Wrestling 2022-23

[marty]

The new wrestling rule changes are interesting to see..  going to 3 for a takedown rewards guys attacking

And one hand behind your back for overtime.

[ugarte]

The new wrestling rule changes are interesting to see..  going to 3 for a takedown rewards guys attacking

it also, appropriately, puts more distance between the value of a takedown and an escape.

At the WTT over the weekend, Nahshon Garrett followed up his strong third place showing at the US Open and the 61kg tournament, earning a spot at Final X on June 10th in Newark. He'll face vito Arujau, guaranteeing Cornell will represent the weight for the US.

They will be joined by Yianni (65kg) and Kyle Dake (74kg). And me, weight undisclosed, not fighting.

In other news, Final X was yesterday for the best-of-three matches to earn a place on Team USA.

61kg: In the Cornell v Cornell battle, Vito Arujau beat Nahshon Garrett in two, 6-5 and 13-10. The matches were wild. In the first, Nahshon scored to cut the match to 1 with just a few seconds left and was straining with all his might to get a last second turn to take the lead. In the second, it was back and forth the whole time and if this ends up on youtube or somewhere without a paywall, I'll post it because it was incredible. Vito is going to Belgrade on behalf of Team USA.

65kg: Tough day for Yianni. He lost back to back matches, 7-6 and 8-8. In the first match, he gave up a penalty point for backing off the mat on his knees

[ugarte]

The new wrestling rule changes are interesting to see..  going to 3 for a takedown rewards guys attacking

it also, appropriately, puts more distance between the value of a takedown and an escape.

At the WTT over the weekend, Nahshon Garrett followed up his strong third place showing at the US Open and the 61kg tournament, earning a spot at Final X on June 10th in Newark. He'll face vito Arujau, guaranteeing Cornell will represent the weight for the US.

They will be joined by Yianni (65kg) and Kyle Dake (74kg). And me, weight undisclosed, not fighting.

In other news, Final X was yesterday for the best-of-three matches to earn a place on Team USA.

61kg: In the Cornell v Cornell battle, Vito Arujau beat Nahshon Garrett in two, 6-5 and 13-10. The matches were wild. In the first, Nahshon scored to cut the match to 1 with just a few seconds left and was straining with all his might to get a last second turn to take the lead. In the second, it was back and forth the whole time and if this ends up on youtube or somewhere without a paywall, I'll post it because it was incredible. Vito is going to Belgrade on behalf of Team USA.

65kg: Tough day for Yianni. He lost back to back matches, 7-6 and 8-8 to Nick Lee. In the first match, he gave up a penalty point for backing off the mat on his knees and on top of that, he was forced to start down in par terre position and Lee was able to gut wrench him over for 2 - Yianni did get one back on a reversal, but he still found himself down three with short time left. He got a late takedown but, like Nahshon, wasn't able to get another turn. In the second match, they traded takedowns and exposures and with a minute left, Yianni was up 8-4. He kept pressing for more points and it cost him. He was able to get to Lee's leg, but not with much leverage and twice in the final minute Lee was able to lift Yianni and expose his back to the mat to tie the score and win on criteria, as the last wrestler to score.

74kg: Final Cornellian of the day was Kyle Dake, facing his opponent from 2022 Final X, Jason Nolf. Second verse, same as the first. Dake takes him out 6-0, 3-0. Not much to say. Dake will be going for his 5th straight* World gold in Belgrade, a run he started in 2018.

Final worlds note, it looks like Julian Ramirez will get bumped from U23 Worlds. Keegan O'Toole won the Senior true-third match by forfeit so he has the right to take any subsidiary age-group slot that he qualifies for. He's considered likely to claim the spot.

* Consecutive if you don't count the 2020 Olympic bronze.

[ugarte]

Final Final X note: Yianni won the silver at 2022 Worlds and his loss wasn't remotely the biggest news of the tournament.

57kg: Zane Richards beat Thomas Gilman. Gilman is also a returning silver medalist, but it was his second world silver to go with his 2021 gold and 2020 Olympic bronze. Richards was a 2x All-American, but never finished better than 4th. Gilman was a 3x All-American and never finished worse than 4th. Be that as it may, after a stunning win over 2x NCAA champ Nick Suriano at the World Team Trials qualifier, Richards knocked off Gilman to make his first world team.

79kg: The biggest shock of the tournament was Chance Marsteller defeating Jordan Burroughs to make his first World team. Marsteller is a 2x All-American who had an insane path. After a stellar Pennsylvania high school career and a disappointing freshman year at Oklahoma State, he took a year off and transferred to Lock Haven to be closer to home. At Lock Haven, he was a 2x All-American, with 3d and 4th place finishes. After college, though, he developed a fentanyl addiction, hit rock bottom and somehow worked himself back to being a world-class athlete. At the same time, Jordan Burroughs was becoming a legend. After a 3x AA college career that included a pair of undefeated title seasons, Burroughs went on to win an Olympic gold, six world championships and an additional three bronze medals. Still, Marsteller beat Burroughs 3-3, 5-4, 8-3 to take two of three.

92kg: After losing the US Open finals at 86kg to Aaron Brooks, Zahid Valencia decided to go up in weight rather than cut to face Brooks and, if he won, face David Taylor. It was a good decision. He won the World Team Trials, then beat the US Open champion, Mike Macchiavello, at Final X to make the world team.

97kg: The most anticipated matchup of the tournament - Olympic/World Champ Kyle Snyder v World Champ/Olympic Bronze J'Den Cox - didn't happen. Cox weighed in but left the weigh-in on crutches and resigned due to injury.

And of course, it isn't an upset, but Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson returned from WWE to the freestyle mat and didn't drop a match, taking out Mason Parris in straight sets.

[George64]

The new wrestling rule changes are interesting to see..  going to 3 for a takedown rewards guys attacking

it also, appropriately, puts more distance between the value of a takedown and an escape.

I recall Kyle Dake wrestling in a match against Binghamton University.  Binghamton had a pretty good wrestler in Kyle's weight class, but not good enough to beat Kyle, so their coach moved him to a different weight class and put some hapless guy in to wrestle Kyle.  Kyle took him down and immediately released him. He repeated this until he had enough points for a major decision, then decided, oh well, I'll just pin him.  With the new rule, the match would have been even shorter.
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