Wrestling [2017-18]

[ugarte]

Ugarte, looking at next season will Tucker likely be supplanted at 133 next year with Arujau's arrival?  Or does Yianni move to 149 and Arujau slot in at 141? It seems Yianni is a bit short for 149, and I'd be a little concerned that he'd struggle similar to Womack this year.

too soon to tell. i think people expected tucker to step aside for arujau at 133 but i have no idea what happens with tucker making a run for all-american at 133. i don't think anything messes with yianni's wrestling at his best weight.

[ugarte]

Championship:

141: YIANNI DIAKOMIHALIS W 6-5 over #6 Dean Heil. Into the semifinals and an All-American! What an incredible match. I'm literally still shaking and can barely type. Heil got in on the first shot, and it looked like Yianni's knee got tweaked a little while he was trying to fight it off. Heil also took the second shot, and finished it for the first takedown; Heil stayed on top for the rest of the period and went to the second period up 2-0. Heil started down and escaped to go up 3-0, but Yianni got the next takedown to close the gap to 3-2; alas he couldn't ride out and Heil escaped with 3 seconds left in the period. 4-2, Heil after 2. Yianni started on bottom and got the reversal to tie the match up with ~1:15 left. He had to decide whether to try to ride for the full time to win 5-4 on the RT point or let Heil up (conceding the go-ahead point to Heil) and then try to win with one more takedown. He went with the second option, and with ~25 seconds left, got the takedown he needed and was able to ride out for the rest of the period. Amazing. He also said in the post-match interview that his knee is fine ("100%." )

Up next is his rematch with #2 Eierman in the night session.

184: Dean L 12-7. Closer battle with #1 Nickal than I think anyone expected. He got a third period TD to close within 2, and even got in deep on another shot, but there's a reason Nickal is #1 and he fought it off.

Dean drops to the consolation match where he'll face #12 Carr (Chatanooga) for All-American honors tonight.

197: Ben Darmstadt W 5-4. Into the semifinals and an All-American! This one got scary late. With a 2-0 lead, a minute and a half of riding time and a conceded escape to start the third period to make it 3-0, Darmstadt looked like he might be able to coast to the semi. But Weiler got a TD that bloodied the inside of Darmstadt's mouth in the process. He let Darmstadt up to make it 4-2, then got another TD to make it 4-4, but again conceded the escape to give Darmstadt the lead. (Nobody wants to try to ride Darmstadt because he routinely gets reversals.) In both cases Weiler was very close to getting back points, but never did. Darmstadt got hit with a stall as the clock ran down, but he made it to the buzzer for the win.

Up next in the semifinal, #3 Jared Haught (VT). A surprise on the top side of the bracket as #1 was pinned in his QF by an unseeded wrestler.

Consy:

133: Tucker was overmatched against #10 Mueller. Tucker is a defense-first wrestler and Mueller still got TDs in every period. Won 8-3. Tucker is out.

165: Chavez W 6-1 and he advances to face Daniels (Navy) who he beat at EIWA.

Chavez W 4-0. Daniels didn't try to do much until the last 30 seconds. Chavez was giving 1 for stalling and 1 for a quick escape in the second. When Daniels finally did take a shot, Chavez fought it off and turned it into a TD of his own with a few seconds left.

#11 White (Nebraska) is waiting in the blood round tonight. Very tough match. Winner gets AA.

285: Sweany L 6-4 to #8 Hall (ASU). Sweany got a rough ride from the ref. Didn't get awarded 2 at the end of the first, gave up a dubious escape instead of an OOB call right before the end of the second. Sweany gave up an escape to tie the match at 4 in the third and then took a really sloppy shot that Hall turned into a TD and rideout to win.

Sweany is not going to willingly give up his starting spot to Honis, Janney or Furman. I think we see him back at NCAAs with a seed next year.

[ugarte]

4 guys left. Tonight's schedule:

Championship SF:

141: #3 Diakomihalis v #2 Eierman (Missouri)
197: #2 Darmstadt v #2 Haught (VT)

---

Consy R12:

165: #16 Chavez v #11 White (Nebraska)
184: #9 Dean v #12 Carr (Chatanooga)

[ugarte]

SF:

141: YIANNI DIAKOMIHALIS W 6-4 SV AND HE'S IN THE FINALS! What a great match against #2 Jaydin Eierman. Yianni got the first takedown in the first period and Eierman escaped quickly. It took a little while for Yianni to get out in the second, but he got out and the score was 3-1 after 2. Eierman got out quickly in the third and got a takedown of his own to go up 4-3, but Yianni got out fairly quickly to tie the score and the game went to sudden victory. 30 seconds in, Yianni took a great shot and finished the takedown to win. Got back the guy who handed him his only loss of the year. Amazing.

Up next, tomorrow night, #1 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming). Diakomihalis beat Meredith in SV earlier this year for Meredith's only loss of the year.

197: Darmstadt LBF 5:38. Ugh. Tied 2-2 in the third, Darmstadt took a shot from a weird angle; Haught trapped Darmstadt's arm and caught him with his back to the mat and was able to stay on top and stick him. Rough loss.

Darmstadt will wrestle #1 Kollin Moore (Ohio State) - winner wrestles for third, loser wrestles for 5th.

R12:

165: CHAVEZ W 2-1 OT AND HE'S AN ALL-AMERICAN!
Chavez L 9-2.

In the blood round, facing #11 White (Nebraska) for AA honors, Chavez wrestled an amazing defensive match. The only points scored in regulation were an escape for each wrestler. Chavez fought off a number of good shots from White with pure strength. Nobody scored in the SV round, and after riding White hard for a full 30 seconds in the first rideout round, he was able to escape in 9 seconds and then block all attempts by White to score. It was a hell of a performance for a guy seeded #16. He will not be seeded so low next year.

In the placement round, Chavez fell 9-2 to #10 Wick (Wisconsin). Wick is like 165's version of Darmstadt. Long and lean and uses his reach incredibly well. Chavez had a very hard time dealing with it. Wick was also great on top, able to use his long legs to wrap around Chavez's legs and hold him down for very long stretches.

The loss sends Chavez to the 7th place match where he will face #9 Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State), who fought back from a shocking first round loss to get to the podium.

184: DEAN W 6-4 AND HE'S AN ALL-AMERICAN!
Dean L 11-6.

Dean's blood round match started very poorly, with #11 Carr (Chatanooga) taking him down twice. He was able to escape both times, but he gave up over a minute in riding time and went to the second round down 4-2. Carr chose bottom for the second round and that was his undoing. Dean rode him for the full two minutes, tossing him back to the mat whenever he stood up and generally wearing him down. In the third period Dean quickly got out to close the gap to 4-3 and then, with 25 seconds left, scored a great takedown to go up 5-4. Once he was back underneath, Carr seemed to resign himself to being stuck on bottom and Dean rode him out again, picking up a point of riding time.

I didn't see the placement match because it was going on at the same time as Darmstadt's semifinal. Facing #7 Venz (Nebraska), Dean went down early and wasn't able to come back.

In the 7th place match, Dean will face unseeded Chip Ness (UNC), who he beat 8-2 at a dual meet last month. Ness, on the other hand, beat two of the guys who are still in the running for third, so he's no slouch.

[ugarte]

Cornell finishes the day in 8th place with 4 guys still alive, trailing Virginia Tech by a point and a half, and a half-point ahead of Rutgers.

[ugarte]

Rough morning in the medal rounds, with one exception.

165: In the 7th place match, #16 Jon Jay Chavez defeated #8 Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State) 10-5 to take 7th place. He scored 4 takedowns in the match, to none for Rogers and repeatedly outmuscled his higher-ranked opponent. Between his tournament performance and graduations, it would be stunning if Chavez did not start next year ranked in the top 8. For a Greco specialist turning back to freestyle, this season was a revelation. And he's weird and funny and always smiling. I'm glad we've got another year of him.

184: In the 7th place match. #9 Max Dean could never quite find his rhythm and lost 6-3 to unseeded Chip Ness (UNC), and finished in 8th place. A disappointing loss but definitely not a disappointing tournament. It was an incredible run with wins over the #8 and #10 wrestlers to finish above his seed and earn All-American honors as a freshman. As the kid brother he has a lot to live up to but he's his own person and he's started his career in very impressive fashion. Unless there is a huge crop of new 184s, Dean will be a favorite to finish on the podium again next year.

197: Ben Darmstadt had a rough day. After losing by fall in the semifinals yesterday, he faced #1 Kollin Moore (Ohio St.) for placement in either the 3d or 5th place match. He lost 7-4 in the latest match that may be showing that the book is out on Darmstadt: he's deadly on top or on bottom, but he can be taken down on his feet. If you get him down, concede the escape rather than risk a reversal or worse. If he gets you down, pray. Moore took him down 3 times and only made the mistake of trying to ride him once. He was otherwise able to fend off Darmstadt's attacks.

I didn't see the 5th place match that followed against unseeded Jacob Holdschlag, but he lost the first scramble in such a way that he gave up back points, going down 4-0. He got a reversal, but was quickly reversed back - probably trying to turn Holdschlag and failing to maintain his hold - and ended up flattened out and lost by fall again. Under normal circumstances a 6th place finish would be great but given the way he fell from the semis to 6th, it's kind of bittersweet. The offseason project is going to be getting Darmstadt to improve on his feet - his scrambling from the bottom is too risky against the elite competition he needs to beat for the high podium placement that his raw talent deserves, and starting around a month ago, his opponents were being coached to take advantage of his Achilles heel. That said, he's going to be ranked very high next year and I think he'll deliver. He's a special wrestler and he'll be here for three more years.

Heading into the Finals tonight, Cornell is in 9th. If Diakomihalis wins, the team can finish as high as 7th. There are some outside scenarios where we could fall as far as 11th but I don't want to think about it. I just want to see Yianni take the title.

[ugarte]

CONGRATULATIONS TO NATIONAL CHAMPION,TRUE FRESHMAN YIANNI DIAKOMIHALIS! OH MY GOD I'M FLYING!

[George64]

CONGRATULATIONS TO NATIONAL CHAMPION,TRUE FRESHMAN YIANNI DIAKOMIHALIS! OH MY GOD I'M FLYING!

What a finish!  Great interview with Kyle Dake.

[CU77]

A terrific match and a fantastic win!

[JasonN95]

A terrific match and a fantastic win!

Is the replay online that anyone has seen?

[CU77]

A terrific match and a fantastic win!

Is the replay online that anyone has seen?

It should be on watchespn sometime after 11 PM, when the championships are completed.

[ugarte]

A terrific match and a fantastic win!

Is the replay online that anyone has seen?

it may be archived on watchespn - but it should show up on youtube soon if it isn't. you'd have to skip past the 125 and 133 finals to get to yianni's match but to be honest it was 10 insanely good matches.

[ugarte]

Diakomihalis's final was so great.

No scoring in the first period.

Yianni chose neutral to start the second period because even though he beat Meredith when they wrestled early in the season, he had trouble getting off of bottom and there is no reason to risk the ride. He scored the first points of the match on a takedown and gave up a quick escape to make the score 2-1. That's how the period ended.

Meredith chose bottom to start the third and quickly escaped to tie the score. About 30 seconds later, Meredith was able to convert a shot for the takedown and a 4-2 lead. It took a bit, but Yianni got out in ~40 seconds - fast enough to avoid the point for riding time but still there was under a minute left and he was trailing 4-3. With ~20 seconds left, Meredith took another shot and Yianni was able to counter and not only take Meredith down but expose his back to the mat for a 2 count and two back points to go up 7-4, then hold on for the final 10 seconds for the win. Dramatic and unbelievable. I can't believe we have three more years of this guy.

You can see the winning move embedded in the Cornell recap. It's a very good recap of the match.

Meanwhile, everything that had to go right for us in the team race, did. Cornell finishes in 7th place, marking the 11th straight year in the top 10.

[CU77]

Complete championship replay:

http://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=3304555

Go to the 36:00 mark for Yianni's match. Bonus: color commentary by Kyle Dake!

[JasonN95]

Complete championship replay:

http://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=3304555

Go to the 36:00 mark for Yianni's match. Bonus: color commentary by Kyle Dake!

Thanks. Enjoyed the match and Kyle.