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 19, 2021.
Bronchos ride home with Midwest Classic title
Despite wrestling without two starters, Central Oklahoma claimed the team championship at the 42nd annual Midwest Classic hosted by the University of Indianapolis. Tanner Cole and Ty Lucas were sidelined the day before the tournament kicked off with flu-like symptoms according to legendary Central Oklahoma SID Mike Kirk. Coach Todd Steidley’s squad will take take that title down the Old Town Road (or just back to Edmond) with one individual champion – 197-pounder Dalton Abney. He’s nothing like that show on PBS that kinda sounds the same. Abney beat Indianapolis’ Derek Blubaugh 4-0 in the finals.
As typical with the Midwest Classic, rankings were tossed out the window as upsets created a hellacious team race that saw that bout determine the team title. Central Oklahoma scored 106.5 to UIndy’s 97.5.
Returning All-American Christian Mejia of McKendree topped upstart Dawson Collins of Colorado Mesa 10-6 at 125 pounds. Mejia came in ranked fifth and had to beat All-American Joe Arroyo of UW-Parkside in sudden victory in the semifinals.
Colorado Mesa got back on the horse, but not the Broncho (dad jokes) with a title at 133 pounds as Collin Metzgar’s breakout season continued. Metzgar has already matched his win total from his first season in Grand Junction. Metzgar beat Mary’s Reece Barnhardt in the finals. All-American Branson Proudlock of Findlay won gold at 141 pounds, beating UCO’s Nate Keim 4-3.
Gannon got a title from 2020 All-American Dominic Means at 149 pounds. Means topped UCO’s Brik Filippo 3-2, saddling the Broncho with another heart-breaking one-point loss.
Findlay won a second title with top-ranked and returning national champion James Wimer’s 9-2 victory over the dangerous James Burks of Northern State. Four of Burks’ seven wins this year have been by fall, including day one’s 20-second fall over the second seed. Wimer won his 16th in a row to take home the title at 157 pounds.
UW-Parkside’s Shane Gantz improved to 21-0 on the year after winning the title at 165. He received a medical forfeit in the finals. UIndy would get a champ at 174 pounds as returning All-American and sixth-ranked Andrew Sams upended fifth-ranked Job Ayala of UW-Parkside 4-3.
Fort Hays State’s Martin Verhaeghe took top honors at 184 pounds and improved to – get this – 27-3 on the season. Verhaege, a national qualifier in 2020, is one win away from matching that season’s win total. The 27 wins leads all three divisions of NCAA wrestling.
Abney’s win at 197 gave UCO it’s only title, while the heavyweights ended things with a thump and a thud as 12th-ranked Ian Kuehl of McKendree pinned second-seeded and fifth-ranked Jacob Robb of Mercyhurst late in the third. Robb was a first-team All-American in 2020.
North Central comes up Aces at Desert Duals
As odd as tournament rankings and dual meet rankings can and can’t jive, Division III just got more complicated as the top two teams in the land, at least according to tournament points met in Las Vegas. No. 1 North Central won seven out of 10 against No. 2 Wartburg and beat the Knights 21-14 in the top matchup at the Desert Duals. InterMat ranked Wartburg first and North Central second entering the week. Three of the four head-to-head ranked matchups went the way of North Central, with the first coming at 133 pounds where top-ranked Robbie Precin beat Wartburg’s Joe Pins 8-5. North Central would take ranked victories at 157 where 11th-ranked Cole Cervantes upset sixth-ranked David Hollingsworth in sudden victory and third-ranked 197-pounder Cody Baldridge topped No. 10 Kobe Woods. Wartburg’s win came at 149 where No. 3 Kristian Rumph beat No. 4 Alex Villar 10-4. Even in taking seven bouts, it still came down to heavyweight as Wartburg had a pin and a tech fall to go with Rumph’s victory to give them 14 points. All of North Central’s victories were decisions, so a fall at heavyweight would give Wartburg the rare four-win dual meet win. That didn’t happen as North Central’s Robby Bates beat Damari Dancy in sudden victory to end Wartburg’s victory hopes.
Other notable action from Vegas saw Alvernia’s Matt Lackman go 4-0 with four falls at 165 pounds. Lackman is ranked eighth in the country according to the NWCA rankings. While not yet ranked due to inactivity, Wartburg All-American and 2021 NWCA Division III champion Kyle Briggs went 3-0 with two falls at 184 pounds.
Sold out in the land of Gotch
Humboldt High School graduates Kevin Dresser and Tony Erlsand were each two-time Iowa high school state champions back in the day. Dresser’s “day” was a good decade before Ersland’s, but both had a day to remember on Sunday as the two Wildcat alums brought their college programs to Humboldt for a Division I dual between a pair of teams ranked in the Top 15. Dresser’s Iowa State squad rallied past Erlsand’s Purdue team 23-13. A number of Iowa ties were prevalent in the dual, such as the all-Iowa battle at 184 between Marcus Coleman of Iowa State and Max Lyon. Coleman prevailed 8-2. The most anticipated match of the night came at 157 pounds where returning NCAA champion David Carr of Iowa State faced the dangerous Kendall Coleman. Danger wasn’t anyone name, or even middle name on Sunday as Carr out-slicked Coleman and then pinned him in a tilt to help spearhead the Cyclone comeback.
Busy Day in Carolina
We had a lot of wrestling in Nevada (more on that next), Indiana and North Carolina. Duke won three duals, topping Bloomsburg 29-9, The Citadel 30-10 and Presbyterian 30-7. Big days were registered by Matt and Josh Finesilver and Gabe Dinette. Matt Finesilver remained unbeaten on the season, moving to 17-0, after three wins at 174 while twin brother Josh improved to 16-1 at 149 pounds. Dinette picked up a win over national qualifier Selwyn Porter of The Citadel. Bloomsburg beat The Citadel 21-15. In Boiling Springs, Ohio U. beat host Gardner-Webb and George Mason 27-9. Yes, the two duals had the exact same score. Gardner-Webb topped George Mason 22-14, then George Mason headed to Davidson and beat the host Wildcats 25-18. The moderately amusing title of Atlantic 10 champion was again bestowed on George Mason. The two schools are the only ones with wrestling in the schools’ main all-sports conference. While not IN North Carolina competing, Appalachian State, which is in Boone, North Carolina, beat Bellarmine 46-6 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Gas Tank gets it done in Reno
Gary Traub’s victory in sudden victory gave Oregon State enough points to pull out the team title at the Reno Tournament of Champions with 174 points. Wyoming finished second with 172, while NAIA Grand View finished third with 95 points. We finally saw Trey Munoz wrestle for Oregon State and he was solid, winning the title at 184 pounds and winning 3-2 in the finals over Wyoming’s Tate Samuelson. The title bout at 174 pounds was also somewhat intriguing as Hayden Hastings of Wyoming beat former teammate Casey Randles of Grand View 7-2. Randles started his career at Wyoming before transferring to Grand View and finishing third at last year’s NAIA National Championships. Stephen Buchanan kept Wyoming winning against NAIA foes in the finals as he beat Montana State-Northern’s Isaac Bartel 12-4 at 197 pounds. Bartel is a four-time NAIA All-American who’s finished 3-2-2-1 and is using the extra year of eligibility granted – yes, the NAIA did it too.
