Psalm 1 guy

Zahid Valencia came close last year, outscoring his opponents 49-0 en route to the title. In the semis, he beat Ghasempour 7-0. That is just one more observation point showing what a remarkable run Dake has had in beating Valencia to make the team and then winning his fifth World Championship. That Dake will be 36 in February just adds even more weight to his accomplishments this year.

And that was without Mesenbrink trying to make the team. We may still get ten medals, but I believe we would have had a better chance with Mesenbrink as our 74 rep. I'm hoping Green can do some damage in repechage, especially since this may be his last World Championships experience since he turns 34 in December. After all, not everyone is like Dake, who will be 36 in February. The more I think about it, what Dake just accomplished is spectacular. It was mentioned elsewhere, but Dake won NCAA titles at 141, 149, 157 and 165. He has now won World titles at 74kg, 79kg and 86 kg. He looked noticeably smaller than his opponents this tournament, but his defense, mat IQ and clock management are phenomenal. Had he not been blocked by Jordan for several years, there is no telling how much World hardware he would have.

And here is Flo's input on the Team race: https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/16324707-mens-freestyle-team-standings-2026-world-championships

Given his age and how dominant he has become, I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't get at least several more World or Olympic titles, especially since 125 has never been as deep as the other weights.

Per UWW rules: If several teams have an equal amount of points, these teams will be ranked following this criteria: 1. most first places 2. most second places 3. most third places 4. etc.

I believe I have seen him do that before in folk. Levi looked awesome! That was probably his best Senior freestyle match to date.

Plebe. Reminds me of that quote in The Breakfast Club, "You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Serf? Peon?" by the janitor, Carl. I love the scene where it pans across photos on the wall at the high school and you see that Carl was once the Man of the Year at that school.

For what it's worth, he's still listed on the Newberry College wrestling roster. For those who don't know, Newberry College is a small DII Lutheran school in South Carolina with approximately 1500 students. Regarding the wrestling program, they only sent two wrestlers to last season's National tournament. Both wrestlers went 1 and 2.

They are DII.

Ono seems to be thoroughly enjoying his time at Penn State. I remember seeing a video of him at Rec Hall for a Penn State dual and he was obviously having a grand time. He is a young man who seems to live life to the fullest. He is getting to enjoy college life, make new friends, and experience America up close. Not every world class athlete wants to make their life all about their athletic pursuits. Ono is also young enough that he can afford to take this wrestling "detour" and get back to his freestyle pursuits. In short, I think Ono is "living his best life." Kudos to him for taking the "road less traveled".

Blaze's stance, hand fighting and head/hands defense frustrated him so much that he looked totally helpless by the end of the match. The way Blaze wrestles is built for freestyle, much more than folk. I'm really looking forward to how he does at Senior Worlds.

@LJBI have a question for you since it is kind of Greco-centric. I noticed several beautiful arm spins today, but none from U.S. wrestlers. I was wondering if you have an opinion about why we see so few arm spins by U.S. freestyle wrestlers? TIA

USA Wrestling just came out with their new qualifying procedures for Worlds and the Olympics. One change they made is that any delayed wrestle-off has to be completed by the end of July. That particular rule change is touched on in the latest Baschamania video which I listed below. The video starts at the beginning of that particular discussion. https://youtu.be/B-ESkNyV8eA?t=773

One thing regarding Flo that drives me a little crazy because it has consistently occurred over the last few years is that in freestyle matches they list the weights as 57 lbs., 61 lbs., etc. In the big scheme of things it is nothing important, but I am still surprised how often Flo makes that mistake. I know Flo gets a lot of grief, but $150 a year is well worth it for me for all of their content.

In Pyles' recent interview of Cael, Cael said this regarding if Ono will be wrestling in a Penn State singlet: "It could be this year, it could be next year, but he's definitely going to wrestle at Penn State, hopefully for a couple years."

Mark never making a Senior world team was surprising also. It just shows the depth in the U.S. It didn't help him that Dake and Burroughs were at his weight.

On the other end of the scale is Russia, with eleven time zones.

Something seemed off with him in both his greco and freestyle matches.

Caliendo wouldn't be eligible. Per the University of Iowa: Wrestled unattached in 2021-22 in his redshirt season, going 14-2 overall

Crazy to think James just turned 18 five weeks ago. It will be interesting to see him compete against these older wrestlers.

The above video starts at Ono's second match, which is bout 24. Ono's matches are 11,24,35 and 56. All the bouts are sequential, so you can look for them easily. The bout numbers are in the upper middle portion of the match box. Ono has a nice arsenal from his feet that will translate well to folk style. In these four matches his takedowns included an ankle pick to both sides, snap down to an ankle pick/low single, snap down to a high single, underhook throw-by to a high single, go-behind on the mat from head/arm control and a straight double leg. Also, his strong underhooks will most likely get some stall calls on his opponents this folk style season for "leaving the wrestling area" or cause his opponents to drop down to their knees, opening themselves up to Ono's go-behinds. I foresee a lot of "take 'em down, let them up" this season from Ono.

Nerfstate, over on the Penn State forum, posted Ono's matches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQpYOjInPMw&list=PLcd_RgjpI2eSm3wy0RcBHDwMdKkejKdXv

Her son was born Jan. 23.