Running Amateur Wrestling Thread

NCAA conference tournament weekend.

At the B1G, the most interesting story so far is Carter Starocci. He's a three time NCAA champion for Penn State and was the heavy favorite to win again, but suffered a knee injury in the last dual meet of the season at the end of a match he won by tech fall.

He took an injury forfeit in his first match today and will likely do the same in the consolation bracket. It's been the big question for the last week and a half as to whether he would be entered at the B1G (necessary to qualify for the NCAA) or whether he would forfeit out counting on an at-large bid or whether he was ready to wrestle. Penn State hasn't commented on his injury so everyone was waiting to see what he would do today.

 

Now that summer semesters are commonplace for college athletes, the selfish part of me wishes a couple of less prominent sports like wrestling and volleyball would move to summer and take advantage of the uncrowded calendar.

 

MLB, WNBA, World Cup. Olympics, Euro, NFL training camp.

Don't forget pickleball and cornhole tournaments.

 

It really wouldn't be a bad move for those sports. There's still some schools that don't have much of a summer academic program though. In wrestling it wouldn't be a big deal for any of the Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC schools, but I think some of the EIWA and SoCon schools might run into problems.

 

Penn State's already clinched the team title, but Beau Bramlett losing at 141 was a disappointment for them. And Mitchell Mesenbrink is struggling at 165.

Tough to be too sad when they had a finalist in seven of 10 matches.

EDIT: Mesenbrink rolled Dean Hamiti in the final minute, won it 13-11.

 

I didn't get a chance to watch the final rounds yesterday as it was while I was getting my kids ready for bed and honestly, with the NCAA bids being locked up at that point, it's a little anticlimactic.

Nash Hutmacher qualifying for the NCAA tournament after sitting out three years still kind of blows me away. He won't win the tournament, but it'd be pretty cool to see him make All-American, which I think is possible.

I did get to watch Tomas Booker, a semi-local kid, win his weight at the SoCon as a true freshman for App State. This time last year he led a clinic my oldest was at. Hoping he can have a great tournament in KC, but cool to see him qualify regardless.

 

A bit of controversy, though. It seems Carter Starocci did not like Cael Sanderson's decision to have him double-default out of the B1G tourney. And ...

 

I think he's just trolling, but you never know. Cael Sanderson told the Centre Daily Times that Starocci wanted to wrestle and that he's pissed at Sanderson.

He does have a covid year left that he could use.

 

Mesenbrink's post match interview was frigging delightful. Seems like a great kid. Not the typical wrestler stereotype.
And this Big 10 interviewer was fantastic. Really knew her stuff and asked good questions.


And then there was Aaron Brooks' paint by the numbers interview. It doesn't matter the question.

God - check
His Glory - check
in His Name - check

Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

Mesenbrink WAS great. I would love to see him and Haines going at each other in the wrestling room.

And yet, he was so much the outlier on that count, I'm questioning that sideline reporter grabbing these guys seconds after they have competed. For the most part, it sounds like their brains are not working at full capacity.

P.S. Aaron Brooks would turn the other cheek to you.

 

The early rounds of the NCAA D1 tournament at 125 lbs have been highly entertaining. The top overall seed - a PSU true freshman - lost and got petulant that his opponent stalled out the last 10 seconds, which is amusing because he stalls a ton when he has the lead. Purdue's Matt Ramos, who was a finalist last year after beating three-time champ Spencer Lee, got knocked out early. The quarters feature an 8 seed, a 12 seed, the three seed, and a 10 seed. I mean everyone knew this was the most wide open weight going in, but it's still been highly entertaining.

The other weights have mostly been chalk with few big upsets.

Carter Starocci, with his low seed thanks to forfeiting the B1G tournament, knocked out Mekhi Lewis. It's unfortunate they weren't in opposite brackets because that would've been a fun final.

The only big upset outside 125 is at the 285 where No. 2 seed Bastida Younger lost to No. 10 Lucas Davison.

 

Penn State needs to win four of its six finals tonight to nail down the all-time record for NCAA championship team points. I'm rather thinking they will get it, starting with Kerkvliet right here.