We completed the last full week of competition before Thanksgiving with some excellent tournaments and a feast of fantastic dual meets. A typical late November week of NCAA D1 wrestling, in other words. 

Box Scores | National Rankings | Last Week's Roundup

But late November only comes around once a year, so we should be extra thankful when we get to experience it. We should be so thankful, in fact, that I propose a new national holiday to be held in late November where everyone gathers with their friends and family, has a big meal, and proclaims how thankful they are for college wrestling. Maybe even throw in a parade for good measure. 

It will be called, The Giving of Thanks for College Wrestling Day, and everyone will love it. I'm sure of it. 

We’ll start the week as we did last week, with the Dual of the Century of the Week, because this is a pro-dual blog. Duals are the lifeblood of college wrestling. No duals, no season. No season, no fans. No fans, no new wrestlers, and the sport is forever diminished. 

The Dual of the Century, of the Week

Panthers Jab Jackrabbits In Criteria Win Under The Dome

It was Parker Keckeisen Collectable Wrestling Card Night in the UNI-Dome, and the Panthers won a nailbiter over rivals South Dakota State. UNI squeaked by via criteria 16-15, much to the delight of the 3,307 fans (minus the SDSU supporters in attendance) in the Panther's home opener. 

The matches were split down the middle, with each team winning five decisions. No team had more than a three-point lead at any point in the dual. That made it 15-15 after 10 bouts with Northern Iowa getting that extra tiebreaking point due to scoring more match points 62-51. 

The Panthers normally wrestle in the McLeod Center, where the UNI basketball and volleyball teams also play, but a scheduling conflict forced them to hold this meet in the UNI-Dome, where the Panther football team competes. Personally, I thought the dual in the dome looked cool as hell.

Thank you Panther fans for showing up to support the Panther Train in the dome today! #PantherTrain l #EverLoyal

📸 @allysonschwab pic.twitter.com/Hz1AVmrjcr

— UNI Wrestling (@UNI_wrestling) November 25, 2024

Sidenote: college wrestling in a football dome is fine. More than fine. You can be that far from the action and it's no big deal. The NCAAs in Minneapolis in the Vikings' dome is going to be fine, just fine.  

Anyway, what was best about this dual, imo, was that not only did every bout matter, but every point mattered. So it mattered to the Panthers when #14 Jared Simma only lost by one point to #3 Cade DeVos. Just like it mattered to the Panthers that #6 Ryder Downer beat #22 Cobe Siebrect by a seven point margin (the largest margin of the bonus-less dual).

Those margins mattered as the only upset on the day was unranked Cory Land of UNI defeating #27 Derrick Cardinal 9-7, but Land's teammate Julian Farber is ranked #30 at 133, and if Land remains the starter he would likely be ranked close to or above Cardinal, and by March this result might not be considered an upset. 

And not only did this evenly matched, back and forth dual meet feature 14 nationally ranked wrestlers, but it could also boast of a marquee top 5 matchup at 184, where defending national champ #2 Parker Keckeisen of UNI defeated #4 Bennett Berge of SDSU 8-3.

This dual had everything you could want from a spectator's perspective. These are the kind of duals that bring more people into the sport, and that's why, to me, it was the Dual of the Century of the Week. 

Here's a sweet highlight vid of the event. Also, shout out to Dick Smith for his generous donation to the UNI wrestling program!

Penn State's Roster Predicaments

The number one team in the country brought nearly their entire roster to the Black Knight Invitational, a magnificent tournament in West Point that I have now had the pleasure of covering in person three years in a row. 

Coach Sanderson entered two or three wrestlers per weight not just to win matches against wrestlers from eight other participating D1 teams, but to gain clarity regarding roster battles at 125, 157 and 197.

At 125, PSU has veteran Kurt McHenry, formerly of Michigan, now in his final year of eligibility, and Luke Lilledahl, a true freshman and the number one recruit in the high school class of 2024. Incidentally, both are freestyle U17 world champs, McHenry won in 2016 and 2017, and Lilledhal earned gold five years later in 2022.

McHenry and Lilledahl met in the semifinals, where Lilledahl prevailed 8-2, scoring the only two takedowns, the first early in the third period on an ankle pick and the second late in the third period off a last-ditch throw attempt from McHenry. Lilledhal went on to win his finals match over #23 Charlie Farmer of Army and is now in the driver's seat for the 125 starting spot in State College, though we may not get an official word on who the starter is from Coach Sanderson until later in the season, if at all.

157 saw two Nittany Lions, Tyler Kasak and Alex Facundo, meeting in the finals. Kasak started last season at 141. He defeated teammate David Evans at the 2023 Black Knight Invitational before losing to Beau Bartlett in the finals. Kasak bumped up to 149 shortly thereafter to man the spot vacated by Shayne Van Ness who was lost for the season due to an injury. Facundo, meanwhile, took last season off of college competition on an Olympic redshirt. The year before that he qualified for the NCAA tournament at 165lbs as a redshirt freshman, though he went 0-2 at Nationals. 

In the finals, Kasaky scored a takedown in the first minute off a reattack and held on to the lead for the rest of the match, ultimately winning 5-2. 

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Things were more decisive for Penn State at 197, as redshirt freshman Josh Barr bonused his way to a title, pinning his first two foes and then majoring teammates Connor Mirasola (11-0) and #21 Lucas Cochran (10-1). Mirasola will almost definitely stay in redshirt. Junior Lucas Cochran has already used his redshirt year. Expect to see Barr at 197 for PSU moving forward.

Penn State's more established big guns all went undefeated in West Point. #3 Beau Bartlett, #2 Shayne Van Ness and #1 Mitchell Mesenbrink all won in the finals by bonus at 141, 149 and 165 respectively. #1 Levi Haines, #1 Carter Starocci, and #1 Greg Kerkvliet all shared their titles in 'no-contests' with teammates Matt Lee, Zach Ryder and Cole Mirasola at 174, 184 and 285, respectively. Ryder and Mirasola will almost assuredly stay in redshirt while Matt Lee might technically be eligible for a redshirt, though he is already a fifth-year senior due to 2021 not counting against NCAA eligibility. 

Elsewhere at the Black Knight Invite:

• Army had the only champ not from Happy Valley, as Ethan 'Silent C' Berginc won 133 pounds.
  • Berginc moved up from 125, where he qualified for the NCAAs the last two seasons. 
  • The Black Knights also got strong performances from finalist Gunner 'I have the perfect first name for a cadet' Filipowicz at 165, and third placers Dalton Harkins at 174 and Brady Colbert at 285.
  • The Black Knights finished as runner-up in the team competitions.
• Rutgers may not have solved the two roster battles about which they were hoping to gain clarity at 149 and 184. 
  • At 157, junior Michael Cetta and senior Andrew Clark battled to a 1-1 tie in regulation. A scoreless sudden victory period followed. Clark ultimately prevailed in tiebreakers by riding out Cetta in the first and then choosing neutral and running out the clock in the second. As such, neither separated themselves much from the other and head coach Scott Goodale still has a difficult decision on his hands. 
  • At 197, both Brian Soldano and Shane Cartegenda-Walsh lost to Zach Ryder by similar margins, Soldano 4-2 and Cartegena-Walsh 4-1. Soldano and Cartegena-Walsh also didn't meet in the consolations. 
• Gardner-Webb had a nice showing and was the only southern school in the mix. 
  • Four Runnin Bulldogs placed, with TK Davis and Todd Carter making the finals at 133 and 141, respectively. 
• All winners at the event got sweat kevlar vests as a trophy and the O.W. (in this case Mitchell Mesenbrink) got a battle helmet. 
• Below you can see a picture of Berginc with his vest. 

Ethan Berginc is your Black Knight Invitational champion at 133 pounds!

It's a 9-6 win over TK Davis (Gardner-Webb)! pic.twitter.com/zSv5D6UAGO

— Army Wrestling (@ArmyWP_Wres) November 24, 2024

The Iowa Corn CyHawk Rivalry Continued

Iowa Runs Over Iowa State In Their Train Of Cornsequences

The Hawkeyes beat the Cyclones 21-15, marking the 20th straight win for Iowa in the storied rivalry, though one could argue the real winner this weekend was corn.

• NCAA finalist #7 Drake Ayala got back to his winning ways with an exciting 11-7 victory over All-American Evan Frost. 
• #4 Kyle Parco beat #6 Anthony Echemendia in a weird 4-3 bout where Ech got the only takedown but also the only 2 penalties. 
• Paniro Johnson got out of Gambling Jail (Head Coach Dresser's term!) just in time for a huge match against #1 Jacori Teemer. Unfortunately, Teemer injured what appeared to be a hamstring and injury defaulted. We hope Jacori has a speedy recovery!
• Patrick Kennedy wrestled 174 instead of #9 Nelson Brands and got a tech-fall over former teammate Aiden Riggins.
• True freshman Angelo Ferrari, brother to AJ, wrestled at 184 instead of #5 Gabe Arnold and got an 8-2 win over #17 Evan Bockman for the first win of his college career. 
• Stephen Buchannan looked every bit the #1 ranked wrestler in the nation with a 10-0 shutout of #14 Christian Carroll, which clinched the dual for the Hawkeyes.
• Yonger Bastida looked ferocious beating #12 Ben Keuter 7-2. 
• Many folks would probably call this the Dual of the Century of the Week, and with the fan bases of both teams, I get why. Also, Dan Gable was there chopping it up with our own JD Rader. However, I still think the UNI vs SDSU dual was cooler, and I make the rules in this blog.
• Here's a nice highlight vid of the dual the Hawkeyes media team put together. 

Looking back. 😮‍💨#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/pSVNdXf172

— Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling (@Hawks_Wrestling) November 25, 2024

Gable Steveson's Back!

Perhaps you already heard but the two-time NCAA champ Hodge Trophy winner and your Tokyo Olympic gold medalist is back on the mat in a Golden Gophers singlet. 

It's been nearly two years since Steveson took his shoes off and retired following his second title at the 2022 NCAA Championships. But Steveson unretired, which is his right, and now has two more collegiate wins on his resume. Steveson picked up a tech-fall over Blackburn-Forst of Norther Dakota State on Friday and then another tech against All-American Taye Ghadiali of Campbell on Sunday. 

2️⃣0️⃣-4️⃣ tech fall 👀

Gable Steveson dominated in his first home match since returning to @GopherWrestling.#B1GWrestling pic.twitter.com/ksWjBGsVex

— Big Ten Wrestling (@B1GWrestling) November 24, 2024

Gable wrestled Ghadiali in the first match of the dual after Campbell head coach Scott Sentes won the coin toss and elected to start the event at 285. It's possible the rest of the Gophers took that personally as they subsequently ran the table, shutting out the Camels 44-0. 

Minnesota also blanked the Bison of North Dakota State 39-0, so pretty good weekend for the Gophers. 

That's Philly Wrestling, Baby!

The Pennsylvania RTC hosted the Keystone Classic in the historic Palestra on UPenn's campus. 

• Lock Haven took home the team trophy, with four champs and 13 placers.
  • #13 Anthony Noto, Avery Bassett, Colin Fegley and Tucker Hogan all won titles at 133, 174, 184 and 197 respectively for the Bald Eagles.
• Virginia Tech placed second, with #1 Caleb Henson and Hunter Catka winning 149 and 285 respectively.
  • The Hokies were without the services of most of their starters who were late scratches to the competition.
• Penn had three champs, with #19 Max Gallagher, #17 CJ Composto and #20 Jude Swisher all earning titles at 125, 141 and 157 respectively. 
• The UPenn hospitality room remains undefeated. 

Philly Wrestling has the absolute best parents in the nation.

It’s not even close. pic.twitter.com/FxKFqKGYYl

— Kevin McGuigan (@WrestlingPhilly) November 24, 2024

Other Things Happens

• Cal Poly won the Roadrunner Open.
  • Cash Stewart (165), Jarad (Judas) Priest (197) and Daschle Lamer (184) all won titles in the CSU-Bakersfield hosted event.
• While that was going on out west, Cornell hosted the Big Red Invitational out east. 
  • The hosts won 3 weights in the A division of this round robin event, while Binghamton won 3. Buffalo won the remaining weight.
• Nebraska won the Navy Classic with five champs and 8 finalists.
  • Caleb Smith, Brock Hardy and Antrell Taylor all beat ranked opponents in their finals bouts. Silas Allred also won a finals bout, while Bubba Wilson and Chris Minto split 165 after a 'no-contest'. 
  • Oregon State finished second and hosts Navy finished third in the team scores. 
  • Navy's #22 Danny Wash had the biggest upset in the finals with a 10-5 win over #6 Lenny Pinto. 
• The Rider Broncs had a mixed bag of a weekend. They dropped a close 20-19 bout to MAC rivals Northern Illinois, but then bounced back and roughed up Wisconsin 28-12.
• Like a frat house before a home football game, Illinois started their weekend on Thursday, defeating Missouri 23-14.
  • Kannon Webster looks like a contender. He beat #14 Logan Gioffre 20-7. 
  • #2 Lucas Byrd also continued his winning ways with a 17-4 win over #31 Kade Moore. 
  • The best win of the evening for the Tigers was from true freshman Aeoden Sinclair, who defeated #9 Zac Braunagel 16-10. It's unknown (at least to me) if Rocky Elam will come back this season. Sinclair can still wrestle two more dates and keep his redshirt if Elam does come back. 
• Much like Parker Lewis, Terrell Barraclaugh can't lose. The Utah Valley senior picked up another win this weekend over #21 Derek Fields. 
  • UVU's newly minted head coach Adam Hall was facing the last team for which he most recently coached, the NC State Wolfpack. NCSU won 23-16. 
  • 125-pound redshirt freshman Wolfpacker Vince Robinson stayed undefeated and is 11-0 in his career. He has also wrestled at 5 events, so his redshirt gets burnt the next time he takes the mat in an NC State singlet. 
• An old Big East rivalry was renewed when Rutgers traveled to Blacksburg to wrestle Virginia Tech in the Moss Arts Center, a most excellent location for a dual meet. The Hokies won 26-11
• It's probably time to stop being surprised when Little Rock does things like beat Northwestern 29-10.
• David Taylor won his first two home duals in historic Gallagher-Iba Arena, running his career coaching record up to 4-0.  
  • The Cowboys beat the Cowboys (of Wyoming) 32-6 on Friday and then the Sun Devils (of Arizona State) 33-6 on Sunday. 
  • Notable wins for Oklahoma State included #6 Tory Spratley over #2 Jore Volk at 125, #13 Luke Surber over #10 Joey Novak at 197, and #3 Wyatt Hendrickson over #9 Cohlton Schultz 11-5.
  • The Sun Devils got upset wins at 149 and 165. Wyoming got a solid win from Gabe Willochell over Carter Young at 149.
  • Attendance for the duals: 6,781 vs Wyoming, 6,583 vs Arizona State.
  • They busted out the confetti in GIA: 

Pins = Confetti 🎊 pic.twitter.com/uOdgWBXodG

— Oklahoma State Athletics (@OSUAthletics) November 23, 2024

Heavy Metal Matness

Inspired by an FRL question, I made the topic of picking D1 programs and explaining what heavy metal bands they would be a feature of the roundup. I chose to do so because I like both wrestling and heavy metal music. I will continue to do so until I get bored of the idea or a deadline crunch forces me to jettison any superfluous material from this blog.

Today, I will compare Iowa State to Slipknot, because Slipknot is from Iowa and named one of the best albums 'Iowa'. Also I've been at the Black Knight Invitational all day and don't have the time to think of a better connection. 

But let me try. How about the fact that all Slipknot band members all wear numbered jumpsuits, and all Cyclones wear uniform singlets?

Yeah, that's pretty weak.

Okay, how about the fact that Slipknot has had three hall of fame drummers in their band, first Joey Jordison, then Jay Weinberg, and now Eloy Casagrande, and that Iowa State has had many hall of famers on their team like Dan Gable and Cael Sanderson and others? 

Yep, still pretty weak, but it will have to do because it's past my bedtime on Sunday night! Anyway, Iowa State is a great wrestling team and Slipknot is a great band (and NOT just a punchline from the Sopranos!) and I encourage everyone to watch Iowa State wrestling and listen to Slipknot.

What Would YOU Like To See In This Blog? 

It wouldn’t exist with you so I implore you to provide feedback! 

Send all suggestions, requests, commendations and condemnations to me at [andrew.spey@flosports.tv]. I’m also usually available on Twitter (@speywrestle). The most useful kind of feedback is results and noteworthy happenings that took place during the week that you would like to see mentioned in this blog before I write it. But I'm not picky, I'll take whatever feedback you'd like to send me!

Thanks for spending a few minutes with the Roundup! Every second you spend on this website is very much appreciated!