2x NCAA All-American Austin DeSanto (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
That didn't take long, did it? I told you last week, we were in the calm before the storm. Even though it's been well over a year since we last had an in-season tournament, Wrestling Twitter and forum outrage picked up right where it left off in 2020.
The biggest hubbub after Week 1 was a topic that has been brought up many times before in many seasons past. The age-old question of "what to do about Medical Forfeits."
Everyone has their opinion; everyone has their way of "fixing" the issue. Well, here is mine: Make Medical Forfeits count as losses. At this point in our sport, it is needed, because we are trending down a path that lessens the likability and marketability of the sport we love.
Here's my reasoning. If you don't wrestle in a dual, say Central Michigan v Oklahoma, and a forfeit is given, that doesn't go against the starter at the weight. Duh, simple, right? But that's the argument everyone is using for Medical Forfeits in tournaments which, in fact, does not make any sense at all.
A dual is a singular event, 10 weights and using strategy. Each dual, even if there are two or three in a day, is its own singular event with no bearing on the previous or the future event.
A tournament is like a race. You check-in (weigh-in), suit up, and when the race begins (first match of the day), you are now in a day-long competition. The intention is that the wrestler will attempt to make it as far as possible within the bracket to hopefully win it all, but also help your team win some hardware too. Nowadays, coaches and or wrestlers dictate how many matches they want to wrestle and against who they want as well. It's equivalent to quitting halfway through a 5K because the steep hill is coming up. Because that's what it is… quitting. We also know it as ducking, but that term seems to offend people for some reason.
In the Michigan State Open alone (Open Division), there were seven Medical Forfeits: two in the Quarters, four in the Semi-Finals, and one in the Finals. In the Freshman/Sophomore Division, there were two total Medical Forfeits (both in the Quarters). That's embarrassing (for the Open Division, that is). Plain and simple. How are we supposed to "grow the sport" if the best wrestlers in an in-season tournament forfeit IN THE FINALS?
"Why punish someone for being hurt?" you say. "They had a plan to only wrestle two matches only," you say. "Why should they get a loss on their record for not stepping on the mat?!" you ignorantly repeat over and over again. Well, first off, as I've already said, they entered the "race" when they weighed in and wrestled their first match. From that point on, someone needs to advance, and someone needs to fall to the consolation bracket or be eliminated. No two ways about it; that's how it's done. If you wanted a few matches against non-D1 or lesser competition, schedule your own Tri-meet or round-robin and don't bother ruining the tournament experience for the other wrestlers and fans.
How to combat this issue of coaches using the non-compete loophole of ducking? Make them count as losses. If you weigh-in, and wrestle a match that day, then MFF out, each MFF for that day counts as a loss. If you are actually injured and need to MFF out, I'm sorry that you were unable to keep competing, but the racer doesn't get any points if his tire blows out. The golfer doesn't get a sympathy check for straining their back and missing the cut. The Football team can't say that loss "doesn't count" because the star quarterback got injured.
It shouldn't matter, right? Your coach should be able to explain in the seeding meeting the circumstances of why you didn't wrestle in the Semi-Finals of that one tournament when you had a high-ranked wrestler. Or that you were injured and couldn't keep moving on. Fine. Make them fight for you.
Call me old-fashioned, call me nostalgic, but what happened to notching a Midlands Championship on your record, or winning the Southern Scuffle? Hell, the Michigan State Open? I'm sure Lucas Davison is pretty happy about that hardware, and the other nine champions from this past weekend.
Traditions seem to have gone by the wayside.
Like most things, the Medical Forfeit was made with the best of intentions. Throughout time, though, coaches have manipulated and strained the actual use of the Medical Forfeit to turn it into a bastardized tool to skirt the rules for personal gain. It's sad to see that athletes who put so much time into training, exercising, and working on sharpening their skill only want to travel to a tournament hours away and wrestle two matches and not prove that they are the best in the country.
On to Week 2…..
This week sees an uptick in dual competition with only three major tournaments taking place: Mountaineer Open, Bearcat Open, and the Journeyman Round Robin. A couple other notable Opens in the Bison Open and Wolfpack Open are also being held but with minimal D1 entries (as noted on official schedules, that is). So be careful when picking guys at those tournaments, and temper your expectations to 1 or maybe 2 matches that count for scoring.
Of note, Illinois was supposed to be at the Mountaineer Invite, but has recently canceled their entry, so make the proper adjustments.
64 of the 78 D1 teams will be in competition this week, with 16 of last year's Top 20 taking the mat as well.
Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to how the Journeyman Round Robin pools will be made, so for that, we are going to look at the best matchups from all potential participants.
Like usual, tournament entries slowly trickle in as it gets closer and closer to matchday, so I will try to keep you updated as soon as possible and note it in the comments section. Don't forget to follow @FantasyD1Wrestl !
Wrestlers I Like This Week (the early locks)
Wrestler (School)- competition for the week [Proj Score]
125:
Ed Ventresca (Virginia Tech)- Wolfpack Open
Spencer Moore (North Carolina)- Wolfpack Open
Stevo Poulin (NC State)- Wolfpack Open
Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State)- Vs Penn State,(@Manheim, PA) [+4], Journeyman Classic
Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+4]
Benny Gomez (Presbyterian)- Vs The Citadel [+3]
Jack Medley (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+3]
Bryce West (Northern Illinois)- @ Rider [+3]
133:
Josh Koderhandt (Navy)- Bearcat Open
Michael Colaiocco (U Penn)- Journeyman Round Robin
Austin DeSanto (Iowa)- Luther Open
Brock Hudkins (Indiana)- Mountaineer Invite
Reece Witcraft (Oklahoma State)- Viking Open
Jarrett Trombley (NC State)- Wolfpack Open
Sammy Alvarez (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+13]
Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+9]
Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)- @ Stanford [+5]
Tony Madrigal (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4]
141:
Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)- Luther Open
Wyatt Henson (Iowa)- Luther Open (Freshman Div)
Cayden Rooks (Indiana)- Mountaineer Invite
Travis Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State)- Viking Open
Ryan Jack (NC State)- Wolfpack Open
Lachlan McNeil (North Carolina)- Wolfpack Open
Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+14]
Nick Lee (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+9]
Kaden Cassidy (George Mason)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Bucknell [+8]
Parker Filius (Purdue)- @ Cleveland State [+4]
Quinn Kinner (Rider)- Vs Northern Illinois [+3]
Stevan Micic (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+4] *Not Projected to Start
149:
PJ Ogunsanya (Army)- Journeyman Round Robin
Anthony Artalona (U Penn)- Journeyman Round Robin
Josh Finesilver (Duke)- Mountaineer Invite
Brent Moore (Clarion)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Davidson, Vs Rutgers (@DAV) [+11]
Mike Van Brill (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+5]
Beau Bartlett (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+7]
Alex Madrigal (George Mason)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs Bucknell [+7]
Kanen Storr (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+4]
Mitch Moore (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4]
Yahya Thomas (Northwestern)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+4]
157:
Andrew Cerniglia (Navy)- Bearcat Open
Doug Zapf (U Penn)- Journeyman Round Robin
Dom Mata (Harvard)- Journeyman Round Robin
Markus Hartman (Army)- Journeyman Round Robin
Kaleb Young (Iowa)- Luther Open
Ed Scott (NC State)- Wolfpack Open
Kolby Ho (Clarion)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Davidson, Vs Rutgers (@DAV) [+9]
Robert Kanniard (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+4]
Joe Lee (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+7]
Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)- Vs SIU-Edwardsville [+5]
Justin Thomas (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4]
Kendall Coleman (Purdue)- @ Cleveland State [+4]
Will Lewan (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+4]
165:
Alex Marinelli (Iowa)- Luther Open
Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State)- Viking Open
Sonny Santiago (North Carolina)- Wolfpack Open
Matthew Pine (Chattanooga)- Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson, Vs Rutgers (@DAV) [+11]
Zach Hartman (Bucknell)- Vs Bellarmine, Vs George Mason (@GMU) [+8]
Alex Facundo (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+7]
Sewlyn Porter (The Citadel)- @ Presbyterian [+5]
Cam Amine (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+4]
Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois)- @ Rider [+3]
174:
Alex Faison (NC State)- Wolfpack Open
Gavin Kane (North Carolina)- Wolfpack Open
Ben Pasiuk (Army)- Journeyman Round Robin
Matt Finesilver (Duke)- Mountaineer Invite
John Worthing (Clarion)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Davidson, Vs Rutgers (@DAV) [+9]
Carter Starocci (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+8]
Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4]
Gerrit Nijenhuis (Purdue)- @ Cleveland State [+4]
184:
Donnell Washington (Indiana)- Mountaineer Open
Abe Assad (Iowa)- Luther Open
Nick Reenan (NC State)- Wolfpack Open
Caleb Hopkins (Campbell)- Wolfpack Open
John Poznanski (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+12]
Aaron Brooks (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+9]
Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois)- @ Rider [+4]
Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)- @ Stanford [+4]
David Bertrand (Presbyterian)- Vs The Citadel [+4]
Max Lyon (Purdue)- @ Cleveland State [+3]
Myles Amine (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+5] Not Projected to Start
197:
Jake Koser (Navy)- Bearcat Open
Jacob Warner (Iowa)- Luther Open
Issac Trumble (NC State)- Wolfpack Open
Greg Bulsak (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+12]
Pat Brucki (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+5]
AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State)- @ Stanford [+4]
Jake Woodley (Oklahoma)- @ West Virginia [+4]
Matt Correnti (Rider)- Vs Northern Illinois [+3]
285:
Hunter Catka (Virginia Tech)- Wolfpack Open
Boone McDermott (Rutgers)- Vs Chattanooga, Vs Clarion, Vs Davidson (@DAV) [+12]
Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)- Vs Oregon State, Vs Sacred Heart [+8]
Michael McAleavey (The Citadel)- @ Presbyterian [+6]
Mason Parris (Michigan)- Vs CSU Bakersfield [+6] Not Projected to Start
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