I definitely would say Aaron has a chance but wrestling math does not really work in the way that Aaron beat David (who had been out of competition for a year so its hard to gauge where hes at) and thus will beat yaz because David did. Zahid was a singlet grab away from likely beating Aaron and he lost to a Ukrainian this year who got teched by dauletbekov who Yaz just teched. I could choose to infer from that result that Dauletbekov would tech Aaron but I do not think thats the case. Its just one guy with about as proven of a track record as there is vs a guy with two big senior level wins.
takeaways from the ranking series
Do not let Higuchi get on top of you.
Harutyunyan wrestled up and beat a 2 time u23 medalist and world bronze from 2023 at 61kg who was a guy he previously got teched by a few years ago (Higuchi and Spencer are the only two big hitters we have seen down to weight Uguev and Stevan both also competed at 61 this year could be an edge for Spencer).
Kiyooka proved the win over Otoguro was not a fluke he beat Mus and the Iranian he beat in the finals blanked Haji 6-0 everyone in this field did take at least one loss though which seems rather on brand for the state of 65kg.
Zhamolov should be the guy for Uzbekistan he beat the guy who beat bekzod not a guy I would be happy about being on Kyles side.
Trent looked great Yaz looked as good as ever
Nobody really competing that feels like a threat to the big dogs at 97 not much to take away (as of now Sadulaev,Snyder and Taz are on the same side if seeds hold...)
Mason looked awesome and while I never want someone to get injured, seeing the state geno was In gives me even more confidence in Masons draw at the olympics if seeds hold.
I do not believe mason made any world teams before he was in college! Keuter I believe was stretched even thinner in high school aside from football he was all state in both track and Baseball. Im sure he trained a bit in the off season and he obviously competed a little but he has probably never dedicated more than 4 months in a year to wrestling.
I thought Trent did ok with the handifght honestly every area of the match seemed competitive outside of on the edge and whizzer seatbelt where he got absolutely worked.
looks really good. I am overly bullish on keuter because I think this is the first time in his life that hes going to dedicate more than 3 months exclusively to wrestling. Love that you have pitzer bouncing back.
I agree and as you mentioned his results could very depending on how the cuts go. What already is a crazy weight could get even crazier if Echemendia and Alirez go up and both seem rather likely.
I don't want to start a new thread for this but I do not hear anyone talking about Ty Whalen at 149 next year. He went 10-0 on a red shirt essentially he was training at the NJRTC with a win over two all Americans in Parco and Ty Watters. Should we pencil him in as a title threat or does he need a larger sample size.
Pretty decent tournament for Austin, I think it's good he got to feel a lot of these guys. Was necessarily in it to beat anyone but was also not completely blown out of the water.
Adams is no longer on their roster on wrestlestat. I don't know if that's because he was unenrolled this past year chasing the Olympics or if it's because he's just simply not going to be on the team.
I think when it comes down to it Carter at 197 fits the lineup best. Mirasola could certainly go right away but why waste his RS if you do not need to. carter at any other weight puts one of levi,Facundo,Ryder,barr on the bench.
I think Botero is flying under the radar a bit. What I like about him similarly to deluca is that he will be a lifer at 125 which you cannot say about many guys. Catrabones ability on top is going to make him dangerous I just hope he develops from neutral a bit.
Gilcher beat Watter at dapper dan so to see the level of disparity between their two seasons was quite odd. Watters did hurt his knee in that match, but it was still a bit shocking to me especially when you think of the two programs they are at.
Hes very very good on top and is tricky in scrambles he gets a lot of takedowns off of far ankle stuff. He does not really generate his own offense against better guys which will be something he needs to develop.