Maryland 197 lber Jaron Smith (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)The Top-10 performances from the last week in the Big 10 Conference:
1. Jaron Smith, Maryland - In what was ultimately a Michigan rout, Maryland got some juice in the 197-pound bout, from one Jaron Smith, who rallied from a 7-3 deficit to start the third period to knock off Pat Brucki, 11-9, in sudden victory. A stall point and an escape made it 7-5, then Brucki scored on a re-attack for 9-5, escape Smith for 9-6, takedown Smith for 9-8, riding-time makes it 9-9 for overtime, then another takedown for Smith gave him the win. A wild, exciting match that resulted in the Terps' bench to go ballistic, which then cost them a team point. Awesome moment.
2. Jake Bergeland, Minnesota - Everybody likely tuned in to this dual to watch the Gable Steveson-Mason Parris rematch, and we'll talk about that here in a minute, but Bergeland registered a very impressive 5-2 win over Stevan Micic at 141. He scored an early takedown, piled up nearly three minutes of riding time, then added a pair of escapes in the third period to knock off a guy who's been to the Olympics and Senior world championships. Pretty, pretty good.
3. Tony Cassioppi, Iowa - Scored two takedowns to beat Greg Kerkvliet, 7-2, which opened the door to some potentially favorable postseason positioning. If the Big Ten Championships started tomorrow, heavyweight should look like this: 1. Gable; 2. Big Cass; 3. Kerkvliet; 4. Parris. If Cassioppi can beat Kerkvliet again, that would put him in the Big Ten finals, which should set him up nicely at the NCAA Championships in Detroit - which will ultimately benefit the Hawkeyes when it comes to the team race.
4. Max Dean, Penn State - Rallied from down 3-0 to beat Jacob Warner, 8-3, thanks to an escape, a stall point, a takedown, and a mean bow-and-arrow turn for four backs that not only gave Dean the individual win, but mathematically clinched the dual for the Nittany Lions. And with the future of Oklahoma State's AJ Ferrari still a little unknown, this weight could turn into a wild, wild west come March with all the talent and parity we've seen this season.
5. Alex Marinelli, Iowa - Provided the Hawkeyes with some much-needed juice out of the intermission, scoring four takedowns in a 10-2 major decision over Brady Berge. This was a vintage Bull performance, something we hadn't seen a lot of this season, but he came through at the best time last Friday. This win tied the dual at 10-10 with four weights to go. You need your hammers to come through in a dual like that to win. Marinelli did his job.
6. Gable Steveson, Minnesota - In a normal week (by that, we mean without Iowa-Penn State), Steveson's 18-8 demolition of Michigan's Mason Parris would be closer to the top. But that shows you how jam-packed this week was. In any case, this was another masterclass performance from the returning Olympic gold medalist. Dude went for eight total takedowns in this NCAA finals rematch: three in the first period, five in the third, during which he also forced a pair of stall points and secured riding time. There is a gap between Gable and everybody else. That gap is only getting larger.
7. Carter Starocci, Penn State - Won perhaps the match of the night at 174 pounds, eking out a 2-1 win over Michael Kemerer that featured a couple of reviews, some clock issues, a called takedown at the end of sudden victory that was then taken off the board, and most importantly, a ton of high-level, fundamental wrestling. Seriously, go rewatch that match and watch how both guys find angles and keep their hips square when defending and the wrestling IQ on display. It was a spectacular match, all things considered - and perhaps the first of multiple meetings between these two over the next few months.
8. Nick Suriano, Michigan - Kind of quietly, Suriano defeated Minnesota's Pat McKee, 14-6, a warning shot to the rest of the Big Ten that there's a decent gap between Suriano and every other 125-pounder in the league. Suriano went for six total takedowns, including three in the first to set the tone. He's been exactly the hammer Michigan hoped they would get for this weight.
9. Nick Lee, Penn State - Another NCAA finals rematch makes the list here, and Lee beat Eierman again, 6-4. Lee wrestled through a couple of big throws from Eierman in the second period to scored a pair of takedowns for a 4-2 lead, then Eierman scored a late takedown and rode out Lee to erase riding-time and force overtime at 4-4, but then Lee capitalized off an impatient shot from Eierman at the start of overtime and circled behind for the match-winning takedown. Again, this is another matchup we could see a few times down the line.
10. Dylan Ragusin, Michigan - We started with a Michigan loss to Maryland, so we'll end with a Michigan win over Maryland. Ragusin produced an impressive 16-1 technical fall over King Sandoval at 133, scoring two takedowns and two turns for a 12-1 lead after the first period, then he ended it in the second with another takedown and turn. Time on the tech-fall: 3:57. Sandoval is no slouch, either.
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