I was first sent to Midlands my junior year as an attempt to see if I had indeed made the progress my early season results were indicating. There was a tight race for the starting position and since I'd only been a walk-on the tournament was a litmus test as to my actual out-of-room competitive status.
The tournament was a moderate success with a low placement and a nice win or two against ranked opponents. My style was still developing and being forced to try it against some of the biggest names in the country was certainly instructive in refining some of the details. I'm certain that my experience has been repeated for hundreds of wrestlers over the course of the tournament's 50-plus years, which is a valuable line of connectivity in our sport.
There are plenty of ways to improve the product of our sport through singlet change and better promotion, but I still enjoy the subtle traditions like Midlands. There aren't many (if any) locations in wrestling with an institutional history tied to the sport and wrestlers from every corner of the country. The NCAA tournament moves every year and big programs like Iowa don't/could never be expected to compete against every team in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The shared memories are what makes Midlands unique. Almost all of us have been as a coach, athlete, parent or fan. We've cursed the cold, battled the traffic and sat on uncomfortable wooden bleachers. Division I, II and III have all attended the tournament, as do washed-up former wrestlers and those looking to prep for the World Championships. The Midlands tournament has been both a crucible by which our athletes must prove themselves worthy and a mecca where we return year after year to pay homage to our sport's past.
I'm sorry to be missing the show in-person, but happy as ever to know that time (and constant change) haven't taken from wrestling its most shared and sacred experiences.
To your questions …
Q: Is Patrick Downey of Iowa State injured? I have not seen him in the Cyclone lineup and noticed he is not entered in Midlands.
-- Jason H.
Foley: Downey injured his rib in November at the Harold Nichols Open. He has not competed since then, and is being held out of the Midlands for precautionary reasons.
Gabe Dean gets his hand raised after a victory at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Q: Do you see Gabe Dean contending for a spot on the World Team at 86 kilograms in 2017? Or do you see him as being a couple years away from challenging?
-- Mike C.
Foley: I tweeted this after the Cornell wrestler bested Ed Ruth at the Southern Scuffle in early 2014:
Who the shit is Gabe Dean?
��" T.R. Foley (@trfoley) January 3, 2014
While I've since come to know more of Dean's style and ability through his NCAA success, I'd be hesitant to think he could match wrestling wits with the likes of David Taylor or J'den Cox on the freestyle mat. Cox is too crafty an opponent and Taylor too seasoned for either to have Dean surprise them during the U.S. Open, or outpace their field at the World Team Trials.
Could he be a contender in 2018? Maybe 2019? Certainly.
Q: Do you think we will ever see amateur MMA in the Olympics? There already is an amateur World Championship. Why or why not?
-- Gregg Y.
Foley: FILA, the once international governing body of wrestling, had an active amateur MMA organization under its umbrella for several years. However that effort was ended after President Lalovic took over and renamed the organization United World Wrestling, as the IOC requested that the sport not be given a platform. Also, United World Wrestling is first and foremost a wrestling organization, which makes the promotion and support of striking sports somewhat outside its core directive.
There is a Pankration federation associated with United World Wrestling. Though the sport allows some body strikes, it dates back to the ancient Olympic Games and has maintained a passionate following for more than 100 years.
Q: Will Mark Hall make the finals of the Southern Scuffle? His weight class (174 pounds) includes Casey Kent, Brian Realbuto, Kyle Crutchmer, Ethan Ramos and some other really solid wrestlers.
-- Mike C.
Foley: We are essentially seeing Mark Hall face his first established competition. Assuming that he's been growing in the Penn State wrestling room (a solid assumption) we should be prepared for him to be the equivalent of an All-American candidate for the 2017 NCAA tournament.
That as my base assumption I think it's likely that Hall comes away with third place or better at the Scuffle. Having watched a lot of him on the international scene I've consistently been impressed with his positioning and scoring ability from neutral. However, I have to balance that with another known truth, which is -- freshmen are typically terrible from the bottom position.
Outside chance to win. Likely to be third or better.
Q: Michigan announced that Domenic Abounader is redshirting this season. How is that possible? He competed in a dual against Virginia in November.
-- David D.
Foley: From the Michigan press release, "Abounader, a two-year team captain, was a perfect 5-0 through the Wolverines' first two events of the season, winning the EMU Open 184-pound title and clinching U-M's home opener against Virginia, but will have season-ending surgery. A three-time NCAA qualifier, Abounader captured a Big Ten title as a sophomore (2015) and owns a 69-23 career record, including an impressive 31-8 mark in dual meets."
Abounader has applied for a medical hardship, which allows him to utilize his unused redshirt season. In certain cases we see medical hardship applied to sixth-year candidates, but its most commonly used in situations such as Abounader, where an athlete who hasn't redshirted becomes injured midway through the season.
The qualifications for a medical redshirt:
1. Not having competed past the halfway point of the season.
2. Having not wrestled in more than 20 percent of the scheduled dates.
3. Have a legitimate season-ending injury.
From the outside I don't see any reason he wouldn't receive his hardship and redshirt.
Q: Were you surprised that Bob Patnesky made the decision to leave Davidson to become head wrestling coach at Penn State Behrend? What went into that decision?
-- Mike C.
Foley: No. Pennsylvania is a great place to test your coaching talents. Not having to convince a group of recruits to attend a VERY expensive university far away from wrestling hotbeds is likely not as exciting as sitting square in the middle of wrestling country and recruiting to a commuter school.
There is nothing to say that he'll be successful at Behrend, but I'm certainly excited for him to face that challenge and further his coaching career.
Q: What do you think of the season Luke Pletcher is having? How far do you think he will go this season?
-- Gregg Y.
Foley: Ohio State's Luke Pletcher has been on a tear in 2016. The true freshman was in redshirt for the start of the season and earned his first nine wins at 133 pounds before debuting at 141 pounds against Missouri and picking up a 6-4 win over Zach Synon. Yesterday he reached the quarterfinals of Midlands before losing 9-3 to Princeton's Matthew Kolodzik. We'll see how Pletcher bounces back today.
The 141-pound weight class is pretty open with only Dean Heil and Joey McKenna seemingly a lock for All-American status in 2016-17.
Also of note is that Pletcher isn't some fluke. He understands how to win. He's a three-time state champion from Pennsylvania and owns a win at Who's Number One over Cadet world champion Yianni Diakomihalis. He also gets to train with world champion and four-time NCAA champion Logan Stieber.
Q: Who wins tonight: Ronda Rousey or Amanda Nunes?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Ronda. She seems like a psychological mess at the moment, but I think that Nunes will have some trouble defending Rousey's armbar once they hit the mat. Nunes is a better all-around fighter, but until the women's bantamweight division matures the one-move wonders like Ronda will always have more than a "puncher's chance."
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