Valencia And Gomez Highlight Week 4 Upsets
Valencia And Gomez Highlight Week 4 Upsets
Every Upset in the fourth week of NCAA Division 1 Wrestling.
There were 12 total upsets in NCAA Wrestling last week and 3 top 10 upsets. Take a look below at a breakdown of the biggest ones and a list of every upset from last week in D1 action.
Austin Gomez - Better Than Ever At 149
Two years from competing at 133 for Iowa State, questions grew around how Austin Gomez would perform for Wisconsin at 149. Gomez looks to be just fine and knocked of returning All-American #13 Zach Sherman in an impressive 9-4 victory.
While the season is early, Gomez will be challenged in the next 4-6 weeks both at Midlands and in the Big 10 schedule. At Midlands, Gomez will be in a field that could include the likes of #7 Max Murin, #12 Josh Heil, #20 PJ Ogunsanya, #17 Legend Lamer, and a host of others. Then, in his first Big 10 dual, Gomez will face returning All-American #4 Yahya Thomas on January 7th in Wisconsin’s dual against Northwestern. With that schedule, we’ll quickly find out how much of a contender Gomez is at 149 but I’m excited he’s back in the mix of NCAA wrestling.
Get To Know Job Greenwood
Last year Wyoming’s Job Greenwood lost to #8 Michael McGee 8-3 and failed to qualify for NCAA’s. Last weekend, Greenwood won the Cowboy Open by taking out the All-American McGee in the finals. The match (which you can watch below) was filed with action and went back and forth until a minute remained in the third. Tied at 6 with McGee on top going for a turn, Greenwood used a reversal to go up 8-6 and ultimately held on to win 8-7.
Greenwood won’t have time to enjoy his win against McGee and will face potential matches against #4 Vito Arujau, #6 Chris Cannon, #11 Chance Rich, #13 Anthony Madrigal, #19 Dylan Ragusin, and #20 Devan Turner this weekend at the CKLV Invitational.
Cael Valencia Looks Ready To Go
Cael Valencia is currently still in redshirt at Arizona State but is making his case to become the starter at 174 pounds. He’s currently sitting at 8-0 on the season and won the Cowboy Open over the weekend. His most impressive win (both of the tournament and the season) was his finals victory over #10 Hayden Hastings. You can watch the match below but Valencia won a tight bout by showing incredible defense late in the second period and securing the match-winning takedown with about a minute left in the third.
The question now is whether or not Arizona State will keep Valencia in redshirt or make him the starter at 174. We probably won’t find out the answer until January, but if young Cael can continue to knock off top-ranked guys, expect to see him in a Sun Devil singlet by the end of the year. Production from Valencia at the NCAA tournament could solidify Arizona State as a trophy team and move them closer to Iowa and Penn State at the top.
Michial Foy Surprises Tanner Sloan
Minnesota’s Michial Foy is a grad transfer and finishing up his college eligibility after becoming a junior college National champion for Harper College. Foy looks to have locked up the starting spot at 197 for the Gophers and has looked impressive early in the season.
On Sunday, Foy took out returning Round of 12 finisher #12 Tanner Sloan in a controlling decision. Foy used two first-period takedowns to go ahead 4-2 after the first 3 minutes. Rather than sitting on his lead, Foy secured a takedown in the second and third periods and ended the match on top with over 1:30 of riding time to lock up the 9-3 win. Foy is an early-season surprise at 197 and will be tested this weekend at the CKLV Invitational with potential matches against #6 Jakob Woodley, #7 Pat Brucki, #10 Erik Schultz, #9 Stephen Buchanan, and #11 Louie DePrez.
Michial Foy is off to hot start against the #12 wrestler in the country! pic.twitter.com/Q8HK5Uy0pM
— Minnesota Wrestling (@GopherWrestling) November 28, 2021
All Upsets
133
Job Greenwood, Wyoming D;8-7 #8 Michael McGee, Arizona State
149
#16 Austin Gomez, Wisconsin D;9-4 #13 Zachary Sherman, North Carolina
165
#24 Cole Moody, Wyoming D;2-1 #19 Jackson Hemauer, Northern Colorado
HM Tanner Cook, South Dakota State F;3:52 #20 Andrew Sparks, Minnesota
174
Cael Valencia, Arizona State D;3-2 #10 Hayden Hastings, Wyoming
#16 Clay Lautt, North Carolina D;6-1 #8 Andrew McNally, Wisconsin
#20 Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State D;6-3 #12 Michael O'Malley, Drexel
184
HM Gavin Kane, North Carolina D;8-2 #16 Christopher Weiler, Wisconsin
HM Charles Small, Hofstra D;3-2 #16 Christopher Weiler, Wisconsin
197
Michial Foy, Minnesota D;9-3 #12 Tanner Sloan, South Dakota State
Yonger Bastida, Iowa State D;4-3 #23 JT Brown, Army West Point
285
Ethan Andersen, Iowa State D;3-2 #17 Carter Isley, Northern Iowa
Take a look at all box scores from last the last week of NCAA Wrestling HERE.