WIN’s Weekly College Journal: Looking back at All-Star Classic; looking ahead to early-season tournaments

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Updated: November 6, 2013

During the 2013-14 college wrestling season, WIN will produce a weekly journal, which will look back at past weekend results and look ahead to events that are expected to make national news.

 Looking Back

 Stieber and Ramos move up weights and win All-Star Classic bouts

Ohio State’s Logan Stieber and Iowa’s Tony Ramos finished first and second in last year’s NCAA finals. This winter, the two Big Ten rivals will compete at different weights as the Buckeye has moved up to 141 and the Hawkeye will remain at 133 pounds. But when it came to the 2013 NWCA All-Star Classic, which was held before 3,882 fans at George Mason University’s Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., on Nov. 2, each top-ranked wrestler moved up a weight to defeat another highly-rated wrestler in the final two bouts of the 48th annual event.2012 All Star Classic Logo

Ramos, a two-time All-American, scored a match-tying takedown with 20 seconds left before clinching a 5-3 victory over Virginia Tech’s Devin Carter, ranked No. 3 by WIN at 141 pounds, with another takedown with 20 seconds left in overtime.

Stieber, the two-time national champ at 133 pounds, then defeated Oklahoma’s Kendric Maple — the nation’s top-ranked 149-pounder who also moved up a weight after winning the 141-pound title in 2013 — by a 6-4 tiebreaker decision. Stieber was also named the event’s Outstanding Wrestler when he scored a reversal with one second left in the first tiebreaker before riding out the Sooner in the second tiebreaker.

In other notable moments of the event: Lehigh’s Mason Beckman, ranked 8th by WIN after redshirting last winter, defeated Edinboro’s No. 3 A.J. Schopp, 5-1, at 133 pounds; Oklahoma’s No. 3 Andrew Howe — the former NCAA champ and three-time All-American from Wisconsin and competing on the college mat for the first time since 2011 — defeated 2013 NCAA runner-up Matt Brown, 4-3, by virtue of a riding-time point; and Minnesota’s two-time NCAA champion Anthony Nelson defeated Northwestern’s McMullan, in a 2-1 tiebreaker and a rematch of last year’s national final.

The following is a list of all the main-event matches which we held in order, including the final five bouts chosen by fans before the All-Star Classic. The rankings before each name are from WIN’s 2013-14 preseason poll.

125 — No. 3 Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) dec. No. 4 Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma) 6-1, SV

133 — No. 8 Mason Beckman (Lehigh) dec. No. 3 A.J. Schopp (Edinboro), 5-1

157 — No. 7 Joey Napoli (Lehigh) dec. No. 12 Nestor Taffur (Boston U.), 2-1

184 — No. 3 Jimmy Sheptock (Maryland) dec. No. 7 Jake Swartz (Boise State), 3-1, SV

197 — No. 1 Taylor Meeks (Oregon State) dec. No. 2 Scott Schiller (Minnesota), 6-4, SV

Hwt — No. 1 Anthony Nelson (Minnesota) dec. No. 2 Mike McMullan (Northwestern), 2-1, TB1

165 — No. 1 David Taylor (Penn State) major dec. No. 3 Mike Moreno (Iowa State), 13-2

174 — No. 3 Andrew Howe (Oklahoma) dec. No. 2 Matt Brown (Penn State), 4-3

141 — No. 1 (at 133) Tony Ramos (Iowa) dec. No. 3 Devin Carter (Virginia Tech) 5-3, SV

149 — No. 1 (at 141) Logan Stieber (Ohio State) dec. No. 1 Kendric Maple (Oklahoma), 6-4, TB1

Hofstra falls to Rutgers on Criteria in first EIWA dual

After competing for 12 years in the Colonial Athletic Association, Hofstra University nearly defeated Rutgers in the Pride’s first-ever EIWA (Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association) dual. Hofstra ended up losing by criteria, 22-21, to the Scarlet Knights on their home mat.

The two teams split their ten matches, but the Knights benefitted from having one more pin — by Hayden Hrymack (197) and Billy Smith (Hwt) — than the Pride (Cody Ruggirello at 149 pounds), which gave Rutgers a tiebreaker criteria point.

In a dual which started at 141 pounds, a technical fall by Luke Vaith, Ruggirello’s 6:36 fall over Ken Theobold and Joe Booth’s 11-7 decision over Nick Visicaro gave the Pride a 14-3 lead. Rutgers then battled back to win four straight matches to lead 21-14 after Hrymack’s and Smith’s falls. Hoftsra closed out the dual with a 5-1 decision by Jamie Franco over Scott Delvecchio at 125 and a 16-5 major decision by Jamel Hudson over Sean McCabe at 133 to temporarily tie the dual at 21-21 before the criteria point was awarded.

True freshman Cox helps Missouri beat North Dakota State

J’den Cox, a true freshman from Columbia, Mo., scored a 14-4 major decision over Colt Castlebury in his first college match to help Missouri defeat North Dakota State, 23-9, in Nov. 1 season opener for both teams in Columbia.

“The coaches have all the confidence in the world he can do great things this year,” said Missouri coach Brian Smith. “He’s mature enough and he knows he can get better. He’s a hungry wrestler with the potential to bring great things to this team already.”

 

Looking Forward

 

Early-season tournaments continue

The month of November is noted for the many “Open” college tournaments and several will be held this weekend. The following is a list of those:

 

• Michigan State Open (Nov. 9 in East Lansing, Mich.) — Edinboro and Ohio State — ranked No. 7 and 11 in WIN’s 2013-14 Tournament Power Index — lead the field at the Michigan State Open this Saturday. This could lead to a possible match-up of the two top-ranked guys at 141 pounds — OSU’s No. 1 Logan Stieber (who won two NCAA titles at 133 before moving up this winter) and Edinboro’s No. 2 Mitchell Port, who finished second to Oklahoma’s Kendric Maple (now No. 1 at 149 pounds), in last year’s NCAA final.

 

• Bison Open (Nov. 9 in Fargo, N.D.) — The University of Minnesota, ranked No. 3 by WIN, will be the featured team in this year’s tournament, which will be held in the Bison Sports Arena. This will be the first event in which fans are expected to see five All-American Gophers moving up a weight class from last season: David Thorn moving to 133; Chris Dardanes to 141; Nick Dardanes to 149; Dylan Ness to 157; and Dan Zilverberg to 165.

 

• Hokie Open and Hokie Duals (No. 10) — There will be plenty of wrestling action going on in Salem, Va., this weekend when Virginia Tech — ranked No. 12 by WIN — entertains Hofstra in a dual on Friday, then plays host to both the Hokie Open and Hokie Duals on Sunday at the Salem Civic Center.

In Round 1 of the Duals at 9 a.m., Tech faces Kent State, North Carolina meets Wisconsin, Virginia wrestles VMI, Rider takes on Old Dominion and Chattanooga competes against Hofstra.

In Round 2 at 11 a.m., the match-ups are: Tech vs Chattanooga, North Carolina vs. ODU, Virginia vs. Wisconsin, Rider vs. Kent State and VMI vs. Hofstra.

In Round 3 at 1 p.m., Tech hosts VMI, North Carolina wrestles Hofstra, Virginia takes on Kent State, Rider goes against Chattanooga and Old Dominion wrestles Wisconsin.

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