Good stuff RB07. There was no IM in my day. The best in-state tourney back then was The CIT, followed by the actual state tourney. Many years in that order. OVAC was also a very good tourney although not really an Ohio gig.
Logan turned out to be the best of the four, but what could have been for Chris Phillips, we'll never know...
Appreciate the response. Cheers...
IM was the gold standard when I wrestled, but Top Gun was a tough one and BOTE was war by attrition with good competition. State tourney was always really tough for sure. To have two IM champs coming in the same class, that is pretty impressive.
That Monroeville team was something else...Phillips and Tessari both were absolute animals in addition to the Stiebers. Could have been almost 1/3 our roster if not for injuries in a perfect world, but that is how it goes with wrestling...tough sport and injuries happen.
Cheers to you as well, always love talking wrestling. Looks like we have a nice gap until the January 5th dual against Cornell to get healthy. Don't love having no OSU wrestling for that long, but we do need the break physically for several guys and we might need to recalibrate the lineup in spots.
Going from top to bottom, McCrone is really surprising me at 125 to be perfectly honest and I hope he can keep it up. Bouzakis at 133 can refocus but something is way off, he should be top 3 in the country. Mendez is a great wrestler at 141, just has had a couple off matches so far that is easily corrected. D'Emilio at 149 is doing exactly what he should. Paddy at 157 wavers and needs to step it up a little in terms of results, but the effort and talent is most definitely there...he could make some noise in March.
At 165, I am kind of torn...I think Hepner is the better wrestler if he's healthy, but Wilcox earned the spot. Problem is that I have been in this position as a wrestler and coach, sometimes it is a matchup thing and the better wrestler doesn't always get out there despite a wrestle-off. Coach Ryan may need to pull an executive decision even though that is tough to do over the results of a wrestle-off. At 174, hats off to Welsh...that might be the answer moving forward after an unfortunate injury, though hoping Carson gets better and can go.
At 184 and 197, I am a little surprised how bad Geog and Ryder wrestled...really need better from them in February/March. As for Feldman, seems like he is hurt and can't decide whether to wrestle it out this year, or just put his head down and continue on...we are better with him on the mat, but might be better for him to hang it up for the year.
