InterMat: Inside info from the N.W.C.A
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Junior Greco-Roman Notebook (running)
By Jason Bryant
jbryant@intermatwrestle.com
MONDAY
SESSION III NOTES
A to the K: The sequel
Western State signee Hollan Gravley of Alaska is still unbeaten at 130 pounds. Gravley's got five falls in his six wins and is one of eight wrestlers still alive in the A Pool. He's also got the most classification points in the tournament so far.
Sanders solid
Minnesota's Zach Sanders has had a few landmines to deal with in his 119-pound bracket. Early on, Sanders beat North Dakota state champion Justin Solberg, then eliminated last year's 105-pound Junior Greco champion Justin Forrest of Kansas. After dispensing with Forrest, he knocked off Paul Garza of Arizona -- Garza did snake a period from Sanders.
Nice....
Speaking of Minnesota, Jackson County Central's Travis Rutt took the lead in the fastest fall race. Rutt, InterMat's #68 recruit from the Class of 2008, picked up a fall in nine seconds in his fifth round win over Jesse Nielsen of Idaho.
Taylor solid
Some weights are getting close to the round-robin All-American rounds and at 105 pounds, Ohio's David Taylor hasn't lost a period and will only have to beat Kansas' Nathan Furches to make the finals. Taylor has wins over Ladd Rupp of Oklahoma and Mark Rappo of Pennsylvania in the A Pool, while we're still undecided in the B Pool. Illinois B.J. Futrell is still unbeaten on that side.
Butler standing alone for the moment
At 112 pounds, Missouri's Donte Butler is the only wrestler without a loss through round five in the B Pool. David Klingsheim of California, Gabe Ramos of New Jersey, Tyler Cox of Wyoming and Matt Snyder of Pennsylvania each have a loss in the B Side. Iowa's Andrew Long is unbeaten up top and in round six, will face the only other unbeaten in the A Pool -- Minnesota's Cody Lensing.
Triggas tops Chase in three periods
Back at the Ironman during the high school season, California's Nikko Triggas had fits with Illinois' Jimmy Chase. The fits continued as Triggas rallied from a 6-0 first-period loss to beat Chase 2-2, 4-2 in the last two periods to remain unbeaten in the A Pool at 119 pounds. Washington's Brian Owen is also unbeaten on the top side.
Novachkov, Pokorny, Trumbetti still unbeaten
California's Boris Novachkov is making a run toward the finals at 125 pounds. Novachkov already has a win over New York's Ian Paddock. He and Nebraska's Andy Pokorny are the only two left without a loss through six rounds in the A Pool. On the B Side, New Jersey's John Trumbetti is unbeaten along with New York's Garrett Morabito. They meet in the seventh round.
Schmitt, Chamberlain set for war
Two of the best Greco-Roman wrestlers in the nation are set for a war to determine who will win the A Pool at 135 pounds. Rising seniors Jason Chamberlain of Utah and Cole Schmitt of Wisconsin are unbeaten in the bracket and are set for a winner-take-all pool final. On the B Side, Florida's Joey Cozart, Oregon's Norman Richmond and New York's Shane Strumwasser are all in the round robin. Richmond has to beat Strumwasser to make the finals, since he already has a win over Cozart. Richmond hasn't lost a period thus far.
Florida's Sanders making the adjustment
After finishing second as a Cadet in freestyle, Florida's Kendrick Sanders has made the move to the Junior level and is excelling in Greco. Sanders is unbeaten and only lost one period in the A Pool at 140. Also notable at 140 was in the B Pool where Iowa's Esai Dominguez picked up a sixth round fall over Pennsylvania's Walter Peppelman. Dominguez, Peppelman and New York's Zach Clemente are in the round-robins and Dominguez only has to beat Clemente to make the final.
Vinson, Mellmer to battle for Pool title
New York's Don Vinson finished second in Cadet Greco last year, but is one match away from reaching the finals at 145 in the A Pool. Standing in the way is North Dakota's Luke Mellmer -- both are undefeated, but Vinson hasn't lost a period. On the B Side, it's Minnesota's Jake Deitchler and Nebraska's DaVaughan Perkins in a winner-take-all pool final.
Chaires, DeBerry set for big match
Virginia signee Michael Chaires of New York is gearing up for a pool finale with Arizona State signee Kyle DeBerry of Arizona at 160 pounds in the A Pool. Both have had much success in Fargo in both freestyle and Greco.
Taylor takes out Furches with touch fall
Well, continue the debate about the one-man mechanics being used to officiate here until the medal matches. In one of the most anticipated Junior Greco matches at 105 pounds, Ohio's David Taylor scored a quick takedown on Kansas' Nathan Furches and then from Taylor's 30 second lock, gutted Furches, arched and got a quick touch fall. While the victory stands, it is worth mentioning that two wrestlers at this level deserved at least confirmation from a three-man officiating crew. Fundamentally, Taylor was flawless.
Staying alive
Washington's Erich Schmidtke is one win away from making the finals at 189 pounds. But he's been treading water since an opening round loss left him just one defeat away from elimination. Schmidtke lost his opening round match to Derek Rottenberg of California, but Rottenberg was eliminated after round six while Schmidtke stayed in the tournament. Minnesota's Zac Nielsen is unbeaten and stands in Schmidke's way in the A Pool.
Owen knocks off Triggas, but Triggas still makes final
Washington's Brian Owen has a curly mop of a mullet on his head here in Fargo. Well, looks aren't everything, but what did look good was his three-period win over Nikko Triggas on the raised mat. Owen had previously lost to Jimmy Chase of Illinois, whom Triggas beat. With Owen winning, Chase, standing matside said, "you mean now I have to go for fifth? Ugh." Triggas actually will make the finals due to more classification points. Triggas had 29, while Owen had 23 and Chase 22. Both Chase and Owen had byes during the main draw.
Updated 1:15 p.m.
SUNDAY
SESSION II NOTES
Rock the Dragon
One of the more interesting team t-shirts that is floating around is being pimped by Team Washington. Feeling the need to elevate their power level at this year's tournament, the Washington contingent called on the help of Goku, the powerful Super Saiyan from the Japanese cartoon Dragonball Z. It's sure to be a popular item worth trading for.
When asked about the shirts, one Washington coach said, "Wait until you see our freestyle shirts." We can't wait.
Piling up the pins
Ohio State signee Nikko Triggas (119) of California is off to a hot start, picking up three falls in his first three matches. Two of Triggas' falls came in the first period. His most recent one came over Delaware's Cameron Szymanski. Washington's Eric Jones (145) has three falls, two of which have come in the first period.
Unorthodox falls
Oklahoma's David Ratcliff (171) has jumped out to a 3-0 start with three falls, but that's not the notable thing. What is notable is that Ratcliff has lost the first period in all three bouts -- and they weren't close. Ratcliff lost the first period to Illinois' Charleston Soko 7-0 and then got the fall at 48 seconds into the second period. He then lost the first period to Minnesota's Lucas Munkelwitz 7-0 and scored the fall in the second period in 57 seconds. He did the same thing again to Florida's Niko Brown, losing the first period 7-3 and then getting the fall at 1:03. No word on whether or not the rumor is true about Oklahoma coaches bringing Tums to matside when Ratcliff wrestles.
LeVasseur knocks off Lofstedt
Minnesota's Pat LeVasseur picked up a three-period victory (1-2, 4-0, 2-2) victory over returning Junior Greco All-American Mitchell Lofstedt of Oregon at 112 pounds. LeVasseur also picked off Florida state champion Schuyler Swanton in the opening round.
Richmond looking very strong
Oregon's Norman Richmond (135) has been looking very tough here in the early going. Richmond is 3-0 with three tech falls and has not surrenedered a point. One of those wins was against 2006 Cadet Greco-Roman champion Carson Fields of Georgia. Richmond dispensed with Fields 7-0, 6-0.
Hatley picks up solid win
Wyoming's Jared Hatley (140), a double All-American last year on the Cadet level, picked up a very solid shutout over Washington's Anthony Varnell in round three. Hatley's 3-0 and hasn't given up a point.
Mellmer stops Moen
North Dakota's Luke Mellmer, bound for the University of Minnesota, knocked off returning All-American T.J. Moen of Iowa 1-1, 4-4, 1-1 in a match that couldn't have been more even. It should be noted that Don Vinson of New York and Eric Jones of Washington are in that side of the bracket at 145.
SESSION I NOTES
By the numbers
Junior Greco has slightly more entries than the Cadet tournament. As Greco started on Sunday, 895 wrestlers took to the mats. The largest state contingent came from Ohio with 52 Junior wrestlers in the tournament. Illinois, the leader in terms of entries for Cadet Greco, brought 45. Minnesota brought 44, followed by California's 42, New York's 41 and Oregon's 40.
Trend setter
While it's not a record that's likely to stand too long, California's David Klingsheim has kicked off the tournament with the fastest fall in the first 39 minutes of the Junior Greco tournament. Klingsheim topped Georgia's Wesley Morris in 24 seconds.
Sunshine showdown
Returning Greco All-American Kellen Aura of California was beaten in the first round by Florida's Jacob Green in a wild 6-6, 3-9, 7-7 bout. Aura placed eighth last year.
New leader
We knew a 24-second fall wouldn't hold up, but neither will the new leader -- Texas' Bobby Barney. The 140-pound Texan scored a 17 second fall over North Dakota's Cody Slusher in the first round ... but the lead was short lived. South Dakota heavyweight Riley Reiff picked up 14 second fall over Virginia's Chris Cabe.
McDonough falls
The first round draw wasn't nice to Iowa's Matt McDonough. Last year's Cadet Greco-Roman runner-up was upset by Missouri's Tyler Holloway 1-1, 2-1 in the first round at 125 pounds. McDonough rebounded to beat Minnesota's James Locke.
More Iowa
Iowa's Dalton Jensen (125) knocked off Georgia's Kendall Albert in a second round tilt 5-0, 5-1. Tough draw award goes to Chris Tims (135). Tims drew an opening round matchup against Utah's Jason Chamberlain and then had the misfortune of then drawing California's Randall Watts. Ouch.
A to the K
Alaska's Theron Apodaca might have attended school his last few years in Arizona, but the 112-pounder has blitzed through his first two opponents, going 7-0, 7-0 and 6-0, 7-0. Hollan Gravley (130) is also 2-0 and has not given up a point.
Battlin'
Junior 112 might not be as big as the Cadet tournament, all that means is the big guns will see each other sooner rather than later. Case in point: Wyoming's Tyler Cox topped Kansas' Dennis Wood 9-2, 6-2 in a second round match.
The bigger they are ...
Last year's Cadet Freestyle heavyweight champion and Cadet Greco placewinner -- Stephen Andrus of Kansas -- was beaten 6-0, 7-0 in the first round by Illinois' Peter Kowalczuk.
New leader ...
Florida's Chris Ruzzo didn't feel like spending too much time on the mat in his second round bout against Louisiana's Jacques DeJean. So he didn't. Ruzzo, wrestling at 140, took control of the fastest fall race with one in 10 seconds.
Have at it
Minnesota and California are off to the races to find out who will get the most falls in the Junior Greco Championship -- California has 17 (as of 1 p.m.) and Minnesota is right behind with 16.
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