NCAA Wrestling
Taking a look at some of the first half’s best performances
John Huckaby
It’s just a tad under two months before college wrestling’s eyes turns to St. Louis and the NCAA wrestling championships.
Right now, we’ll turn our efforts to handing out some grades for performances in the first half of the season.
Best team: Despite a hiccup against Oklahoma State at home, Iowa gets the nod. The infusion of the four Virginia Tech transfers who sat out a year has made the difference for the Hawkeyes. Runner-up: Nebraska moved through the ranks at the national duals and handled Oklahoma State in their dual at Oklahoma City last Sunday.
Short of expectations: Lehigh wasn’t expected to challenge for even EIWA honors but they weren’t tabbed to be this bad. The Mountain Hawks have been blanked twice (Penn State, Central Michigan) and have been handled easily by several other teams. A recent win over Navy should ease the pain a bit. Runner-up: Iowa State was once the No. 1 team in the land but that was ended by Iowa and since then the Cyclones have been less than daunting. They finished seventh in the national duals, losing to Hofstra, which put the kibosh on any rematch with Iowa.
Top team tournament performance:Iowa in romping to the title in the Midlands and easily dispatching the field in the national duals. Runner-up: Nebraska in getting to the finals of the national duals.
Top individual tournament performance:Mike Roberts of Boston University for his win at 149 pounds in the Southern Scuffle. He pinned then No.2-ranked Darrion Caldwell of Oklahoma State early and then beat former NCAA champion Dustin Schlatter of Minnesota in the finals. Runnerup: Jake Varner of Iowa State at 184 pounds in the Midlands. Varner, who lost to Northwest-ern’s Jake Herbert in last season’s NCAA finals, turned the tables on Herbert (who is taking an Olympic redshirt year) in the Midlands, beating him in
Top coach:You can love him or hate him but Iowa’s Tom Brands is getting the job done. Runner-up: Mark Manning of Nebraska.
Top bout: Josh Glenn of American in his 14-9 win over Mike Tamilow of Northwestern in the finals of the Midlands at 197. Runnerup: Jake Dieffenbach’s overtime win over Nebraska’s Stephen Dwyer in their dual meet Sunday in Oklahoma City.
Top wrestler:Brent Metcalf of Iowa at 149 pounds. OK, he has a loss (pinned by North Carolina State’s Caldwell) but has been top-flight since then. Runner-up: Penn State’s Phil Davis. The senior 197-pounder is unbeaten and has regularly picked up bonus points for the Lions.
Oops
Those television guides always say: Listings are subject to change.
Well, that’s what happened last week concerning the planned debut of the wrestling highlights show Wrestling 411 CSTV.
Wade Schalles, one of the powers to be behind the show, said there were “technical difficulties” that caused the show to be shelved.
Schalles, a former NCAA champion and Outstanding Wrestler at Clarion, said negotiations between the show’s production company and CSTV (owned by CBS) are ongoing.
There won’t be a presentation this week but there is the possibility the show could debut next Thursday.
Stay tuned.
Recent Results
Here are the results of last week’s top duals: Iowa 24, Ohio State 10; Iowa 27, Penn State 13; Nebraska 22, Oklahoma State 13; Nebraska 16, Missouri 16; Central Michigan 21, Michigan 13; Minnesota 39, South Dakota State 9; Iowa State 24, Wisconsin 13; Hofstra 22, Old Dominion 19; Hofstra 27, Rider 18; Edinboro 25, Bloomsburg 9; Oklahoma 21, UT-Chattanooga 13; Wisconsin 18, Oklahoma 15; Pitt 24, Lock Haven 13; Maryland 33, Virginia Tech 8; Lehigh 22, Navy 19; Navy 39, East Stroudsburg 3.
Schedule: Today:Minnesota at Michigan State; Iowa State at Oklahoma; Northern Iowa at Oklahoma State; Penn State at Ohio State; Purdue at Michigan; Wisconsin at Indiana; Oregon at Boise State; Oregon State at Arizona State.Saturday: Minnesota at Michigan; Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan; Edinboro at Lock Haven; North Carolina State at Navy; Lehigh at Harvard, Brown;Sunday: Indiana at Penn State; Northwestern at Iowa; Cornell at Missouri; Penn at Hofstra; Appalachian State at UT-Chattanooga; Oregon State at Boise State; Oregon at Arizona State.
John Huckaby reports on college wrestling for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at jhuck@ptd.net
