Immediate Bracket Reactions For The 2019 Bill Farrell
Immediate Bracket Reactions For The 2019 Bill Farrell
Immediate bracket reactions for all six men's freestyle weights at the 2019 Bill Farrell, which serves as the first qualifier for the Olympic Trials.
Today's the day! The Bill Farrell is about to get rolling. It will serve as the first qualifier for the 2020 Olympic Team Trials.
Watch the 2019 Bill Farrell Memorial LIVE on Flo
November 16 | 9:30 AM Eastern
We've got immediate bracket reactions for you at all six weights. It will be men's freestyle all day today. Brackets can be found in FloArena.
Projected Seeds | Freestyle Preview
57kg
Ho boy. We knew this was going to be a difficult one to separate the top guys, but no matter we were going to get excellent matchups we’ve never seen before. First things first, Nahson Garrett is on the top side, and with him already qualified for the Trials it becomes immensely more valuable to be on the bottom side.
So let’s get right into the bottom side. Jumping off the page is that Nick Suriano/Seth Gross quarterfinal, a matchup we’ve yet to enjoy in any style. Suriano is on an Olympic Redshirt but has wrestled just one freestyle match since 2014, while Gross took last freestyle season off recovering from a back injury.
The winner of that should get Darian Cruz or Zach Sanders to (potentially) get the qualifying spot. Sanders beat Cruz in the 2018 Open quarters, but Cruz returned the favor this past April in the same round in Vegas.
Nahshon’s draw isn’t a cakewalk to the finals. He has a Round of 32 match against Daniel DeShazer just two hours off the school, his first match since June of 2018. Then he’ll get the winner of our favorite R16 match, Zane Richards vs Frank Perrelli.
Another spicy quarterfinal is a renewal of the Cory Clark/Nathan Tomasello rivalry from college. Clark got NaTo en route to his 2017 NCAA title, but it’s been Tomasello who has had more freestyle success throughout his career. However, the Buckeye has been battling injuries for over a year now, and we haven’t see Clark down this low since he was a redshirt freshman for the Hawkeyes.
Best Early Matches
Round of 16: Zane Richards vs Frank Perrelli
Quarterfinal: Nick Suriano vs Seth Gross
65kg
Frank Molinaro landed the top seed at this weight, and he’s on a collision course with second seed Jordan Oliver. While those two are certainly the most accomplished at the weight, but they’ll have tough brackets to navigate on their way.
If seeds hold, Molinaro would have Princeton’s Matt Kolodzik in the quarters. The other quarter on the top side could be between fourth seed Jayson Ness and fifth seed Evan Henderson. This sets up a potential semifinal between Ness and Molinaro who have taken turns beating each other already this year.
On the bottom side of the Bracket, Oliver is seeded to face seventh seed Bryce Meredith in one quarterfinal while Dean Heil and Joey McKenna could meet in the other. McKenna has more freestyle accomplishments, but Heil has had his number throughout their careers.
Best Early Matches
Round of 16: Evan Henderson vs Ethan Lizak
Round of 16: Nick Dardanes vs Jordan Oliver
Quarterfinal: Jayson Ness vs Evan Henderson
74kg
The dream bracket. No one is yet qualified from this weight, so winner take all. It’s the biggest field, we’ve got a Round of 64, so there will be a little bit of a war of attrition.
Kicking us off in the second round is a battle of NCAA finalists between Dan Vallimont and Dylan Ness, with the winner getting Nazar Kulchytskyy making his return. The other Round of 16 bout to watch will be Chance Marsteller, coming down from 79kg, and Logan Massa, on an Olympic Redshirt at Michigan right now. Those two used to battle on the age level.
Enough about the early rounds though, time for the juice. Check out this path for Mekhi Lewis to qualify for the Olmypic Trials. The Junior world champ will first have to knock off Vincenzo Joseph, a rematch of this past March’s NCAA finals. Then he’ll get Jason Nolf (who first has to beat the Marsteller/Massa winner). To finish off, he’ll get Isaiah Martinez. Good lord.
That’s the bottom side, Imar has a smoother road to the finals on the top side. He’ll get the Nazar/Ness/Vallimont winner, then probably Tommy Gantt in the semis, a rematch of the Open finals. There’s little doubt in my mind that, barring injury, Martinez makes it to the finals. If this weight can’t get you fired up, I don’t know what will.
Best Early Matches
Round of 32: Dan Vallimont vs Dylan Ness
Round of 16: Chance Marsteller vs Logan Massa
Quarterfinal: Mekhi Lewis vs Vincenzo Joseph
86kg
The story here will be Alex Dieringer’s arrival at his new weight class. He seems to have plenty of horsepower for this bigger field, but we’ll find out for sure today.
The quarterfinals could offer some intriguing international matchups. In the top quarter, Dieringer will likely face Michigan’s Dom Aboundader who’s competing for Lebanon. The second quarterfinal is much less certain but could include Ilya Archaia against Stacey Davis, Drew Foster, or CJ Brucki.
On the bottom side of the bracket, we could see a Myles Martin vs Nate Jacson quarterfinal followed by Brett Pfarr vs World Silver Medalist Boris Makoev of Slovakia. I’m really interested in a Myles Martin vs Makoev semifinal. Either wrestler would offer a solid test of Alex Dieringer’s status at this weight class.
Best Early Matches
Quarterfinal: Alex Dieringer vs Dom Abounader
Quarterfinal: Myles Martin vs Nate Jackson
Quarterfinal: Byambadorj Bat-Erdene (Mongolia) vs Boris Makoev (Slovakia)
97kg
Small bracket here. Kyle Snyder is already qualified, so the bottom side should produce the OTT qualifier for this weight. Since it’s such a small field, I’ll just list them all: Ty Walz, Mike Macchiavello, Jacob Kasper, Riley Lefever, Enock Francois and Josh Manu.
Kasper is an interesting entry, a former college heavyweight who used to focus on Greco. Lefever is coming up from 92kg where he had a great WTT, finishing it off with a tech of Kollin Moore.
However, it should be U23 world medalist Walz against Macch for the finals spot. The Wolfpack national champ will have to battle some fellow ACC rivals to get there in Kasper and Walz. Macch was the 92kg national team member, and Walz finished in that same third place slot up at 97kg.
The Cowboy Bulk Job has slimmed down to 97kg, and will have the rangey Hayden Zillmer in the quarters. Zillmer of course made Final X in 2018 at 92kg. The winner there gets Snyder, making his Nittany Lion Wrestling Club debut.
Best Early Matches
Quarters: Derek White vs Hayden Zillmer
Quarters: Ty Walz vs Riley Lefever
125kg
It’s hard to see anyone coming close to Gable Steveson on the top side of this bracket. His semifinal opponent could be U23 World Silver Medalist Youssif Hemida, but Gable would be favored in that match.
The seeded semifinal on the bottom side of the bracket would be between former Junior World Champions Amar Dhesi and Dom Bradley. That’s a juicy matchup.
If seeds hold, we will see Gable Steveson vs Dom Bradley in the finals. There is no love lost between these two heavyweights, especially after their heated match semifinal at this year’s World Team Trials. Get excited to see these two scrap again.
Best Early Matches
Quarterfinal: Gable Steveson vs AJ Nevills
Quarterfinal: Amar Dhesi vs Nick Nevills