Joey McKenna defeated Jaydin Eierman for third place at the NCAAs (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)This weekend's slate is highlighted by the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, but also includes some anticipated dual meets between in-state rivals. Here is a look at what to watch this weekend in college wrestling.
Friday-Saturday
Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (noon)
Aside from any conference championship weekend or the national tournament, the toughest weekend of the year is here, and all eyes will be on the Las Vegas Convention Center as it's set to host 13 of InterMat's top-25 tournament teams at the 2018 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Of those 13 top-25 teams heading to compete in the Sin City, five teams find themselves sitting inside the top 10.
To further paint the picture of just how tough this weekend is going to be, InterMat ranks 20 wrestlers at each weight, totaling 200 top-20 guys. This weekend, 114 of those wrestlers will be competing for a CKLV title.
Arguably, three of the toughest weight classes of the tournament are 133 pounds, 174 pounds and 184 pounds.
At 133 pounds, there are 12 ranked wrestlers, and three of them have reached the big stage on Saturday night at the NCAA Championships. Michigan's second-ranked Stevan Micic reached the 133-pound finals a year ago, while third-ranked Nick Suriano (Rutgers) and seventh-ranked Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) each fell short in the previous two 125-pound finals.
In addition to the three NCAA finalists, Ohio State's 2018 NCAA fourth-place finisher and fifth-ranked Luke Pletcher, and Missouri's ninth-ranked John Erneste (Missouri) will also compete at this weight class.
Though four of the five top-10 guys are from the Big Ten Conference, the only previous head-to-head match-up is between Stevan Micic and Luke Pletcher. These guys have met four times. Micic owns the 3-1 advantage, with his most recent win coming in the last year's NCAA semifinals when the Wolverine beat the Buckeye 8-4 to make it to the finals.
When predicting the pre-seeds, one can only imagine that Micic will be given the top seed, with Suriano, Pletcher, and Lizak following in the second, third and fourth spots respectively. If this holds, and each guy wrestles to his seed, I see Micic eking out a win over Lizak, and Suriano narrowly sliding past Pletcher to set up a Micic and Suriano final.
I'll give Micic the upper-hand in this match for two reasons. One, this is their first time wrestling. Secondly, I think it's complicated to not only prepare but also to make in-match adjustments to counter Micic's unorthodox style.
These two will meet again on Feb. 17 when Michigan travels to Rutgers. Taking into consideration travel, the time of year, and it being (potentially) the second time these two have met, I'll say Suriano evens the score at one apiece heading into the Big Ten Championships.
Another weight class to keep an eye on is 174 pounds where 12 ranked guys are also entered. Though it doesn't have a previous NCAA finalist, 174 pounds does feature a trio of guys who have claimed All-American honors multiple times. They are Myles Amine, Daniel Lewis and David McFadden.
Michigan's third-ranked Amine reached the consolation finals in back-to-back years, improving on his fourth-place finish in 2017 with a third-place finish last year.
Missouri's fourth-ranked Lewis is looking to become a four-time All-American after he finished his previous three years in fourth, fifth, and fourth respectively.
The third multiple-time All-American entered at this weight is Virginia Tech's fifth-ranked David McFadden. The Hokie, who returned to action in 2018 after redshirting in 2017, added a fifth-place finish to his resume a season ago after wrapping up the 2016 NCAA Championships in sixth place.
The Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational will be McFadden's first tournament back after representing the United States at 74 kilograms at the U23 World Championships which were held in Bucharest, Romania.
The Hokie two-time All-American does have an 8-4 win over Lewis at the 2016 CKLV, but without seeing him have at least one match to transition back to folkstyle, it's tough to pick him as the favorite over two of the best mat wrestlers in the nation in Amine and Lewis.
Amine defeated Lewis 4-2 in sudden victory in the third-place bout at the 2018 NCAA Championships, giving him a slight advantage to win the CKLV title at 174 pounds.
A third deep weight class to watch is 184 pounds.
Of the eight returning 184-pound All-Americans, six are entered in this tournament. The six returning All-Americans in 2018 placement order are Myles Martin (Ohio State), Emery Parker (Illinois), Taylor Venz (Nebraska), Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech), Chip Ness (North Carolina), and Max Dean (Cornell). The only two who are not registered are Penn State's two-time NCAA champion Bo Nickal (now competing at 197 pounds) and Michigan Dom Abounader who has since graduated.
On a side note, in addition to six top-10 wrestlers, 141 pounds was scheduled to feature Cornell's returning NCAA champion and top-ranked Yianni Diakomihalis. The sophomore made his season debut last weekend, going 3-0 after sitting out for nearly nine months post reconstructive surgery on a torn ACL that he suffered in the first minute of his NCAA quarterfinals match against two-time NCAA champion, Dean Heil.
On Tuesday, Diakomihalis wrote on Twitter, "Won't be wrestling in Vegas this weekend. Should be back for everything else though!"
Though Diakomihalis won't be competing, 141 pounds does have a pair of two-time All-Americans who met in last year's NCAA consolation finals. They are Ohio State's second-ranked Big Ten champion and returning third-place finisher Joey McKenna and Missouri's third-ranked Jaydin Eierman.
Saturday
No. 23 Iowa State at No. 4 Iowa (3 p.m.)
For the first time since taking over as Iowa State's head coach, Kevin Dresser leads his Cyclones into Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk dual.
Last year in Ames, the Hawkeyes won nine of 10 bouts -- which included four bonus-point victories -- to defeat their in-state rivals 35-6. The Cyclones lone victory came at 197 pounds when Sam Colbray received a forfeit.
Though the Hawkeyes are still favored to win the dual meet, Iowa State brings three ranked wrestlers into Iowa City. They are No. 14 Austin Gomez (133), No. 12 Jarrett Degen (149) and No. 5 Willie Miklus (197).
The Cyclones will rely on their fifth-ranked three-time All-American transfer Miklus to add a much-needed spark. In his first Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk dual, Miklus could square off against Iowa's No. 11 Jacob Warner at 197 pounds. These two previously met last season at the Lindenwood Open where Warner knocked off Miklus, 16-7.
In addition to Warner, Iowa's lineup is littered with ranked wrestlers. Leading the way for the Hawkeyes are top-ranked wrestlers Spencer Lee (125) and Sam Stoll (285). Other ranked wrestlers for Iowa inlcude No. 10 Austin DeSanto (133), No. 16 Max Murin (141), No. 11 Pat Lugo (149), No. 13 Kaleb Young (157), No. 4 Alex Marinelli (165) and No. 11 Cash Wilcke (184).
Also of note, Iowa announced on Tuesday that two-time All-American and sixth-ranked Michael Kemerer (174) would be having season-ending surgery.
Iowa leads the series 64-16-2 and is 32-5-1 in Iowa City.
Other potential ranked matchups:
133: No. 10 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) vs. No. 14 Austin Gomez (Iowa State)
149: No. 11 Pat Lugo (Iowa) vs. No. 12 Jarrett Degen (Iowa State)
197: No. 11 Jacob Warner (Iowa) vs. No. 5 Willie Miklus (Iowa State)
Sunday
No. 8 Lehigh at No. 1 Penn State (1:30 p.m.)
The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are set to head to Happy Valley in search for their 35th win over Nittany Lions, and first since the 2009-10 season. Sunday's dual meet will be the 107th time these two have met, with Penn State owning the 69-34-3 advantage.
Last season, Lehigh jumped out to an early 15-0 lead, picking up bonus points in two of the first three matches, but ultimately lost six of the final seven matches and fell short, 23-19.
This year there will be four matches where top-10 wrestlers will compete against each other, and they'll all be on the back side of the dual.
The match to pay attention to will be at 174 pounds when Penn State's two-time NCAA finalist and 2017 NCAA champion Mark Hall takes on Lehigh's 2018 All-American and seventh-ranked Jordan Kutler.
These wrestlers have met a pair of times, with Hall getting his hand raised both times. Hall beat Kutler, 3-2 last December's dual and followed that win up a month later with a 4-0 shutout over the Mountain Hawk at the Southern Scuffle.
Other potential top-10 matchups:
157: No. 1 Jason Nolf vs. No. 10 Gordon Wolf
174: No. 2 Mark Hall vs. No. 7 Jordan Kutler
184: No. 4 Shakur Rasheed vs. No. 7 Ryan Preisch
285: No. 5 Anthony Cassar vs. No. 6 Jordan Wood
Other potential ranked matchups:
165: No. 1 Vincenzo Joseph vs. No. 11 Cole Walter
197: No.1 Bo Nickal vs. No. 15 Jake Jacobsen
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