InterMat Staff

On Friday night #15 Stanford will travel to #7 Iowa State in the first half of a two-day stretch that sees the Cardinal challenge themselves against a pair of college wrestling powers - they’ll also face #2 Iowa on Saturday. Not only is the Iowa State/Stanford dual a clash between a pair of top-15 teams, but it will also pit two of the best program-builders against each other as you look at the team’s respective leaders. Kevin Dresser leads the Iowa State Cyclones while Chris Ayres starts his second season as Stanford’s head coach. You might not initially expect it, but the two have had some similarities during their long coaching careers. Both were hired for their first collegiate head coaching positions during the amazing offseason of 2006. InterMat has covered this topic in-depth as 15 head coaching jobs were open that year and it changed the landscape for college wrestling coaching forward. Iowa brought back Tom Brands, Ohio State hired Tom Ryan, and Iowa State elevated Cael Sanderson. In the midst of all of these high-profile hirings, there was considerably less fanfare surrounding Virginia Tech hiring Kevin Dresser and Princeton tabbing Chris Ayres as their next head coach. Both walked into extremely difficult situations. Neither was at a program that was known for prolonged success; however, both took their respective schools to heights that seemed unattainable in 2006. Dresser was the head coach at Christiansburg High School, the next town over from Virginia Tech’s home in Blacksburg. At the high school level, Dresser already had achieved notoriety for his success at Virginia’s Grundy High School and then took over a Christiansburg team that couldn’t fill out a full lineup and was an afterthought in Virginia. When he left for Tech, Dresser had made Christiansburg into a program that was ranked in the top five nationally, churning out DI recruits, and dominating the Virginia AA State Tournament. Dresser walked into a Virginia Tech program that was in shambles after Brands left for Iowa. Brands spent only two years in Blacksburg, but injected the school with newfound energy towards its wrestling program and inked the #2 overall recruit class of 2005. When Brands left for Iowa - the key components of that recruiting class followed - including two-time NCAA champion Brent Metcalf, 2010 NCAA champion Jay Borschel, NCAA finalist Joey Slaton, and more. Transfer rules at the time stated that wrestlers needed a signed release to compete the following year after a transfer. To this day, there are arguments about the release being guaranteed during the recruiting process; however, one was not granted and the transfers had to sit out and lose a year of eligibility at Iowa. Dresser served as a de facto consultant to help hire Brands’ successor and even had to help convince Virginia Tech not to drop the program as the athletic department felt jilted for the new investment into wrestling. Eventually, Dresser was coaxed into taking the job himself and quickly built Virginia Tech into a respectable, consistent program. The 2009 Virginia Tech team had eight national qualifiers after producing 21 in the eight years leading up to 2009. I happened to be at the Hokie NCAA social that year and there was a very festive atmosphere surrounding the team’s performance. Dresser stunned the room by pushing the kibosh on these sentiments, saying he “wasn’t looking for a bunch of NCAA qualifiers, he’s looking to have wrestlers on that stage on Saturday night.” That mentality saw the Hokies continue to grow year-by-year and eventually they did put a wrestler in the NCAA finals (Devin Carter - 2014). Two years later, Virginia Tech took home an NCAA team trophy (fourth place) in New York City, finishing a spot ahead of Iowa - there were lingering bad feelings on both sides after the Brands departure. Less than a year after the 2016 NCAA Tournament, Iowa State’s Kevin Jackson was relieved of his head coaching duties midseason. That led to Dresser being named the Cyclones head coach before the end of the 2016-17 season. Coming full circle to 2006, Dresser shocked the wrestling world by hiring Metcalf as one of his assistant coaches at Iowa State. At Iowa State, Dresser needed a few years to get his own recruits in place, but he recruited and oversaw the career of 2x NCAA champion David Carr and has led a team that finished 11th at the NCAA Tournament in 2023 and fourth in 2024. Though Iowa State is still looking for their first win over Iowa under Dresser, they did finish a spot ahead of the Hawkeyes in March. Dresser’s 2024-25 team could be his best yet, though there are plenty of questions surrounding the lineup at multiple weights. What we do know is that the Cyclones will field a lineup that includes four returning All-Americans . While Dresser only needed a few years to bring Virginia Tech to respectability, Ayres faced a much steeper climb at Princeton. Ayres was serving as an assistant on staff at his alma mater, Lehigh, when he got the opportunity to take his first head coaching position - at Princeton. He had also applied to Hofstra and was in the mix for the Virginia job. To say Ayres’ early years at Princeton were rough would be putting it lightly. The Tigers lost their first 35 duals under Ayres and their first national qualifier didn’t come until 2010. Initially, Ayres assumed he could bring in some recent Lehigh grads who were part of an NCAA trophy-winning team in 2004 (Derek Zinck/Troy Letters) and they’d “teach the kids some moves” and they’d be good. Once he saw it was more difficult than that, Ayres focused on building a strong foundation for his program. Princeton’s big win on the recruiting trail came in 2008 as Ayres’ staff inked Daniel Kolodizk. Kolodzik would go on to make the NCAA Round of 12. Three years after Daniel finished his career, Ayres’ crew was able to lock down the younger Kolodzik brother, Matt, a top-ten recruit in the Class of 2015. In 2016, Princeton had its big breakthrough and Brett Harner made the NCAA podium - taking eighth in the 197 lb weight class. He was the school’s first AA in 13 years and the first for Ayres. A year later, Matt Kolodzik became the first freshman to get on the podium for Princeton. That momentum was all Princeton needed and they continued to improve. Highlights of Ayres’ tenure at the Ivy League school include knocking off Cornell in 2020 - ending the Big Red’s 18-year stranglehold on the Ivy League title. It was Princeton’s first Ivy title since 1986. In 2023, Pat Glory became only the second Princeton wrestler to win a national title and the first since 1951. He along with Quincy Monday helped lead the Tigers to a 13th place finish at nationals. From 0-35 to 13th in the nation. In an in-depth feature on Ayres’ hiring by Princeton, he called those early years the “best time I never want to go through again. I never want to go through that again, but the lessons learned were so impactful.” Ayres didn’t have to go through that again with his next job. Late in the summer of 2023 a game of head coaching musical chairs broke out leaving the Stanford program without a head coach. Ayres threw his hat into the ring and was ultimately chosen to lead the Cardinal. Ayres took over a team that had recruited extremely well under Rob Koll and finished the 2024 season with a pair of All-Americans - both from the Class of 2022. That strong recruiting has carried on under Ayres and Stanford looks like a very imposing team as they kick off their first campaign in the ACC. Friday’s dual will mark only the second time that Ayres and Dresser have coached against each other in dual competition. They met when their previous schools dualed each other in January of 2017, just a month before Dresser accepted the Iowa State position. In that meeting, Virginia Tech prevailed 28-11. The Princeton/Virginia Tech series likely had something to do with Ayres’ assistant coach Sean Gray - a Virginia Tech alum. Before Dresser’s arrival, Gray was the only multiple-time All-American in Hokie wrestling history. Gray has since joined Ayres at Stanford. As these two coaches are looking to take their current programs to new heights, remember that they are led by two of the best program-builders in our sport. They each took over programs with the promise of trophies and national accolades; however, both were near the bottom of the DI ranks 18 years ago and have carved out incredible coaching careers along the way.

The top prospect in the high school Class of 2026, Bo Bassett, has vowed to keep fans abreast of his recruiting with daily Wednesday updates. After a brief hiatus Bassett is back and has posted an updated graphic which has eliminated one more school from consideration. Earlier this year, Bassett posted a graphic that contained the logos of approximately 80 schools, most of the DI variety, but some DII’s as well, to signify that he’s totally open in the recruiting process. After more than three months of removing schools from the list, he’s down to 14. One school was removed from this week's graphic: Princeton The following schools remain on Bassett’s graphic and therefore in contention for his services: Arizona State, Cornell, Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pitt-Johnstown, Rutgers, Virginia Tech. One school was removed from the 10/9 graphic: Air Force One school was removed from the 10/2 graphic: Lehigh One school was removed from the 9/25 graphic: Pittsburgh One school was removed from the 9/18 graphic: Stanford One school was removed from the 9/11 graphic: NC State These three schools were removed from the 9/4 graphic: American, North Carolina, Wisconsin These three schools were removed from the 8/28 graphic: Clarion, Little Rock, Minnesota The following schools were removed from the 8/21 graphic: Penn, Oklahoma, Oregon State The following schools were removed from the 8/14 graphic: Bucknell, Virginia, Wyoming The following schools were removed from the 8/7 graphic: Brown, Northern Colorado, Purdue The following schools were removed from the 7/31 graphic: California Baptist, Michigan State, Navy The following schools were removed from the 7/24 graphic: Army West Point, Campbell, Edinboro, Harvard, Illinois, North Dakota State, South Dakota State The following schools were removed from the 7/17 graphic: Cal Poly, Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Millersville, The Citadel, and West Virginia The following schools were removed from the 7/10 graphic: CSU Bakersfield, George Mason, Hofstra, Northwestern, Rider, UW Parkside, West Liberty The following schools were removed from the 7/3 graphic: Appalachian State, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Drexel, Kent State, Ohio, and St. Cloud State The following schools were removed from the 6/26 graphic: Binghamton, Bloomsburg, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Northern Illinois, Sacred Heart, SIU Edwardsville Bassett has already taken on-campus visits to Iowa, Michigan, and Penn State. In Bassett's weekly recruiting update, he noted dates for upcoming official campus visits: Nov 8-10 - Ohio State Nov 15-17 - Virginia Tech Nov 22-24 - Oklahoma State Jan 24-26 - Rutgers

Sunday gave us the Clarion Open which marked the first competition for many teams during the 2024-25 season. One of which was #6 Ohio State. The Buckeyes have been one of the teams that have had the most intrigue during the preseason, because of the possible permutations in their lineup. Mainly the back half, but as we’ve seen, there are multiple options down low, as well. As promised, we’ve tried to dig and obtain information regarding the Ohio State lineup, as there were some surprises on Sunday. The most notable and obvious change for the Buckeyes was 2024 NCAA runner-up, Rocco Welsh, wrestling unattached up at 184 lbs. Welsh made the national finals during his freshman year - a season that started with him intending on redshirting. A season-ending injury to All-American Carson Kharchla led to Welsh’s redshirt being pulled. That same situation occurred last year at 184 lbs when Gavin Hoffman was lost for the year and true freshman Ryder Rogotzke stepped up. Rogotzke obviously didn’t have the same national-level success as Welsh; however, he was fifth in the Big Ten, the #18 seed at nationals, and went 1-2 in Kansas City. Fast forward back to 2024 and Welsh ran through the Clarion Open with ease. In the finals, he posted a 7-2 win over 2024 national qualifier Jaden Bullock of Michigan. The other item of note relating to this situation is that Welsh has been removed from the 174 lb match at the NWCA All-Star Match and Cade Devos (South Dakota State) was inserted to take his place. The way we understand the situation is that Ohio State will make a decision as to who is the starter at this weight within the next few days. They are not in a dire position to rush a decision, since their next dual is on November 14th against Chattanooga, followed by Edinboro on the 17th. You’d expect either of Ohio State’s 184 lb options to be favored in both of those contests. Even so, we’re been told there should be a decision relatively soon as to who starts and who sits. With Welsh out of the picture at 174 lbs, that leaves Kharchla as the long-term option at 174. Kharchla will not be available for Ohio State’s next few duals, so they’ll have to get creative as there is no real backup at 174. Maybe they bump 165 lber Chase Carter. Perhaps one of the 157 lbers moves up or even true freshman Ethan Birden (who went 3-1 at 165). To put a bow on the second half of the Buckeye lineup, let’s talk 165 lbs. Bryce Hepner is the returning starter, but all preseason we’ve heard about the return of two-time national runner-up Sammy Sasso. Sasso was set to wrestle 157 lbs last season, but was seriously injured after a shooting in a car-jacking incident. It doesn’t appear as if Sasso is quite ready for live competition yet, so we’ll see Hepner in the near future. Circling back around to the beginning of the Ohio State lineup and perhaps the most difficult-to-predict lineup battle at 125 lbs between Brendan McCrone and Vinny Kilkeary. McCrone came in a year ahead of Kilkeary and was a much less-heralded recruit. Even so, he won the job last year and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. I’m sure most fans assumed that Kilkeary would be ready to take the starting position and run with it in 2024-25. That ultimately may end up happening, but McCrone isn’t going without a fight. The incumbent staved off Kilkeary with a 5-3 win in the Clarion Open finals. Since neither has a redshirt available, we’ll have to play the “wait-and-see” game here. Obviously, the two continue to be very close - with McCrone still holding the upperhand. A key tell in this decision should be who is Ohio State’s representative at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, which occurs about a month from now. Another potential battle that popped up that perhaps we were overlooking was at 133 lbs. Nic Bouzakis is a redshirt sophomore who had a solid 2023-24 season, but one that wasn’t necessarily up to the lofty standards that one may expect from a wrestler of his pedigree (#5 overall recruit in 2022). Ohio State has a true freshman at 133 in Ben Davino who was a top-five overall recruit, himself. Davino blitzed the Clarion Open field with bonus point wins over national qualifier Max Leete (American) and veteran Colton Camacho (Edinboro), before taking out Bouzakis in the title bout. Obviously, the Buckeye staff can use a redshirt for Davino in 2024-25. That would work out well. But, if the decision is to wrestle Welsh this year at 184 lbs, you’re putting the best possible lineup on the mat and in NCAA Team trophy contention. If Davino is a clear step above Bouzakis, in a 133 lb weight class that lost both of its national finalists to graduation - you have to go with Davino, right? In Tuesday’s updated rankings, Bouzakis comes in at #15 at 133 lbs. When he’s at his best, he’s certainly an All-American caliber wrestler. The key is finding that consistency. And for Davino? How does he fare against other top contenders at the weight? Can he beat them on a regular basis or was the Bouzakis win due to familiarity between teammates? Looking at Ohio State’s schedule. My guess is that they let Davino hit another open or two in the next month, while monitoring Bouzakis’ progress at CKLV. The Buckeyes wrap up the 2024 calendar year in Nashville at the Collegiate Duals with duals against Lock Haven, North Carolina, and Iowa State. Those three teams have #5 Evan Frost (Iowa State), #14 Anthony Noto (Lock Haven), and #17 Ethan Oakley (North Carolina). It might be a good idea to give Davino a shot in two of those matches to see how he handles those sorts of competitors. As coaches always say, it’s a good problem to have. Ohio State has multiple wrestlers who can go deep in the national tournament at multiple weights. The tough part is determining which ones get the call for the Big Ten season and the postseason.

Highlights Princeton claims 3 Champs at Princeton Open Princeton Open (11/3) Brown, Columbia, and Princeton were all competing Brown Placers 133: Jacob Joyce – 3rd 285: Alex Semenenko – 5th Columbia Placers 125: Sulayman Bah – 6th 133: Zach (Boris) Witmer – 5th 141: Kai Owen – 2nd 165: Cesar Alvan – 2nd 174: Jack Mcgill – 4th 285: Richard Ryu – 4th 285: Billy McChesney – 6th Princeton Placers 125: Ethan Rivera – 5th 133: Drew Heethuis – 6th 149: Ty Whalen – 1st 174: Xavier Giles – 6th 184: Mikey Squires – 1st 285: Sebastian Garibaldi – 1st Clarion Open (11/3) Brown (unattached), Harvard (unattached) Brown Placers 165: Keegan Rothrock (unattached) – 4th Harvard Placers 149: Jack Crook (unattached) – 5th

Staunton River

Bethlehem Catholic

Highlights Army’s Ethan Berginc beats 2X All-American, Anthony Noto of Lock Haven Lehigh claims 2 Champs each at Princeton Open and Clarion Open Army West Point earned 3 Champs at Princeton Open Bucknell, Drexel, and Hofstra each claim 1 Champ in various opens Southeast Open (11/2) Franklin and Marshall and Morgan State were both participants F&M Placers 125: Ejiro Montoya (Freshman/Sophomore Division) – 4th 125: Jackson Parker (Freshman/Sophomore Division) – 6th 125: James Garcia (Freshman/Sophomore Division) – 2nd 141: Bryce Kresho (Open) – 3rd 197: RJ Moore (Open) – 5th Morgan State Placers 149: Aaron Turner (Freshman/Sophomore Division) – 3rd 157: Shaymus Macintosh (Freshman/Sophomore Division) – 6th 174: Cartilius Vann (Freshman/Sophomore Division) – 5th 174: Darrien Roberts (Open) – 2nd 184: Kingsley Menifee (Freshman/Sophomore Division) – 3rd 285: Xavier Doolin (Open) – 6th Princeton Open (11/3) Army, Hofstra, and Lehigh were all participants Army Placers 125: Charles Farmer – 3rd 133: Ethan Berginc – 1st 141: Ryan Franco – 4th 141: Rich Treanor – 6th 149: Trae McDaniel – 5th 157: Mark Metz – 4th 157: Dakota Morris – 5th 165: Gunnar Filipowicz – 1st 174: Dalton Harkins – 1st 174: Cooper Haase – 2nd 197: Wolfgang Frable – 3rd 197: Austin Kohlhofer – 5th 285: Sam Sorenson – 2nd 285: Brady Colbert – 3rd Hofstra Placers 133: Gauge Shipp – 4th 197: Will Conlon (unattached) – 1st Lehigh Placers 125: Sheldon Seymour – 1st 125: Matty Lopes – 2nd 125: Mason Ziegler – 4th 141: Carter Bailey – 5th 149: Kelvin Griffin – 3rd 157: Logan Rozynski – 1st 157: Griffin Gonzalez – 3rd 165: Thayne Lawrence – 6th 174: Rylan Rogers – 5th 197: JT Davis – 4th East Stroudsburg Open (11/3) Bucknell (unattached) and Drexel Bucknell Placers 285: Riley Godek – 1st Drexel Placers 149: Jonathan Fuller – 5th 157: Jayden Iznaga – 2nd 157: Roman Onorato – 4th 165: Ty Borkowski – 2nd 174: Jasiah Queen (unattached) – 1st 197: Dan Rella – 3rd Clarion Open (11/3) American, Bucknell Lehigh, and Navy all had wrestlers compete American Placers 133: Max Leete (unattached) – 5th Bucknell Placers 184: Tyler Bienus – 6th Lehigh Placers 141: Luke Stanich (unattached) – 2nd 165: Max Brignola (unattached) – 1st 197: Michael Beard – 1st 285: Nathan Taylor – 2nd Navy Placers 184: Daniel Williams – 3rd Duals (11/2) - Michigan State (20) vs. American (12) 125: Coen Bailey (AU) dec. Caleb Weiand (MSU), 18-17 (AU 3-0) 133: Andrew Hampton (MSU) dec. Shamil Kalmatov (AU), 2-0 (Tied 3-3) 141: Jack Maida (AU) dec. Jaden Crumpler (MSU), 6-4 (AU 6-3) 149: Clayton Jones (MSU) dec. Gage Owen (AU), 10-9 (Tied 6-6) 157: Branden Stauffenberg (MSU) dec. Jack Nies (AU), 3-1 (MSU 9-6) 165: Kaden Milheim (AU) dec. DJ Shannon (MSU), 7-3 (Tied 9-9) 174: Ceasar Garza (MSU) dec. Caleb Campos (AU), 18-12 (MSU 12-9) 184: Lucas Daly (MSU) dec. Lucas White (AU), 2-0 (MSU 15-9) 197: Remy Cotton (MSU) tech. fall Liam Volk-Klos (AU), 21-6 (MSU 20-9) 285: #26 Will Jarrell (AU) dec. Max Vanadia (MSU), 6-4 (MSU 20-12) (11/2) - #25 Pitt (35) vs. Navy (3) 125: No. 28 Nick Babin (Pitt) fall Nick Treaster (Navy), 6:58 (Pitt leads 6-0) 133: No 31. Vinnie Santaniello (Pitt) tech fall Hunter Heflin (Navy), 16-2 (Pitt leads 11-0) 141: No. 9 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) dec. Anthony Santaniello (Pitt), 5-4 (Pitt leads 11-3) 149: No. 29 Finn Solomon (Pitt) dec Kaemen Smith (Navy), 16-9, (Pitt leads 14-3) 157: Dylan Evans (Pitt) dec. Jonathan Ley (Navy), 7-3 (Pitt leads 17-3) 165: Kelin Laffey (Pitt) dec. Tyler Sagi (Navy), 4-2 (Pitt leads 20-3) 174: No. 19 Luca Augustine (Pitt) dec. No. 22 Danny Wask (Navy), 4-3 (Pitt leads 23-3) 184: No. 18 Reece Heller (Pitt) major dec. Zayn Hall (Navy), 11-2 (Pitt leads 27-3) 197: No. 14 Mac Stout (Pitt) dec. Payton Thomas (Navy), 11-5 (Pitt leads 30-3) 285: No. 12 Dayton Pitzer (Pitt) tech fall Alistair Larson (Navy), 15-0 (Pitt lead 35-3) (11/3) Bucknell (35) vs Kent State (9) 125: Kade Davidheiser dec. (6-3) Nico Calello (Bucknell 3, Kent State 0) 133: No. 11 Kurt Phipps TF (16-0,5:48) Tyeler Hagensen (Bucknell 8, Kent State 0) 141: No. 25 Dylan Chappell fall (4:55) Eli Ascroft (Bucknell 14, Kent State 0) 149: Braden Bower dec. (4-1) Billy Meiszner (Bucknell 17, Kent State 0) 157: Cade Wirnsberger dec. (3-2) Aaron Ferguson (Bucknell 20, Kent State 0) 165: Ethan Barr fall (5:30) No. 14 Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell 20, Kent State 6) 174: No. 29 Myles Takats TF (21-4, 6:26) Waylon Wehler (Bucknell 25, Kent State 6) 184: Logan Deacetis major dec. (11-0) Trent Thomas (Bucknell 29, Kent State 6) 197: Dillon Bechtold fall (6:22) Blake Schaffer (Bucknell 35, Kent State 6) 285: Brentan Simmerman SV dec. (5-2) Logan Shepherd (Bucknell 35, Kent State 9) #27 Maryland (26) vs. Bucknell (11) 125: Tyler Garvin dec. (8-2) Kade Davidheiser (Maryland 3, Bucknell 0) 133: No. 15 Braxton Brown dec. (7-3) No. 11 Kurt Phipps (Maryland 6, Bucknell 0) 141: No. 25 Dylan Chappell dec. (5-1) Michael Pizzuto (Maryland 6, Bucknell 3) 149: No. 27 Kal Miller dec. (10-4) Braden Bower (Maryland 9, Bucknell 3) 157: No. 19 Ethen Miller dec. (10-3) Cade Wirnsberger (Maryland 12, Bucknell 3) 165: Ryan Money wins MFF (Maryland 18, Bucknell 3) 174: No. 29 Myles Taktas TF (20-4, 6:24) Branson John (Maryland 18, Bucknell 184: No. 9 Jaxon Smith major dec. (14-5) Logan Deacetis (Maryland 22, Bucknell 197: Dillon Bechtold dec. (9-6) Chase Mielnik (Maryland 22, Bucknell 11) 285: No. 23 Seth Nevills major dec. (9-1) Logan Shephard (Maryland 26, Bucknell 11) (11/3) Sacred Heart (32) vs Presbyterian (11) 157: Felix Lettini (SHU) def. Elijah Holiday (PC) by Tech Fall, 16-1 (6:32) 165: Mike McGhee (SHU) def. Joshua Roe (PC) by Decision, 9-6 174: Aidan Zarrella (SHU) def. Reed Douglass (PC) by Major Decision, 16-7 184: Caleb Roe (PC) def. Hunter Perez (SHU) by Decision, 9-4 197: Jake Trovato (SHU) def. Toler Hornick (PC) by Fall (0:31) 285: Brendan Gilchrist (SHU) def. Nathan Carnes (PC) by Fall (5:22) 125: Mikey Manta (SHU) def. Brayden Adams (PC) by Decision, 11-4 133: Andrew Fallon (SHU) def. TJ Rodier (PC) by Tech Fall, 18-3 (3:27) 141: Trent Donahue (PC) def. Jake Ice (SHU) by Tech Fall, 15-0 (6:31) 149: Ryan Luna (PC) def. Vincent Milazzo (SHU) by Decision, 4-3 Extra: Reed Douglass (PC) def. Owen Ayotte (SHU) by TF, 20-5 (5:51)

Hudson

Brecksville

Hastings

Chisago Lakes

Hernando

Pace

Fairdale

Top 4 Takeaways 1. Open Tournaments create exciting multi-division matchups The collegiate women’s wrestling season started off with a slew of open tournaments where these athletes got some immediate competition both inside and outside their own conferences. Some tournaments included were the Luther Hill Open, Pointer Open, Maverick Open, Trojan Open, Tiffin Open, and SFU Open on Saturday, followed by the East Stroudsburg Open, Princeton Open, Menlo Open, and McMaster Open on Sunday. With so many tournaments for schools to choose from, we did not see some of the matchups we will see at later tournaments in the season where they almost act as a post-season preview, but there was still some awesome action nonetheless. #6 Campbellsville showed out at the Tiffin Open with 4 first-place finishes and 5 finishing in second. The competition included wrestlers from host school Tiffin University, (#7) Indiana Tech, and Adrian College among others. Fans saw former King wrestler and 2x All-American (#5) Tiffani Baublitz make her East Stroudsburg debut by dominating the competition at her new school’s Open. After two pins in under 2 minutes in her first matchups, she won a close 4-1 decision against Olivia Pizano of Lehigh and a 12-1 tech fall in her semis match against (#6) Skylah Chakouian of Elmira. In the finals, Baublitz put a stamp on the day with a pin just past the 2-minute mark against Emily Sindoni also from Elmira. Southern Oregon’s top competitors showed their impact at the Menlo Open with returning 3x NAIA champion (#1) Carolina Moreno secured first place at 131 pounds with 3 tech falls. Teammate (#3) Emma Baerlein also won in dominant fashion with 2 pins followed by a 9-4 decision against returning All-American Kayla McKinley-Johnson. Iowa started their second season off with a bang at the Luther Hill Open with 6 title wins, including 3 weights with Iowa vs Iowa finals. Both Naomi Simon at 180 lbs and Kennedy Blades at 160 pounds made their Iowa wrestling debut at this tournament and both walked away with championship titles. Simon racked up 3 consecutive pins followed by a tech fall in the finals over LIndenwood’s Alana Duggan. Kennedy Blades had a predictably dominant showing as well with a 40-second pin and two tech falls to get her to the finals where she took down teammate Rose Cassipoppi with a 10-0 tech fall victory. The Luther Hill Open also saw one of the most exciting matchups between NAIA #1 Kelani Corbett of Missouri Valley vs NCAA #1 Jaycee Foeller of Iowa. Corbett had a narrow lead of 2-1 heading into the second period, but a 4-point move with just under a minute left secured her the 6-3 victory. It is always awesome to see top competition from NAIA and NCAA come together at tournaments to demonstrate the top talent in both conferences at programs across the country. 2. College stars shine at Senior Worlds Iowa wrestlers Macey Kilty and Kylie Welker both left Senior World Championships in Albania with some hardware after Bronze medal finishes at 65kg and 72kg respectively. Kilty’s bronze match was an electrifying come-from-behind win where Kilty scored 16 uncontested points after being down 5-0 early for the tech fall win. Welker’s 5-2 bronze win is a bit deceptive if you have not seen the match as she threatened turns and a possible pin at the end. Iowa fans should be looking forward to another year on the squad for Welker and the Hawkeye debut for Kilty as they chase another national team title. 3. Jason Moorman out at King just before start of the season #1 ranked King University is starting their 2024-25 season without long-time head coach Jason Moorman. Moorman started with King in 2009 and since then has created a winning legacy for King within women’s collegiate wrestling, with the team finishing in the top 6 or higher at Nationals since 2011. Based on statements from both King and Moorman, it appears that he left on good terms and not due to any incident. In mid-September, King announced their new assistant coach Gracie Figueroa. Figueroa was a 4x California State Champ and has been on 5 age-level World Teams. In college, Figueroa competed for Menlo College and won a national championship at 116 lbs. It is unclear if King will elevate her position long term, or bring in someone new to take up the head coach mantle. 4. A first look at new college weight classes for women As a reminder, in the offseason, changes to the weight classes for women’s collegiate wrestling were approved by the NCAA Women’s Executive Committee for the 2024-25 season. The changes were also voted to be approved for NAIA teams as well by their governing body. These changes came as a result of changing the minimum body fat threshold from 12 to 17 percent to help prevent injury to athletes. Here are the new weight classes we got to see over the weekend: 101 lbs is now 103 lbs 109 lbs is now 110 lbs 116 lbs is now 117 lbs 123 lbs is now 124 lbs 130 lbs is now 131 lbs 136 lbs is not 137 lbs 143 lbs is now 145 lbs 155 lbs is now 160 lbs 170 lbs is now 180 lbs 191 lbs is now 207 lbs Results this week in major NCAA, NCWA, and NAIA competitions ESU Open - VIEW BRACKETS Princeton Open - VIEW BRACKETS Menlo Open - VIEW BRACKETS Maverick Open - VIEW BRACKETS Tiffin University Open - VIEW BRACKETS Luther Hill Open - VIEW BRACKETS Women’s Trojan Open - VIEW BRACKETS Falcon Open - VIEW BRACKETS Simpson Women’s Duals - VIEW RESULTS Central Methodist University 39 William Woods 6 Upcoming events for next week Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of all collegiate women’s competitions. Wednesday, Nov. 6: (NCAA #3) North Central College vs Carthage College Thursday, November 7: (NCAA #13) East Stroudsburg vs (NCAA #9) Elmira (NAIA #5) William Penn vs (NAIA #13) Baker Friday, November 8: (NCAA #2) Iowa vs (NAIA #1) Life (NCAA #5) Presbyterian vs (NAIA #6) Campbellsville Bill Farrell tournament Eagle Madness Duals Saturday, November 9: Adrian Duals Eagle Madness Open Waldorf Open East Stroudsburg Tri-Dual Battle of the Rockies Sunday, November 10: Adrian Invitational (NAIA #18) Central Methodist, Texas Women’s, and (NCAA #21) William Jewell Tri-Dual

In the new-look Pac-12, all four of its conference members were in dual action during the first week of the season. The highest ranked of the bunch is Little Rock who took to the mats for the first time on Sunday afternoon. They eased into the season with duals against D2 power Nebraska-Kearney and D2 Central Missouri. Of the 20 bouts contested on Sunday, Little Rock only suffered four total losses. Coach Neil Erisman obviously made an effort to get mat time for a bunch of different Trojan wrestlers. That led to a startling lineup against UNK that may closely resemble their ideal lineup, but not many wrestlers saw action in both duals. Most notable is All-American Nasir Bailey, who got the start in both of the 133 lb matches and rolled with a pair of techs. 157 lber Matt Biachi was the only other Little Rock wrestler to post two wins on Sunday. He had a tech and an 8-2 decision. All-in-all, Little Rock was limited to a regular decision in only four of their 16 wins. Little Rock will head to Missouri’s “TigerStyle Invite” on Saturday. With Cal Poly, Maryland, Purdue, and SIU Edwardsville joining the hosts, there should be plenty of quality competition for Little Rock up-and-down their lineup. Cal Poly On Sunday afternoon, Cal Poly got their dual season underway with a clash against #30 Indiana. This was important rankings-wise because Cal Poly was one of the first teams left out of the rankings. A win over a solid team like Indiana, would have boded well for inclusion in this week’s rankings. That ended up not mattering as the Mustangs suffered a 31-11 loss to the Hoosiers. Despite the team setback, there were a few bright spots for the Mustangs. Three Cal Poly wrestlers picked up wins on the day and two of them came over ranked opponents. Most notable was at heavyweight, where #21 Trevor Tinker rolled to a 16-1 tech fall over #16 Jacob Bullock. At 133 lbs, #21 Zeth Romney held off a tough veteran in #25 Angelo Rini, 7-3. The third Mustang to win was #8 Chance Lamer at 149 lbs. Lamer stood toe-to-toe with a solid freshman Anthony Bahl and got the 4-1 victory. Like Little Rock, Cal Poly will head to Missouri for the TigerStyle Invite. They’ll have the opportunity to redeem themselves after the Indiana loss. CSU Bakersfield Friday saw CSU Bakersfield get swept in a pair of dual meets with former Pac-12 opponent Stanford and Utah Valley. A trio of Roadrunners ended the day 3-0. As you might expect, AJ Ferrari dazzled in his CSUB debut with a tech fall and a hard-fought 5-0 win over #17 Nick Stemmet (Stanford). The two traded some barbs over social media in the days leading up to the dual, but on the mat it was all-Ferrari. The bookends for the Roadrunner’s ended up unscathed at Stanford’s tri with Richard Castro-Sandoval (125) and Jake Andrews (285) getting their hands raised twice. Castro-Sandoval edged Utah Valley’s Bridger Ricks, 7-6 before receiving a forfeit from Stanford. Andrews downed Utah Valley’s Jack Forbes 8-2, before gutting out a 1-0 win over Stanford’s Jackson Mankowski. CSUB will be out of action for a few weeks before hosting the Roadrunner Open on November 24th. Oregon State A crowd of over 4,000 fans packed into Gill Coliseum on Saturday night as #24 Oregon State played host to #2 Iowa in the only dual meet of the week that took place between ranked teams. The 30-7 win for Iowa doesn’t necessarily illustrate how close some of the bouts that Oregon State lost actually were. The two Beaver wrestlers who notched wins on Saturday were Maximo Renteria (125) and Ethan Stiles (157). Renteria took out former California native Joey Cruz 7-3 to get Oregon State out to an early 3-0 lead. Stiles poured it on to defeat Caleb Rathjen by a 12-3 major decision. In the most anticipated individual match of the weekend, #7 Trey Munoz fell 9-5 to one of Iowa’s new transfers #2 Stephen Buchanan. Munoz scored the first takedown of the bout, in his debut at 197 lbs, and held the lead for most of the bout; however, Buchanan turned the tables late for the win. There was a similar situation at 141 lbs as Iowa’s Ryder Block came back late to defeat Nash Singleton. This was Singleton’s first bout at 141 lbs after spending the 2023-24 season competing at 149. Though he was never close to scoring a takedown, Sean Harman was able to hang tough with All-American Nelson Brands at 174 lbs. The deciding factor in Brands’ 2-1 victory was :01 of riding time. Oregon State will look to get their first win of the year on Friday as they travel to Fargo for a dual with North Dakota State.

The first week of Big 12 action kicked off with plenty of action, with Wyoming leading the NCAA in another memorable dual against Campbell. Missouri and Northern Colorado got the conference battles started early, with both teams putting up points in matches. CBU showed off some new starters against another Big 10 team for their opener. Utah Valley had two duals, going 1-1 with Terrell Barraclough making a splash in his debut. North Dakota State dropped a dual to Virginia, but got a ranked upset at 184. The weekend finished with West Virginia and North Dakota State at the Southeast Open, and Air Force at the Battle of the Citadel. Notable Results: Wyoming over Campbell (28-12) | Full Results 125: #2 Jore Volk Dec. #23 Anthony Molton (2-0) 133: Stockton O’Brien Fall #18 Dom Zaccone (4:03) 141: Cole Brooks Dec. #29 Shannon Hanna (SV-1 5-2) 149: Eugene Harvey Dec. #15 Gabe Willochell (4-0) The Cowboys started their season with a bang with a dominant win over Campbell to kick off the 2024-2025 wrestling season. The Dual at the Daddy was an entertaining dual throughout, featuring five bonus point wins and two thrilling overtime matches. Jore Volk survived a more than-game Anthony Molton with an escape and riding time. Gabe Willochell suffered an upset to true freshman Harvey, who was #143 on the 2024 Big Board. Stockton O’Brien was one of the biggest winners of the night, earning the Wrestler of the Night belt after the dual with a perfectly timed lefty headlock for the fall. Missouri over Northern Colorado (25-14) | Full Results 133: #22 Dom Serrano Maj. #29 Kade Moore (16-5) 141: #1 Andrew Alirez Maj. #13 Josh Edmond (11-2) 157: #17 Vinny Zerban Dec. #31 J Conway (8-4) 197: Aeoden Sinclair Maj. Franklin Cruz (19-11) In the first Big 12 conference dual of the season, the Tigers won against a more than ready Northern Colorado team at home. The dual started at 197 and Mizzou sent out their #3 overall 2024 recruit Aeoden Sinclair, who won a major decision with four takedowns in his college debut. The rest of the matches went by the rankings, with Noah Surtin also out for Missouri. Stevo Poulin beat true freshman Gage Walker, and the Bears handled their ranked matchups with two bonus point wins. The Tigers pulled away late in the dual with a fall from Cam Steed, tech by Keegan O’Toole, and a major by Colton Hawks. Virginia over North Dakota State (31-6) | Full Results 133: Gable Porter Dec. #30 Kyle Burwick (4-2) 141: Kyren Butler Dec. #30 Kellyn March (5-4) 184: Aidan Brenot Dec. #25 Hadyn Danals (9-4) Utah Valley over CSU-Bakersfield (25-15) | Full Results Stanford over Utah Valley (29-12) | Full Results 165: #7 Terrell Barraclough Dec. #3 Hunter Garvin (11-9) Barraclough made a smash debut with a win over returning All-American Hunter Garvin. The match was a wild back and forth with Barraclough having a 7-1 lead heading into the third period. Garvin started to change the tide however with a reversal and two takedowns of his own. Barraclough is now firmly established as a top podium threat for the Wolverines. Indiana over California Baptist (34-4) | Full Results 133: #25 Angelo Rini Dec. Hunter Leake (6-3) 141: Eli Griffin Maj. #33 Henry Porter (16-7) 149: Anthony Bahl Fall Paul Kelly (3:23) For the second year in a row, the Lancers open their season against a Big 10 team at home. Hunter Leake isn’t ranked but was an NCAA qualifier last season, he suffered a loss in his first match of the year, but improved throughout last year. Eli Griffin looked excellent up two weight classes, hitting a big move to blow the match open against a ranked opponent. He’ll be one to watch as he climbs the rankings. Paul Kelly made his debut, but Bahl hit a wild rollover from bottom to put Kelly on his back for the fall. Look out to see if he’s the established starter or if they’ll save more of his redshirt dates for the future. Southeast Open (NDSU, West Virginia) | Brackets West Virginia 125 Finals: #27 Spencer Moore (UNCO) Maj. #14 Jett Strickenberger (11-2) 149 Finals: #3 Ty Watters Dec. #6 Lachlan McNeil (UNC) (4-1) 165 Finals: #4 Peyton Hall Dec. Mac Church (VT) (1-0) 184 Finals: Ian Bush Maj. Aidan Brenot (NDSU) (12-0) 285 Semis: Rayshawn Dixon (Ferrum) Fall #24 Michael Wolfgram (0:37) 285 3rd Place: Aydin Guttridge (UNC) Dec. #24 Michael Wolfgram (4-2) The Mountaineers had a solid tournament with three champs and four finalists. Ty Watters was the biggest winner, taking out a game Lachlan McNeil in the finals. Peyton Hall didn’t have his normal dominant wins here but navigated a close match in the finals. Ian Bush got revenge for teammate Dennis Robin with a win over Aidan Brenot in the finals, WVU clearly has two solid wrestlers at 184. Michael Wolfgram had a rough tournament with two upset losses. Jordan Titus had to medical forfeit after his first match and could be an injury to look out for. He was injured at Big 12’s last season and was clearly banged up in the postseason. North Dakota State 133 QF: Kyle Montaperto (UVA) Dec. #30 Kyle Burwick (9-5) 133 Consolations: #30 Kyle Burwick Fall #33 Mason Leiphart (F&M) (2:16) 133 3rd Place: Blake Boarman (UTC) Dec. #30 Kyle Burwick (5-4) 141 Semis: Jayden Scott (UNC) Inj. Def. #30 Kellyn March (3:44) 149 3rd Place: Gavin Drexler Maj. #31 Maxwell Petersen (15-3) 184 SF: Aidan Brenot Fall #23 Dennis Robin (WVU) (4:38) Kyle Burwick had a rough weekend with upsets to multiple UVA wrestlers, but he did get a nice pin over ranked Leiphart. Kellyn March struggled with injuries last season and had to injury default here. Gavin Drexler had quite the run and beat ranked teammate Maxwell Petersen for third. Drexler was the starter at 141 last season with a win over Vance Vombaur. He looked dominant here with three bonus point wins. Aidan Brenot had a great weekend, first upsetting #25 Haydn Danals at the dual and getting a pin over #23 Dennis Robin while down 8-4. He had some solid moments as a true freshman last season and could be one to watch this year. Battle at the Citadel: Air Force | Final Results 197: #27 Christian Knop (NCST) Dec. Brian Burburija (SV-1 4-1) While there weren’t many ranked results from this tournament, Air Force had a solid showing with Jack Ganos and Bubba Wright making the finals. Freshman Brian Burburija showed that he could be one to watch, getting four bonus point wins before a narrow overtime loss to a ranked opponent. Sophomore heavyweight Antonio Ramos also showed that he’s a dangerous opponent with three quick falls.

McGinty photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo As usual, the weekend was hectic from a recruiting standpoint. Of late, we’ve focused on recruiting visits; however, during the most recent weekend, there were four Big Boarder’s and one that just missed that have given verbal commitments to DI schools. The highest ranked of the bunch is Johnathon McGinty of New Jersey power St. Joe’s Regional. McGinty has committed to wrestle at the University of Oklahoma and is currently ranked #31 in the nation amongst wrestlers in the Class of 2026. In New Jersey, McGinty has made the state podium twice - finishing fifth as a freshman at 106 lbs and making the state finals and settling for second at 113 lbs in 2024. McGinty recently turned heads at the Super 32 with a finals appearance at 113. Prior to that tournament, McGinty was not on the Junior Big Board. He also flew up the weight class rankings to third at 113. In addition to the Super 32, McGinty has also made the finals in 2024 at NHSCA Sophomore Nationals after placing fifth at the Beast of the East. With McGinty’s verbal, the Oklahoma staff has secured commitments from a New Jersey star in back-to-back recruiting classes (#49 Anthony Harris ‘25). For Oklahoma’s current Class of 2025 and 2026: Click Here The next-highest-ranked wrestler to commit was #42 Jonathan Rocha (Clovis North, CA). Rocha also is fresh off a strong performance at the Super 32. Rocha was fourth at 175 lbs. In the spring, Rocha won NHSCA Sophomore Nationals at 170 lbs. Rocha has given a verbal commitment to Tony Ersland’s Purdue Boilermakers. In California, Rocha finished sixth at the 2023 state tournament, competing at 182 lbs. He did not wrestle at the state tournament in 2024, which may have caused him to go overlooked in some circles. Rocha’s commitment gives Purdue a pair of top-100 recruits already in the fold for 2026 - joining #100 Camden Baum (Bishop McDevitt, PA). For Purdue’s current Class of 2025 and 2026: Click Here Stanford was actually able to double up and get two verbals over the weekend. Both came from future collegiate lightweights. The one currently on the Big Board is #137 Jarrett Smith (Lowell, MI). Smith is currently ranked 20th in the land at 106 lbs. Smith has already earned All-American honors four times in Fargo. He made the 16U finals in both styles in 2023 and won freestyle. In 2024, he was third in Junior freestyle. During his high school season, Smith captured his first Michigan state title as a sophomore in 2024. Joining Smith in Stanford’s Class of 2026 is Siraj Sidhu (Del Oro, CA). Sidhu is a two-time California medalist taking fifth as a freshman and fourth last season. He is projected in the 125/133 range. Sidhu had already taken recruiting trips to Air Force, Cal Poly, and Penn. Smith has visited Indiana and Virginia. Smith and Sidhu are the third high school juniors to give Chris Ayres’ Stanford team verbals - joining #84 Jimmy Bechter. For Stanford’s current Class of 2025 and 2026: Click Here The final member of the 2026 Big Board to commit over the weekend was #111 Sammy Spaulding (Camden Catholic, NJ). Spaulding is a two-time New Jersey state qualifier and a fourth-place finisher as a sophomore. During the high school season, Spaulding made the finals of the Beast of the East at 126 lbs. He’s currently ranked #21st in the nation at that weight. Spaulding is the first member of the Class of 2026 to verbal to Navy (or that we’ve been made aware of) - though they already have a huge number of commits from the Class of 2025. Before committing to Navy, Spaulding took visits to NC State, Penn, Princeton, and West Virginia. He’ll project at 141 lbs at the next level. For Navy’s current Class of 2025 and 2026: Click Here

St. Joseph's Regional

Camden Catholic

Lowell

Desert Vista

Red Bank Catholic

Chantilly

College wrestling is officially back and we’ve already made it through the first weekend of the season. As you would expect, there were some great matchups between ranked wrestlers, some upsets, freshmen making impressive collegiate debuts, and more. All of these have some impact on the national rankings. As always, rankings will be updated at approximately 10AM (eastern) on Tuesday morning. Before we get into the rankings, here are five questions that need to be answered based on this weekend’s action. Some of the questions won’t necessarily get answered tonight, but I’ve included rationale and pertinent information related to those questions. 1. Did Pittsburgh do enough to warrant a team dual ranking? Pittsburgh was very impressive in a 35-3 win over Navy on Saturday afternoon. The only win from Navy came at 141 lbs where reigning EIWA champion Josh Koderhandt came back to defeat Anthony Santaniello. Santaniello actually got the first takedown and rode Koderhandt very hard for the first period. Nobody wants to talk about “moral victories,” but I think Pitt has a very solid option at 141 in the redshirt freshman. This was also a Navy team that upset a ranked Pittsburgh team 21-12 last year. The 2024-25 version of the dual featured only one matchup between ranked wrestlers (174) and that was the only rematch from last season. Just as he did before, Luca Augustine defeated Danny Wask - this time 4-3. Looking at Saturday’s dual, Navy was missing a pair of quality wrestlers at 133 and 285 lbs. That being said, Pitt still would have been favored at both weights. With their normal starters, they might have limited damage. From a rankings standpoint, I don’t like to add a team without a significant win or if there are ranked teams that need to drop after bad losses. In this instance, the only ranked team to lose over week one was #24 Oregon State, who was beaten by #2 Iowa. Typically, I wouldn’t drop Oregon State for a loss like that. 2. Where does Terrell Barraclough fit after his win over Hunter Garvin? Contrary to popular belief, I do not have one set “system” or methodology that I use in every situation when doing rankings. Each is unique in its own way and should be treated as such. The main goal is to generate rankings that are fair and make sense. That’s the “system.” So 165 lbs. How do we handle Terrell Barraclough over #3 Hunter Garvin? Barraclough was in a very unusual situation as he had some great wins last year without having any questionable losses. He was also a backup in a star-studded Penn State lineup. Now at Utah Valley, Barraclough has the chance to be the postseason started for the first time. That coupled with a 165 lb weight class where there wasn’t a clear-cut right answer about who should be number seven (and beyond) led Barraclough to start the season at #7. Garvin, on the other hand, had an up-and-down redshirt freshman season with some questionable losses. But, he turned it on at the right time and posted wins in Kansas City over multiple-time All-Americans Peyton Hall (West Virginia) and Cam Amine (Michigan/Oklahoma State). Both would have been in consideration for the potential #3 preseason ranking. Because of previous matches between the wrestlers in consideration for the #3-#6 spots, it made sense to go with Garvin at #3. Now with Garvin losing to Barraclough, I’m more likely to drop him to the seventh slot and elevate the wrestlers currently ranked #4-#7. 3. What to do about Iowa’s 174/184 lb logjam? Currently, we have redshirt freshman Gabe Arnold in the rankings at 174 lbs and Nelson Brands at 184 lbs. Having Brands at 184 lbs seemed prudent for a seventh-year senior who has battled injuries in the past. Well, the two were flipped for the Hawkeyes season-opening win over Oregon State. Also in the mix are Patrick Kennedy and true freshman Angelo Ferrari. Given Tom Brands’ history of generally redshirting his guys, plus the lack of redshirts available for the other three (excluding Ferrari), I think we can assume he redshirts. Now, Ferrari probably sees dual action strategically along the way. Of course, that could change based on more information. Looking ahead to Tuesday’s rankings, we’ll go with the two that Brands let wrestle on Saturday night - and at those weights. Brands/174 and Arnold/184. Until we have significant information that leads us to reconsider, that will be how we look at the Hawks at those two weights. 4. Did you see Rocco Welsh at 184 lbs? I did. Thanks for asking! 2024 174 lb NCAA runner-up Rocco Welsh entered, and won, the Clarion Open at 184 lbs - competing unattached. If you remember, Welsh was on his way to a redshirt when veteran Carson Kharchla suffered a season-ending injury in 2023-24. That led to Welsh being pulled from redshirt and he parlayed that into an NCAA finals berth. During the summer and even into the early preseason, InterMat was told that Ohio State had a lot of moving parts in the back half of their lineup. Bryce Hepner and Sammy Sasso would be options at 165 lbs. Welsh and Kharchla could go 174. Welsh and Ryder Rogotzke could be the options at 184. And Luke Geog and Rogotzke could be at 197 lbs. Seeing Welsh was committed to the NWCA All-Star Match at 174 lbs, led you to believe he’d be back at that weight for the 2024-25 season. Over the next day-plus, we’ll put our ear to the street and try to ascertain the plan for Welsh for the rest of the season. That will help us decide whether we should continue to rank Welsh at 174 or remove him as he’s redshirting. Or maybe he wrestles 184 and Rogotzke redshirts. He also has one available. 5. Which weight class is in shambles already? I already mentioned how there were a couple of losses at 165 lbs and there’s a tier or two at the weight that could be described as “shaky.” But, we’ll look elsewhere. The back half of 157 lbs is in full shamble mode. #20 Legend Lamer (Cal Poly), #22 Sonny Santiago (North Carolina), #30 Nick Stampoulos (Lock Haven), #32 Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (Clarion), and #33 Caleb Dowling (West Virginia) all suffered losses to unranked opponents. Additionally, there are some concerns about #27 Kaleb Larkin’s (Arizona State) health. #31 J Conway (Missouri) also suffered a loss; however, it came to #17 Vince Zerban (Northern Colorado), so it’s not quite the same as others. There’s a good chance that we see some new faces at the bottom half of this weight on Tuesday and plenty of shake-ups.