Jim L

That almost never happens at high level FS matches. Riding time is often huge factor in NCAA matches

Alexander Medved (arguably the greatest wrestler of all time) did not start wrestling until he was 19. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aleksandr-Medved

Refs should be able to officiate a FS and folkstyle match. REffing any wrestling match is hard, I wouldn't be able to do it, but don't think the FS rules are that hard to learn for a good tref. There wont be perfection, but I don't think that is a good argument against. The amount of HS coaches who will be able to be adequately coach in FS is questionable a well. But it is not that different for most high school level athletes. I think with the growth of girls wrestling on the youth and HS level, colleges starting offer scholarships and being focused on FS from the start, US women's wrestling is poised to become the best in the world (or at least a strong second to Japan)

Fix yes Valencia popped for non PED drug Oliver - maybe, wasn't it ADHD medication with minimal performance enhancing benefits? Everyone else is MMA or Pro wrestling guys with little evidence of being users in college (besides Lesnar's physique)

Jamil Kelley maybe number one of the list of the greatest NCAA wrestlers never to have AA'd

After a quick glance, I thought he was talking about fixing up his wispy facial hair with a good shave.

I will believe it when he steps on an NCAA mat with a PSU singlet

To.be fait, lots of posters eating are their words throughout this thread . Nobody with any wresting knowledge believed Hendrickson had a decent chance of winning. A few said, maybe there is chance because Hendrickson is a winner, without any real conviction. Steveson was so dominant this season against a lineup of great heavyweights. To my eye he was the dominant NCAA wrestler I have ever seen.

Three finalists should be considered a great result. I would not care about team places if I had three of my wrestlers in the finals. Losing all three finals would suck though.

If Carter Starocci ends up with credit for 5 titles without an asterisk, then Haselrig should get credit for 6 without an asterisk. In reality, they both should have asterisks, as there were special circumstances to both of these achievements

Electrifying moment but not shocking as Rohn was a pinner and had beat Lambrecht earlier in the season. He also was winning halfway through the 2nd we Lambrecht started titling him. It was surprising how easily Rohn got tilted.

Yes, seems like an a$$hole attitude to me. Why not make the sport as accessible as possible? Some kids who are insecure and face difficulties will stick with wrestling and grow and some will even have a valuable life changing experience. Most kids will move on and wrslting will not be a big part of their youth. Everyone will face difficult times in their lives. I don't see how a kid's lack of confidence at age 11 dooms him for the rest of his life.

To me if feels different because the state of college wrestling is in much worse state than during the Gable era, based on the number DI teams. Also NIL and transfer rules seem that they will negatively effect 95% of the remaining college teams. Having one dominant team and a very limited number that can even compete for a podium spot makes the future of NCAA DI wrestling uncertain.

Starting watching 100%. I started watching this last night and quickly l lost interested. I saw it happen in real life and a movie that is somewhat inaccurate is not of interest to me. IMO, one of the greatest moments in any sports was seeing Robles "sprint" out of the tunnel onto the finals mat and hand off his crutches and hop to the center of the mat. No movie can come close to capturing that moment.

Adding some international flavor. Lopez Azcuy(Cuba) v. Hasasnov (AZE) for Bronze in 2012 Olympics in the bad, old, best- of-three period format. Hasanov gets the go ahead with 30 seconds and Lopez losing with 11 seconds to go, gets a 5 point throw, then a pin, and pounds the chest of the still flat Hasanov, then pounds his chest and then rips his singlet. Epic! Starting at 22:00 https://youtu.be/pdS0LXb7d4k?si=c0mMpdE0jqZMgjsQ

WTF are you doing that is so intense that you cant even hold water down?

Except that he has a Olympic gold medal, so its not like he failed at the next level. More like the baseball player who dominates AAA and then goes to the big leagues and is MVP in his first year and takes a few years off to pursue an acting career and decides to return to baseball but returns to AAA

Yes making weight has been easy post-college, losing weight is the hard part

If I recall correctly, they come from a Land of Up Over

A middle schooler training with a DII wresler is insane

Famously though the 7 Tour de France victories were not give to the runner-up or anyone else because virtually all of the top riders in those races were caught doping, confessed dopers (like Lance) or at least credibly accused dopers.

No. I really don't get what you are trying to say. BBall and Football are not stealing all the best athletes, just the majority of the unusually tall/large ones.

Only if you equate size with being the best.

Seems logical, but the top average-sized US athletes (5'8"ish, 160lbs or so) are not going to be football or bball stars. Coaching and competion is why regions excel in a particular sports

USA wrestling does fair much better than USA soccer. well at than men's soccer. Do or women's soccer results mean that we are doing youth development right right for girls, or is it more likely that there is just less competition worldwide for woman's soccer, similar to wrestling.