World Team Trials

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

On 5/15/2025 at 10:15 AM, Doublehalf said:

Yeah but you seemed to be taking the same stance that there are all these problems aside from having something like 9 surgeries in the past 7-8 years... weight cuts are difficult on everyone but I wouldn't pin any of Yianni's losses on a weight cut so again, I'm just curious other than injuries and weight cut issues that haven't seemed to be an issue what all these problems are that you mention? I genuinely don't know what you're referring too so just seeking to understand what else the issue has been that has only netted him 4 national titles US Open titles and a world silver medal at 65kg that hadn't been done in over a decade?

Interesting interview with Yianni just came out, where he talks about his difficult weight cut!  Says 149 was tough for him to make as a senior, so 65 kg was a bit much.  Says weight cut affected him at OTT.  Who would've thought?

[Cornell Kevin]

On 5/19/2025 at 12:37 PM, Truzzcat said:

Joey may have 2-3 years of u23 eligibility left I think he was an 18 year old freshman and never used a RS. I am really interested if after levi graduates this year if we see MM go up and perhaps Joey joins his brother to wrestle 165 at PSU. If Duke can hold 157 its a pretty seemless fit because James can red shirt and then go 165.

MM is a lifer at 165/74kg  He is on the smaller side of the weight class. Its been said by both him and Askren that if he had to, he could have been a 157 pounder. Wpuld have been a cut, but do able.  You will see him finish out his college career at 165. 

[Le duke]

3 minutes ago, Cornell Kevin said:

MM is a lifer at 165/74kg  He is on the smaller side of the weight class. Its been said by both him and Askren that if he had to, he could have been a 157 pounder. Wpuld have been a cut, but do able.  You will see him finish out his college career at 165. 

I wouldn't be surprised if they bumped him up to 174 for his senior year. Actually, I'd be surprised if they didn't do that.

Get big(ger) for international 74kg wrestling, even if he's a small-ish 174lb wrestler for NCAA competition. That will allow Kasak and Duke to go 157/165. 

[Truzzcat]

1 hour ago, Cornell Kevin said:

MM is a lifer at 165/74kg  He is on the smaller side of the weight class. Its been said by both him and Askren that if he had to, he could have been a 157 pounder. Wpuld have been a cut, but do able.  You will see him finish out his college career at 165. 

I completely agree that he is by no means going to grow out of weekly weigh ins at 165. I think he will need to go up at some point though for roster synergy. I think its a pretty big pull for PJ to make 70kg and thats like once a month at most I am not sure he has two years of 157 in him.

[wrestlingfan22]

1 hour ago, Cornell Kevin said:

MM is a lifer at 165/74kg  He is on the smaller side of the weight class. Its been said by both him and Askren that if he had to, he could have been a 157 pounder. Wpuld have been a cut, but do able.  You will see him finish out his college career at 165. 

MM is good enough to win 174 weighing 170, he needs to get bigger to compete internationally at 74kg, Dake was clearly cutting from 180+ to make 74kg and he is not even the biggest 74kg guy. MM going 174 for his last year would let Kasak or Duke go 165. 

26:

57: Kasak (Duke RS)

65:MM

74:Haines

 

27:

57: Duke/Kasak

65:Kasak/Duke

74:Messenbrink

 

Gives Messenbrink a year to grow more towards being a more full-sized 74kg

Then Kasak and MM would graduate, letting Duke pick his weight and their other recruits in that range find a spot. 

 

Other option requires both Kasak and Duke to take a RS to let MM clear out. 

[Cornell Kevin]

idk, if you have a guy who you can ink in as a 3x champ and no reason to mess with it. Duke is 5’6” 70kg is 154 lbs he has to lose about 6 lbs to make it.  I dont see him getting much bigger but could see Kasak continuing to ballloon up to 174.  i don’t necessarily agree with the idea that MM needs to wrestle 174 in order to be successful at 74kg (163 lbs). Takatani said he weighed 163 lbs after his match with Dake and pretty much walks around at that weight.  Dake was cutting hard you are right and he hasnt looked good at all doing it compared to when he was at 79kg.  
 

2026

157- PJ duke 

Kasak RS 

165 MM

174 Haines

 

2027

157 PJ Duke

165 MM (senior)

174 Kasak 

[bnwtwg]

27 minutes ago, Cornell Kevin said:

could see Kasak continuing to ballloon up to 174

The Cornell rhetoric of Kasak's muscular growth knows no bounds. Username checks out.

Edited yesterday at 03:52 AM by bnwtwg
UN

[nhs67]

Why not

2025-26

157 Kasak

165 Monster Mitch

174 Haines

Duke takes over 174 after a RS.

 

[Cornell Kevin]

18 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

The Cornell rhetoric of Kasak's muscular growth knows no bounds. Username checks out.

two things

Shapiro was not speaking of Kasak in that Interview. Which makes one wonder why Penn St fans assumed he was He was actually bringing it up because of Johnny Lovett who he discussed after he wrestled the him the year prior as well of having freakish strength for someone at the weight. I wish he had just left it alone, but not everything in wrestling HAS to do with Penn St believe it or not

You brougnt my comment to the Kasak "rhetoric" which you speak of .You and you only. Nobody from Cornell talks or cares to talk about Kasak or the accusations which some Penn st fans assume were made by Shapiro about him. Go to any forum and you won't find a bunch of Cornell fans discussing this topic that's for sure. You will help her see a bunch of Penn State fans discussing it.

So I will respectively have to disagree with you and say it's people like yourself who knows no bounds in bringing this subject up. I am a Cornell fan yes, and I am allowed to. think that a guy who bumped up to weight classes in one season, and is 20 years old…..likely still growing, may move up another 2 weights 2 years from now. I think thats a pretty reasonable opinion. I can say this without it meaning what your false narrative assumes it to be. If you assumed that Shapiro meant Kasak, or that I in anyway meant PEDs with him moving up in weight...thats a you problem. 

[Cornell Kevin]

4 hours ago, nhs67 said:

Why not

2025-26

157 Kasak

165 Monster Mitch

174 Haines

Duke takes over 174 after a RS.

 

Duke is 5’6” and has been that height for quite sometime.’Indont see him getting that much bigger. Only time will tell. 

[nhs67]

1 hour ago, Cornell Kevin said:

Duke is 5’6” and has been that height for quite sometime.’Indont see him getting that much bigger. Only time will tell. 

His dad is huge and he wrestled 170/175 all of this year.  Last year it was 'understood' that he was likely a 'One and Done' at 157 his frosh season.

I think Penn State has better things going for them than OSU did with Marsteller when they had him go 170 to 157... I just don't know if I like it.  Duke was more active at WTT late last year, than he was at the WTT this year (after wrestling 170-175 all high school season).  Mind you, I understand that is an opinion.

[Cornell Kevin]

1 hour ago, nhs67 said:

His dad is huge and he wrestled 170/175 all of this year.  Last year it was 'understood' that he was likely a 'One and Done' at 157 his frosh season.

I think Penn State has better things going for them than OSU did with Marsteller when they had him go 170 to 157... I just don't know if I like it.  Duke was more active at WTT late last year, than he was at the WTT this year (after wrestling 170-175 all high school season).  Mind you, I understand that is an opinion.

He wrestled 170 this HS season just to try and get better competition, but could have gone 160 if he had needed to. I don’t recall him ever wrestling 175, I know that’s not a weight in NY. Turns out that it didn’t matter much what weight he went as even for him to wrestle 170 this year…a weight much higher than his walk around weight..he went 46-0 with 35 falls 9 tech falls and 2 ffts.  Not one of his matches even made it to the half way point of the 2nd period. Stud! 

[bnwtwg]

4 hours ago, Cornell Kevin said:

two things

Shapiro was not speaking of Kasak in that Interview. Which makes one wonder why Penn St fans assumed he was He was actually bringing it up because of Johnny Lovett who he discussed after he wrestled the him the year prior as well of having freakish strength for someone at the weight. I wish he had just left it alone, but not everything in wrestling HAS to do with Penn St believe it or not

You brougnt my comment to the Kasak "rhetoric" which you speak of .You and you only. Nobody from Cornell talks or cares to talk about Kasak or the accusations which some Penn st fans assume were made by Shapiro about him. Go to any forum and you won't find a bunch of Cornell fans discussing this topic that's for sure. You will help her see a bunch of Penn State fans discussing it.

So I will respectively have to disagree with you and say it's people like yourself who knows no bounds in bringing this subject up. I am a Cornell fan yes, and I am allowed to. think that a guy who bumped up to weight classes in one season, and is 20 years old…..likely still growing, may move up another 2 weights 2 years from now. I think thats a pretty reasonable opinion. I can say this without it meaning what your false narrative assumes it to be. If you assumed that Shapiro meant Kasak, or that I in anyway meant PEDs with him moving up in weight...thats a you problem. &nbsp

[5 points]

On 5/21/2025 at 8:53 AM, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Interesting interview with Yianni just came out, where he talks about his difficult weight cut!  Says 149 was tough for him to make as a senior, so 65 kg was a bit much.  Says weight cut affected him at OTT.  Who would've thought?

cutting weight affects everyone in different ways 

[nhs67]

9 hours ago, Cornell Kevin said:

He wrestled 170 this HS season just to try and get better competition, but could have gone 160 if he had needed to. I don’t recall him ever wrestling 175, I know that’s not a weight in NY. Turns out that it didn’t matter much what weight he went as even for him to wrestle 170 this year…a weight much higher than his walk around weight..he went 46-0 with 35 falls 9 tech falls and 2 ffts.  Not one of his matches even made it to the half way point of the 2nd period. Stud! 

First tournament of 2025.

Also, it doesn't change any of the other stuff I said.

[1032004]

14 hours ago, Cornell Kevin said:

two things

Shapiro was not speaking of Kasak in that Interview. Which makes one wonder why Penn St fans assumed he was He was actually bringing it up because of Johnny Lovett who he discussed after he wrestled the him the year prior as well of having freakish strength for someone at the weight. I wish he had just left it alone, but not everything in wrestling HAS to do with Penn St believe it or not

You brougnt my comment to the Kasak "rhetoric" which you speak of .You and you only. Nobody from Cornell talks or cares to talk about Kasak or the accusations which some Penn st fans assume were made by Shapiro about him. Go to any forum and you won't find a bunch of Cornell fans discussing this topic that's for sure. You will help her see a bunch of Penn State fans discussing it.

So I will respectively have to disagree with you and say it's people like yourself who knows no bounds in bringing this subject up. I am a Cornell fan yes, and I am allowed to. think that a guy who bumped up to weight classes in one season, and is 20 years old…..likely still growing, may move up another 2 weights 2 years from now. I think thats a pretty reasonable opinion. I can say this without it meaning what your false narrative assumes it to be. If you assumed that Shapiro meant Kasak, or that I in anyway meant PEDs with him moving up in weight...thats a you problem. 

Two things

Pretty sure that was a joke from @bnwtwg

And Dylan Palacio was certainly talking about it (albeit I believe in response to Nickal)