Hipps Toss: Weekly College Wrestling Recap

Focus Heads Towards Conference Tournaments As Regular Season Winds Down

By Andrew Hipps “Staff Writer
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The Big 10 and Big 12 have long been the two premier conferences in college wrestling.

The number of national qualifiers for those two conferences compared to the other major conferences only confirms their dominance.

Big 12: 36 national qualifiers/50 wrestlers (72%)
Big 10: 72 national qualifiers/110 wrestlers (65%)

EWL: 36 national qualifiers/70 wrestlers (51%)
PAC 10: 40 national qualifiers/100 wrestlers (40%)
EIWA: 42 national qualifiers/130 wrestlers (32%)
ACC: 15 national qualifiers/60 wrestlers (25%)
CAA: 24 national qualifiers/100 wrestlers (24%)

This year is no exception. Eight of the top-10 teams in the country reside in the Big 10 or the Big 12. The Big 10 Tournament is set to take place in Iowa City on March 5-6, while the Big 12 Tournament will take place in Omaha on March 5. Let’s take a quick look at the five toughest weight classes this season from the two power conferences. Rankings are based on The Wrestling Mall Feb. 22 rankings.

5. 133 – Big 10

#3 Mack Reiter (Minnesota)
#4 Mark Jayne (Illinois)
#7 Tom Clum (Wisconsin)
#12 Mario Galanakis (Iowa)
#16 T.J. Enright (Ohio State)
#18 Mark Moos (Michigan)

4. 174 – Big 12

#1Chris Pendleton (Oklahoma State)
#2 Ben Askren (Missouri)
#9 E.K. Waldhaus (Oklahoma)
#13 Nick Passolano (Iowa State)

3. 141 – Big 12

#1 Nate Gallick (Iowa State)
#2 Teyon Ware (Oklahoma)
#6 Matt Murray (Nebraska)
#20 Daniel Frishkorn (Oklahoma State)

2. 165 – Big 12

#3 Johny Hendricks (Oklahoma State)
#5 Tyron Woodley (Missouri)
#7 Travis Paulson (Iowa State)
#8 Jacob Klein (Nebraska)

1. 125 – Big 10

#3 Kyle Ott (Illinois)
#5 Nick Simmons (Michigan State)
#6 Bobbe Lowe (Minnesota)
#7 John Velez (Northwestern)
#8 Joe Dubuque (Indiana)

Speaking of conference tournaments”¦

PAC 10 Tournament Predictions

With the PAC 10 Tournament set to begin this Sunday on the campus of Cal Poly University, I will throw out my weight-by-weight predictions for this weekend’s event.

125:
Champion: Andrew Hochstrasser (Boise State)
Hochstrasser, a true freshman, has been has been one of the nation’s biggest surprises this season.

Also in the mix: Vic Moreno (Cal Poly), Jesse Miramontes (Cal State Fullerton), Jeremy Mendoza (Arizona State).

133:
Champion: Matt Sanchez (Cal State Bakersfield)
Sanchez, a returning All-American, was third last season in the PAC 10 last season, but should win it in his senior campaign.

Also in the mix: Scott Jorgensen (Boise State), Derek Moore (UC Davis).

141:
Champion: Steve Esparza (Cal Poly)
Esparza is much better than his 8-8 record indicates.

Also in the mix: Juan Mora (Cal State Fullerton), Roberto Vargas (Cal State Fullerton), Tim Norman (Oregon State).

149:
Champion: Ben Cherrington (Boise State)
Only four wrestlers have beaten Cherrington this season; all four are ranked in the top eight in the country.

Also in the mix: Patrick Williams (Arizona State), Jeff Owens (Cal Poly), Anthony Baza (Cal State Bakersfield).

157:
Champion: Matt Gentry (Stanford)
Gentry, who claimed the national champion at 157 last year, has lost only once in the past two seasons.

Also in the mix: Brian Stith (Arizona State), Tony Hook (Oregon State).

165:
Champion: Christian Arellano (Cal State Bakersfield)
Arellano will emerge in one of the mostly tightly contested weight class in the PAC 10 this season.

Also in the mix: Joey Bracamonte (Oregon), Matt Ellis (Oregon State), Russell Brunson (Boise State).

174:
Champion: Leonel Sanchez (Cal State Fullerton)
Sanchez is 25-6 this season, which includes a major decision over nationally ranked 184-pounder Shane Webster of Oregon.

Also in the mix: Imad Kharbush (Stanford), Ron Silva (UC Davis), Chet McBee (Oregon).

184:
Champion: C.B. Dollaway (Arizona State)
Dollaway, who is undefeated in the PAC 10, will keep the 184 title in the Sun Devil family (Nick Frost from Arizona State won the title last year).

Also in the mix: Ryan Halsey (Cal Poly), Shane Webster (Oregon), Brandon Bear (UC Davis), Dan Pitsch (Oregon State).

197:
Champion: Scott Barker (Oregon)
Barker, the 2003 national runner-up at 184, hasn’t wrestled his best yet this season.

Also in the mix: Ryan Bader (Arizona State), Ralph Garcia (Cal Poly), Landon Seefeldt (Cal State Fullerton).

HWT:
Champion: Cain Velasquez (Arizona State)
Velasquez is ranked fifth nationally and has a win over second-ranked Cole Konrad of Minnesota.

Also in the mix: Ty Watterson (Oregon State), Eric Smith (Boise State)

Tidbits”¦
23rd-ranked Indiana saw its upset bid of ninth-ranked Iowa fall short as junior Cameron Sakon fell via major decision, 17-7 to sixth-ranked Ty Eustice at 149 pounds giving the Hawkeyes the come from behind win 17-16, Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. With the loss the Hoosiers end the regular season with a 16-5 overall record and a 4-4 conference mark. Despite winning five matches, the most an Indiana team has won against Iowa since 1967, the Hawkeyes recorded two major decisions to Indiana’s one”¦

The 21st-ranked Navy wrestling team won seven of 10 matches and claimed its fifth straight star-match victory over 24th ranked Army with a 23-10 victory. The victory, which came in front of a boisterous crowd of over 1,800 at Army’s Christl Arena that included nearly 60 Mids that made the trek to West Point, improved Navy’s record to 12-3 overall and 5-1 in the EIWA. The win gives Navy a 39-5-5 all-time advantage against Army, including 37-1-5 in the last 43 matches”¦

Northern Iowa hosted their last dual of the season Saturday in the West Gym, defeating the visiting Air Force Falcons 40-6. Four Panther seniors were honored before the start of the match with a video tribute. It was the last time Jeff Harrison, Eric Hauan, Josh Lawrenz and Sean Stender will compete in the West Gym”¦

Northern Colorado won six of ten matches and avenged a 31-3 loss to North Dakota State back on January 22, by defeating the Bison 19-15 in Greeley, Colorado on Friday night. A crowd of 485 was on hand at the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion to witness UNC’s first win against NDSU since the 1979-80 season. Northern Colorado head coach Jack Maughan scored his first ever victory over his father, NDSU head-man Bucky Maughan. The younger Maughan is now 1-17-1 all-time against his mentor. NDSU’s got a pin from Andy Pickar at 165 and decisions by Nick Magee (133), Matt Hermann (184) and Tim Kraemer (heavyweight) to account for their scoring”¦

Old Dominion finished off their dual season Sunday evening with their fifth straight win, defeating the George Mason Patriots 28-10 before the largest crowd of the season at the ODU Field House. With the win, the Monarchs improve to 12-5 for the season and 7-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The 12 victories are the most since the 1995-96 season, when the Monarchs also went 12-5. The Patriots fall to 8-7 and 4-4 in the CAA”¦

Top-ranked Augsburg won eight individual titles and qualified all 10 of its wrestlers to the upcoming NCAA Division III national championship tournament, sweeping through the field to win its third straight NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional tournament, held Saturday at Augsburg’s Si Melby Hall. Augsburg, winners of eight of the last 14 Division III national titles and national runners-up the last two years, has won the Great Lakes Regional each of the three seasons it has participated in the event. In the last three years, Augsburg has won 22 of the 30 individual titles contested at the regional”¦

In Division II action, fourth-ranked Augustana picked up its biggest win of the season, knocking off top-ranked Nebraska-Omaha 20-19 Friday at the Sapp Fieldhouse in Omaha. The Vikings, who improved to 14-2 on the season, avenged one of its losses in defeating the Mavericks, UNO, the defending Division II national champions, edged the Vikings 20-18 in the finals of the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in January”¦

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