Feels like yesterday we were entering October and the start of the wrestling season. Kudos to Coach Branch and Coach Sentes (Campbell) for another great event to kick-off the NCAA wrestling season. I am sure they are planning another special event next year the social coverage in unprecedented for two of the smaller schools; top of Devil’s Tower?
Two years ago, Wyoming would send out 10 different lineups to 10 different duals and well the record would reflect a team trying to find their identity with a 1-9 record and a 10th place finish at Big 12s. Last year same issue with lineups, however, Wyoming recovered and finished .500 with a really young team. This year the lineups were again in flux due to injury and illness. Wyoming lost their starter at 125 (Volk) early in the year and their HWT (Zimmer) about midway through the year. To begin the year, they were without their starting 174 (Davis) and 184 (Ducca). The team overcame it and finished with 12-6 dual record; a few that came down to last matches, so the boys loved the dramatics. I am not sure how many different line-ups they used but it had to be in the 7 to 8 range.
Some dual wins were not as great as others, as evident after the AFA dual and some guys not performing at levels expected of them this late in the season, but they responded and avenged a loss to UNC. The collegiate duals also had some yo-yo matches but featured Davis and Ducca making their way back from injuires as well as Sam making the move to starting HWT.
This week the NCAA wrestling allocations will be released and will give an idea on where guys will have to place to receive a NCAA auto-bid. I’ll have a blog on the Big 12’s next week and may be even an interview.
For the end of this blog, I wanted to say thank you to the wrestlers that will wear the singlet a few more times this year and for those who wore it for the last time this past weekend at the Cowboy Shootout. Thank you for being Cowboys:
Garrett Ricks
Cooper Birdwell
Mason Ding
Stockton O’Brien
Aidan Noonan
Sam Mitchell
Cooper Vorhees
Warren Carr
Josh Kyle
Brett McInstosh
Two years ago, Wyoming would send out 10 different lineups to 10 different duals and well the record would reflect a team trying to find their identity with a 1-9 record and a 10th place finish at Big 12s. Last year same issue with lineups, however, Wyoming recovered and finished .500 with a really young team. This year the lineups were again in flux due to injury and illness. Wyoming lost their starter at 125 (Volk) early in the year and their HWT (Zimmer) about midway through the year. To begin the year, they were without their starting 174 (Davis) and 184 (Ducca). The team overcame it and finished with 12-6 dual record; a few that came down to last matches, so the boys loved the dramatics. I am not sure how many different line-ups they used but it had to be in the 7 to 8 range.
Some dual wins were not as great as others, as evident after the AFA dual and some guys not performing at levels expected of them this late in the season, but they responded and avenged a loss to UNC. The collegiate duals also had some yo-yo matches but featured Davis and Ducca making their way back from injuires as well as Sam making the move to starting HWT.
This week the NCAA wrestling allocations will be released and will give an idea on where guys will have to place to receive a NCAA auto-bid. I’ll have a blog on the Big 12’s next week and may be even an interview.
For the end of this blog, I wanted to say thank you to the wrestlers that will wear the singlet a few more times this year and for those who wore it for the last time this past weekend at the Cowboy Shootout. Thank you for being Cowboys:
Garrett Ricks
Cooper Birdwell
Mason Ding
Stockton O’Brien
Aidan Noonan
Sam Mitchell
Cooper Vorhees
Warren Carr
Josh Kyle
Brett McInstosh
