All Activity

I am not arguing that he can’t compete with some of the senior level guys, what I was saying was that he is not ready to make Final X yet and there certainly isn’t any shame in that for the 18 year old. Regardless of who Pantaleo lost to this week, doesnt matter. What I saw between that match and His finals match tonight leads me to believe that James Green and Yianni would both eat him up right now prolly by tech fall. No clue what’s was up with the finals match tonight it was very un-Duke like for him not to shoot or be the aggressor at all. He will for sure have to change that up before next months senior event. We can do A over B and B over C so A over C all day but the fact is James Green has made the senior world team at 70kg every time he has put his hat into the ring since 2015 which makes Yianni’s victory even that more impressive. I don’t think he last a whole match with Yianni or James Green

it’s not a big deal but he was speaking of Yianni the entire time and had no clue it was Candenas. it was funny but he made fun of himself

US greco is atrocious* Better off to send NCAA high flyers such as Lovett and Andonian and Ramos who can let the fur fly since domestic isn't patient and technical enough to win high-level matches, much less medal. I will ask what do we have to lose at this point? We are already rock bottom and can't qualify most weights so why not?

Bear claw graduated and then went somewhere else to use his last bit of eligibility to start. Not the same thing.

I think he was talking about something else. He's referring to a folkstyle match between Luke Stanich (non Lilledahl) and Jax Forrest in an open tournament a couple seasons ago (in early 2024). Here's the match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yfyuxGo3lw It was Stanich's true freshman year at Lehigh, and he went on to take 4th at NCAAs. Forrest would've been a sophomore in high school at the time, albeit an older sophomore (probably 17).

And maybe he'd have won it this year and then gotten bogged down with injuries or a savant like...Lockett/Duke if he had 2 more years. Hard to say. He was REAL close several times. A poorly Wrestled Match vs Mesenbrink from being in the finals in '24, but he won it and he seems to me to be a GREAT fit at 74KG.

Let's work backwards: A team of 10 wrestlers to represent the US will be decided at Final X (the X is for 10). At Final X, the two best wrestlers at each weight will compete in a best 2 out of 3 matches format. There are three different ways to earn a spot at Final X at each weight: (1) Winning a 2024 World/Olympic medal (2) Winning the 2025 US Open (3) Winning the 2025 World Team Trials (WTT) WTT can be thought of as an "if needed" event. If there is a wrestler who qualifies through method (1), then method (3) does not apply for that weight. e.g. Spencer Lee won the silver medal at the 2024 Olympics at 57kg and so he automatically qualifies to compete at Final X for the 57kg spot on this year's team. Thus, there will be no Final X competitor from the WTT at 57kg. The same is true for 61kg because Vito Arujau won bronze at the 2024 World Championships. All weights will have a Final X competitor from the US Open. So, we have two Final X spots locked in from 2024 medalists (57kg and 61kg). This weekend we had ten more spots determined from the US Open. The final eight spots will be determined at WTT. By weight: 57kg: Spencer Lee vs, Luke Lilledahl 61kg: Vito Arujau vs. Jax Forrest 65kg: Joey McKenna vs. WTT winner 70kg: Yianni Diakomihalis vs. WTT winner 74kg: Mitchell Mesenbrink vs. WTT winner 79kg: Evan Wick vs. WTT winner 86kg: Zahid Valencia vs. WTT winner 92kg: Trent Hidlay vs. WTT winner 97kg: Kyle Snyder vs. WTT winner 125kg: Wyatt Hendrickson vs. WTT winner

Stay on topic. We are talking about Messenbrink here!

I mean...it's pretty much lose or lose at this point... Does Mesenbrink even have someone to Wrestle at FinalX with Dake going up?

I disagree. This is...kinda what John Mesenbrink was known for. First of all, it's how he Wrestled in his 40s(I mean, for a guy in his 40s) but it's how he wrestled and how he coached. Second, I think it's just effort and hours. I think it's obviously incredibly hard, but Mesenbrink was famous for two things as a coach. He'd finish the year with 12-15 kids as a lot of kids didn't want to go through the practices or the early morning workouts and he'd always have kids pulling off huge upsets. Then you add in AWA and all the teammates he had there and much more technical Wrestling and I think it CAN be replicated...but it takes a pretty intense mentality to do so. I don't know that it's so much different from a the Stieners or Mcllravy in attack rate.

Good thrread by @BBucckyBBadgger donn't ya thinnk?

Obviously MM’s gas tank was a huge asset but watching the match I thought that once he figured out how to get to Carr’s legs that changed the outcome of this match.

So...does that mean he wasn't a Freshmen or that Buchanan hadn't already taken a couple of 3rds? Or are you just letting me know for...no discernible reason that Josh Barr is the same age right now that Bo Bassett will be by the time he Wrestles a match for Iowa? I'm confused, you really didn't make a point, but it sounded like you were TRYING to argue about something...

So the Greco team is set, and I know it’s early but my thought is that this is a good thing. I believe that these guys can now focus on improving and building towards becoming their best for the Worlds.

No, Lightening...as in "lightening" Spencer Lee's Medal count.

I hear Spencer's Mom wears contacts now...so...she could take out an eyeball in a hasty act, but...I suspect she'd stop at one.

Any have a link to full brackets?

So Zane Richards made it to the finals, so does anyone know if he has a background in Greco? Irregardless if this was his first year training full time training Greco I think that this is pretty impressive. Maybe if he stays at it he can break through.

Well hopefully this injury isn’t serious and he can recover from pretty quickly.

Wow these turned out to be pretty accurate.

Well Snyderman walked through the tournament without much trouble. I wonder if there’s anyone in the NL room that is pushing him.

Watching the open this weekend and it's baffling how old the high school phenoms are. We've got high school sophomores the same age as high school juniors. What the hell is going on? This is a problem specifically bad for wrestling and is just a bad look for the sport. If and when I have kids, should I just expect to have them either get their ass kicked by 19 year olds or hold them back? Anyone else annoyed by this?

Maybe he'll have a better/longer freestyle career because he's out at 21?