Takedown Report

Iowa wrestling wins big at Soldier Salute, AJ Ferrari gets heated, DQ’d

There were certainly some fireworks in Coralville during the finals of the Solider Salute wrestling tournament on Saturday evening.

The Hawkeye men dominated the event, coming away with the overall team victory and seven individual titles. Gabe Arnold, a Hawkeye freshman who was wrestling unattached, also won a title at 174. But the biggest talking point anybody will take away from the tournament is what happened in the finals of the match of the 197 weight class. It seemed as though AJ Ferrari, who was competing unattached, was going to take home the title, defeating Iowa’s Zach Glazier 197. Shortly after time ran out in the bout, Ferrari slightly pushed down on the back of Glazier’s head. In response, Glazier grabbed and pulled on Ferrari’s upper leg. That’s when Ferrari attempted a punch at Glazier and proceeded to show the Hawkeye his middle finger.
That act got Ferrari disqualified and gave Glazier the title at 197. As Ferrari was walking off the arena floor he did a split and gave two middle fingers to the crowd, much to the displeasure of the Hawkeye faithful in attendance who showered him with boos. Ferrari is a former national champion at Oklahoma State. He was removed from the Cowboys’ roster in July of 2022 and has faced legal issues, though the charge against him was dismissed. He’s been out of the sport for nearly two years, but on December 27 he took a recruiting visit to Iowa. His younger brother, Angelo, is committed and signed to the Hawkeyes as one of the top wrestlers in the class of 2024. His other brother, Anthony, is also committed to Iowa. and has been in Iowa City practicing and working out in the wrestling facility since as early as May 12, according to his Instagram page.
Anthony’s antics earlier in the evening may have been where the ordeal with AJ started. Wrestling in the 149-pound finals against Iowa’s Caleb Rathjen, he suffered two takedowns en route to a 7-2 loss. After the final whistle was blown, Anthony Ferrari gave a shove to the back of Rathjen. Rathjen, an Ankeny native, took exception. He looked back toward Anthony Ferrari and taunted by flexing like Anthony’s older brother AJ, who is known for flexing after wins.
Anthony has also dealt with legal issues like AJ, getting a one-year deferred sentence on counts of assaulting two people in July 2022. According to the Stillwater News Press, he entered nolo contendere pleas. Anthony was also booed following his shove of a Hawkeye, while Rathjen’s gestures to Iowa fans were cheered. In prior matches, fans let loose their loudest cheers in Xtream Arena for the Ferrari brothers until the conflicts began. Then, the ones with Iowa singlets were the fan favorites. … story at … Hawkcentral.com/Iowa-wrestling-wins-big-at-solider-salute-aj-ferrari-gets-disqualified

January 6, 2024 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wisconsin’s Hamiti named OW, Penn earns first Ken Kraft Midlands Championships team title

BY RICHARD IMMEL, USA WRESTLING
HOFMANN ESTATES, Ill. – A stellar set of finals on Saturday evening concluded the 59^th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships at NOW Arena—Wisconsin’s Dean Hamiti was presented with the Jack Leese Champion of Champions Award and the Dan Gable Outstanding Wrestler Award after earning the 165-pound title, while the Penn Quakers bagged the programs first team title at the prestigious holiday event. Already a two-time NCAA All-American and Big Ten champion for head coach Chris Bono and the Badgers, Hamiti looked every big a NCAA title contender as he blitzed the 165-pound bracket with three pins on Friday, followed up by a pair of shutout major decisions in the semis and finals. It was a 12-0 win over West Virginia’s Peyton Hall, a three-time NCAA qualifier and 2022 All-American, that cemented Hamiti’s claim as the event’s top wrestler.
Wisconsin picked up a second individual champion from 184-pound graduate transfer Shane Liegel who was a four-time NCAA Div. III All-American and national champion at Loras College. He fought to a 9-6 win in sudden victory against Penn’s Maximus Hale in the championship bout.
The only program to match Wisconsin’s two champions was Lehigh, who bagged first place finishes from NCAA All-American Michael Beard at 197 pounds and true freshman Luke Stanich at 125 pounds. Beard ousted two-time NCAA qualifier Luke Stout of Princeton in a 15-0 final. Stanich, who wrestled unattached, needed overtime tiebreakers to surpass Elijah Griffin of Cal Baptist in an exciting 8-7 championship contest.  An upstart West Virginia crew was the lone team to push three athletes into the finals and picked up a stunning win at 141 pounds. NCAA qualifier Jordan Titus decked All-American and No. 1 seed CJ Composto of Penn 18-3 to bring home the title. In addition to Hall and Titus, the Mountaineers saw freshman Ty Watters make the finals. The two-time Pennsylvania state champion was topped by unseeded, unattached competitor Ty Whalen in a 5-1 final at 149 pounds. 
Reigning U23 World champion Isaac Trumble of North Carolina State looked every bit a contender at heavyweight this weekend. He posted three pins and a major decision prior to a 2-1 win in the finals over No. 1 seed Luke Luffman of Illinois, who is a three-time NCAA qualifier. 2017 Cadet World bronze medalist and two-time NCAA All-American Jacori Teemer of Arizona State earned a five-point win over defending Midlands champion Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern in the 157-pound finals. Two-time age-group U.S. World Team member Dylan Ragusin, wrestling unattached for Michigan at 133 pounds, and NCAA qualifier Edmond Ruth of Illinois round out the list of individual champions.
Although it didn’t gain an individual champion, the Penn collective put up 127.5 team points with eight place winners. Wisconsin pushed up to second place with a strong day two at 104.5 team points. West Virginia found itself in third place with 100.5 team points. … story at … Themat.com/Wisconsin-s-hamiti-named-ow-penn-earns-first-ken-kraft-midlands-championships-team-title

And
Two High School Freshmen Win Midlands Championships
Ten high schoolers placed in the top five at Midlands, including freshmen champions Kayla Batres and Taina Fernandez
It’s one thing to win the Midlands Championships. It’s another to do it as a high school freshman. That’s what prep stars Kayla Batres and Taina Fernadez did in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, on Saturday. Batres won the 109-pound bracket with a 7-2 win over McKendree NCWWC (NCAA) champion Pauline Granados, a 10-4 win over prep star Rianne Murphy in the semis before securing a 4-2 win over Lock Haven’s Kaelani Shufeldt in the finals. Shufeldt is a returning All-American who recently placed fourth at US Nationals to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Trials. 
Fernandez blitzed through the 130-pound bracket with 10-0 techs over Jimena Serna of Morton and Nichole Moore of McKendree. Moore is a 2022 U23 National champion, a 2023 U23 World teamer, and a two-time NAIA All-American for Baker. 
The Bowie, Maryland, native notched a 12-1 tech over Aurora’s top-seeded Lexi Janiak, a 2023 U20 World bronze medalist and 2023 NCWWC (NCAA) finalist, before defeating North Central All-American Salome Walker, 10-0, in the finals.  … story at … Flowrestling.org/Two-high-school-freshmen-win-midlands-championships

January 6, 2024 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

NCAA Division I Team Holiday Notes

EIWA Weekly Recap (12/26/2023)
Below is a recap of last week’s EIWA action, with individual news and highlights worth noting.
Key Takeaways 

• Navy shuts out American to remain undefeated
• Binghamton wrestlers claim 5 titles between the Sheridan Tournament and Wilkes Open
• Lehigh claims 3 champs at Sheridan Tournament 
• Hofstra goes undefeated 3-0 on the weekend

American  
American faced off against EIWA foe Navy at home. Although American did not win any matches, they almost pulled out three wins – two of them would have been potential upsets. We did not see #15 Jack Maida compete in the match. Leete lost in overtime to #22 Ferretti at 133 lbs while Bourne lost to #27 Key at 184 lbs. 
#16 Navy 38 – American 0 
125 – Dayton DelViscio (Navy) dec. Shamil Kalmatov (AU), 11-10 (Navy 3-0)
133 – #22 Brendan Ferretti (Navy) dec. Maximilian Leete (AU), 4-1 SV (Navy 6-0)
141 – #19 Josh Koderhandt (Navy) major dec. Raymond Lopez (AU), 14-5 (Navy 10-0) … story at … Intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/college/eiwa/eiwa-weekly-recap

NCAA DI Rankings Updated (12/26/2023)
NCAA DI Rankings have been updated today; however, there was very little movement since the last update. Because of Collegiate Duals, the previous week’s rankings were posted on Wednesday. Since then, there were a few duals along with the Sheridan Invite and the Wilkes Open. The Sheridan Invite provided some movement at 141 lbs as Mitch Moore maintained his perfect record and defeated Malyke Hines. Central Michigan’s Corbyn Munson won the 149 lb bracket and Graham Rooks lost to a pair of Lehigh wrestlers. Also at the Sheridan, Ben Pasiuk moved back down to 174 lbs. Pasiuk was an EIWA finalist at the weight in 2023. … story at … Intermatwrestle.com/NCAA-di-rankings-updated-12262023

2023-24 NCAA DI Rankings
125 – Anthony Noto
Keeping with the theme at 125 this season – we have another new number 1! Anthony Noto takes over the top spot after defeating Jakob Camacho. On top of the loss to Noto, Camacho also took losses to Brendan McCrone and Trever Anderson. Camacho falls to #12 after losing to but is kept from dropping further because of his wins over Matt Ramos and Ethan Berginc on the year.
McCrone moves up to #22 but is kept from rising higher due to losses on the year to Colton Camacho, Tanner Jordan, Jore Volk, Tristan Lujan, and Nick Babin.  Trever Anderson moves up to #23 for his win over Jakob Camacho but stays behind Brendan McCrone because of the head to head loss. While Camacho does have a win over McCrone, he also just lost to Kysen Terukina and has other losses on the year to unranked Luke Stanich, Evan Tallamadge, Drew West, and Jax Forrest. Camacho comes into the rankings for his win over Ungar but climb higher because of the aforementioned losses. … story at … Flowrestling.org/rankings/NCAA-di-rankings/47573-125-anthony-noto

Virginia Tech’s Caleb Henson Delivering On Big Expectations
Coming off a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships as a true freshman, Virginia Tech’s Caleb Henson is off to a 17-1 start as a sophomore
The kid’s only a sophomore but his name has been in the rankings and in the news for so long that one could believe he’s a senior. And the way Virginia Tech’s Caleb Henson wrestles very easily could lead one to that same assumption. Henson, the nation’s second-ranked 149-pounder, is 17-1 thus far this season after compiling a 27-5 record that included an ACC title and a fifth-place NCAA finish last year. He became the first freshman in Virginia Tech history to win a conference title and achieve All-America status. With 50 matches already on his win-loss spreadsheet, to say winning has become the standard for the Cartersville, Georgia, native would be an understatement. He went 6-2 at last season’s NCAAs, beating the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 11 seeds from his 4-seed slot. And he built a 16-bout win streak this season before coming out on the short end of a 4-3 decision against Nebraska’s top-ranked Ridge Lovett in the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational finals. “That’s the top competition, so that’s what I’m striving for and that’s who I’m looking to wrestle, and I definitely think it’s a good thing to wrestle the guys I’m gonna wrestle at the end of the year, so it doesn’t bother me,” Henson said. “I enjoy it.”
The key to the CKLV final, Henson said, was not being able to finish shots consistently. … story at … Flowrestling.org/Virginia-techs-caleb-henson-delivering-on-big-expectations

Big 12 Midseason Stock Report (Part One)
With the first semester of competition flying by, we are starting to get a better idea of where these teams lie. Some have impressed early, while others are still looking to develop and finish the season stronger. January tends to be a heavy competition month and will give teams another opportunity to improve. I’ll be trying to identify how teams’ stocks have changed since the start of the season, and highlighting a wrestler that is lower in the rankings or unranked that should have an impact for their team throughout the year. All of these are relative to expectations at the start of the year and based on team performance.  Air Force (Overall: 2-2; Conference: 0-2): Slight Stock Up
Wrestler To Watch: Joe Fernau – 149lbs
Led by #2 Wyatt Hendrickson, Air Force’s stock has taken a small bump since the start of the season. Tucker Owens has taken a hit, falling out of the rankings during a recent losing streak. A 2023 qualifier, he’ll have multiple ranked matches coming up, and I think he finds a way back to the NCAA tournament. Giano Petrucelli looks to have made a jump in his senior year, with impressive wins over Antrell Taylor and Noah Mulvaney helping him climb the rankings. … story at … Intermatwrestle.com/Big-12-midseason-stock-report-part-one

Ohio State Wrestling Bounces Back In Big Way After Defeat
After an upset loss at home to Pittsburgh, Ohio State wrestling rebounded in Nashville by winning all three of its duals, including a win over NC State
Tom Ryan believes losses have the potential to serve as wake-up calls — lessons his wrestlers would prefer learning differently. As such, Ryan wasn’t overly concerned about his team’s first dual meet defeat of the season when the Buckeyes (7-1) fell to Pittsburgh on Dec. 10.  It appears that setback fueled Ohio State’s performance Dec. 19 in Nashville at the Collegiate Duals. The Buckeyes defeated Northern Iowa (26-7), Lock Haven (28-9), and second-ranked NC State (21-20) to bring home the title. “There’s something searing about a loss,” Ryan said. “You inspect things more deeply and I think that happened with our team after Pitt.” 
Did winning the title in Nashville provide balm to any doubts the loss to Pittsburgh may have inflicted? “Of course, we were happy with the end result, but I still don’t think we wrestled incredibly well,” Ryan said. “There were some really strong performances and there were some head-scratchers. The team as a whole is still young, and still learning. … story at … Flowrestling.org/Ohio-state-wrestling-bounces-back-in-big-way-after-defeat

January 6, 2024 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment