Appalachian State's Randall Diabe defeated Oklahoma's Jake Woodley 5-3 on Dec. 16 (Photo/Tim Cowie)I can assure you that my dad wasn't the only wrestling parent that referred to the first-round match as the "most important match of the tournament." That first-round matchup is oftentimes overlooked and underplayed. It's frequently looked at as one of those "gimme matches." If not taken seriously, it can be used as a kick-starter for one of those unforeseen runs that creates a household name out of someone who wasn't known heading into the national tournament.
Take it from Oklahoma State's former All-American Kyle Crutchmer, who offered some first-round match suggestions earlier this week on Twitter.
Just 1 thing before y'all wrestle at nationals... take the first round seriously. #learnedlesson🤣
�" Kyle Crutchmer (@KyleCrutchmer) March 14, 2019
Crutchmer's message will most likely be echoed by every coach cornering one of 330 wrestlers who will be competing in Pittsburgh's PPG Paints Arena at the 2019 NCAA Championships.
With such high importance being placed on the opening round, I took some time to breakdown some of the must-watch first-round matches at each of the ten weight classes.
125: No. 8 Vito Arujau (Cornell) vs. No. 25 Malik Heinselman (Ohio State)
There will be three first-round bouts at 125 pounds with ranked wrestlers facing off, but the second meeting of the year between freshman Vito Arujau and Malik Heinselman is the match to keep an eye on.
Cornell's Arujau opened up the season wrestling at 133 pounds, but dropped to 125 pounds in mid-December and went on a 23-match win streak before falling to Princeton's Pat Glory in the EIWA finals. That finals loss was Arujau's second defeat of the season, as he brings a 26-2 record into Pitt. His only other loss came in early November at the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open to teammate Chas Tucker. But that match was at 133 pounds
His opponent Malik Heinselman is coming off a ninth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships and is 23-9 this season.
Arujau and Heinselman's Thursday morning meeting will be the second time these two have wrestled this season. Arujau holds the one-match advantage after scoring a 6-0 victory over Heinselman in the Cornell-Ohio State dual meet, which was less than a month ago.
133: No. 2 Stevan Micic (Michigan) vs. No. 31 Mason Pengilly (Stanford)
This is arguably the most important opening-round match in the deepest weight class, 133 pounds.
The question coming into this match: "Is Micic healthy enough to improve on his second-place finish from a season ago?" He brings a perfect 14-0 record into Pitt, but there are rumors swirling around the health of the Wolverine. Late last year, Micic was forced to pull out of the 2018 World Championships with a knee injury, and that knee is rumored to be hurt again.
There weren't questions heading into the Big Ten Championships, but they arose when Micic didn't finish out the conference tournament. The Wolverine defeated Illinois' Dylan Duncan 9-4 in the opening round, and injury defaulted to Luke Pletcher (Ohio State), Ethan Lizak (Minnesota), and Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) to finish in sixth place.
The winner of this match gets either Purdue's Ben Thornton or North Carolina's Gary Wayne Harding.
141: No. 16 Chad Red (Nebraska) vs. No. 17 Ian Parker (Iowa State)
Nebraska's sophomore returning All-American Red came into the Big Ten tournament as the eighth seed and "knocked off" the first and fifth-seeded wrestlers to make the conference championships match. Red ended up losing to the second-seeded Joey McKenna (Ohio State), but proved that even with 11 losses this season, he can still compete with the best 141-pounders in the country.
He will look to keep his postseason hot streak alive when he takes on Iowa State's Ian Parker in the opening round. Parker is 23-7 on the season but comes into the NCAA Championships splitting his last ten matches. Parker fell twice at the Big 12 tournament, dropping his matches to eventual champion Dom Demas (Oklahoma) and Josh Alber (Northern Iowa) to place fourth.
Whoever wins this bout will most likely take on Cornell's defending undefeated (24-0) NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis.
Also at 141 pounds ...
141: No. 14 Jamel Morris (NC State) vs. No. 19 Sa'Derian Perry (Old Dominion)
There are always one or two wrestlers who have breakout NCAA tournaments. Last year it was Kent State's Kyle Connell and Eastern Michigan's Sa'Derian Perry. Perry was 18-19 last year, but picked up three upset victories and finished in eighth place.
This season, Perry transferred to Old Dominion after EMU dropped its program, and has compiled a 23-8 record.
Perry's run to a second consecutive trip to the podium begins against North Carolina State's Jamal Morris. The Wolfpack redshirt senior is 22-3 on the season and is coming off a title-winning performance at the ACC Championships. Morris is riding a nine-match win streak into Pittsburgh and has won 16 of his last 17 matches.
The winner of this bout will meet whoever wins the Nick Lee (Penn State) vs. Nate Limmex (Purdue) match.
149: No. 15 Max Thomsen (Northern Iowa) vs. No. 18 Jared Prince (Navy)
Northern Iowa's Max Thomsen will wrestle Navy's Jared Prince in a battle of three-time NCAA qualifiers.
Thomsen is looking to claim All-American honors for the second time in his career. Two seasons ago, Thomsen made it to the semifinals before falling to Missouri's Lavion Mayes. Thomsen ultimately went on to take fifth place. Last year, the Panther lost in the second round, then ended his hopes of becoming an All-American with a blood-round loss to Missouri's Grant Leeth.
For Thomsen to bounce back from a disappointing seventh-place finish at the Big 12 Championships, he'll have to stop Navy's Jared Prince, who is 19-9 this season. Prince is coming off a runner-up finish at the EIWA Championships, where took down Princeton's second-ranked Matt Kolodzik in the semifinals.
Whoever comes out on top of this match will wrestle the winner of Ohio State's Micah Jordan vs. Northwestern's Shayne Oster.
*Another great first-round matchup on this lower quad of the bracket will be between Iowa's No. 10 Pat Lugo and Arizona State's Josh Maruca.
157: No. 11 Ke-Shawn Hayes (Ohio State) vs. No. 22 Zac Carson (Ohio)
Ohio State or Ohio University?
In a battle of in-state rivals that are flipping weight classes, the Buckeye Ke-Shawn Hayes will take on Bobcat Zac Carson in the opening round.
Hayes, who is up from 149 pounds last season, finished seventh at the Big Ten Championships and owns a 20-9 record this season. The 2019 NCAA Championships will be Hayes' second trip to the national tournament. He was a round-of-12 finisher last season.
The 19-9 Bobcat Carson will be wrestling down from his 2018 weight class of 165. pounds He, too, similar to Old Dominion's Sa'Derian Perry, wrestled for Eastern Michigan last year but has since transferred after the Eagles dropped their program.
Carson will be making his second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships. Last year, he drew into Illinois' top-seeded Isaiah Martinez then fell to Virginia's Andrew Atkinson, ending his season.
The winner will wrestle either Iowa's Kaleb Young or Columbia's Dan Reed in the second round.
Whoever comes out on top of this match will scrap against the winner of North Carolina State's Thomas Bullard vs. Brown's Jonathan Viruet.
165: No. 1 Alex Marinelli (Iowa) vs. No. 33 Joe Smith (Oklahoma State)
Iowa's returning All-American and undefeated (23-0) Alex Marinelli was awarded the top seed at 165 pounds but may have drawn into one of the toughest first-round matches.
The Hawkeye will take on Oklahoma State's two-time All-American Joe Smith (if the Cowboy wins his pigtail match).
You may be asking how is this happening so early? The Cowboy, who is 18-6 on the season, has only wrestled at 165 pounds at the Big 12 Championships, where he finished in fifth place with a 4-2 record. The recent fluctuation of the Cowboy lineup brought Smith down from 174 pounds to 165 pounds, and for his lack of competition against the 165-pound field, Smith was given the 33rd seed.
174: No. 16 Brandon Womack (Cornell) vs. No. 17 Neal Richards (VMI)
For Cornell's Brandon Womack to become an All-American, he'll have to end Neal Richards' 21-match win streak in the opening round.
Womack, who holds a 20-8 record this season, was an All-American two seasons ago but went 0-2 last year in Cleveland. He'll wrestle against VMI's Neal Richards, who is riding a 21-match win streak into Pitt. Richards started the season 1-3, but won 27 of his next 28 matches and only lost to Penn State's NCAA champion and top-ranked Mark Hall.
Whoever wins will most likely meet Penn State's top-seeded Mark Hall in the second round.
174: No. 7 Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 26 Drew Hughes (Michigan State)
Oklahoma State's Jacobe Smith's run to a second All-America honor will have to go through Michigan State's Drew Hughes, who made the round of 12 two years ago.
Smith, the 174-pound Big 12 champion, is 27-3 on the season and has only faced defeat three times this season. His losses came to Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech), Lou DePrez (Binghamton) and Ryan Preisch (Lehigh).
Hughes will make his return to the NCAA Championships after sitting out last season with a shoulder injury. During his true freshman campaign, Hughes made it to the round of 12 before losing to Rider's Chad Walsh. Hughes is 26-13 on the season and finished the Big Ten Championships in seventh place.
Whoever wins this match takes on the victor of Nebraska's Mikey Labriola and
North Carolina State's Daniel Bullard.
184: No. 7 Nick Reenan (NC State) vs. No. 26 Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
It's not very often that you get two guys wrestling in the opening round that combine for single-digit losses. Reenan and Geer have nine combined losses between the two of them this season.
Reenen, the seventh-seed at this weight class, has only lost four times this season. Two of those losses came from Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh), and the others came to Myles Martin (Ohio State), and Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech). Martin, Zavatsky, and Bonaccorsi are ranked first, third, and eighth respectively in InterMat's latest rankings.
Geer, who is 25-5 on the season, has split time between 184 pounds and 197 pounds, but with the recent shift in Oklahoma State's lineup, ends the season down at 184 pounds. While at 184 pounds, Geer is 10-1, with that only loss coming to No. 10 Drew Foster in the finals of the Big 12 Championships.
Whoever comes out on top will take on Iowa State's Samuel Colbray SU) or Fresno State's Jackson Hemauer.
197: No. 15 Randall Diabe (Appalachian State) vs. No. 18 Jake Woodley (Oklahoma)
This first-round matchup between Appalachian State's Randall Diabe and Oklahoma's Jake Woodley will be a rematch from December's dual meet. Diabe edged Woodley in that match 5-3.
Diabe, who is ranked No. 13 by InterMat, is 26-5 on the season and is coming off a title-winning performance at the SoCon Championships. He has also picked up 11 straight wins.
The Sooner Woodley has a 21-8 record on the season and finished in third place at the Big 12 Championships after falling to eventual champion Preson Weigel (Oklahoma State) in the semifinals.
The winner will wrestle Ohio State's returning All-American Kollin Moore or Buffalo's Brett Perry.
285: No. 11 Thomas Haines (Lock Haven) vs. No. 22 Billy Miller (Virginia Tech)
Lock Haven's Thomas Haines and Virginia Tech's Billy Miller will meet for the fifth time in their careers for an opportunity to continue to wrestle in the winner's bracket on Thursday night at the NCAAs.
The pair have split their four meetings. Haines was on the winning end of the first two meetings, but Miller has come out of the top of their last two meetings.
Haines, who is 23-4 on the year, holds the better seed and comes into Pitt as the 11th-seeded wrestler at heavyweight, while Miller, who is 16-7, is the 22nd-seeded wrestler in this bracket.
The Lock Haven wrestler sits in the eighth spot in the latest InterMat rankings, and the Hokie slides in at No. 19.
Whoever wins this match will take on Oregon State's two-time All-American Amar Dhesi (Oregon State) or Brown's Ian Butterbrodt.
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