NCAA Week 7 Roundup: 'Tis The Wrestling Season
NCAA Week 7 Roundup: 'Tis The Wrestling Season
The biggest stories from the seventh week of the 2022-2023 college wrestling season.
It was a relatively slow week for college wrestling, as the holiday season has kicked into high gear and final exams for the semester have eaten into the student-athletes' time as if a new edition of Grand Theft Auto just dropped.
I’m also still recovering from the company holiday party (I am simply no longer built for that life) so this will be a mercifully short roundup. Now let’s get to it before the elves in Santa’s workshop revolt against their Arctic overlord and shut this whole merry season down.
Rudolph’s Redlight Special Dual Meet of the Century, of the Week
Nebraska at South Dakota State aka PAIN on the PLAINS
The Huskers of Nebraska challenged their neighbors to the north for a dual in Brookings, SD against the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State. The two programs have a total of 16 ranked wrestlers between them on their rosters. Not too shabby!
Highlighting the dual were ranked matchups between #5 Brock Hardy of Nebraska and All-American #15 Clay Carlson of SDSU at 141 and #13 Bubba Wilson of the Huskers and #11 Tanner Cook of the Jackrabbits.
Hardy vs Carlson lived up to its billing, with Hardy taking the razor-close bout in sudden victory, 7-5. Tanner Cook responded the only way he knows how, with a bonkers first-period pin over Bubba Wilson.
If you have 60 seconds to spare, we recommend watching the Cook match in its entirety below.
However, the Huskers would ultimately prevail. A pin by Liam Cronin at 125 and a major decision by #17 Lenny Pinto over #16 Cade King also helped fuel Nebraska to a 22-17 victory.
You can watch all the match archives here.
Other Awesome Duals
Hokies Chop Down the Cardinal
One of the most anticipated bouts of the evening was between #11 Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech vs #16 All-American Jaden Abas of Stanford. The result on Stanford's campus was an 11-1 major decision for Henson.
Nick Stemmet of Stanford did pick up an upset win over #16 Andy Smith at 197 pounds, but the Hokies pulled ahead early and never trailed after Latona defeated Disario by major decision at 133. The final was 22-12, Virginia Tech.
The Golden Eagles of Clarion Soared to Three Victories
Clarion defeated PSAC rival Bloomsburg on Monday, then took out Gardner-Webb and SIU-Edwardsville on Friday. Though they dropped a match to Chattanooga along the way, it was a solid week for the Golden Eagles, who were led by senior Seth Koleno, who went 4-0 on the week, running the Clarence, PA native’s record up to 9-4 on the season.
App State Upsets North Carolina
The Mountaineers, a school with a long history of illustrious upsets, took out their in-state rivals thanks to a pivotal upset of Tar Heel All-American Clay Lautt by Will Miller at 174-pounds, and a pinfall by #23 Caleb Smith at 125.
Austin O’Connor made his return to the mat for the first time this season, earning a 7-4 decision over Tommy Askey at 157. But it was App State who claimed glory in Chapel Hill with a Thursday Night dual meet win.
There Were No D1 Wrestling Matches On Saturday
Isn’t that funny? No D1 college wrestling on Saturday. I didn’t have anything else to add to that, just thought it was interesting enough to make note of. Anyhow.
The Biggest Little Tournament of Champions in the World
Reno played host to the Reno Tournament of Champions (would be weird if another city hosted the Reno TOC, but we digress), which featured a hella gnarly high school boys tournament, an very excellent high school girls tourney, a collection of rad NAIA college duals, and a superb collegiate open tournament featuring a half-dozen D1 programs.
Michigan State took home the team title, while high school junior and Stanford commit Aden Valencia stole the show, winning the 133-pound division and earning Outstanding Wrestler.
We commemorated those achievements with the following Twitter post.
That's a wrap on the 2022 Reno TOC college tournament!
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) December 19, 2022
Team champs: @MSU_Wrestling
Outstanding Wrestler: @aden_andstill pic.twitter.com/fUWAEAzIfy
Aden defeated All-American Rayvon Foley in the round of 16 and then NCAA national qualifier Reece Witcraft in the semis before felling Henry Porter of Indiana in the finals. You can watch that title-winning bout below.
Trevor Mastrogiovanni of Oklahoma State (a team that arrived in Reno with a mix of attached and unattached wrestlers, Mastro was wrestling unattached, for the record), impressed while winning the 125-pound bracket, and Michigan State’s team title was powered by (among others) Cam Caffey’s impressive run through the 197-pound field, which included three pins, a tech, and a major.
You can check out all the results, brackets, team scores and more inside FloArena.
Looking Ahead
It’s not just sleigh bells you hear, it’s also the sound of holiday tournaments gearing up. The Collegiate Duals are first up. The two-day dual meet extravaganze actually starts today (if you’re reading this on Monday).
After that, it's the storied Midlands, then the brand new Soldier Salute in Coralville, Iowa, and finally, we ring in the new year with the traditional Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga.
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas (and a merry every other day while I'm wishing). See you next time!