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 20, 2021.
- Griffith goes down in Cornell win
There’s a bit of controversy surrounding the second returning NCAA champion to fall already this season, but whatever your opinion on the non-call at 165 pounds, Cornell freshman Julian Ramirez knocked off NCAA champion Shane Griffith 3-2 in Cornell’s 30-9 win over Stanford on Saturday. The match was an early return for former Cornell head coach Rob Koll, whose Cardinal reportedly came in without a few starters due to COVID, but Cornell was too much anyway. Yianni Diakomihalis avoided being another champ to fall as he edged All-American Jaden Abas 3-1 at 149 pounds. All-American Vitali “Vito” Arujau made a successful move up to 133 pounds, beating Jackson DiSario 14-3, while 174-pounder Chris Foca registered a solid win over Stanford’s Tyler Eischens. - King rules Mo Valley Open
The top regular-season tournament on the women’s side is the Missouri Valley Open, held in Marshall, Missouri, which I hear is a nice community. King won the title, outdistancing preseason No. 1 McKendree 244-210.5. North Central was third, Texas Wesleyan fourth and Grand View fifth. King won three titles – Sage Mortimer at 116, Cheyenne Sisenstein at 123 and Ana Luciano at 123. Seven different schools claimed champions – Tiffin, King (3), Life, McKendree (3), Oklahoma City, North Central and Lyon. Life’s Peyton Prussin was named the tournament’s outstanding wrestler, beating past Junior world silver medalist Asia Ray of Wayland Baptist. At 155, Alara Boyd topped new teammate Kayla Marano in the finals. Boyd’s represented the U.S. on four age-group world teams, including the 2017 Cadet worlds, where she won a silver medal. Marano is a two-time age-group world teamer, finishing fifth a few weeks ago at the U23 World Championships. She won a Cadet world bronze in 2015. The tournament featured 373 athletes, with the rare two-day “open” with the largest weight class containing 45 wrestles at 123 pounds. TheMat.com did a better recap of the event, with a full breakdown of the finals with the multiple battles between collegiate All-Americans. - St. Cloud State Streak
St. Cloud State began this season just like they left off last season, with a 33-6 dual meet win. Coach Steve Costanzo’s squad bested No. 14 Lake Erie at Hallenbeck Hall in St. Cloud. The win moves St. Cloud State’s win streak to 70, which moves the Huskies into fourth-place all-time in college wrestling and extending its Division II-record win streak. In a matchup of All-Americans and a rematch of the seventh-place bout at last year’s Division II championships, fifth-ranked Noah Ryan of St. Cloud State pinned sixth-ranked Chris Droege at 197 pounds. Grand View currently sits first all-time in dual win streaks with 103 in a row, and that streak is still active. SUNY-Dehli, an NJCAA program when it set the dual record, sits second with 92 in a row, while third belongs to Oklahoma State, which won 76 in a row from 1936-1951. You can find a full list of the top 14 known college wrestling dual meet win streaks on Rokfin. - Spartans’ Navy Classic title among notable tournament winners.
Michigan State won two titles to win the Navy Classic in Annapolis. All-American RayVon Foley and Greco-Roman world teamer Peyton Omania won gold for Michigan State at 133 and 149 pounds, respectively of course. Navy’s Jacob Koser picked up the finals’ most notable victory as he topped Michigan State’s Cameron Caffey 8-0 at 197 pounds. Probably Koser’s best college win thus far. Don’t believe me? Check WrestleStat. Lock Haven’s Luke Werner was a solid winner at 125 pounds, while All-American Zach Hartman of Bucknell teched The Citadel’s Selwyn Porter to win the title at 165 pounds. … Alderson Broaddus’ men won the Albion Invitational, while Gannon won the women’s tournament, the women’s team, not the men’s team. That would be weird. … Baldwin Wallace scored too many freaking points to really consider the Baldwin Wallace Invitational a team scored event, but the Yellowjackets won seven titles at their own invite. … The U.S. Coast Guard Academy won the Doug Parker Invitational in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Bears had seven finalists and three champions – including outstanding wrestler Tony Ulaszek, who pinned teammate Noah Caskey in the finals at 157. Why’s that relevant? They’re both returning All-Americans. Both placed at the NWCA Division III Championships last year. Caskey was also a second-team All-American in 2020. We’ve also got a Kevin Mulligan sighting. The former Rutgers Scarlet Knight won the title at 285 pounds for Centenary, the one in New Jersey, not the one in Louisiana that has The Chief, Robert Parrish among its notable alumni. … Castleon won six titles to win the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Penn College. The Spartans outdistanced second-place Wilkes 223.5 to 169.5. … 157-pounder Kaidon Winters continued his pinning frenzy with four falls en route to the title at the New York State Collegiate Championships. He helped lead RIT to the team title, outdistancing Ithaca and Brockport. That’s also 10 falls in a row for Winters and he’s got 11 on the season in his first 13 matches. … Grand View won five titles at the Life U. Open in Georgia. There were no team scores, but it’s clear Life and Grand View are working on creating themselves a real rivalry in the NAIA. - Cowboys Top Gophers
We didn’t see a bump with social media mavens and NCAA champions A.J. Ferrari of Oklahoma State and Gable Steveson of Minnesota, but we did see dominant victories from both in the sixth-ranked Cowboys’ 23-10 win in Minneapolis over the Golden Gophers. Nearly 3,000 fans saw the Cowboys win seven out of 10, including Trevor Mastrogiovanni’s 10-6 win over All-American and fifth-ranked Patrick McKee at 125 pounds. Minnesota did snatch the top individual bout of the night as Brayton Lee beat Wyatt Sheets 15-9 in a matchup between All-Americans at 157 pounds. The debut of Carter Young didn’t go super well as the Oklahoma State true freshman lost to Jake Bergeland at 141 pounds in his collegiate dual meet debut. Young, who was super solid anyway coming out of high school, really became a household name for wrestling fans after his wins at the World Team Trials over past NCAA champions Seth Gross and Nahshon Garrett and past world teamer Tyler Graff. That was also in freestyle. Ferrari majored Michial Foy 12-4 while Steveson majored Luke Surber 20-7. Foy, as both the first and last name indicate, is the son of two-time Greco-Roman Olympian Michial Foy Sr. Seth Duckworth of Owrestle and InterMat tweeted about Surber, who saw his second start in a dual for the Cowboys come against a returning NCAA and Olympic champion.
Bonus Points: Dual Meet Stuff
Campbell beat host Virginia 21-15 for the Camels’ first win over the Cavaliers ever. Chris Kober and Taye Ghadiali at 197 and 285 to close out the dual while 125-pounder Korbin Meink’s win over Patrick McCormick at 125 pounds was a key swing match in the dual. Campbell’s Josh Heil beat Jared Verkleeren at 149 pounds, while Austin Murphy’s fall at 174 also provide pivotal bonus points for Scotti Sentes’ squad. … Glenville State went 4-0 to improve to 6-0 on the season and the Pioneers picked up two more shutouts – a 56-0 win over Division III Pitt-Bradford and a 48-0 win over Division III Washington & Jefferson. That’s the third shutout of the season for the second-year program.
