Jason Bryant’s College Wrestling Wrap Sheet is a look at five topics from the world of college wrestling with highlights, things you know and things you don’t. Here’s the five for December 18, 2021.
Bronchos leading after Day 1 in Indy
Top-ranked Central Oklahoma leads after the first day of the 42nd annual Midwest Classic hosted by the University of Indianapolis. The 42-team field is exclusively comprised of Division II schools (at least this season). The Bronchos (not misspelled this time, seriously) has five in the semifinals with Alex Kauffman the least expected. The eighth-seeded Kauffman beat top-seeded Anderson Salisbury of Colorado School of Mines 5-4 in the quarterfinals. Paxton Rosen (125), Nate Keim (141), Brik Filippo (149) and Dalton Abney (197) also reached the semifinals. The tournament saw a number of highly seeded wrestlers fall before Sunday’s semifinals got underway. Colorado Mesa’s Dawson Collins reached the semifinals after knocking off top-seeded Nick Daggett of UNC Pembroke 6-4 at 125 pounds. Collins will face Rosen in the top bracket semifinal. Unseeded Brandon Bolinghaus of Drury reached the semifinals after knocking off third-seeded Tyler Krause of Mines in the first round and winning two more. He’ll face another upstart, Reece Barnhardt of Mary, who knocked off second-seeded Jonathan Andreatta of Adams State at 133.
San Francisco State’s Josh Fuentes reached the semis after beating top-seeded Christian Small of King in the quarters. He’ll face Keim in the semis. Dominic Means of Gannon picked off another Adams State high seed, Noah Hermosillo at 149 pounds, to reach the semis. Northern State’s Wyatt Turnquist will await. Turnquist upended Ashland’s Carson Speelman and UIndy’s Logan Bailey to reach the semis. Northern State also had success at 157 where James Burks picked up two falls and a major en route to the semifinals. Burks pinned second-seeded John Dean of Belmont Abbey in 20 seconds in the second round. UIndy’s 197 pounder Derek Blubaugh reached the semis on the bottom half, opposite Abney. Blubaugh took out Ashland’s Walker Uhl in the quarters. Uhl had knocked off second-seeded Donald Negus of Colorado Mesa in the second round. And yes, Derek Blubaugh is the grandson of 1960 Olympic champion Doug Blubaugh. Special shout out to Fort Hays State heavyweight A.J. Cooper, who is in the semis at 285. Cooper will face Mercyhurst’s Jacob Robb in the semis, but Cooper is a throwback. When he was in the eighth-grade, he was USA Wrestling’s 100,000th Facebook fan. He was a little guy back then, so we’re not sure how much of the gear we sent him still fits, but it’s still cool to see him out there wrestling. That’s also back when I was working at USA Wrestling.
No Nebraska, No Problem for South Dakota State
It wasn’t the greatest day for South Dakota State. The football team lost in the FCS playoffs to Montana State, which sucks, because you always hate to see schools with wrestling programs lose to schools that don’t feel the need to sponsor the sport. It’s why I also had to change the channel during Saturday’s Division II championship between two schools that don’t have wrestling – but should – Valdosta State (Ga.) and Ferris State (Mich.). But when it comes to South Dakota State’s wrestling, Coach Damion Hahn pivoted the schedule after Nebraska had to cancel this weekend’s dual. Instead of wrestling the Huskers, the Jackrabbits headed east to Northern Illinois and picked up three wins on Saturday. The Jacks beat Northern Illinois 26-9, Kent State 33-6 and Harper College, an NJCAA program, 59-0. All-American Clay Carlson improved to 13-0 at 141 pounds and earned three falls on the day. Tanner Cook continued to be must-see wrestling with a 19-second fall in the win over Kent State. NIU beat Kent State 20-16 in a MAC tilt. Both MAC teams beat Harper. … Elsewhere around the D1 mats, Buffalo swept a trl-meet with Bucknell and Lock Haven at Bucknell. The Bulls edged Bucknell 18-15 before handling Lock Haven 21-10. Ben Freeman, John Arceri, and Peter Acciardi went 2-0 on the day for Buffalo. Bucknell beat Lock Haven 21-15. … In the EIWA, Binghamton topped Sacred Heart 34-7. Michigan State went on the road to Division III Olivet and beat the host Comets 41-0 and Baldwin Wallace 37-9.
… but wasn’t Baldwin Wallace at the Kalahari Duals?
Part of me thinks about the waterpark in Wisconsin Dells, while another keeps thinking about the Koopahari Desert in the Mario video games. That spinning sun on the second stage in the second level of Super Mario Brothers 3 always annoyed me. It disrupted me from getting the star in the box at the end of that level. So where am I going with this? Baldwin Wallace was one of a number of Division III teams to compete in Sandusky, Ohio for the event. Gotta love team depth. UW-Oshkosh flexed its collective muscle, going 4-0, beating Trine 45-5, Baldwin Wallace 44-3, Mount St. Joseph 50-6 and Heidelberg 42-6. The Titans had closers at 197 and 285 as 197-pounder Beau Yineman and heavyweight Jordan Lemcke finished each of the four duals with back-to-back falls.
Luther, Ozarks sporting their Gator Boots
Luther went 4-0 and the University of the Ozarks went 3-0 as the 15th annual Gator Boots Duals came and went in Nashville, Tennessee. Luther serves as the host and the “host” Norse went 4-0 beating Huntingdon 45-0, Concordia Wisconsin (obviously, the one in Wisconsin) 28-6, Wilmington 38-3 and Augustana (the one in Illinois) 31-12. LeRoy Gardner has his Eagles of Ozarks flying high. They went 3-0 with a 25-15 win over UW-Eau Claire, a 38-3 win over Elmhurst and a 30-13 win over Concordia Wisconsin. Nathan Rankin, Ozarks’ 125-pounder, won his 12th straight match, going 3-0 on the day with a fall and a pair of major decisions.
OCU men go 4-0; Grand View and Baker women go 2-0 at Avila
The first-year program at Avila hosted a pair of dual events on Saturday, one for men and one for women. On the men’s side, the host Eagles won their first two duals in school history topping Central Methodist and Hannibal-LaGrange. Oklahoma City went 4-0. Shout out to Avila coach Graham Karwath.
Hastings’ 133-pounder Kavika Aholelei was on fire on Saturday, going 5-0 with four falls and a tech.
On the women’s side, Grand View and Baker went 2-0. Grand View’s 10th-ranked Morgan Mayginness went 2-0 with two falls totaling 62 seconds at 155 pounds.
