B1G Ten Recap

The Big Ten had great showings all over the country last week, and not just in Las Vegas where most of the eyes were locked on. Outside of Sin City, we saw some statement wins from Maryland, Illinois impressed at fan fest, and it looks like the Penn State lineup questions are getting answered.

The Barr has been set
As if we weren’t impressed by Josh Barr’s dominant performance against his own teammates at the Black Knight Invitational, he raised the bar once again last weekend when the Nittany Lions faced off against Lehigh. With the dual meet fully out of reach Barr, who came in ranked 23rd solely because of lack of results, propelled himself in the top 10 with his 11-3 major decision win over returning All-American Michael Beard, who fell from No. 6 to No. 8. It was surely a statement win and one that now has everyone champing at the bit to see him at Journeymen Duals in a week where a matchup with 4th-ranked Rocky Elam looms. As expected, the rest of the PSU lineup handled business as they took out Lehigh 36-3. The lone loss came at 133 where top-ranked Ryan Crookham defeated No. 11 Braeden Davis, 4-2. 

Some questions got answered and others remain at CKLV
Let’s start with Purdue. The Boilermakers started things off with a champion at 125 in Matt Ramos. He looked every bit of the old Matt Ramos that we’d seen. He was aggressive with taking shots, pushing the pace, tough on top, and got out from bottom. We didn’t get to see the Ramos vs Vincent Robinson (NC State) match that we had hoped for, but regardless Ramos made his way through Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State), and eventually through Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) who has looked awesome so far this year as well. In addition to Ramos, Joey Blaze had a great tournament making his way to the semifinals before losing a wild scramble to Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) to drop a 5-2 decision. He eventually ended up medically forfeiting out and taking 6th, but it was a great run for the true sophomore who had to take out Peyten Kellar (Ohio) to make it to the semis.

Nebraska finished second against for the second year in a row, however, they did it with a much better showing. Ridge Lovett came up short this time around to returning NCAA champion Caleb Henson at 149 in the finals in a reversal of last year’s results. Fellow finalist Antrell Taylor got a close (and maybe controversial) win over Northern Iowa Ryder Downey to claim the title at 157. Top-seeded Caleb Smith and Bubba Wilson finished fourth at 125 and 165, respectively, and Jacob Van Dee came in 6th. 

The Buckeyes also walked away with a champion, along with a third-place team finish, as Jesse Mendez continued his reign of terror. He did have some closer matches, but his pace and relentless effort aided him in his quest to go undefeated and win another NCAA title. Nic Bouzakis looked awesome this weekend also. He placed third in a loaded 133-pound bracket, with his only loss coming to eventual champion Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) in the quarter finals. Any concerns about his gas tank seem to be largely gone after this performance, and it’ll be exciting to see what he can continue to build upon this season. Sadly, it looked like Nick Feldman might be sidelined after an injury in the semifinals, but we're hoping for a speedy recovery.

Michigan started strong but had a rough go starting on Friday evening. Dylan Ragusin, Sergio Lemley, and Chase Saldate dropped quarterfinal matches, with Jacob Cardenas being the only quarterfinal winner for the Wolverines. Cardenas kept that energy through the rest of the tournament and looked awesome all the way through the finals, where he ended it with a fall over Evan Bates of Northwestern. Ragusin ended up placing 8th, along with Jaden Bullock at 184, while Lemley received a 7th place finish. Brock Mantanona looked good as well, also placing 7th. He looked like a true freshman at times, and showed flashes of why he’s being considered as a potential starter for the year. Unfortunately, though after the weekend in Vegas, that question appears to be still unanswered. Michigan has a break and doesn’t compete next until they start B1G competition when they host Maryland on January 10th. 

Illinois remains undefeated 
Illinois is currently 6-0 with wins over Arizona State, Missouri, North Carolina, and most recently Indiana, among others. Their most recent win came in Indianapolis as they took on the Hoosiers at the Big Ten Fan Fest. Illinois lost the first match, and then they went on to win the next nine bouts to win, 34-3. Five of the matches ended up being ranked matchups. So, the fact that they won in such dramatic fashion shows that they were absolutely locked in and ready to go and set the tone for their B1G schedule. 

Maryland sends 22 to George Mason
22 Terps competed at the Patriot Open, hosted by George Mason. For a team that has some established guys with expectations, mixed in with some weights where they are still identifying who will be their guy, this is a great thing to do. Nothing like competition to see where the cream rises to the top. At 125, Presden Sanchez made it furthest of the group, making it to the quarterfinals before dropping his next two. Additionally, Kal Miller (149) and Mekhi Neal (157) drop matches early, but battled back for 5th. Chase Mielnik (197) and Dario Lemus (141) each made the finals before eventually placing 2nd. Jaxon Smith not only walked away with the championship at 184, but did so by beating Chris Foca of Cornell, who was ranked 9th, 14-7, which is the kind of message you want to send to a new weight class.