Pictured: North Dakota State's Luke Weber celebrates after a big win. Image courtesy of North Dakota State Sports Information.
The 2021-2022 NCAA Division I wrestling season has finished Week Six. It was a quieter week, given that over half of the D-I squads weren't in action and were focusing on final exams, but that doesn't mean there weren't many unique storylines worth further discussing.
Here are five takeaways (in no particular order) from Week 6 (Dec. 6 – Dec. 12) in college wrestling.
Ohio State's Carson Kharchla takes out another 2021 NCAA Finalist
What a strong month of December for the young Buckeye 165-pounder Carson Kharchla. Since December began, Kharchla's "hit list" has included wins over both 2021 NCAA Finalists Shane Griffith (Sanford) and Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh). Plus, the Buckeye rookie earned a trio of ranked wins at CKLV 2021, including a pair of wins over Cornell's freshman standout Julian Ramirez and another ranked win over Harvard's Phillip Conigliaro.
With a record of 13-1 and currently ranked No. 6 nationally in a loaded 165-pound weight class, I'm excited to see what the Buckeye can do in conference play in January.
Michigan's lineup is coming together
With a more talented and experienced NCAA field than ever before, coaches are limiting the number of appearances for their 10 starters early in the season. One such coach to do so, Sean Bormet of Michigan.
We still haven't seen anything close to the projected starting 10 that will suit up for the Maize and Blue at the 2022 NCAAs in Detroit, but we got a little closer to that full lineup preview this weekend as All-Americans Logan Massa (174) and Mason Parris (285) made their season debuts at the Cleveland State Open.
Both were a perfect 5-0 in Cleveland. In total, the duo won nine of those 10 matches via bonus points.
We still have three more highly-anticipated season debuts yet to come from 2019 NCAA champ Nick Soriano and 2020 Tokyo Olympians Stevan Micic and Myles Amine. All that to say, Michigan will be a force to be reckoned with at NCAAs in Detroit in March.
Bedlam Brawl
Oklahoma State validated why they are rated as the No. 3 team in the land after its 31-3 rout of bitter in-state rival Oklahoma. The Cowboys took nine of 10 individual bouts from the Sooners. Additionally, OSU's AJ Ferrari seemed to get the better of OU heavyweight Josh Heindselman in a post-match skirmish. A few slaps were exchanged before AJ executed a beautiful double-leg on the OU big man.
While the match wasn't competitive as six nationally-ranked Sooners faltered, the passion of the post-match brawl shows why rivalries matter in sports, wrestling in particular. Rivalries matter. Dual meets batter.
That being said, I feel that the Bedlam wrestling rivalry might be better if it was wrestled once annually rather than the customary two times every season.
Luke Weber keeps pinning people
North Dakota State's Luke Weber (165) was a pinning machine this weekend. He went 3-0 with a trio of pins over foes from Buffalo, Binghamton, and Edinboro. With these falls tallied, the Bison 2021 Big 12 champion (165) is now 8-1 with six consecutive pins. Let's see how long that streak can go!
Looking Ahead… Collegiate Duals 2021
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Other TOM Takeaways Articles
Week 1: (Nov. 1-7) TOM’s Takeaway Story – click here
Week 2: (Nov. 8-14) TOM’s Takeaway Story – click here
Week 3: (Nov. 15-21) TOM’s Takeaway Story – click here
Week 4: (Nov. 22-28) TOM’s Takeaway Story – click here
Week 5: (Nov. 29-Dec. 5) TOM’s Takeaway Story – click here
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