Running Amateur Wrestling Thread

[franticscribe]

I know there's at least a couple of other posters here who pay attention to the sport of wrestling. I've wanted to start a thread for a minute, but after the drama at the Soldier Salute yesterday, it's overdue.

What happened yesterday? First, a little back story. AJ Ferrari is a supremely talented wrestler who is also a complete POS. He won an NCAA title as a true freshman at Oklahoma State in 2021. He was undefeated midway through his sophomore year when he wrecked his car and got badly injured ending his season. In the summer of 2022 he was accused of sexual assault and dismissed from Oklahoma State.

The criminal charges were dismissed in October of this year and Iowa, which had its roster depleted in the gambling scandal, started actively recruiting him to join in the spring semester. He is expected to be at Iowa once the semester starts.

Yesterday, he wrestled unattached at the Soldier Salute - his first competition in two years - and ended up wrestling Iowa's current 197 lber Zach Glazier in the final. Ferrari is about to win 2-1, when the ref calls him for stalling, tying the match and pushing it to sudden victory. Ferrari gets the winning takedown but manages to get himself DQ'd from the tournament for his post-match behavior.





Seems like a perfect fit for Iowa. I can't imagine how toxic that wrestling room must be.

 

[doctorquant]

Jeez, they're gonna be teammates in a couple of weeks?

 

[Scout]

He'll make ton "wrestling" for the WWE.

 

[Scout]

This isn't broken glasses?

 

[franticscribe]

Jeez, they're gonna be teammates in a couple of weeks?

Yeah. The whole thing is nuts. AJ's younger brother Anthony has also been practicing with the team and is expected to enroll in the spring as well. He wrestled unattached at the same tournament and got into it with a current Hawkeye wrestler after losing in the 149 lb final. He's had his own legal issues.

And their youngest brother is the top recruit in the 2024 class and has committed to Iowa already.

 

[franticscribe]

Pretty incredible story out of yesterday's Nebraska-Wyoming dual.

Nash Hutchmacher was an incredible high school wrestler. Four time South Dakota state champ at heavyweight. Went 166-0 in high school, including a 73 match pinning streak to end his career.

He gave up wrestling in 2020 to focus on football and has played DL at Nebraska where his playing weight is 330 lbs. A chance conversation between Nebraska wrestling coach Mark Manning and Matt Rhule opened the door for Hutmacher to come back to the mat, but he had to lose 45 lbs first.

He made his debut yesterday in dominant fashion. Nobody should be that good after that long of a break.

 

[justgladtobehere]

How do you lose 45 pounds in under five weeks while maintaining strength and fitness?

 

[franticscribe]

How do you lose 45 pounds in under five weeks while maintaining strength and fitness?

Apparently the football team's strength and conditioning coach and nutritionist worked with him to come up with a plan. I read that among other things, he cut his usual breakfast back from 8 eggs to 4 and mostly ate lean protein and vegetables.

 

[Slacker]

Pretty incredible story out of yesterday's Nebraska-Wyoming dual.

Nash Hutchmacher was an incredible high school wrestler. Four time South Dakota state champ at heavyweight. Went 166-0 in high school, including a 73 match pinning streak to end his career.

He gave up wrestling in 2020 to focus on football and has played DL at Nebraska where his playing weight is 330 lbs. A chance conversation between Nebraska wrestling coach Mark Manning and Matt Rhule opened the door for Hutmacher to come back to the mat, but he had to lose 45 lbs first.

He made his debut yesterday in dominant fashion. Nobody should be that good after that long of a break.

Hard to watch with that annoying announcer, but I made it through. Geez, Mr. Chatty, just call the damn match!

 

[poindexter]

The road to the NCAA 197 pound championship runs through Aaron Brooks, who at this point is basically a part time wrestler for Penn State (he is training as well for an Olympic freestyle spot).

 

[franticscribe]

The road to the NCAA 197 pound championship runs through Aaron Brooks, who at this point is basically a part time wrestler for Penn State (he is training as well for an Olympic freestyle spot).

Brooks is a monster, but 197 is intriguing. Trent Hidlay is capable of beating Brooks and I'm hoping for a championship match between those two. Ferrari is a huge wildcard if he latches on somewhere in the next week.

 

[Twirling Time]

Wrestling is is still in its infancy in my home county and only one school district competes in it, but they have at least 3 state champions in the last 4 years.