Here are five takeaways from the opening weekend in college wrestling.
It will be a messy college wrestling season
With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, look for many college wrestling events to be canceled in this already-shortened season. The NCAA Division I wrestling was supposed to kick off Friday night with UNC hosting Campbell. At 11 a.m. ET on Friday, UNC's Twitter posted this announcement: "North Carolina's season-opening wrestling match against Campbell on January 1 has been postponed because of COVID-related protocols within Carolina's team. The team will work to reschedule at a later time."
An update regarding our match tonight versus Campbell. â¤µï¸ pic.twitter.com/S04PBgb6SL
�" UNC Wrestling (@UNCWrestling) January 1, 2021
On Saturday just after 2 p.m. ET, Lehigh's Twitter account posted: "Today's match vs. Hofstra has been canceled due to a positive COVID test among a member of Hofstra's Tier 1 personnel." Canceled events will lead to other canceled events as teams deal with COVID issues within their teams. Fans will look forward to dual meets or individual matches that will not happen, unfortunately, because of COVID-19. It will be a messy college wrestling season.
Yonger Bastida gets ready to make his Iowa State debut (Photo/Iowa State Athletics)Yonger Bastida passes the eye test
Bastida, a 2019 junior world silver medalist, made his college wrestling debut on Sunday and earned a 15-8 victory over Wartburg's Kobe Woods, who entered the match ranked No. 11 in Division III. Bastida is still learning folkstyle, but he is a tremendous talent. Look for him to continue to get more comfortable as a folkstyle wrestler as the season progresses. On Sunday, Bastida was hit for stalling in the first period after failing to return Woods to the mat, was penalized a point for a full nelson and lost a scramble. Those things are to be expected for someone who has only been in the country for 40 days. But let's focus on what did well. He scored six takedowns (and nearly a couple more), rode Woods for nearly three minutes and was able to get off the bottom fairly easily. Assuming Bastida can hold off Marcus Coleman for the starting spot in the Cyclone lineup, the Cuban could be a force to be reckoned with at 197 pounds. ISU coach Kevin Dresser was pleased with what he saw from Bastida. "As you can see, there's a lot of really good there," Dresser said after the meet. "He's just got to figure out some things. But boy can he explode."
Mizzou looks strong
Missouri entered the season ranked No. 10 in InterMat's dual meet rankings and No. 18 in the tournament rankings. The Tigers looked sharp on opening weekend, posting a 3-0 mark with wins over South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Oregon State, outscoring their opponents 114-12 and notching 10 wins over ranked wrestlers. Brian Smith's Tigers have a balanced team with seven ranked wrestlers and a few more on the verge of breaking into the rankings. One weight to watch for the Tigers is 157 pounds. Returning starter Jarrett Jacques and talented freshman Keegan O'Toole shared starting duties this past weekend. Both went 2-0. The 14th-ranked Jacques had two wins over ranked wrestlers, beating No. 13 Jared Franek of North Dakota State and No. 20 Hunter Willits of Oregon State. O'Toole, one of the nation's top recruits in the Class of 2020, had a pin and a technical fall.
Northern Colorado head wrestling coach Troy Nickerson (Photo/UNC Athletics)Northern Colorado is on the rise
Northern Colorado, under the guidance of seventh-year head coach Troy Nickerson, is a program on the rise. Five of Northern Colorado's 10 starters entered the season ranked by InterMat. One of those wrestlers is Senior Nationals freestyle champion Andrew Alirez, who is ranked No. 7 at 149 pounds. The 23rd-ranked Bears opened the season against No. 24 Wyoming on Sunday. The dual meet was a tale of two halves, with Northern Colorado winning the first five matches and Wyoming closing strong by winning the final five. Ultimately, bonus points proved to be the difference in the dual meet as Northern Colorado collected three pins on the way to a 24-19 victory. One of those pins came from Alirez, who defeated Jaron Jensen for the third time in his young college career. Keep an eye on Northern Colorado this season. The Bears' first major test will come Jan. 22 when they host Oklahoma State in a dual meet that will feature several ranked matchups.
Kellyn March defeated Oregon State's Devan Turner (Photo/Zachary Lucy, NDSU Athletics)NDSU's Kellyn March is a wrestler to watch at 133 pounds
North Dakota State true freshman Kellyn March made his college wrestling debut this past weekend. March has big shoes to fill with the graduation of four-time NCAA qualifier and Big 12 champion Cam Sykora. So far he looks to be filling those shoes quite nicely. The four-time South Dakota state champion posted a 2-0 record over the weekend, outscoring his two opponents 21-9. His most notable victory was a 14-5 major decision over Oregon State's seventh-ranked Devan Turner. Against Turner, March fell behind early after getting taken down but dominated the rest of the way. He led 4-2 in the second period before throwing Turner to his back late in the period to extend his lead to 10-2 after two periods. March looked strong in all positions over the weekend. While it was not Turner's weekend (he went 0-3, with two of his losses coming by major decision), March is certainly a wrestler to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
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