(Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)CORALVILLE, Ia. - It was a busy weekend of wrestling here at Xtream Arena this weekend.
The UWW Junior world team trials was the main draw, with many of the nation's best high-schoolers and young college stars vying for spots on the world team that'll compete in Russia in August.
The Senior national championships, even with a not fully-stacked field, featured just enough star-power to be intriguing, especially with 2021 world team trials bids and Pan-American Championship consideration on the line.
After three full days of wrestling, here's 10 noteworthy performances from Big Ten wrestlers, in both freestyle and Greco-Roman, that stuck out:
Wisconsin's Braxton Amos
Braxton Amos became one of wrestling's darlings this spring after qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the Last Chance Qualifier, and then followed that up by making the Greco finals at 97 kilograms.
This weekend, the future Badger wrestler produced yet another stellar performance by sweeping Junior titles in both styles this weekend.
That Amos won the world team spots in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at 97 kilograms wasn't surprising, but his dominance was, well, impressive.
In Greco, Amos went 5-0 and outscored his opponents 46-0, and wrestled a grand total of 3 minutes, 50 seconds. In freestyle, Amos again went 5-0 and outscored his opponents 55-4 and wrestled a total of 8 minutes, 29 seconds.
Add that up, and Amos went a combined 10-0 and outscored his opponents by a staggering 101-4 this weekend, all while wrestling a grand total of 12 minutes and 19 seconds.
Not bad.
Penn State's Beau Bartlett
Beau Bartlett is the Junior freestyle world team member at 65 kilos, and won a weight that included other talented freestylers, like Cornell's Josh Saunders, Missouri's Josh Edmond, Michigan signee Chance Lamer, Iowa signee Caleb Rathjen, and more.
And Bartlett did it in style, too.
After a first-round pin over North Carolina State's Hunter Lewis, Bartlett rattled off five more wins without allowing a point. In the finals, he swept Lamer, two matches to none, by scores of 11-3 and 3-2. In all, he went 8-0 and outscored his opponents 74-9.
Indiana's Donnell Washington
Donnell Washington's redshirt freshman season at Indiana produced mixed results: a 10-7 overall record, a sixth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, and a 1-2 showing at the national tournament.
There were no mixed results about Washington's performance this weekend.
The Indiana redshirt freshman won the Junior world team trials at 79 kilos. He opened with five-straight technical falls, including four in under a minute and three in under 30 seconds. In the finals, he swept Lehigh's Jacob Logan by scores of 8-5 and 10-4.
Illinois' Luke Luffman
Much of the results so far have been focused on freestyle, but Illinois heavyweight Luke Luffman made the Junior Greco world team at 130 kilos on Friday.
It was a smaller field to compete against - only six total guys in the bracket - but Luffman went 3-0 and swept Wisconsin's Peter Christensen, 12-4 and 9-4, in the best-of-three finals to win the spot.
Iowa's Tony Cassioppi
Another Big Ten heavyweight, Iowa's own Tony Cassioppi, wrestled Senior-level freestyle, and rolled into the 125 kilo finals from the 10-spot during Saturday's competition.
Cassioppi registered wins over Derek White, a past NCAA finalist for Oklahoma State; Dom Bradley, perhaps the most seasoned heavyweight veteran in Senior men's freestyle; and Ty Walz, who bumped up to 125 kilos after wrestling 97 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in April. Cassioppi won by scores of 4-1, 5-1, and 11-1, respectively.
The Iowa sophomore's tremendous run came to an end in the finals in a 12-0 defeat to Nick Gwiazdowksi, who won the Senior men's freestyle tournament outstanding wrestler after going 4-0 and outscoring his opponents 41-0 this weekend.
Still, a strong showing from Cassioppi to reach the finals in his first competition since taking third at 285 pounds at the NCAA Championships.
Iowa's Jaydin Eierman
Another Hawkeye, Jaydin Eierman, won a Senior men's freestyle title. Eierman went 4-0 and won at 65 kilograms, notching wins over Ohio State grad Luke Pletcher and Oklahoma All-American Dom Demas en route to first.
Eierman beat Pletcher, 9-5, in the semifinals, thanks to a pair of takedowns in both periods. Against Demas in the finals, he won 8-4, turning a 4-0 deficit into a 5-4 lead in the first period thanks to a mean leg lace.
For the day, Eierman went 4-0 and outscored his opponents 45-21, and also finished ahead of Pat Lugo (third) and Henry Pohlmeyer (fifth).
Ohio State's Nicholas Boykin
Nicholas Boykin, fresh off an appearance at the U.S. Olympic Trials, added a Senior Greco title to his résumé this weekend, going 4-0 to win at 97 kilos. His first three matches went smoothly: 8-0 tech fall, 8-0 tech fall, then 39-second pin.
His finals match was a different story.
Boykin found himself trailing Army WCAP's James Souza 7-0 less than 90 seconds into the championship bout after Souza connected on a big 4-pointer out of a body lock. Souza went for another big throw moments later, but Boykin caught him on his back for the fall in 1:48 to secure his Senior title.
Sometimes good days have wild endings.
Minnesota's Matthew Ramos
Matthew Ramos hasn't suited up for Minnesota yet (redshirted in' 19-20, then Olympic redshirted in' 20-21), but Gopher fans should be plenty excited about his potential after this weekend.
Ramos went 7-1 and took third at 57 kilos in the Junior world team trials. His one loss came to Richie Figueroa II, a 14-1 result in the round of 16. Figueroa made the Junior world team. Ramos rattled off six-straight consolation wins by a combined 57-16.
Along the way, he beat: Oregon State recruit Gabe Whisenhunt, future Minnesota teammate Troy Spratley, Michigan State's Tristan Lujan, Brown's Hunter Adrian, Iowa recruit Drake Ayala and Virginia Tech recruit Cooper Flynn.
Of course, Ramos should probably beat high-schoolers, even really good ones, after being in a college room for a few years, but his performance is noteworthy because of how wide-open 57 kilos was entering the weekend.
Iowa's Cullan Schriever
Yes, a third Hawkeye makes the list, as Cullan Schriever, a Fargo champ as both a Cadet and Junior, returned after battling injuries the last few years. All he did was go 8-2 and take fourth at 61 kilos.
Schriever took an early loss to Arizona State's Julian Chlebove, but ripped off seven-straight wrestleback wins, beating both Jakason Burks and Reece Witcraft, from Oklahoma State, Missouri's Trey Crawford, Columbia's Mason Clarke and North Carolina recruit Caden McCrary. He lost to Nebraska's Dom Serrano, 12-8, for third.
It was good to see Schriever back wrestling again. When healthy, he was one of the best in the country at his age and weight. Six of his seven wrestleback wins were by technical fall.
Spartan-on-Spartan medal match at 92 kilos
A fun Michigan State matchup came to fruition on Saturday.
Well, fun for the fans, maybe not so much the combatants.
Willie Miklus, an assistant for the Spartans, and Cam Caffey, a past Big Ten finalist, wrestled each other for fifth-place at 92 kilos.
Miklus, a four-time NCAA All-American for Missouri and Iowa State, returned to Senior-level action for the first time since competing at the 2019 U.S. Senior national championships in Texas. He lost to Tim Dudley in the quarterfinals, then won twice in the wrestlebacks before falling to the fifth-place match.
Caffey, of course, is a two-time age-level world-teamer … in Greco-Roman. On Saturday, he, too, dropped his quarterfinal bout to Scottie Boykin, then won twice in the wrestlebacks before falling to face Miklus.
This time, the teacher bested the student - Miklus won, 15-4.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now