Takedown Report

Amateur Wrestling Reports

College wrestling upsets are thrilling, fun for fans, and maybe meaningless in March

This college wrestling season brought a series of wild early upsets against former national champions. 

Yianni Diakomihalis, Shane Griffith, Mekhi Lewis, Aaron Brooks and Max Dean all took losses. These results seemed shocking, but how unprecedented is it really for a champ lose during the regular season? And what impact, if any, do those losses have on an athlete’s potential to win another title? I examined the stats for the last five years to find out. 

Here is the TL/DR version:

  • Staying undefeated in the regular season after winning a title is rare
  • A loss in the regular season doesn’t mean a wrestler won’t win a national title
  • Three current former champs have a chance to maintain an undefeated record 

Here’s how I did it: First, I created a list of every national champion who won a title in 2017-2022 and then came back to wrestle at least one more season. If that wrestler took a regular-season loss at any point in their career following their national title, the athlete was added to the tracker. Injury defaults counted as losses, but medical forfeits did not count. The athlete’s weight class in the tracker represents the weight at which that athlete won his title and/or the weight class in which that athlete took his post-title regular season loss. The regular-season losses that occurred this season (2022-2023) are bolded.

Since 2017, five defending champs who lost in the regular season came back to win a title that same year: Jason Nolf (2018), Vincenzo Joseph (2018), Kyle Synder (2018), Spencer Lee (2019) and Zahid Valencia (2019). Excluding current athletes and 2020 athletes, only one former champ (Dean Heil) did not win another title after taking a regular-season loss following his first championship. The track record of athletes finding their rhythm and regaining their status on the top of the podium is strong. 

Now, the data … rest of the story at NCAA.com/article/2023-01-18/college-wrestling-upsets-thrilling-fun-fans-and-maybe-meaningless-march

January 25, 2023 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

More South Carolina College News & Results

Newberry Wolves Stay Hot With Two Wins In Virginia

Newberry goes two for two in the Limestone/Emory & Henry Tri with big wins

EMORY, Va. –  Heading back up to Virginia for the third time this season, Wolves Wrestling (4-1 South Atlantic Conference Carolinas) would travel to host Emory & Henry to take on not one but two conference opponents in the Limestone Saints (3-1, 2-1 SACC) and the Emory & Henry Wasps (2-16, 0-4 SACC). Coming off of their dominant win on January 11 against the Coker Cobras by a score of 49-0, Head Coach Deral Brown and his men would look to start up a streak in conference opponents by taking two victories in the away matchups. After being listed third in the most recent rankings of Super Region II as of January 17, Newberry would be looking to validate their place as one of the best.

In the first duel of the day against the Saints, 125 lbs Zach Shupp (Fairfield, Ohio) would start off right for the Wolves by winning a decision against William Finnearty by a score of 7-3. 133 lbs Fletcher Swindall (Alexandria, Ala.) would follow right behind him with a victory of his own by pinning Nathnael Bullard in 1:11. 

141 lbs Josh Blatt (Albemarle, N.C.) would make it three in a row by securing a major decision over the #14 wrestler in the country (The Open Mat) Smaill Saint Pierre by a score of 14-6, and to match the feat of his teammate, 149 lbs Devan Moore (Baxley, Ga.) would do the same over Alex Dilegge by a score of 12-2. The Saints would get on the board after Avery Dinardi won a decision over 157 lbs Nolan Wheeler (Dahlonega, Ga.) , but 165 lbs P.J. Wunderlich (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) would halt the Saints from marching after winning a decision over Garrett Starks by a score of 4-3.  … rest of story at Newberrywolves.com/news/2023/1/18/wrestling-wolves-stay-hot-with-two-wins-in-virginia

Men’s Wrestling Earns Split at Emory & Henry Tri-Meet

EMORY, Va. – The Limestone University men’s wrestling team split a tri-meet hosted by Emory & Henry College on Wednesday afternoon inside the King Center. The Saints manhandled the host Wasps, 56-0, before falling to Newberry by the final of 36-3.

Limestone jumped out to an early 12-0 lead over the Wasps after taking forfeit victories at 197 and 285 before Trey Finnearty (The Plains, Ohio) extended that advantage to 17-0 with a tech fall over Orlando Hernandez in the 125 lb. weight class.

Another forfeit win, this time at 133, followed by a major decision victory by Smaill St. Pierre (Kissimmee, Fla.) put the Blue and Gold ahead 27-0 midway through the match. Back-to-back falls by Alex DiLegge (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and Avery Dinardi (Delran, N.J.) at 149 and 157, respectively, continued the dominance for the visitors.

Garrett Starks (Hutchison, Kan.) earned a tech fall over Konor Gray in the 165 lb. bout before the Saints ended the perfect scoring match with consecutive falls by Hunter Haven (Kershaw, S.C.) and Kyle Daley (Indian Land, S.C.), giving the Saints the dominant 56-0 win. … rest of story at GOlimestonesaints.com/news/2023/1/18/mens-wrestling-earns-split-at-emory-henry-tri-meet

January 25, 2023 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment