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It’s time for Short Time Shots, a quick look at the day in college wrestling. Did you know 15 years ago, Kyle Klingman and I launched our very first podcast called Wrestling 411. Yup, now over 3,000 episodes later, I’m still trying to figure this out.
In Blacksburg, the raucous crowd at Cassell Coliseum was silenced both early and late as the eighth-ranked Buckeyes topped the fifth-ranked Hokies 24-12. The biggest win came at the jump as Brendan McCrone majored All-American Eddie Ventresca 11-3 at 125 pounds. With Ventresca leading in the second period, McCrone countered Ventresca to his back, picking up a seven point move and went from trailing 3-2 to up 9-3. Isaac Wilcox used a third-period takedown to upend Connor Brady 6-5 in a pivotal swing bout. Ryder Rogotzke’s dual meet debut at 184 pounds was a big one as the 2023 Junior Schalles Award winner scored his fifth fall of the year over Sam Fisher. Two freshmen Buckeyes – Luke Geog and Nick Feldman – would take wins over ranked opponents to close out the win for Tom Ryan’s squad. The Hokies did pick up three notable ranked wins – Caleb Henson beat Dylan D’Emilio at 149, Bryce Andonian beat high school teammate Paddy Gallagher at 157 and Mekhi Lewis beat Carson Kharchla at 174.
Ninth-ranked Nebraska rolled past Campbell 37-4 in Lincoln. The Huskers earned six bonus victories and saw a stellar return from Peyton Robb at 157 pounds after his freak infection that nearly cost him his leg last offseason. The Huskers two best wins came at the first two weights as Lenny Pinto edged Caleb Hopkins 6-5 at 184 and Silas Allred beat Levi Hopkins 11-6 at 197 pounds.
At Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State won nine of 10 to top visiting Bucknell 38-6. The only stumble came at 174 pounds, where Oklahoma State injury defaulted late in the first period after an apparent hamstring injury from Brayden Thompson. Daton Fix and Dustin Plott each scored falls, while Troy Spratley at 125 and Luke Surber at 197 earned techs.
Three straight bonus victories for Indiana at 174, 184 and 197 helped pull the host Hoosiers past upset-minded Rider 27-15 at historic Assembly Hall on Friday. Trailing 15-10, D.J. Washington picked up a technical fall over Mike Wilson, then transfer Roman Rogotzke pinned Isaac Dean in the third period at 184 pounds, the second big fall of the night for the Rogotzke family at the weight class. Up 21-16, Gabe Sollars slammed the door on Rider with a second-period fall over Azeem Bell at 197.
Rider’s top win came at 149 pounds, where Quinn Kinner knocked off Graham Rooks, who’s ranked in the top 10 in most, if not all, of the rankings.
Ned Shuck and the Bellarmine Knights opened up with a 49-0 win over Division II Kentucky Wesleyan Friday night in Louisville. Word is they got a pretty boisterous crowd down there for Coach Shuck.
Out west, Wyoming rolled past host CSU Bakersfield 40-3. The Cowboys got falls from Riley Davis at 174 pounds and Paolo Salminen at 157 pounds.
In Division III, TCNJ beat Wilkes 35-11 and we’ll keep with the acronym theme as Muhlenberg beat NJCU 38-7.
Arizona Christian won four duals – beating Division II New Mexico Highlands 25-20, Simpson (Calif.) 40-15 and a pair of California Junior Colleges – Cerritos 46-9 and Sierra College 52-0 at the Mile High Duals in Prescott, Arizona, hosted by Embry-Riddle. Elsewhere in the NAIA, Dakota Wesleyan beat Ridgewater of the NJCAA 32-15.
Good number of Junior Colleges were in action at the Mile High Duals and around the country as well. North Idaho beat Ellsworth 49-0 and Southeast, again, the one in Nebraska, 35-6. Southeast beat Ellsworth 30-19. Back in Prescott, Snow beat Cerritos 41-10, NAIA Embry-Riddle 24-22, and Sierra 53-0.
On the women’s side, Life picked up home wins over Hastings and Marymount at home before hosting Eagle Madness in Marietta on Saturday.
Remember, these aren’t all the scores, but it’s a lot of them. Full Division I scoreboard can be found at CollegeWrestlingScoreboard.com and all tournament links from every division can be found at almanac.mattalkonline.com.
