Making Sense Of Men's Freestyle Senior Nationals Chaos
Making Sense Of Men's Freestyle Senior Nationals Chaos
Senior Nationals were wild! Get caught up on all of the action from Coralville and what it could mean moving forward.
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An unprecedented COVID-19 version of Senior Nationals saw a larger-than-normal number of college guys enter the mix along with a massive field of competitors who hadn't wrestled in competitive matches in months. Here's what went down in Coralville.
57kg
Dylan Ragusin was a revelation here. The Michigan true freshman ran an insane gauntlet to the finals knocking off NCAA champion Darian Cruz and All-American Sean Russell. Top seed Vito Arujau was too much for Ragusin with a technical superiority win. Vito holds serve, but Ragusin will be part of a lot of water-cooler conversations this week.
Mueller took out Russell for third, Perrelli teched Latona for fifth, and Camacho beat Shelton Mack for seventh. Of the placers, ACC up-and-comers Latona and Camacho were most impressive as neither were expected to reach the medal stand in Coralville. This could be a sign of good things to come and a budding rivalry between the NC State and Virginia Tech lightweights. When they met head-to-head, it was Latona winning a tight 5-4 match. Sign me up for the rematch.
Complete 57kg bracket with links to match videos
65kg
Andrew Alirez just finished his true freshman year at Northern Colorado, but don't let that fool you about this kid's senior level potential. He dropped #1 seed Joey McKenna in the quarterfinals and then controlled #3 seed Evan Henderson in the finals 5-1. He had high-level wins before this event, but this was his coming-out party at the national level.
The consolations in this bracket saw a lot of action as well as top seeds Joey McKenna and Jaydin Eierman hit in the consolation semifinals with McKenna taking a first-period technical superiority win. In the medal matches, McKenna beat Yahya Thomas 5-1, Eierman pinned Kolodzik in a spladle, and Dardanes won 3-0 over Storr.
Complete 65kg bracket with links to match videos
74kg
The two nationally ranked 74kg wrestlers in this bracket, #10 Anthony Valencia and #6 Logan Massa, punched their tickets to the finals. Massa was able to score from his own attacks and from Valencia's gave him the advantage in a match that ultimately ended in a 13-2 technical superiority win. Anyone who doubted Massa's validity after his 2019 Senior Nationals title should take notice of his second straight finals victory.
The top seven at this weight all have NCAA eligibility remaining, so this weekend's results could give us a taste of what we'll see in an eventual NCAA season. Hidlay took out Wick for third. Deakin beat Carr for fifth, reversing the result of Carr's quarterfinal win over Deakin. Danny Braunagel beat NCAA finalist Joey Lavallee in the seventh-place match.
Complete 74kg bracket with links to match videos
86kg
Nate Jackson and Gabe Dean met in the finals in a preview of the 195-pound Halloween bracket that will be live on FloWrestling. Dean came out on top with a 1-1 criteria win. Both Dean and Jackson played their cards somewhat close to the vest in that bout, and each may have a trick or two up his sleeve in a couple of weeks.
Trent Hidlay beat Drew Foster for third which made him the second straight Hidlay to win a bronze medal in this event. Young Missouri Tiger Rocky Elam won on criteria over David McFadden in the fifth-place match, and Taylor Lujan took out CJ Brucki for seventh. Jackson, Dean, Foster, and Lujan will all compete in the 195-pound tournament in Austin, Texas, on October 31st where there is $20,000 on the line for first place.
Complete 86kg bracket with links to match videos
97kg
Kyven Gadson and Kollin Moore emerged to make the finals here and had to avenge losses to do it. Moore had a wild last-minute win over Hayden Zillmer to avenge the loss he took in last year's Senior Nationals finals. Gadson won by injury default over Kyle Snyder. Even in an injury default win, Gadson looked outstanding as he scored the first takedown. Ultimately, Moore earned his second win over Gadson to win his first Senior Nationals title.
Perhaps the biggest question coming out of the entire tournament is the status of Kyle Snyder. The injury he suffered in the semifinals looked substantial, and questions linger about how long Snyder's recovery will take.
Hayden Zillmer took third over surprise fourth-place finisher TJ Dudley. Of course, Dudley's skill is well known, but he has typically competed at 86kg. The extra-large opponents didn't seem to bother him as he placed above his seed. Another Husker, Eric Schultz, outperformed his seed to finish fifth with an injury default win in the medal match. Ty Walz beat Lucas Davison for seventh.
Complete 97kg bracket with links to match videos
125kg
Junior World champ Mason Parris dominated in the finals over Tanner Hall, and he really got better as the event went along. Parris had relatively close matches early in the tournament but pinned Trent Hillger and teched Hall to show how big a factor he is at heavyweight in the US.
Dom Bradley rebounded from his odd semifinal loss to take third in dominant fashion over Trent Hillger. Danny Chaid beat Youssif Hemida for fifth with some late-match heroics, and Christian Lance won a 6-4 bout with Tate Orndorff for seventh.