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 November 11, 2021.
1. Mizzou rolls
The Big 12 looks a little different than it did the last time Missouri was a member in wrestling. Coach Brian Smith’s Tigers returned to the Big 12 and headed up to Fargo and came away with a 37-3 win over the host Bison on Thursday night. The two biggest bouts of the dual took place in the middle as NDSU’s only win of the night was 10th-ranked Jared Franek beating ninth-ranked Jarrett Jacques 6-5. That was followed by Keegan O’Toole’s pin over 14th-ranked Luke Weber. O’Toole came in ranked fifth in the nation. Rocky and Zach Elam won ranked matchups at 197 and 285 pounds. Rocky topped Owen Pentz 14-6 at 197 and Zach edged Brandon Metz 3-1 at heavyweight. Tip of the cap to Ben Ramirez, the Mizzou SID for including a quote from Brian Smith. This used to be standard operating procedure – just like e-mailing the release, which he also did. What did Smith say? “We were attacking and getting some tilts and turns, but we are not where I want us to be. We can definitely improve. I'm glad we get to compete again Sunday and continue to grow as a team.”
2. Corn Nation
Tenth-ranked Nebraska opened up with a pair of comfortable wins over Division II foes Nebraska-Kearney and Chadron State. The Huskers showcased much of the depth of their room with only two wrestlers picking up two wins – Ridge Lovett at 149 and Taylor Venz at 184. Venz scored two falls from Studio 4 – shout out to the Al & Josh Show – and Lovett had a first-period tech and a fall.
3. Country Roads
Glenville State coach Dylan Cottrell might have this program-building thing figured out – although it’s early. Glenville State’s second-year program opened up its dual meet season with a 55-0 win over fellow West Virginia Division II school Fairmont State and a. 34-13 win over NAIA Campbellsville. Last year, Fairmont State edged Glenville State 22-21. This trl-meet was also held OUTSIDE at Glenville State’s Morris Stadium. WVU transfer Hunter DeLong got the W at 184.
Also notable from this tri is we have a Zeke Escalera sighting. Originally from Kentucky, Escalera won a 16U Fargo title in 2017 before heading to Wyoming Seminary for a short spell. He finished his high school career in Moore, Oklahoma, but is now wrestling at NAIA Campbellsville at 141 pounds. More to wrestling than Division I folks – I’m curious to see how Escalera does, since it’s been a while since I last saw him scrap.
4. Coaching Debuts
Glenville State is the Pioneers and so is UW-Platteville. The Trevor Kittleson era began at Division III Platteville with a 27-13 home win over Cornell College. Kittleson spent the last five years at Loras College as an assistant. Outside of the handful of New York schools, the Wisconsin state schools are it when it comes to public Division III wrestling programs – save the exception here and there. The WIAC is extremely competitive and this is a good start for these Pioneers – as long as they don’t play Christoper Newport again in men’s basketball. That’s a reach back to my friends in Virginia during the Lamont Strothers era and the rare roundball reference. Up in Nebraska, Hastings spoiled the debut of new Concordia (Neb.) head coach Myron Bradbury with a 29-17 win on Thursday. Fastest fall of the night from Hastings came from South Africa native Edrich Nortje – he pinned Conner Burrus in 41 seconds. And yes, we still can’t go mentioning Coach Bradbury without the win that keeps getting better as time goes on, his Kentucky high school state championship victory over Mark Hall. Yes, that Mark Hall. It might not have gone well tonight for Bradbury, but I’ve got a good feeling he’ll do well.
5. Flipping the script
On the women’s mats, Texas Wesleyan turned things around from two seasons ago, beating Oklahoma City 37-9 at Timber Creek High School in Fort Worth. In 2019, Texas Wesleyan fell 41-7. Returning All-American Camille Fournier picked up a 10-0 tech in 35 seconds at 116 pounds while Texas Wesleyan sophomore Lexi Basham knocked off returning All-American Sophia Smith 10-0 at 136. On the men’s side, Oklahoma City prevailed 33-9. Another split was out in Ashland, Oregon where Menlo’s men beat Southern Oregon 30-9, while the SOU women came away with a 29-11 win over Menlo. This one just ended at the time this was being written, so no breakdown unfortunately, but it was amusing we had two men-women splits.
This is only the five, but you can get all the day’s wrestling news delivered to your email for free by going to mattalkonline.com/news and signing up for free, courtesy of Resilite. You can also subscribe directly through my twitter page @jasonmbryant, too. All the scores can be found at collegewrestlingscoreboard.com.
