Quick thoughts on each of the nine qualifiers this weekend
Centennial: USMMA wins as expected, but will take half as many to the championships this year as last. There were not a lot of upsets at the top. A few #1 seeds lost, but it was not anything unreasonable. Stanley of JHU came within seconds of winning the tournament after wrestling in only one match prior to the tournament. Choosing Favia as the wildcard was a reasonable choice, though it did mean leaving 2x qualifier Vincent at home.
Empire: In a surprise, not only did #4 Ithaca not win, they placed 3rd behind Cortland and Brockport. A few guys were less than 100% for the Bombers, and that hurt their chances. Only six #1 seeds won the tournament, though only Ciaburri of Cortland was lower than #2. Priest of Ithaca was the only returning qualifier not to make it, and first alternate Pariso had previously defeated the Midwest champ.
Great Lakes: No surprise at the top of the standings, as Augsburg put nine through to the NCAA tournament. National champs Oster and Batsukh both lost but still qualified. 141 was as advertised with four of the top five in the rankings, though #4 seed Vanier came out on top in front of the home fans. All four qualified. St. Olaf came through with a pair of qualifiers and will be appearing at the NCAA tournament for the first time in a few years. Wildcard choices were pretty much as expected based on the tournament results.
Iowa: 18 in a row for Wartburg as they held off Coe. Both teams qualified all ten. Josh Terrell had the best day, defeating the national #2 and #1 wrestlers to win the tournament. Add Warcynski making it at 157 out of the #6 seed and Brown holding serve at 174, and Dubuque had a pretty good day. Barclay of Luther again had his best day of the year when it counted most to make it at 184 for Luther. Some controversy in the wildcards as 5th place Mogg made it at 125 over 4th place hood who beat him that day.
Metro: Upsets were the name of the game at TCNJ on Sunday. All-American Bonitatis of TCNJ dropped to 157 after wrestling 165 all year but fell to 4th place. Five #1 seeds failed to win, though at 174, the winner was a returning All-American in Heffernan. TCNJ was able to overcome injuries to All-Americans Branham and DiColo to retake the team title it lost to Wilkes last year. One place without an upset was 125, where All-American Erdman came back from a month off with a knee injury to win going away.
Midwest: Delaware Valley dominated again, getting seven through and winning six weights. Clendenin was a mystery at 125 coming in, having only wrestled four times and only once against DIII. The former Lehigh wrestler proved he still has something left as he lapped the field at 125 and should be one to watch for in Cedar Rapids. Garber avenged his recent loss to Brown to head to Iowa on a high note. Del Val dominated the upper weights, winning 5 out of the last six finals. Kraus of Trine made it as a wildcard at 184, making him the only wildcard in that weight.
New England: Williams won as Ryan Malo continued his dominance, picking up his 38th fall of the year in his final match. Five top seeds won, and All-American Paulish of Williams was 3rd, but still picked up a wildcard in a weight where the coaches picked two to go along with champ Marsh of Bridgewater State. Returning qualifier Bloom wrestled from the #4 seed, winning multiple overtime matches on his was to the championship. The NEWA coaches likely made the most controversial wildcard pick when they took third place Lenhardt over second place Bates at 174, especially since Bates had just defeated Lenhardt twice in that tournament.
Ohio: Ohio Northern won the regular season title, but Heidelberg came back to make it five in a row for the tournament championship. They will take four to Iowa as Mizer got the wildcard to join champs D’Alessandro, Delpra, and Curley. Ohio Northern freshman Kyle Kwiat continued his outstanding debut season, winning decisively to run his record to 38-4.
Wisconsin: All ten #1 seeds won the tournament, and La Crosse won their 13th straight title, putting all ten into the finals and winning seven. Returning NCAA champs Mauseth and Laurent will head to Iowa as WIAC champs, as will All-Americans Bautista, Milks, Schmitz, Engelland, and Moore. Andrew Johnston of Eau Claire lost early, but fought his way back to win the true second match and claim the last of the 9 wildcard slots.
NEWA Tournament
I was disappointed in the wild card procedure that the NEWA took this weekend. Needless to say they cheapened their own tournament. Why even wrestle the tournament if you are going to appoint the wrestler of choice by the coaches? Why not just hold a coaches meeting and forgot the timely and stenuous act of actually wrestling matches?
This procedure will certainly bode well for the future….NOT…..
WOW the NEWA COACHES!!!!
Question: Did not one coach speak up at their wild card meeting? And ask if we do this wild card move what will the consequence be?
Answer: NO
Consequence: This move makes the NEWA look like a bunch of moron’s
Result: Coach’s are happy
Result: Why wrestle the tournament
Result: Great recruiting tool for future wrestlers – Look in the NEWA you don’t have to win to get the Nationals!
Wildcards who got screwed and in no particular order
Zach Bates – Bridgewater
Ces Antista – Williams
Josh Berkovic – Wesleyan
The NEWA has disgraced the sport of wrestling
“The NEWA coaches likely made the most controversial wildcard pick when they took third place Lenhardt over second place Bates at 174, especially since Bates had just defeated Lenhardt twice in that tournament.”
It had to be difficult to type the above without laughing and then realizing that this decision dishonors the honorable sport of wrestling.
Hamilton Wentworth
A couple of points.
1. The sport of wrestling is honorable.
2. Rarely is there honor in Wild Card selections. Back room deals…if your guy, then my guy, etc. Every year someone get’s “screwed”. That’s why it’s critical to place in one of the guarenteed slots!
The sport of wrestling is honorable….until it is dishonored as it was by the NEWA….
Why not just appoint kids with back door deals, save everyone the time, effort, and money, and not hold the tournament. The committe knows best.
I do not have a dog in this fight. I am looking at it as a fan of wrestling. I feel very bad for that Zach Bates kid who beat Lenhardt twice on tournament day and then is given the ultimate slap in the face by the committe who places Lenhardt ahead of Bates. If your going to give a wild card then don’t give it to Lenhardt, don’t give it to Bates give in to someone else.
The message being sent is it doesn’t matter what happens on the Mat.
Any fan of wrestling can see this is a disgrace.
The only automatic bid is to WIN the tournament. 2nd 3rd and 4th are all considered for their body of work for the entire season not one day. Bates had one good day! He split with Lenhardt during the year and Lenhardt was still seeded #1, based on his overall performance during the season (pinning the guy who won the tournament). Let me make sure I understand your argument, if you lose to one guy on one day everything else that was accomplished is meaningless and you don’t deserve to go? That is why we have WILDCARDS at large bids to avoid leaving our best home! None of the guys listed above have the national paper that this kid has.
Who has the Bates beaten besides Lenhardt? Answer NO ONE!
Lenhardt had as many or more NATIONAL wins than most of the champions. He pinned the young man who dominated Bates in the finals. He has beaten 4 student athletes that will be at the tournament next week. How many guys has Bates beaten? Answer ONE Lenhardt. The tournament bids are based on performance from year to year and you can’t send athletes that have not been consistent.
Just because you can beat one guy doesn’t make you an automatic for a wildcard. Iowa Did the same exact thing and they do it every year. It’s based on the entire year not one weekend. He has losses to Nadeau RWU (Did not place in New England), Starkes CGA (Did not Place in New England), Sullivan Williams (took 5th).
Lenhardt teched Stark 17-0, Pinned Nadeau 3x, and pinned Sullivan in 37 seconds. He has NO bad loss other than Bates, which is a bad loss, based on who he has beaten and who Bates has lost too.
It’s no different than a kid that can beat his teammate but can’t get it done during tournaments. Who do you send when it counts the guy that gets it done on a National level or the guy that can beat one kid because he wrestles him every day?
NEWA coaches knew the answer because they sent him based on the entire year, his record form, data, etc.. Bates had a good tournament because he can beat one guy. If he was on the other side of the bracket we probably wouldn’t be having this argument, because he probably loses to Starks, Nadeau, Manly, or Sullivan.
There is no guarantee but you don’t make decisions based on one weekend when it might affect your bids the following year.
There are 5 out of the 14 that have a realistic chance of being seeded and Lenhardt (based on WINS during the entire year) is one of them. Hurd the guy who won has no shot of being seeded, but the guy your complaining about does have a an argument and should get seeded.
Knowledgeable fans get why it happened, fans without the facts just see this weekends results. Wildcards are based on the year not one day. Do your research, collect some data and you will see it was the best choice based on quality wins and bad loses.
The qualifying tournament is for wrestlers to punch their ticket to nationals. If you don’t win the Conference, then the wild card is a reward for the season you had and the quality of competition you beat. Neither Lenhardt, Anderson, or Bates was good enough to win it all. Therefore, when you look at their records and whom they beat, Lenhardt had a better resume. That’s the way it goes. Glad to see the NEWA Conference take a page from the Iowa conference, the Iowa coaches have a history of leap frogging guys who have had better seasons, but may have taken a bad loss/losses at their Conference Qualifier. And for the record, they are usually correct. Great wrestlers + Great Coaching Decisions = 33 Iowa Qualifiers. Great to see the NEWA Conference grow a set.
First of all, Berkovic didn’t get screwed out of a wild card, he hasn’t beaten anyone. Antista could have gotten one but that weight class has no credibility. Sure Cucciniello was “ranked” all year, but that was the case last year when he went 0-2, and the fact that he was injured at the conference tournament probably helped both Grippi and Antista beat him. I also don’t think you can give one to 174 after Hurd got beat so many times this year and got killed last year at nationals. I would much rather have seen the coaches take Anderson, possibly Rittenburg or Gire, or even one more at 149 or 157.
Have you seen Anderson’s record sheet and who he has lost to. We were NOT bringing an extra 125 they all had bad loses and very few had good wins other than beating each other. There was parity within the conference but Nationally our conference 125 didn’t get it done or they didn’t compete against anyone. Anderson lost to Mantana from Williams and he went 0-3 at the National Duals. Anderson also lost to Brian Conley from JWU who is a solid 3rd stringer! It’s ignorance to try and justify that kid being considered for the four spots, he’s been inconsistent and he’s so one dimensional (neutral). Teams that refuse to fundraise to attend better national level competition need to realize win the tournament or you will have no paper to justify getting a wildcard.
Isnt it about bringing more qualifiers back to the conference?. Look at the Metro conference who only had 3 wildcards this year choose Meeney a 197lber who is not only questionable physically but has plenty of losses to unranked guys over Delegado 157lber. Delegado is wrestler with great wins over Breintenstein, Histed and Bonatitus and no bad losses. He is also a former community college all american, 3rd I think. How is that explained? Do they not want more wildcards? Those coaches have left many ny fans scratching our heads.
Why bring breitenstein? Had Cammisa lost I’m sure he would not have gotten one right?
It is unfortunate that you find yourself trying to defend an indefensible position.
Hurd will be seeded ahead of Ciaburri…cause he beat Ciaburri
Bates would have been seeded ahead of Bobby Bishop cause he beat Bishop
Bates Beat Manley in the tournament so you need to check your facts before you type.
“Data and facts determine Wildcards not one good day!”
This is quoted from “SAID”
I thought it needed its own post to realize the impact of this moronic statement.
And here I thought it was wrestling that determined the best wrestlers…..
To Mr. Wentworth: It is and Hurd was the best wrestler, therefore, he goes to Nationals!!!
We’ll see how it pans out at the National Seeding Meeting on Monday. My bet is that Lenhardt gets a seed over Hurd. Wait………….not back door deals at the National level too? This is getting crazy!!!!!!!
MR. LOVE THE SPORT:
My money would have been on Kwiat…..but….Your Right..
The NEWA is a reflection of its politics….all east coast liberals….
Using the logic you have outlined then why didn’t Priest get a wild card? I am sure he would have been seeded higher than Hurd, Heffernan, Bishop, Wade, Ciaburri?
I actually feel bad for Lenhardt the NEWA did him a disservice…he is victim here as well.
GIVE PRIEST A WILD CARD….HE DESERVES IT…..ONE BAD DAY DOESN’T MAKE A WRESTLER…..Then once the nationals are over the Committee can meet and give the rightful kid the Title…..
It is unfortunate that you find yourself trying to defend an indefensible position.
.
Priest- lost to Ciaburri, Wade, never wrestled Heffernan who is a returnind AA, only win is to Hurd, who won’t be seeded. Use http://www.nwcaonline.com to get your facts correct so that you can at least make an intelligent comparision. You are right about Kwiat (Beast) and Priest getting a wildcard, The NCAA should have more slots instead of 160 for the kids. Good News is next year they giving us 10 extra slots to Conferences who do well. My money is on Brown(Dubuque) the returning National Champ.
What is unfortunate, for me, is that I’m trying to have an intelligent conversation with you.
I support the decision of the NEWA wild cards. When picking them, you are not always going to please everyone. For those that are making the decisions a controversy, that is ridiculous. Lenhardt had a great season, #10 in one poll and #8 (if I remember correctly) in the other. So, obviously the rest of the country thought he had a great season as well. If Bates was ranked, then no one would be having this “controversial” conversation. The NEWA wild cards will do a great job representing the conference.
Good luck to all competitors.
You said:
What is unfortunate, for me, is that I’m trying to have an intelligent conversation with you.
My Reply:
I agree with you it is unfortunate because in the battle of wits you are un-armed.
Now on to the Wheat and Oats processed by the Bull that you believe in….(I am sure it will take a while but you will figure that out)
I was being sarcastic when I said Priest should get a wildcard! The analogy is that it doesn’t matter what happens at the conference championships you have to look at who will get seeded at nationals. So using that logic you would Seed Priest over Ciaburri because Priest beat Ciaburri at the dual meet. Priest beat Brian Broderick, Priest Beat Hurd. Ciaburri lost to Hurd
Then we get into common opponents etc….The point is Priest didn’t win at the conference championships so he didn’t get a wild card. Where in the NEWA even if you win it doesn’t mean anything you have to look at who will get seeded at the nationals…
So, next time you want to have an intelligent conversation don’t come un-armed. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
I only digress to this level to met your personal attacks on me…..and I suspect that is your stragedy all along to deflect attention from the real issues anyway.
D3 Tournament:
You do know Priest was ranked as well right? So using your logic he should be given his ranking and seeding into the nationals…Why wrestle the tournaments? let’s just have committee’s rank wrestlers and then decide who goes to nationals….and from those early seasons rankings we can skip the dual meets and put it all on paper and decide which kid would win the dual meet anyway.
The season doesn’t matter….UNDERSTAND THAT….its the championships that matter…That is the point. Rankings, seedings are opinions …Wrestling is not an opinion sport. It matters what happens on the mat at the championships!
Ok, everyone has made their points multiple times, and things are on the verge of getting nasty. I’m cutting off comments on this post.
Comments are closed.