Wrestling 2024 Postseason

[ugarte]

Seeds are out. Some info about the seeeds, the path forward and some quick thoughts:

125: Ungar (17) v Peterson (Rutgers - 16)
Good news, Davis (PSU - 1)
Bad news, loser of the pigtail then (probably) DeAugustino (Mich - 18) or Smith (Neb - 15)

133: Arujau (6!!!) v Strickland (Lock Haven - 27)
Good news, winner of Romney (Cal Poly - 11)/Zaccone (Campbell - 22). Crookham got the 2, so same side of the bracket with Orine (NC State - 3) in the way.
Bad news, not thinking about it. Means he's hurt.

141: Cornella (24) v Hardy (Nebraska - 9)
Good news, winner of Pucino (Illinois - 25)/Lemley (Michigan -
Bad news, loser of Pucino/Lemley, then (probably) Haeppel (UNI - 7) or Jamison (Ok. St. - 10)

149: Fernandez (9!) v Tyus (SIUE - 24)
Good news, winner of Swiderski (ISU - /Williams (Army - 25)
Bad news, loser of Swiderski/Williams, then (probably) Lamer (Cal-Poly - 10)

157: Shapiro (3!) v Washleski (Rider - 30)
Good news, winner of Chittum (ISU - 14)/Aksey (App. St. - 19). Interesting that Daniel Cardenas is the 6 set for the QF.
Bad news... come on.

165: Ramirez (3) v Hamilton (UVA - 30)
Good news, winner of Petrucelli (Air Force - 14)/Filipowicz (Army - 19). Mesenbrink is the 2, with Carr and O'Toole on the other side of the bracket.
Bad news... come on. Even though Hamilton won the ACC, it wasn't a strong ACC weight this year.

174: Baker (26) v Wolak (Columbia - 7)
Good news, winner of Incontrera (Penn - 10)/Augustine (Pitt - 23)
Bad news, loser of Incontrera/Augustine then (probably) Kemp (Cal Poly - or a less-than-100% Starocci.

184: Foca (14) v Conway (F&M - 19)
Good news, Plott (Ok. St. - 3). Plott probably remembers last year...
Bad news, Duval (GMU - 30) then (probably) ... Ayzerov (Columbia - 13) but if he loses to Conway, he's hurt.

197: Cardenas (5) v Wehmeyer (Columbia - 28)
Good news, winner of Elam (Mizzou - 12)/Stout (Pitt - 21). Beard (4) waiting in the QF.
Bad news, I don't want to think about.

285: Fernandes (15) v Szuba (Rider - 18)
Good news, Bastida (ISU - 2). Bastida beat him last year when Bastida was 197 and wrestling up a weight for the day. Yeesh.
Bad news, Tabor (Minn - 31), then probably a familiar face in Greiss (Navy - 16) or Day (Binghamton - 17)

[ugarte]

How bad did Cornella get hurt?

UPDATE: Badly enough that he has withdrawn from NCAAs on the eve of the tournament.

[ugarte]

NCAA round 1:

125: Brett Ungar in the 16/17 matchup against a kid from Rutgers. Listless bout where neither guy took any risks. The first 9 minutes ended tied 1-1. In the rideout tiebreaker, Ungar escaped in 9 seconds then held down Rutgers for the full 30. Ballgame. Boring but it counts. He faces the 1 seed next round so I'm peeking at his path through the consolation bracket

133: Vito Arujau, who ended up with the 6 seed because he didn't wrestle much and lost twice (to the 2 seed), had an easy time of it. He probably should have gotten a tech fall instead of a major decision but the ref didn't give him the benefit of a late call that cost him 2 points. His opponent in the next round won in an upset, so he's got the 22 seed instead of the 11.

141: Pouring one out for Vince Cornella, who had to withdraw with an injury.

149: Ethan Fernandez, with a surprisingly high 9 seed, took advantage of his good fortune and won comfortably. His next match is against Casey Swiderski (ISU) who stunned Cornella with a bluffed release and pinned him at 141 last year. I want revenge. Ethan, get Cornell its revenge.

157: Meyer Shapiro wins by fall. Easy peasy. There was an upset in the 14/19 match, so he gets a guy who he blew out a month ago.

165: Julian Ramirez took an early lead, sat on it, and nearly lost because of it. Escapes with a 5-4 win, and it looked like he was dead to rights on a late takedown that he was able to barely hold off as time expired. Up next is the 14 seed, who won his first match by fall.

174: Benny Baker was up against Columbia's Wolak, who just won Easterns. Couldn't keep it close. He does have a winnable match in the consolations, though Pitt's Augustino did beat him in December.

184: Chris Foca was up 4-0 heading into the 3d period against an inferior wrestler. He spent that period backing up, was called for stalling three times, then relaxed before the buzzer and gave up a takedown with one second left to lose 5-4. I will see that in my nightmares for a while. He gets the winner of the 30/33 match in the consolation bracket.

197: Jacob Cardenas took the lead then coasted at the end. He nearly scored a TD to make it a major decision at the whistle, but no dice. His next match is against Mizzou's Mocco, who he beat earlier this year.

285: Lewis Fernandes started slow but eventually cracked the code and cruised to a MD win. Up next is #2 Bastida, who has beaten him twice, including once when Bastida was a bumped up 197.

After the first session, Cornell is tied for 7th.

[ugarte]

Next session at 7pm Eastern.All of the matches are streaming on ESPN+ and there's an ESPN channel showing the featured matches.

Championship:
125: [16] Ungar v [1] Braeden Davis (PSU)
133: [6] Arujau v [22] Dominic Zaccone (Campbell)
149: [9] Fernandez v [8] Casey Swiderski (ISU) - Get some revenge for Cornella here, please!
157: [3] Shapiro v [19] Tommy Askey (App St) - Teched him at the dual
165: [3] Ramirez v [14] Giano Petrucelli (AFA)
197: [5] Cardenas v [12] Rocky Elam (Mizzou) - Cardenas won at the dual
285: [15] Fernandes v [2] Yonger Bastida - Bastida is 2-0 against Fernandes, including when he was bumping up from 197

Consolation:
174: [26] Baker v [23] Luca Augustine (Pitt) - Augustine won back in December before Baker went off
184: [14] Foca v winner of [30] Malachi DuVall (GMU)/[33]Tomas Brooker (App St)

[ugarte]

Session 2 recap:

Championship:
125: [16] Ungar v [1] Braeden Davis (PSU) - Davis may have hurt his hand in the first match, which may have slowed him down. The result was another slog of a match. The only difference between this and Ungar's first round match is that Davis was better in the top position and picked up a RT point to win 2-1 in regulation. Ungar's next match is against DeAugustino (Michigan), who he was leading back in December when DeAugustino defaulted. A tough matchup and the road to AA doesn't get easier. Most likely has to get through the 9 seed for the right to face the loser of 3 vs 6.

133: [6] Arujau v [22] Dominic Zaccone (Campbell) - Arujau breezed to an 11-1 MD. The QF at 133 is chalk, so he's got the 3 seed, NC State's Kai Orine. Arujau skipped the NC State dual, so they've never met. A win gets Arujau on the podium but for a returning NCAA champion, that's not the goal.  

149: [9] Fernandez v [8] Casey Swiderski (ISU) - Fernandez got the first takedown but Swiderski got one of his own and took the match to OT, eventually winning in rideouts. A good fight from Fernandez but couldn't quite get there. His next match is against (7) Kasak (Penn State) and if he gets through that he'd eventually have to beat the loser of the 3v6 QF. Tough road.

157: [3] Shapiro v [19] Tommy Askey (App St) - Shapiro has looked like our best wrestler at NCAAs. Another tech fall over Askey to get to the QF where he has a shot at revenge against Stanford's Cardenas. Hard to see him losing the way he's been wrestling.

165: [3] Ramirez v [14] Giano Petrucelli (AFA) - Ramirez had no trouble, winning 9-3. Tough QF against Iowa's Caliendo, a returning All-American who has been scoring points in bunches at the tournament.

197: [5] Cardenas v [12] Rocky Elam (Mizzou) - Cardenas came out flat; in the second period he was literally flat. Elam rode him the full two minutes, picking up two points for Cardenas's stalling (kind of unfair, since he couldn't get any leverage to get up). In the end, Cardenas lost 4-0. Cardenas has a manageable path back to the podium but he is likely to have to beat Binghamton's DePrez again - no small task, with his toughest match along the way probably Nebraska's Allred, who he handled in December.

285: [15] Fernandes v [2] Yonger Bastida - This went about how I expected. Bastida kept taking Fernandes down then letting him up on the way to a 20-5 tech fall. His first match in the consolation is against Day (Binghamton), who he pinned at the conference tournament. After that, the path is ... rough. First, NC State's Trephan, who has beaten him twice (including by fall) and then the path is blocked by a pair of top-flight wrestlers he is also 0-2 against, again including once by fall.

Consolation:
174: [26] Baker v [23] Luca Augustine (Pitt) - Augustine handled Baker pretty easily, winning 8-2. Only a moderately disappointing 0-2 because just getting to the tournament at all was a huge accomplishment for Baker and I'm glad he got to do it before graduating.

184: [14] Foca v winner of [30] Malachi DuVall (GMU) - Foca took Duvall apart, winning by tech 15-0. Annoyingly (maybe inevitably) his next match is against Columbia's Ayzerov. Ayzerov has had his number, beating him three times this season. No time like the present to turn it around! No easy wins on the path if he gets past Ayzerov, but also I don't think any impossible opponents.

Cornell is in 8th heading into day 2.

[semsox]

Thanks for the recaps ugarte! As a non-wrestling expert who only tunes in for the NCAA's, I'm glad you were just as confounded by Foca's first match. I was watching live, glanced away for one of the basketball games, and when I checked in again, he was shaking hands. I rewound and was just as confused as to how it all happened. Pretty disappointing.

Also regarding the Cardenas match, but maybe more of a general question, I am somewhat confused about being assessed stalling points when on bottom. What is the criteria the official is looking for that he'd hit Cardenas twice when he doesn't have leverage to do anything? He at least appeared (to my untrained eyes) to be continuously searching for a more favorable position to begin an escape attempt, but apparently not...

[ugarte]

Thanks for the recaps ugarte! As a non-wrestling expert who only tunes in for the NCAA's, I'm glad you were just as confounded by Foca's first match. I was watching live, glanced away for one of the basketball games, and when I checked in again, he was shaking hands. I rewound and was just as confused as to how it all happened. Pretty disappointing.

Also regarding the Cardenas match, but maybe more of a general question, I am somewhat confused about being assessed stalling points when on bottom. What is the criteria the official is looking for that he'd hit Cardenas twice when he doesn't have leverage to do anything? He at least appeared (to my untrained eyes) to be continuously searching for a more favorable position to begin an escape attempt, but apparently not...

Foca's issue arguably relates back to a shoulder injury at the conference tournament but idk. It seemed more like he relaxed for whatever reason - or stumbled - and got caught by Conway who wrestled to the whistle. His 15-0 destruction of his next opponent weighs against it being injury-related imo.

Calling stalling on bottom is tricky. I don't know how refs decide it. Without having been trained as a ref, I imagine it's something like "if you don't try to elevate yourself to escape - which also naturally risks giving the top person better access to a grip to turn you over - you're stalling." So, yeah, he was kind of trapped underneath, but he was totally bellied out and arguably trying harder to stay totally flat than to get up. That's a best guess anyway.

[dag14]

I have never wrestled so I can only guess about what happened at the end of Foca's match.  I felt like he thought the match was over rather than not wrestling to the end, just the way he moved. Was someone counting down the final seconds maybe a little too fast?  Did he misread the clock if he could see it? It all just seemed very strange to me.

[underskill]

Curious for anyone with actual knowledge how the program seems to be fairing post Koll? Both in terms of recruiting and actual performance

[ugarte]

Curious for anyone with actual knowledge how the program seems to be fairing post Koll? Both in terms of recruiting and actual performance

Really great classes coming in. Performance remains really solid, though this class is still part Koll.

[ugarte]

125: Ungar v [18] DeAugustino - Slow start, as Ungar gets hit twice for stalling in the first period, costing him a point. In the second period, Ungar starts on bottom and gets out after ~50 seconds to tie the match. In the third, Ungar lets DeAugustino up pretty quickly. He could send the match to OT with a two-minute ride, but the worst case scenario is riding *almost* two minutes because it would mean no time to come back. With ~30 seconds left, Ungar finally FINALLY scores an offensive point, with a neat duck-under double and stays on top to the end for a clutch 4-2 win to stay alive.

His path to the podium got "easier" on paper because the 9 seed lost to SDSU's [23] Tanner Jordan. If he gets past Jordan, Ok. State's [6] Troy Spratley will be waiting in the blood round.

133: Arujau v [3] Orine - Domination. Arujau nearly gave up a takedown once, but turned it into his own offense. I think his knee isn't perfect because he hasn't really been working to stay in the top position for riding time, preferring neutral. 13-3 Major Decision.. Arujau is an All-American for the 4th time.

Up next, in the SF, Lehigh's undefeated freshman [2] Ryan Crookham. Crookham stunned Arujau in the first match of the year then beat him again in the conference final. Third time's the charm? It better be!

149: Fernandez v Kasak - looked away and missed it, but Kasak pinned Fernandez in under a minute. Fernandez will be back for his junior year. This whole season was a very pleasant surprise.

157: Shapiro v Cardenas - As I type, Shapiro is in the concussion protocol. He and Cardenas were in a body lock, went down and Shapiro banged his head on the mat. He's back. At the time he went into the protocol, Shapiro was up 3-0. Cardenas rode him for the full two minutes. In the third period, Shapiro needed to be on top for a minute to wipe out the RT point but Cardenas was out in ~30 seconds. With :48 seconds left, Shapiro got hit with a kind of iffy stall warning. Between the RT and the escape, another stall point would send the match to SV 3-3. Without the stall call, Shapiro probably spends the last 20 seconds running away, but instead he takes a decent shot but doesn't quite catch the leg clean and Cardenas spins behind him for a TD, falling behind 5-3 (with the RT). He got a restart with 14 seconds left needing a reversal to go to OT. He got the escape but not reversal, and he goes down 5-4. Frustrating!

He'll need to win one more to get to the podium. As long as his head is OK, he shouldn't have a problem with anyone fighting to get to him but... this is exactly what happened to him in LV and his match after losing to Cardenas he was clearly a bit in a fog and lost to a far-inferior wrestler. The top seeded wrestler in the "pod" fighting to get him just got knocked out. As long as he's healthy, it's hard to see him falling short of the podium.

165: Ramirez v Caliendo - Caliendo just beat him in every position, 9-4. Didn't look good at all.

Ramirez is back in the blood round for the third straight time, needing one more win to get to All-American. He'll be the clear favorite over whoever he faces and it will be heartbreaking if he misses it. Defector has a great article about the blood round from a former Wyoming wrestler and I recommend it.

184: Foca v Ayzerov After losing to Ayzerov three times, I guess Foca had enough. He took him down off the whistle, straight to his back for 4 back points. He then turned him over for 4 more back points. Then turned him over again for 2 more back points. He let Ayzerov up after a restart then took him down again for a hilariously dominant 16-1 TF win in about 90 seconds.

He's got to win one more match to get to the blood round, where [7] Stewart Jr. fom VT is waiting. I'm not looking past that match he has to win - it's [12] Bullock (Michigan), and it should be fun. Foca's last two matches have been fantastic after that first round brain fart.

197: Cardenas v Smith - Cardenas with an escape early in the second and a takedown late in the period, he was up 4-0 heading to the third period. He spent the third period basically avoiding trouble and advanced with a 4-2 win. 2 away from the blood round.

Up next, Northern Iowa's [19] Voelker.

285: Fernandes v Day - Ugh. Scoreless tie, Fernandes started the second period on top, Day rolled him over, reached back and the refs called a flash defensive pin. Fernandes is out.

[ugarte]

I had to run, so I wasn't able to watch the third round of consolation matches live. We had three guys going.

125: Ungar v Jordan - No scoring in the first period. Jordan chose down in the second. Ungar with a strong ride, got RT up over a minute but as they tumbled out of bounds something happened to Ungar's ankle. He got it taped up but he wasn't the same. Jordan cleverly chose top, betting on Ungar's ankle making it hard for him to stand up and got RT under a minute. In the third period, Ungar chose neutral but as he limped around you could kind of sense that it wouldn't end well and it didn't. Jordan was able to take him down and Ungar couldn't stand up. Loses 3-0.

184: Foca v Bullock - All Foca. Foca scored the first takedown a minute in to the match, though Bullock escaped quickly. In the second period, Bullock escaped again, but Foca quickly scored another takedown and this time held Bullock down long enough to head to the third with a 6-3 lead and 1:09 in RT. Foca started on bottom and got out immediately, scoring the escape and retaining his RT. With 31 seconds left, Foca got another TD and Bullock basically gave up. With the RT point, Foca picked up a major decision.

197: Cardenas v Voelker - No scoring in the first period. Cardenas started the second period down and was out off the whistle; he got a late takedown to go to the third up 4-0. In the third, voelker escaped quickly, but Cardenas got a takedown. Voelker escaped, but then backed up so much he got hit with a stalling penalty point even though he was losing. With time running out, Cardenas got a final takedown at the whistle and RT for a 12-2 major decision.

That means that in tonight's session (starting at 8 eastern) we have 5 wrestlers still alive.

Semis:

133: [6] Arujau v [2] Crookham (Lehigh) in the semifinals. Is the third time the charm for Vito against Crookham?

Blood round: (winner is AA)

157: [3] Shapiro v [26] Johnny Lovett (CMU)

165: [3] Ramirez v [9] Hall (WV)

184: [14] Foca v [7] Stewart Jr. (VT)

197: [5] Cardenas v [10] Allred (Nebraska)

All winnable, nothing guaranteed.

We've falling to 11th in the team race, though 6 - 11 are tightly packed.

[ugarte]

The evening session was equal parts thrilling and disappointing but now that the dust has settled, here we go:

133: [6] Arujau v [2] Crookham (Lehigh) in the semifinals. Is the third time the charm for Vito against Crookham?

Indeed it was. Vito went for the jugular early and never let up. Takedown at the beginning of the first. Takedown at the end of the first. Takedown at the end of the second. Takedown at the end of the third. When the smoke cleared, Vito got his revenge with a 13-3 MD.

Up next is Oklahoma State's [1] Daton Fix. Fix is a four-time All-American and a former World Silver medalist... but he's never won. Finished second three times and fourth last year ... after Vito beat hmi in the semis. Vito has looked much better in the tournament so far. Hoping he finishes the job tomorrow.


Blood round: (winner is AA)

157: [3] Shapiro v [26] Johnny Lovett (CMU)

Lovett came out attacking but Shapiro was too much. Shapiro had two takedowns in the first period, got 3NF points in the third and, with a riding time point at the end, won by Major, 13-5. As a true freshman, Shapiro is an All-American. And he still had one more match to go.

After the blood round, they hold one more round. Winners go to the consolation semifinal, losers go to the 7th place match. His opponent was Iowa's [10] Jared Franek, last year's 7th place finisher (when he was at NDSU). Shapiro continued his barrage, with takedowns in every period and won by major again, 11-2. He'll be in the consolation semifinal tomorrow (winner goes for 3d, loser for 5th) against VT's [12] Bryce Andonian, who he beat twice this year (the second time by injury default but IIRC he was winning handily at the time).

165: [3] Ramirez v [9] Hall (WV)

After the loss to Caliendo, Ramirez had to clear his head to face WV's [9] Peyton Hall. Hall pinned him last year, but Ramirez was having a better season. Today wasn't his day, though. Hall scored in the first and second periods and Ramirez was never really in this one. Lost 8-2. This is the third year in a row that he's lost in the blood round. He's got one more year to break through. I believe.

184: [14] Foca v [7] Stewart Jr. (VT)

Foca had been on fire after his shocking first round loss. Not to be, though. He gave up a second period TD and went into the third trailing 3-2. In the third, he almost got a takedown once... twice... three times. But each time the action went out of bounds before he could finish. Disappointing loss. I feel like next year, when he knows he'll be 184 from the jump, he's an AA easy.

197: [5] Cardenas v [10] Allred (Nebraska)

Cardenas was an AA last year and I knew he'd get back. He beat Allred pretty badly early in the year. It wasn't as easy today, but he won a workmanlike match, 5-2 to get back on the podium for a second straight year. Like Shapiro, he had one more match to see if he would guarantee an improvement on last years result.

Up next was UALR's [9] Stephen Little. It's been a historic year for Little Rock, whose team is around five years old. They got their first national qualifier ever in 2021 and this year they got a pair of All-Americans. We can't worry about that, though. Cardenas needed to win. And win he did. Got a takedown in the first period, tilted Little and got his shoulders square. BAM. Pin in 1:18. He'll be in the consi semifinal tomorrow morning, along with Shapiro.

When all was said and done, we have one finalist and two still alive for third place. Not as good as I'd hoped but not bad by any measure.

The team is currently in 6th. This is how the top 10 shapes up, with the remaining possible scorers. Winning the title gets a team 4 points, winning the consi semi is worth 3, winning the 3/5/7 match is worth 1. Plus more for bonus point wins.

Code Select Expand



  Final 3/5 7th
1  Penn State [b]148!!![/b] [b]6!!![/b] 2 -
2  Michigan  64.5 2 2 -
3  Iowa  60 1 2 1
4  Arizona State  59.5 2 2 -
4  Iowa State  59.5 1 2 1
6  [b]Cornell[/b]  58.5 1 2 -
7  Ohio State  57    2 1 -
8  Oklahoma State 55 2 1 -
9  Virginia Tech  53 1 2 1
10 Nebraska  52 - 3 2


[ugarte]

Saturday morning, action starts at  11.

157: [3] Meyer Shapiro v [12] Bryce Andonian (VT) - Meyer is 2-0 vs Andonian.

On the other side of the bracket, [6] Cardenas (Stanford) vs [7] Keller (Ohio). The winners face off for third, the losers for fifth. Cardenas beat Shapiro twice this season. Revenge would be sweet.

197: [5] Jacob Cardenas v [12] Rocky Elam (Mizzou) - Cardenas won at the dual and Elam got him back here in the second round.

On the other side of the bracket, [3] Sloan (SDSU) v [8] Buchanan (Oklahoma).

After these matches, they'll have the 3/5/7 placement matches.

The finals start at 7pm.

[ugarte]

157: [3] Meyer Shapiro v [12] Bryce Andonian (VT) - Meyer is 2-0 vs Andonian.

On the other side of the bracket, [6] Cardenas (Stanford) vs [7] Keller (Ohio). The winners face off for third, the losers for fifth. Cardenas beat Shapiro twice this season. Revenge would be sweet.

The revenge match will be for third place.  Both Shapiro and Cardenas won their placement matches by pin. The first period was wild. Shapiro exposed Andonian's back in a scramble then finished the takedown for a 5-0 lead. Andonian then exposed Shapiro during a reversal to tie the match at 5. I thought Shapiro should have scored 7 but in the end it didn't matter. Shapiro started the second period on bottom and pulled off the most creative pin I've ever seen.

While trying to ride Shapiro, Andonian ended up riding high like a backpack.  Shapiro got up in a tripod, pulled Andonian forward and squared his shoulders to the mat while still in the tripod position for the fall.

  The third place match against Cardenas is coming up soon.

197: [5] Jacob Cardenas v [12] Rocky Elam (Mizzou) - Cardenas won at the dual and Elam got him back here in the second round.

On the other side of the bracket, [3] Sloan (SDSU) v [8] Buchanan (Oklahoma).

Cardenas had a less exciting match, but it was satisfying all the same. Cardenas scored the only two takedowns of the match, winning 7-2.

Buchanan pulled off a modest upset to beat Sloan, who i really didn't want to see.

Those two wins, plus the bonus points from Shapiro's pin - have pulled Cornell up into third place. We trail only Penn State - who keeps piling on points - and Michigan heading into the third place matches.