Tom Preview: 49th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands 2011

Welcome back to the College Wrestling season. At least welcome back from your holiday break. All of us here at TOM hope you had a great holiday and we also hope that you have a great New Year.

This year we end and start the year with a bang. Two major tournaments await us over the next week, the Midlands and the Southern Scuffle.

Today we are going to do our preview for the 49^th Annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championship. This event is always one of the best tournaments of the year and this year is no exception. For some teams it will be their first real test of the year, for others it is a chance to confirm what they have seen from their wrestlers already this year.

Many of these weights are loaded with talent and should provide us with some solid insight as to where certain wrestlers stand at certain weights. All in all, we can not wait for this thing to get rolling.

TOM will be providing a free live blog and free audio from the event. You will be able to catch all the action right here. We use Ustream, so those of you with smart phones should look for the free App and download it, that way you can follow along from anywhere.

Alright let’s kick this off.

Below is a list of wrestlers for each weight based on their current TOM rankings. These are not seeds.

125

#2 Jesse Delgado, Illinois

#3 Matt McDonough, Iowa

#7 Levi Mele, Northwestern

#15 Ryak Finch, Iowa State

#16 Trent Sprenkle, North Dakota State

#17 Jared Germaine, Eastern Michigan

#19 Garrett Frey, Princeton

Other Contenders:

Shane Gentry, Maryland

Nick Smith, Northern Illinois

Tyler Iwamura, CSU Bakersfield

Jarrod Garnett, Virginia Tech (Unattached)

Joe Roth, Central Michigan

Where do we start, wait I know, how about the possible rematch of Delgado and McDonough? Yes, let’s start it off with that. Delgado surprised pretty much all of us when he went into Iowa City and knocked off McDonough. Well, we would venture to guess that McDonough will be looking forward to a showdown with the young Delgado. Delgado only has one loss on his record and that came early in the year. If you take away his loss and his win over McDonough, all of his other matches have resulted in bonus points. He is dangerous and has a real motor that allows him to constantly attack on his feet. McDonough has been lights out with the exception of the loss. We all know what we get with him, an aggressive wrestler who makes it very hard for opponents to score. He also has a non-stop offense himself. We really hope this match happens in the finals.

The guy we think people should keep an eye on is Levi Mele. He is down at 125 this year and really has been impressive. Mele comes into the event 13-0 with eight wins by bonus and two tournament wins under his belt. He will face his toughest tests of the year here, but we are interested to see how he does. Keep your eye on him, especially if he meets McDonough in the semi-finals. Finch is a solid freshman for the Cyclones; he could surprise a few along the way. Sprenkle is solid and is always in and around the match even against some of the best in the country. Germaine has been what I call sneaky good this year. He has put together a very nice run up until this point, the question is can he keep it up in this loaded weight. Frey has had his struggles this year; we wonder if he will find a way to get things back on track here. He has the ability to do so.

Out of the contenders listed we think that the two guys most likely to make some kind of impact here are Jarrod Garnett and Joe Roth. Garnett, who has a great career going should always be considered a threat, the issue is that he has struggled in open tournaments this year. Roth is a guy on the bubble of our rankings, which based on some of the emails we get, not to the liking of some. Roth is solid and this tournament should let us know if he slides into the rankings are stays on the bubble.

TOM Predictions

1. Matt McDonough, Iowa
2. Jesse Delgado, Illinois
3. Levi Mele, Northwestern
4. Jared Germaine, Eastern Michigan

 133

#2 Tony Ramos, Iowa

#4 Devin Carter, Virginia Tech

#6 AJ Schopp, Edinboro

#8 Brian Ortenzio, Penn

#9 Steven Keith, Harvard

#10 Cashe’ Quiroga, Purdue

#12 Jordan Keller, Oklahoma

#11 BJ Futrell, Illinois

#14 Ryan Mango, Stanford

Other Contenders:

Tyler Clark, Iowa

Geoffrey Alexander, Maryland

Tom Kelliher, Wisconsin

Well, with nine nationally ranked wrestlers this weight should provide some excitement early and often. Leading the group is Iowa’s Ramos. Ramos, really opened our eyes when he first loss a wrestle off to Tyler Clark, who is also entered in this tournament. He then opened our eyes a second time when he dominated then number two, Futrell of Illinois. In that match Ramos looked at the top of his game, dominating from his feet. If he is wrestling at that level now, he will be tough to beat. One thing that makes this weight a little hard to predict is that we are not sure how the seeds will play out. The seeds will create some interesting early round match-ups. Devin Carter is having a great sophomore season. His only loss came at the hands of Ohio State’s Logan Steiber. If you have never seen Carter wrestle, take the time to watch some video, the guy is fun to watch.  We are adding Edinboro’s Schopp into this group. This guy has been on fire so far this year. Like Carter his only loss was to Steiber. These two should meet in the semi-finals and that will be a great match.

Ortenzio of Penn may be under some of yours radar, but we are guessing after this weekend a few more people may take notice of him. He is undefeated and will be tested in this event. Keith of Harvard is another somewhat off the radar guy. He only has two losses this year and they were to Steiber and Ortenzio. He was third in Vegas. Cashe is back and hoping to be king. Sorry, had to. Quiroga has missed some time this year due to minor injury, but is back and should be considered a real threat here. If he is healthy he will cause some fits for people. Where he gets seeded could be a big deal in this one. Keller has also had a fine year. With only two losses and a tournament win under his belt he is one of those guys you would rather not face in the quarters. Well a month or so ago, we would have been mentioning Futrell with the top group, especially coming off his performance at the All-Star Classic. But since then, things have not been going his way. He has suffered three straight losses and two of those were not pretty. Of course if he gets thing going in the right direction, we all know how dangerous he can be. It will be interesting on how they seed him, if it’s based on this season he could get a lower seed and face one of the top seeds early. Rounding this group out is Mango. Many of us expected him to do better this year. So far he has had his struggles being up at 133. I guess we will see if he can bounce back here.

Keep your eye on Clark of Iowa. He is a very solid wrestler that would be ranked if it was not for the fact that he is behind the number two guy in the country. Clark has beat Ramos this year, so he could easily find himself facing his teammate in the finals here.

TOM Predictions

1. Tony Ramos, Iowa
2. AJ Schopp, Edinboro
3. Devin Carter, Virginia Tech
4. Cashe’ Quiroga, Purdue

 141

#1 Montell Marion, Iowa

#3 Boris Novachkov, Cal Poly

#5 Zach Kemmerer, Penn

#6 Kendric Maple, Oklahoma

NR (6) Stephen Dutton, Lehigh

#7 Matt Mariarcher, American

#14 Zach Neibert, Virginia Tech

#20 Mitchell Port, Edinboro

Other Contenders:

Frank Goodwin, Maryland

Jimmy Kirchner, Rider

Billy Ashnault, Rutgers

Bebeto Yewah, UW Lacrosse

Adam Krop, Princeton

Scott Mattingly, Central Michigan

Another very deep weight class here at 141. Marion is the current front runner and considered an early favorite. This will be our first real chance to see him against some top guys this year. It should be interesting to see how he does from the quarters on. He will face some stiff competition. If he was from anywhere other than Iowa, I would have some concerns. Opposite of that is Novachkov who has had several huge matches already. He has wins over top five guys, but also has two losses to guys in the top five. All in all he has been facing top competition all season and we do think that will have him in good shape entering this tournament.

Kemmerer comes into this with only one loss to Novachkov. Otherwise he has been rock solid for Penn. He also has a tournament win to his name and should be considered a contender in this field. The guy we think will make this interesting is Maple of Oklahoma. Maple is 7-0 with six wins by bonus. One thing I found interesting is that in those seven matches Maple has 23 takedowns, which is nearly four times that of any of his teammates, the next closest has six. All we can say is that he has been very impressive. Look for him to make some noise. Dutton returns to the line-up for Lehigh after missing time with an injury. We had him ranked sixth before the injury, but as we do with all wrestlers missing time, we held him out of the rankings. Where he gets seeded will be interesting. He has the talent to do well here. Mariarcher does have losses to both Kemmerer and Maple this year. But, other than those, he has been very solid. He is a tough nosed guy that can go with anyone here.

Neibert has been working himself up the rankings. We are not sure is he is a threat to win the whole thing, but we certainly consider him a threat to get an upset along the way. The same could be said for Port. He is a talented freshman who is fresh of winning the PSAC. These two could make things interesting along the way.

We think it will be a tough hill to climb for those guys listed on contenders. Mattingly certainly has the ability to do some good things and Goodwin is solid as well. The one guy who could make a small run here is Kirchner of Rider.

TOM Prediction

1. Boris Novachkov, Cal Poly
2. Kendric Maple, Oklahoma
3. Montell Marion, Iowa
4. Zach Kemmerer, Penn

 149

#3 Mario Mason, Rutgers

#7 Nick Lester, Oklahoma

#8 Eric Terrazas, Illinois

#9 David Habat, Edinboro

#11 Ivan Lopouchanski, Purdue

#13 Josh Wilson, Utah Valley

UR Jake Patacsil, Notre Dame WC

Other Contenders:

Derek Valenti, Virginia (Unattached)

Stephen Robertson, Penn

Kaleb Friedley, Northwestern

Kevin Tao, American

Zac Cibula, Rider

We think that this may be one of the more wide open weights at the tournament. There is always that weight that does not turnout how most of us think; this could be the case here. Mason is the favorite so far, but is another guy that really has not faced much top competition yet. He should be tested here. Lester has looked pretty solid this year, but does have two losses so far. For us this will be a tournament that helps us better calculate where he belongs. We would not count him out though. Jake Patacsil needs to be considered a threat to win this. He is out of college, but one heck of a wrestler. Look for him to be towards the top here when it is all over.

Terrazas, has been solid. He suffered an early season loss to Miller of Kent State, but has since wrestled well. We are somewhat interested to see how he does here, he is the kind of guy that could win it, or finish in a place people would not have expected. Habat is yet another solid young wrestler that Coach Flynn has at Edinboro. He opened some eyes when he took third in Vegas and recently won the PSAC. He is a tough young wrestler that should find himself fighting for a top four spot here. Lopouchanski is back in the line-up for Purdue and should be even healthier by the time this thing rolls around. He missed some time due to injury but was able to get a match in prior to this tournament. He is always dangerous and could find himself wrestling for a title this weekend. Rounding this group out is the lesser know Josh Wilson of Utah Valley. Wilson was fifth in Vegas and has some real nice wins on the year. He could provide a very early test for one of the top seeds.

Pretty much all the wrestlers listed here as contenders have a shot at doing well. Valenti is one solid wrestler who is redshirting this year, but would be a highly ranked wrestler if he was in the line-up. Robertson is having a very good freshman year and has some solid wins. Friedley has had some struggles so far this year but should become more adjusted to his new weight as the season progresses. Cibula is also solid and was ranked prior to missing time. If he is healthy he will have a shot to do some good things here.

TOM Prediction

1. Jake Patacsil, Notre Dame WC
2. Ivan Lopouchanski, Purdue
3. Mario Mason, Rutgers
4. David Habat, Edinboro

157

#2 Derek St. John, Iowa*

#3 Jason Welch, Northwestern

#4 Ganbayar Sanjaa, American

#7 Matt Lester, Oklahoma

#10 James Fleming, Clarion

#14 Steve Monk, North Dakota State

#15 Kyle John, Maryland

Other Contenders:

Donnie Corby, Central Michigan

Joey Napoli, Lehigh

Aaron Sulzer, Eastern Michigan

David Bonin, Northern Iowa

John Gresheimer, Edinboro

Dillon Bera, Wisconsin Parkside

We see St. John as the clear favorite here. With that said there is a good chance he may be out for this event due to a minor injury. If he is out then disregard this section. He continues to roll building off a great year last year. Also, we are thinking he will want to reverse his performance from last year’s Midlands. Welch is perfect thus far on the year and will try and get past St. John whom he has had problems with in the past. Sanjaa did lose to Welch once this year but has been solid in the few other matches he has had. When he faced Welch it was his first match back, so we expect he should be improved. They should have a great battle in the semi-finals.

Lester is 6-1 on the year and has some quality wins. We are not sure he can get past the top three just yet, but that is why we wrestle the matches and don’t just listen to talking heads like us. Flemming is one dangerous wrestler that you should never be overlook. He has some real nice wins on the year including a win over Andrew Alton. Consistency is the key to his success, if he gets on a roll, watch out. Monk is a guy that creates action. He has a funky style and likes to pin. He can give anyone fits. Look for him to have some pretty fun matches here and we would not be surprised to see him pull an upset. John seems to be struggling some right now. He is talented and has the ability to go with just about anyone; it will be interesting to see if he can get things back on track here.

Numerous contenders listed have a real shot at doing well here. Napoli is solid and should make for an interesting match-up for one of the top seeds. Bonin is good and could make some noise. Gresheimer is the one you need to keep an eye on. He is redshirting for Edinboro and showed us last season what he can do. Do not be shocked to see him in the thick of things.

TOM Predictions

1. Derek St. John, Iowa
2. Jason Welch, Northwestern
3. Ganbayar Sanjaa, American
4. James Fleming, Clarion

 W/O St. John

1. Jason Welch, Northwestern
2. Ganbayar Sanjaa, American
3. James Fleming, Clarion
4. Matt Lester, Oklahoma

165

#2 Josh Asper, Maryland

#5 Scott Winston, Rutgers

#6 Bekzod Abdurakhmanov, Clarion

#7 Brandon Hatchett, Lehigh

#8 Andrew Sorenson, Iowa State

#13 Mike Evans, Iowa

#14 Ben Jordan, Wisconsin

#18 Peter Yates, Virginia Tech

Other Contenders:

Luke Manuel, DCAC

Steve Fittery, DCAC

Pat Smith, Minnesota (Unattached)

Lester France, Eastern Michigan

This one will be interesting from the quarters on. Some great match-ups could and should take place. Our favorite is Fittery who has since moved on to the international scene. Fittery is solid on his feet with explosive attacks and a great defense. Fittery and Asper have faced each other this year, with Fittery winning, but Asper did suffer a minor injury that forced him out of the tournament. Asper as stated has a loss to Fittery, but has been perfect against college competition this year. Winston, much like teammate Mason, has been lightly wrestled up until this point. Winston has two matches against ranked opponents and he lost to Asper, but defeated Abdurakhmanov. So, this tournament will tell us more as to where he is at, at this point of the season.

Abdurakhmanov is having a good year for Clarion. He does have the loss to Winston, but he also has a win over Hatchett from Lehigh. Hatchett, has losses to top ranked Taylor and Abdurakhmanov but has been solid in the rest of his matches. The guy we think will make a statement here is Sorenson. He has been working his way up the rankings and has been one of the bright spots for the Cyclones this year. He has four straight wins over ranked opponents and has looked good doing it. Now we look at the guy Iowa has high hopes for and that in Mike Evans. Evans has been good only losing to Sorenson. Although Sorenson is the only ranked opponent he has faced this year. Evans is a hammer on top and has a very aggressive style. This will be a great gauge for us to see where he fits into the weight class. Jordan is solid and tends to win the matches he should and lose the matches you would expect. He will give anyone a great match and should not be overlooked. The same should be said for Yates, although he has been a bit up and down this year.

Keep you eye on Manual who is entered into this one. His seed could make things interesting for one of the top guys.

TOM Prediction

1. Andrew Sorenson, Iowa State
2. Steve Fittery, DCAC
3. Josh Asper, Maryland
4. Mike Evans, Iowa

174

#3 Ryan DesRoches, Cal Poly

#5 Chris Spangler, Iowa State

#8 Ethen Lofthouse, Iowa

#9 Jordan Blanton, Illinois

#10 Greg Zanetti, Rutgers

#12 Jimmy Sheptock, Maryland

#13 Jim Resnick, Rider

#14 Lee Munster, Northwestern

Other Contenders:

John Martin-Cannon, Buffalo

Phillip Joseph, Eastern Michigan

Chase Nelson, Oklahoma

Luke Rynish, Wisconsin Parkside

This is an interesting weight that should give us some great match-ups. Also it will help shake out some of the rankings. DesRoches is fresh off winning both Vegas and Reno with some real solid wins during those events. He seems to be wrestling very well right now and should be on track to win his third straight tournament. Spangler is the other bright spot in a rough year for the Cyclones. He has worked his way up the rankings and is now sitting in the top five. This weekend will let us know if he stays or even moves up. He has faced three straight ranked opponents and has come out on top in all three of those. Lofthouse has been a bit shaky to start the year. He has suffered two losses so far but has a nice win over Blanton from Illinois.

Blanton, seems to have hit a road bump the past month or so. During that time he has suffered two losses, one being to Lofthouse and the other to a non-DI wrestler. If he is on, he will be dangerous, if he is not, he could have a long weekend. Zannetti is putting together a solid season for Rutgers. He has several good wins, but will be tested in this field. He could find himself in contention if things go right for him. Sheptock also has a few nice wins but does have a loss to Zanetti. He will need to reverse that if he wants to make a run at the top four here. Resnick has been up and down. He does have a win over Munster and a loss to Zanetti. Munster is a tough freshman that has performed well for a first year starter. If he continues to improve he could do some nice things here.

Keep an eye on Martin-Cannon who is redshirting for Buffalo this year. He is a solid wrestler that could do well here. Nelson is another guy that can win some matches for the Sooners and find himself competing for a higher placement.

TOM Prediction

1. Chris Spangler, Iowa State
2. Ryan DesRoches, Cal Poly
3. Ethen Lofthouse, Iowa
4. Greg Zanetti, Rutgers

184

#1 Robert Hamlin, Lehigh

#6 Ryan Loder, Northern Iowa

#7 Ben Bennett, Central Michigan

#10 Boaz Beard, Iowa State

#14 Erich Schmidtke, Oklahoma

#19 Brad Dieckhaus, Northern Illinois

Other Contenders:

Braden Atwood, Purdue

Tony Dallago, Illinois

John Dickson, Virginia Tech

Vinny Wagner, Iowa

Cameron Croy, Harvard

In what may be the deepest weight in the country we have a rather thin weight here. It is led by the nations number one ranked wrestler Hamlin. Hamlin has been perfect on the season including a win over last year’s national champion Wright. He should be the man to beat here. Loder has continued to impress us in his second year as a starter for Northern Iowa. He is also perfect on the year and owns a win over the likely three seed Bennett. Bennett has been solid for Central Michigan and has a nice win over Steinhaus from Minnesota. His only losses came at the hands of Loder and LeBlanc from Wyoming.

We are waiting to see if Beard wrestles or not. He has been sidelined with a minor injury. It is our understanding that he is expected back. He has been good this year, but not really tested. It should be interesting to see how he stacks up against some of the better guys in the country. Schmidtke is a tough one to figure out, he can be hot and cold. He has lost to a few of the guys here, but in the past has had some nice wins as well. Either way he can cause problems for some guys. The wrestler we think could step up and do well here is Dieckhaus of Northern Illinois. He is tough and could earn a spot in the top four.

Because the weight lacks some depth, keep an eye on Atwood from Purdue and Dallago from Illinois. Both are dangerous and could pull an upset along the way. Dickson is another that could find himself winning a toss up.

 TOM Prediction

1. Ryan Loder, Northern Iowa
2. Robert Hamlin, Lehigh
3. Ben Bennett, Central Michigan
4. Brad Dieckhaus, Northern Illinois

197

#1 Chris Honeycutt, Edinboro

#6 Joe Kennedy, Lehigh

#7 Micah Burak, Penn

#11 Christian Boley, Maryland

#1 (D3) Byron Tate, Wartburg

#14 Grant Gambrall, Iowa

#15 Daniel Mitchell, American

#17 Nick Vetterlein, Virginia Tech

#20 Ryan Smith, Cal Poly

Other Contenders:

Alex Thomas, Clarion

Dan Rinaldi, Rutgers

AJ Kissel, Purdue

Mario Gonzalez, Illinois

This weight should be pretty exciting.  Some of the best wrestlers in the country at this weight are scheduled to compete. Leading the way is our current number one Honeycutt. This guy has been a beast so far this year. He has done that after moving up a weight. To be honest we would be surprised to see him not win this one. The good news is that there is no shortage of guys who would like to prove us wrong. Kennedy has been pretty solid all year only losing to Wilps from Pitt. Burak did lose to Kennedy once this year but other than that he has been solid. Boley is the guy to watch. He has some real nice wins this season and this tournament will show us how he matches up with some of the top guys in the country. The “X” factor here will be Tate, who made a great run here last season. Tate is solid and can score; we would not be surprised at all to see him make another run this year.

Now we get to see where Gambrall stacks up at his new weight. He has won two at the weight already, but he is in for a much tougher test this weekend. His seed will be interesting as well. We all know how good he was last year at 184, but we are not sold on the move up to 197. He is technically gifted and is a slick wrestler, but we are worried he may lack the strength at 197. We will see after this weekend though. Mitchell is a solid wrestler that could do well although he has loss to a few of the guys here.  Vetterlin has done a very good job for Virginia Tech. Although we do not think he is a threat to win the title he should give some guys close matches. Smith rounds this group out. He has the potential to be solid, but has struggle at times this season.

AJ Kissel leads the contender list. He is expected back in the line-up after missing time. He was ranked 16^th before we removed him due to inactivity. Depending on how he gets seeded he could find himself doing well. Rinaldi is another guy that when he is on, can go with most guys in the country and finally Gonzalez is solid and could also put together a nice tournament.

TOM Prediction

1. Chris Honeycutt, Edinboro
2. Micah Burak, Penn
3. Byron Tate, Wartburg
4. Joe Kennedy, Lehigh

HWT

#1 Ryan Flores, American

#2 Zach Rey, Lehigh

#9 Peter Sturgeon, Central Michigan

#7 Bobby Telford, Iowa

#16 Spencer Myers, Maryland

#18 Ernest James, Edinboro

#20 Atticus Disney, Cal Poly

Other Contenders:

Jarod Trice, Central Michigan (Unattached)

John Helgerson, Wartburg WC

Quintas McCorkle, Clarion

Mike McMullan, Northwestern

Blake Rasing, Iowa

Well, we end with another great weight class. We have the potential to see number one versus number two. Rey will also get a chance to recapture his number one ranking. Flores has been all business this year and remains undefeated. This tournament will definitely provide him with his biggest challenges of the year. Rey suffered a loss a while back and has been wrestling very well in every other match of the year. These two will have to navigate a rather tough field for them to even meet up. Trice who is redshirting for Central Michigan needs to be mentioned here and most likely will have to face Rey in the semi-finals. These are three of the best big men in the country.

Sturgeon has shown that he can beat top guys, he has also shown how he can drop matches most would expect him to win. If he is on top of things he could do some good things this weekend. Iowa fans are high on Telford and this field should let us know if he where he should be rankings wise. He will face by far his toughest competition this weekend. Myers was an All-American last year and is no slouch. He has had his struggles this year and will need things clicking to be top four. James has put together a very good season so far. He has won a tournament and has picked up a few nice wins along the way. Disney had a great Vegas tournament and will have to match or exceed that performance here if he wants to do any damage.

The four remaining guys listed as contenders should all be considered potential place winners here. Helgerson is a D3 standout and knows how to wrestle at this weight. Do not count him out of anything. McCorkle has posted a few real nice wins and could be a surprise this week. Finally, McMullan of Northwestern has not had the season some of us expected so far. But, we know he is solid and if he gets things going watch out. We are hoping that he and Telford lock horns at some point this weekend. They are rivals going back to their high school days. Let’s not forget about last year’s Big 10 Champion Blake Raising. We know he is a big man who can win matches. We would not be shocked to see him outplace Telford.

TOM Prediction

1. Zach Rey, Lehigh
2. Ryan Flores, American
3. Jarod Trice, Central Michigan (Unattached)
4. Bobby Telford, Iowa