Mega Upsets Highlight Weekend in D1 Wrestling
Mega Upsets Highlight Weekend in D1 Wrestling
Upset Weekend in D1 Wrestling
Christian Pyles
‘Expect the unexpected.’ It’s cliche, overused, but painfully accurate for this year of division 1 wrestling. Three Freshman (Zain Retherford, Gabe Dean and Adam Coon) have knocked off two time champions this season. There has been rankings turnover all season long, especially with the top guys.
The season of upsets. More than any other year, I think this is the season with more big time upsets than I can ever recall.
It all came to a head this weekend. Upsets abounded when teams and individuals fell to foes ranked far below them.
It started Saturday afternoon when another #1 went down.
Individual Surprises:
At 125 #4 Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma fell to #7 Dylan Peters of UNI. Typically an upset like this would garner a bit more buzz, but this type of result is par for the course for this season.
Anthony Collica joined the list of upset victims when he fell to both Collin Johnston of West Virginia as well as Edgar Bright of PIttsburgh.
Then #3 James Green not only beat, but dominated undefeated and returning NCAA champion Derek St. John. DSJ was the only returning champ who was yet to fall. The way the season had gone, it seemed more a question of when, and not if DSJ would fall. We got our answer Saturday as well as a new #1 at 157.
The St. John loss was mildly predictable considering Green had prior success against DSJ. The most surprising upset of the entire weekend (for me) would be the Mike Racciato pin of #4 Josh Kindig. Racciato had been very solid this season, but a pin against Kindig was the biggest shocker for me.
Quite a weekend for Michigan Freshman Brian Murphy. He falls to Zac Brunson of Illinois, and follows it up with a victory over 2 time AA Dylan Ness. Murphy is currently ranked 15th in the country.
I was about 1 match late to the Adam Coon party. Now I’m all in. The undefeated True Freshman from Michigan left little doubt he was the better guy when he beat Tony Nelson in SV 2. He moved the 2 time champ around the mat and was unrideable. When Nelson worked up the nerve to shoot, he paid dearly.
Team Surprises:
The Dakotas
It was a good day for the Dakota’s as North Dakota State knocked off Oregon State and South Dakota State upended Wyoming.
The Panthers
It was a good weekend for “Panthers” in general as the UNI Panthers knocked off the Sooners of Oklahoma 19-17. Not to be outdone, the Panthers of Pittsburgh won on criteria (the Racciato pin) 19-18 in probably the biggest dual upset of the year.
U of M's
Michigan probably had the most dramatic of upsets when the Wolverines welcomed #3 Minnesota and sent them away empty handed. Upsets from #10 Eric Grajales over #3 Nick Dardanes, Murphy over Ness and Coon over Nelson were the difference as the Wolverines won 19-14.
Christian Pyles
‘Expect the unexpected.’ It’s cliche, overused, but painfully accurate for this year of division 1 wrestling. Three Freshman (Zain Retherford, Gabe Dean and Adam Coon) have knocked off two time champions this season. There has been rankings turnover all season long, especially with the top guys.
The season of upsets. More than any other year, I think this is the season with more big time upsets than I can ever recall.
It all came to a head this weekend. Upsets abounded when teams and individuals fell to foes ranked far below them.
It started Saturday afternoon when another #1 went down.
Individual Surprises:
At 125 #4 Jarrod Patterson of Oklahoma fell to #7 Dylan Peters of UNI. Typically an upset like this would garner a bit more buzz, but this type of result is par for the course for this season.
Anthony Collica joined the list of upset victims when he fell to both Collin Johnston of West Virginia as well as Edgar Bright of PIttsburgh.
Then #3 James Green not only beat, but dominated undefeated and returning NCAA champion Derek St. John. DSJ was the only returning champ who was yet to fall. The way the season had gone, it seemed more a question of when, and not if DSJ would fall. We got our answer Saturday as well as a new #1 at 157.
The St. John loss was mildly predictable considering Green had prior success against DSJ. The most surprising upset of the entire weekend (for me) would be the Mike Racciato pin of #4 Josh Kindig. Racciato had been very solid this season, but a pin against Kindig was the biggest shocker for me.
Quite a weekend for Michigan Freshman Brian Murphy. He falls to Zac Brunson of Illinois, and follows it up with a victory over 2 time AA Dylan Ness. Murphy is currently ranked 15th in the country.
I was about 1 match late to the Adam Coon party. Now I’m all in. The undefeated True Freshman from Michigan left little doubt he was the better guy when he beat Tony Nelson in SV 2. He moved the 2 time champ around the mat and was unrideable. When Nelson worked up the nerve to shoot, he paid dearly.
Team Surprises:
The Dakotas
It was a good day for the Dakota’s as North Dakota State knocked off Oregon State and South Dakota State upended Wyoming.
The Panthers
It was a good weekend for “Panthers” in general as the UNI Panthers knocked off the Sooners of Oklahoma 19-17. Not to be outdone, the Panthers of Pittsburgh won on criteria (the Racciato pin) 19-18 in probably the biggest dual upset of the year.
U of M's
Michigan probably had the most dramatic of upsets when the Wolverines welcomed #3 Minnesota and sent them away empty handed. Upsets from #10 Eric Grajales over #3 Nick Dardanes, Murphy over Ness and Coon over Nelson were the difference as the Wolverines won 19-14.