Konquest

Barraclough?

He's a true tweener. I feel bad for these guys who walk around at 220-230 and can't be themselves at either weight.

If I were choosing a wrestler for young wrestlers to emulate it would be Parker Keckeisen. Every match of his has multiple things you can point to in terms of hustle, toughness, AND mat IQ. I always loved the guys who were one trick ponies...dudes who do one thing, be it a move or a position, so well that you know exactly what they're going to do and they just dare you to stop it. Jake Patacsil, James Flemming "The Snapper", AJ Schopp, Hell, Dylan Ness had a ton of success and he didn't know how to sprawl!

The Nolf-IMAR NCAA final was amazing. When I was a teenager the Joe Wiliams/Ernest Benion NCAA final was a pretty awesome one. Also loved the NCAA final when Steve Marianettii upset MacIllravy at CHA.

The Panther train literally built their own practice facility at an off-campus warehouse last season. Yesterday they whooped #4 Nebraska. Case closed.

When David Taylor and J'Den Cox were opponents at 86kg, Taylor started HS at about 90 lbs, and Cox started HS wrestling at 215. Interesting Trivia.

If you look at the Instagram accounts of college wrestlers, there are plenty of pictures of them at parties and bars, but rarely holding drinks. It's possible to go out and socialize without partaking, you know. Do the "dry" team rules mean that athletes can't go out? I heard a Bo Nickal interview where he said that he went to the bar a lot because his GF (now wife) worked there but he never actually drank in college.

Where will Sinclair land in rankings? Wins over Salazar and Braunagel point to a top 15 ranking IMHO... Or does Mizzou keep Sinclair in RS and put someone else in? Do they have depth at 197 behind Elam and Sinclair? They are not going to challenge for a trophy so does it make a difference?

Parker was the #1 guy in his weight on the USA dream team poster and had a win over Starocci (among others) in high school. He was a huge, huge recruit for UNI, far from "unheralded". I think this perception is because UNI doesn't have the legacy and media share like the other two big programs in Iowa, and because he's an "eat/sleep/wrestle" kind of guy who never pops off on social media about anything other than food and Bible verses.

Paddy Gallagher

FWIW Wolbert's brother Quinton is a sophomore 125 lber at UW La Crosse, and they are both pretty short dudes. I don't think he's going to hit some major growth spurt and be a 157 or something like that. I'd guess 141. If John Smith were still the coach, I'd say he'd be 125/133 LOL.

Anything from Askren Wrestling Academy in terms of summer camps is going to be less than 2 hours from Chicago area.

I will say this, it's not a good look for OSU that a #1 p4p overall prospect was asked to cut 40 lbs. and was using meth to make the weight.

Swiderski is a freak athlete. He ran a sub 90 minute half marathon over the summer, which is crazy good for a dude who is like 5'6" and muscular.

Funny that you mention Okie State because Coleman Scott (Waynesburg, PA) and Eric Guerrero (San Jose, CA) both talk just like John Smith.

125- Abas 133-Uetake 141-Yianni 149-McIllravy 157-Nolf 165-Dake 174-Askren 184-Brooks 197-Sanderson 285-Gable

Blaze is a tough out on the senior level. Not sure if you could say the same about Duke or Lockett.

A lot of people hate on Wisconsin, but Massoma Endene is a first-time D1 starter that is going to have people talking. He just won U23's, although that was kind of a weak weight. But he's been training at UNI in addition to Wartburg, so I've got to imagine that he's rolling with Keckeisen, Voelker, and Gunderson, which is a great room to be in for a guy in the upper weights.

I'd bet Antrell Taylor and Kannon Webster are both 157 next year. It's pretty well known that Taylor went 165 because 4x AA Peyton Robb was at 157 for Nebraska.

He's gone on a pretty nice run this Spring. Won nationals in Greco and got 6th in FS (losing to the aforementioned Cael Hughes in a wild 11-10 match), and today he won the WTT. I don't know if he's doing freestyle too, but that's pretty crazy at that level, where most all of the top Greco guys are specialists, for him to turn around and be right in the freestyle mix as well.

Cory Land at UNI

Danny Ainge is considered the best high school athlete of all time, FWIW.

I don't always wear sweatpants, but when I do, I tuck them into my socks.

Calling it "corrupt" (for an org that's adjacent to a college program) to hire a parent of an athlete/recruit is dependent on the qualifications of said parent. A wrestling program at any level hiring Nate Carr for a leadership position is pretty much beyond reproach, as he might be the 2nd best wrestler in ISU program history. Derek Fix, on the other hand, was a 3x state champ in HS and Cadet World Champ. Went to OSU and injuries derailed his wrestling career, but became a top HS coach for decades. So it's not like he's some rando that they hired with zero qualifications, either. Another reality in the recruiting game is the changing landscape of NIL deals and work from home/remote jobs. For example, in the last century it was considered shady if a family of a top recruit moved into a community (HS or College) and there would be questions of how this family got jobs and got ties to the community so quickly. Now, depending on the careers of the family's breadwinner, there are families who can pack up and follow their children all over to be closer to their sports endeavors.

It's obviously not done yet, seeing as how they don't have wall mats, signage, etc. and there are literally boxes of equipment in plastic wrap all over. I think they put the mats down to show a reference for how massive the wrestling area is, and yeah, it's huge. As for it looking dark and gloomy, well, their color scheme is black with a tiny little bit of yellow, and I'm sure there are going to be some lighting updates as well. I think new mats have a powdery substance on them to keep them from being sticky, not unlike how new machinery has oil all over it that has to be wiped off when it comes out. Bottom line, this is going to be the biggest and best facility.