PIT Review

[Flashy]

First, I apologize this is a few days late. My priority was the finals videos. Now that I have time, I will reflect my thoughts on the Princeton Tournament.

What a great tournament this was from top to bottom! They changed the format this year with the way they call the kids to the mats. I think that worked out well. I noticed in the "bullpen" area where the kids were, there was a lot of talking going on about common opponents and kids just flat out showing moves to other kids. I think thats good for high school sports. They also switched to 6 mats, which in my mind was perfect! Things went much faster and seemed more smooth. My only complaint on that is this: When doing the Quarterfinal round, do the championship matches on the front 3 mats and the wrestle back matches on the back 3. Without full scoreboards on 4 of the 6 mats to tell you the weight class, it was a bit confusing trying to figure out who was where and what not. Also, while we are on the subject of mats... I saw in another post about them cleaning them. I will have to side with that person. I was in the gym 95% of the time, even when they cleared it before finals. I don't remember seeing them clean them at all. During the long day on Saturday, I think they should be cleaned in the morning, afternoon then again right before the finals. Just my opinion....

Teams: The addition of Sterling Newman and GCMS-F were fantastic in my opinion. They both made a huge impact in their inaugural year in Princeton. PORTA is tough! Did anybody notice their 2nd place finish was a done with only 10 wrestlers? Wow! Sterling Newman looked very tough. They showed they are a great tournament team. Especially in a field like the PIT. Reed-Custer keeps surprising people right and left. They have a great coaching staff that will guide them to far places this season, and the next few seasons as well. Coach Birt kept the GCMS-F team rolling and came away with a top 5 finish. Prairie Ridge was a huge shocker to me. After their dual with Harvard last weekend, I thought the folks in Crystal Lake needed life support to get them back on track. They sure turned my head. Wilmington also looked very solid. Harvard was missing 3 of their normal guys, but had replacements who did very well in my opinion. Vandalia was another team that looked solid. Their middle weights are right on track. To be honest, I was expecting more out of Dixon. Overall though, a very solid team race both days.

103: Garrett Webb of SN with the upset in the semi-finals! I was going crazy with the SN fans when he put DeVriese over to his back. The thumbs up might have been overboard, but at that point when you're turning the #1 seed...emotions will be high. DeVriese showed good heart and came back with a good 3rd place match. Cullen from PR is a very solid wrestler. That lightweight group from PR must have some good live sessions in practice!

112: My question right now is simple: Can anybody stop Topher Carton? When you pin your way through the Princeton Tournament, you are on a fast forward track to the top of the podium (again for him) in Champaign. Very impressive young man. He does it with class as well. Alex Jones (WIL) made the drop to 112 and looks to have regained his style that we've been used to seeing the past few years. He'll be right up there with Carton in Champaign. John Eichelberger (RC) is another one to watch. He had a very solid tournament but ran into a mighty buzzsaw in Carton. Carton runs away with OW of the lower weights.

119: Maxx Hubbard opened up my eyes very wide on him. For a sophomore, he seems to be wrestling like a Senior already. He had one close match with Brandon Lizer of Dakota, but every other match he had he was in complete control of. Speaking of Lizer, wow! Very impressive for a freshman. He's another one that opened my eyes. I had high hopes for Blake Clowers of Pittsfield. Not sure what happened, but I have a feeling he will rebound very well.

125: Thorian Twyner showed his weakness at the PIT. I will do him a favor and not expose it here on Matmen. Those of you who witnessed it, you know what I'm talking about. He will have to pick it up a few notches before Champaign if he wants to hold a bracket board. Kameron Carpenter showed me something this past weekend. He has been way under-rated all season. He had a very good tournament for sure! Bradey Kolb had a great match with Billy Chancey (RC). Kolb battled to the 3rd place match where he ran into Carpenter, who I already said was having a great tournament. Chancey is another one that looked very solid. He was right there with Twyner the whole match. In my opinion, IF they meet up again.... it might be a different outcome?! Trever Pyle (VAN) had an off weekend. He wreslted a little bit different from what I remember seeing last year. I'm sure he'll bounce back in time for State.

130: Wow! What a finals match. This marked the 3rd time these two have met up this season and I was honestly thinking it would end up like the prior two meetings. Standley came out firing and put Davidson on the defense for the first period. Davidson started working his way back, but ran out of time. Very impressive match from both wrestlers! I was told a few weeks ago to keep an eye on Ortman of Sterling Newman. I made sure I did just that at the PIT. Very impressive young man. He will turn more heads than just mine as the season progresses. Engle and Hanley represented the I-8 Conference very well. They both had great tournaments, just ran into some studs in Davidson and Standley.

135: McDonnell down to 135 really shocked me. I was told earlier this year that he wouldn't go below 140. My question now is this; will he stay 135 or move back to 140? His match with Agnew was a very solid performance. Agnew just had more gas in the tank it seemed. Agnew is very strong for his size and thats what helped him with raising the bracket. Dillon Cowan(HVD) had a great Semi match with Andy Smith of Byron. Cowan came out firing like he normally does with Smith. But in the finals against Agnew, he didn't look the same. He started out the match on the defense, which is very unlike him. Smith and McDonnell for 3rd place was another good match.

140: Guy Kirby is the man. If it wasn't for the pinning machine at 112lbs, Kirby gets my vote for OW. He is so solid on his feet and on the mat. Has great finesse. Steven Bradley was another wrestler who opened up my eyes at the PIT. He had a very good match with Stormy Hild. Hild didn't look up to par this weekend. Not sure if it was the head injury, but he just seemed like he was in slow motion. He's another one I hope picks it up come the middle of February. Austin Hubbard had a very decent match with Bradley in the quarters.

I'm back to finish up. I had planned on getting it done last night, but the wife hid my laptop on me and flat out said "no Matmen tonight!" ha ha.

145: Engelkes from Bago has been a kid nobody really talked about until the PIT. He is a very good wrestler for a sophomore. He wrestled very well against Troye of SN who I thought would pull the upset on the #1seed. Steve Carlson is one that I have under-rated all season long. He showed people he is for real at the PIT. Just ran into a tough wrestler in Engelkes. I think Troye will bounce back and make some noise in a tough Byron Sectional. McClure wrestled very well, but ran into Carlson who was on top of his game on Saturday. I also don't think we've seen the last of Pat Casagrande of RC. He didn't do very well at the PIT, but I'm sure will bounce back.

152: Zach Langloss impressed me a lot at the PIT. He had impressed me for the past few years, but his performance this year was far better than what I've seen out of him. The one kid I was looking more out of at this weight class was Steve Bainter of Orion. I didn't see his match with Bartoli from Princeton, but thought maybe he should have got by him. Jared Lauber is another one at this weight class that impressed me. He was basically un-heard of up until Princeton last year and I wanted to make sure I got another good look at him. Great technique. He is right up there with Langloss. The Freshman Bahrs from SN had a great tournament as did Willis from Clinton.

160: After I got to Princeton Friday afternoon and I saw the brackets, this was the weight class that I was actually looking forward too. There really wasn't any "big names" so to speak so I wanted to see who would emerge from the stack. If you'd seen my predictions on paper, I was way off! Levi Ulmer (Van) is either under-rated on my rankings or he just flat out was the better man that day. He really impressed me for sure. Can he keep the same momentum heading into the State Series? That will be up to him. Branson Cain (RVD) is another one that rose up to the challenge. He looked good, but Ulmer had his number for sure. Bowers of Dakota and Lieb of Monticello were the two that I thought would be battling it out for the top spot. They will have to improve on this tournament if they want to wrestle in the Hall.

171: This weight class panned out the way I thought it would. Birt is a great wrestler all around. On his feet and on the mat. Baldwin looked good against Taylor and then got slowed down a bit by Liaromatis of Wilmington. Kelton was a good surprise for PORTA. He will do well the rest of the season for the Blue Jays.

189: Did anybody get the license plate of that kid from Pittsfield? Wow! Devon Johnson was up on the top row of the stands when he pinned Flynn. Just out of no where! Flynn looked very dominant for only having 2 matches under his belt. He'll be right back up their come time for the rumble in Champaign. Jeremy Bailey looked OK in my mind. Seemed like he ran out of gas against Flynn in the Semis. If he can get his conditioning on track, he'll be better come February.

215: I'm not sure if Sojka exposed his weakness or not in this tournament. I had thoughts during the 3rd period of the championship match that he too would run out of gas. After the tournament was over, I saw him in the hallways running sprints. So that goes that theory... Overall though, he's a very good technician for a kid his size. Sam Ghrist of Pittsfield has a good workout partner in the practice room. If he puts his ability that he has out on the mat, he might have been a little higher on the PIT podium. Vinton of PR is tough as nails. He'll do well for the Wolves in AA. Seneca from GCMS-F had a rough tournament.

285: Mitchell Keppy will take you to your back while he is sleeping. He is a beast. I really was looking forward to the Wheat/Keppy match up. I'm not sure what happened to Wheat, but I do hope is well now and ready to finish the season strong. Jamie Wise can make an impact later on down the road as well. I think he is under-rated and will prove a lot of people wrong. I was looking forward to the Mashni/Melson 3rd place match, but Melson got sick (I think thats what I heard). Overall, a very dominant weight class. I think Keppy and Wheat have what it takes to stay in the race with Crum and Peterson in Champaign.

Like I said, overall a very good tournament. Gives a showing of where everybody is at at the "half-way" point of the season.

[tada]

good stuff

[gjd]

I try to keep up with Illinois wrestling here in Florida, especially Class 1A. Your recap of the tournament is wonderful. Keep it up!!

glen dallman

[common sense]

Newman only had 11 wrestlers at the meet. There finish is more impressive when you take into consideration that 7 out of the 11 were freshman and sophmores. I think they are a year maybe two years away from medaling at state as a team. As far as team rankings are concerned, I would rank the top five in this order:

1) Stillman Valley
2) Leroy
3) Harvard
4) Gibson City
5) Newman

[mjwrestler]

Originally Posted by common sense

Newman only had 11 wrestlers at the meet. There finish is more impressive when you take into consideration that 7 out of the 11 were freshman and sophmores. I think they are a year maybe two years away from medaling at state as a team. As far as team rankings are concerned, I would rank the top five in this order:

1) Stillman Valley
2) Leroy
3) Harvard
4) Gibson City
5) Newman

I think you are underrating Sterling Newman if you think they are a year away from medaling. They are one solid team. GCMS is also very tough with Kirby being at the top of my list for best wrestler. I have watched him grow from a good wrestler to a great wrestler in the past year. I have no idea what he did over the off season but whatever it was it sure did pay off.I have not seen Stillman Valley or Harvard wrestle since last year so I will hold my opinion until such time I have the opportunity to see them compete. Just curious have you actually seen Leroy wrestle? I believe they have eight or nine freshmen or sophmores. So they are also a young team. I dont think they are a year or two away either. And Flashy that was a great recap of the Princeton tourney. You are the man.

[normster]

Hey Flashy, How about the Part 2? Your audience is dying for the recap!

[Flashy]

Originally Posted by normster

Hey Flashy, How about the Part 2? Your audience is dying for the recap!

Just finished it. Enjoy! I'll give out my wife's email to those of you who want to complain to her for me not getting it done yesterday. lol