowa) Winner: Russell dec. Marion, 6-4 OT 149lbs FINAL: Frank Molinaro (Penn State) vs. Dylan Ness (Minnesota) Winner: Molinaro dec. Ness, 4-1 157lbs FINAL: Kyle Dake (Cornell) vs. Derek St. John (iowa) Winner: Dake dec. St. John, 4-1* 165lbs FINAL: David Taylor (Penn State) vs. Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh) Winner: Taylor dec. Hatchett, 22-7 Tech Fall 174lbs FINAL: Nick Amuchastegui (Stanford) vs. Ed Ruth (Penn State) Winner: Ruth dec. Amuchastegui, 13-2 184lbs FINAL: Steve Bosak (Cornell) vs. Quentin Wright (Penn State) Winner: Bosak dec. Wright, 4-2 197lbs FINAL: Cam Simaz (Cornell) vs. Chris Honeycutt (Edinboro) Winner: Simaz dec. Honeycutt, 7-5 285lbs FINAL: Zach Rey (Lehigh) vs. Tony Nelson (Minnesota) Winner: Nelson dec. Rey, 4-1 * = Dake becomes first wrestler in NCAA history irrespective of weight class to win three national titles in three different weight classes. 125 Megaludis was a 10 seed. McDonough wins safe. There is a video on youtube of jordan oliver thrashing mcdonough in a freestyle match like he was a chump. Not sure if that is reflective of how they really compare, but it is impressive. 133 Jordan Oliver is probably my favorite wrestler right now. He has a famous move he calls the 'jermain jones' move (after a guy who did it at his state's high school tournament. I think its real name is like ankle wizzer step over blahblah. I described it to a local kid who does some national hs wrestling and he recognized the move and said the kids from the east coast called it the whirly bird. Anyway, Jordan Oliver was a strong contender for best wrestler in the nation coming into the tournament and kept that status up to the finals. He got screwed by a no-call takedown in the last few seconds, but Stieber wrestled smart to be in the position to win. It's very hard to slow down Oliver and he did. 141 Russell is a very under the radar 2 time champ now. Marion is a tough mofo so Russell doesn't get to show anything fancy. 149 Molinaro goes undefeated, but lost to Dake last year so cannot be rated above Dake. 157 Dake wins safe in a weak weight class. St. John was 17-2 and the 2 seed. 165 Taylor is a phenom beast who reminds me of Cael Sanderson. He would have been the first guy to pin his way through the tournament, but he only tech falled the guy in the finals. Does anyone know if he is better than Dake or Ruth? He looks it to me. Taylor's only loss is getting pinned in a sweet cradle by Bubba Jenkins in the finals last year as a freshman. I'd rank him #1 overall right now. His opponent was only an 11 seed, though. 174 Ruth gets him early and then just poured it on. 3 undefeated guys in this weight class. Amuchastegui beat the other guy who was rated as the 2 seed. Very talented guy. 184 Wright isn't a dominating type guy. Neither is Bosak. Good win for Bosak in OT. 197 Simaz and Honeycutt are both solid. Good match. 285 I didn't like either of these guys. Not sure what you guys see in Nelson.
megadulis was the no. 1 recruit his senior year in high school and improved rapidly towards the end of the season. he dethroned the no. 2 seed zach sanders having gone 0-2 prior to the quarter finals matchup. he had also lost to mcdonnough in OT in their prior meeting. quentin wright can be shaky during the regular season, but he dominated the ncaa's last year. he and bosak were teammates in high school i think. wright spanked him in their prior meeting. st. john was the no. 2 seed in the beginning of the season, but was plagued by injuries and had losses that were upsets. he bounced back nicely to win the big ten and making it to the finals in ncaa's. the biggest upset was dylon ness beating jamal parks and parks actually not placing it at all. i thought oliver was going to beat steiber (as he did earlier in the season), but steiber is a stud. he's also an old freshman. his younger brother, a true freshman is also very talented. like boxing, heavyweights in collegiate wrestling also sucks.
