TOM Article

ICYMI: Ten TOM Takeaways from Week No. 11 of the 2021-22 D-I wrestling Season (January 10 – January 16)

by Christopher Miller

Pictured: Michigan's No. 6 Logan Massa celebrates after beating No. 7 Kaleb Romero (Ohio State), 10-4 in a dual meet at 174 pounds. Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki / @SjanickiPhoto.

The 2021-2022 NCAA Division I wrestling season has finished a jam-packed Week 11 and moved into Week 12. With that, interconference dual meet action has arrived, particularly in the Big Ten, where B1g vs. B1g duals are in full swing.

Here are 10 takeaways (in no particular order) from Week 11 (January 10 - January 16) in college wrestling.

Drake Ayala grabs another ranked win

During Week 10, Iowa true freshman Drake Ayala had as good of a college debut in the friendly confines of Carver-Hawkeye as you could ask for.

First, the Hawkeye went toe-to-toe with veteran Pat McKee of Minnesota, falling 8-6, but recording his best (closest) battle with the Golden Gopher to date. Then, Ayala downed then-No. 6 Devin Schroder of Purdue in decisive fashion, 6-1 two days later.

On Friday, Ayala carried that same momentum into his first varsity road start. This time, Ayala shined in a 6-5 win against No. 7 Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) in a contest that, frankly, wasn't as close as the score indicated. Ayala had to come from behind to secure the win, and he nearly pinned DeAugustino earlier in the bout.

On Sunday, Ayala followed up with a strong 7-4 decision over a talented and scrappy Justin Cardani of Illinois.

While Ayala may not be the guaranteed NCAA finalist at 125 that his teammate Spencer Lee was expected to be before Lee's season-ending surgery, I would not be surprised to see the Hawkeye rookie lightweight claim All-American honors later this year in Detroit.

Minnesota breaks the streak against Nebraska

It was all smiles Friday as the Golden Gophers took down the Cornhuskers of Nebraska at home. The dual came down to the tenth and final bout of the night, a top-10 matchup between No. 3 Brayton Lee (Minnesota) and No. 8 Peyton Robb Nebraska). Lee won his bout (and ultimately the dual) thanks to a 4-0 shutout of Robb. The Gopher looked great.

Historically speaking, the 19-13 dual meet win was Minnesota head coach Brandon Eggum's 50th dual victory. The win ended a lengthy losing streak for Minnesota against conference foe Nebraska and was a perfect way to kick off the first portion of Championship Weekend.

The Golden Gophers honored the 20th anniversary of the 2001 and 2002 national championship teams and former head coach J Robinson. during their weekend home doubleheader vs. No. 10 Nebraska (Friday) and No. 9 Wisconsin (Sunday).

Unfortunately, Minnesota's celebration was upended against Wisconsin on Sunday in the second match of the weekend. Wisconsin took six of 10 bouts, including a stunner at 157 as unranked Garrett Model bested No. 3 Brayton Lee, 10-5. The result was unexpected and arguably the biggest individual upset of the weekend.

#Pinzburgh at Fitzgerald Field House Fridays against Arizona State

On Friday, the Pitt Panthers channeled their social media hashtag (#pinzburgh) when the No. 25 Panthers welcomed the No. 6 Sun Devils to town for a dual. On paper, the Pac-12 squad was expected to win with ease. However, Keith Gavin and company had other plans.

Pitt was able to pull off the upset, stunning a COVID-19-impacted ASU squad. The Panthers won just four of the 10 total bouts but recorded a trio of pins to secure the 24-19 team win. Again, this is the magic of dual meets in wrestling—this is why dual meets matter.

Is Austin DeSanto done in a Hawkeye singlet?

As if it weren't bad enough that Iowa lost three-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee (125). Now rumors are swirling that three-time Iowa All-American Austin DeSanto might be done for the year. While this is purely speculation at this stage, there is significant evidence to support the claim:

In his last match (1/7/22) against Minnesota's Jake Gliva, DeSanto came away with a tight 7-5 win. While DeSanto got the W, he looked off. That relentless offensive attacking just wasn't there.

Also noteworthy, Austin has now missed three straight Big Ten duals since his Minnesota match with Gliva. First, DeSanto didn't wrestle at home with Purdue last Sunday. Then he missed two road contests this weekend against Northwestern (Friday) and Illinois (Sunday).

Most concerning, Iowa head coach Tom Brands pulled backup 133-pounder Cullan Schriever's redshirt on Friday against Purdue.

Typically, you wouldn't shed a redshirt this late in the season if it wasn't an absolute necessity. It's also worth mentioning that DeSanto beat Schriever, 8-4, earlier this season at the Luther Open, for what that's worth.

Schriever looked decent despite being 0-2 this weekend. That said, losing DeSanto would be a massive blow to the Hawkeye title defense this March.

Max Murin gets big upset win over Northwestern's Yahya Thomas

Iowa senior Max Murin is a talented wrestler with some big-time wins on his resume. While his skill level has never been the problem, his consistency (or lack thereof) has been concerning at times.

Well, No. 13 Murin showed up this weekend securing a big 4-3 decision over No. 6 Yahya Thomas thanks to a late takedown with under 20 seconds to go to ice the match.

It was a great match by both wrestlers, one I hope (and expect) to see again at the conference tournament or NCAAs. Congrats to Murin on a great win, but I'm not ready to count Yahya out.

The NU Wildcat was a No. 25-seed in 2021 and finished in third. That said, Murin deserves credit for a gutsy win nonetheless.

While Yahya has not dropped back-to-back duals against ranked conferences opponents, I expect the NU product to bounce back. These tight defeats are a testament to the strength of the best conference in college wrestling.

Michigan dominated dual with bitter rival Ohio State

Sure, the dual ended rather lopsidedly, 29-8, and a projected top-10 battle at 165 between No.5 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) and No. 10 Cam Anime (Michigan) did not materialize.

That said, the absolute slugfest of an overtime battle between Olympian No. 2 Myles Anime (Michigan) and two-time NCAA qualifier Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) was worth the price of admission.

These two gave all they had and delivered one of the best matches of the entire weekend. It was a match fitting of a heated rivalry between two top-notch wrestling institutions. Credit to both wrestlers for putting on a show! Selfishly, I hope we see that bout again.

Props to Columbia for taking on Oklahoma State in Stillwater

Due to COVID-19 issued within the UPenn program, the Quakers weren't in action this weekend. As a result, their EIWA matchup with Columbia via a tri-meet at West Virginia was postponed. Credit to Columbia for stepping up and deciding to travel all the way to Stillwater to battle No. 4 Oklahoma State on short notice.

Columbia already had a tall task ahead of them to begin with, a road test with No. 17 Lehigh on Friday night. The Lions lost a heartbreaker, 20-16, to the Mountain Hawks. Now to hit the road for a very uneven matchup with a championship-caliber OSU Cowboys squad, which is courageous and admirable.

It's always great to see teams go out there for the love of the sport. That's precisely what Columbia did Sunday afternoon. The Lions fell, 35-6.

Have yourself a weekend, Sebastian Rivera!

You couldn't ask for much of a better weekend if you are Rutgers' Sebastian Rivera. On Friday, he improved to 15-0 on the year and maintained his 100% bonus-point rate with a 22-7 dismantling of Illinois' We Rachal. The tech was extra special, though, as it was Rivera's 100th career win in a D-I singlet.

Regrettably, Rivera didn't get his chance to dethrone No. 1, Nick Lee of Penn State, in Rec Hall on Sunday as COVID-19 protocells kept the defending NCAA champ out of the lineup. However, Rivera improved to 16-0 (still with a 100% bonus rate) after a 17-1 win over PSU backup Brandon Meredith early in the second frame.

Congrats on wins 100 and 101, Seabass!

Stephan Buchanan and Yonger Bastida went to war in the high elevation in Laramie

Obviously, on the national stage, 197 is one of the deeper or most-improved weights in the country compared to what it may have been three to five years ago. Specific reminders of this fact seem to happen weekly. The OT thriller between No. 4 Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming) and No. 12 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) was a reminder for sure. This bout is one of many exceptionally compelling bouts worthy of re-watching later this week in your spare time. Here is the match.

Princeton's Pat Glory put 125 on notice

Pat Glory and the entire Princeton staff have taken some heat because Glory was absent from a few marquee duals this season. The EIWA standout wasn't in the lineup against Iowa in November. Then, Glory also missed a compelling potential matchup last week with NC State's Jakob Camacho.

I'm not here to critique the coaching decisions of Princeton head coach Chris Ayers at all.

I am here to say congrats to Glory for taking out 2021 NCAA finalist No. 4 Brandon Courtney of Arizona State in a decisive fashion. Glory dominated the Arizona State Sun Devil, winning 12-6. One of five for the Princeton Tigers, Glory's win helped the 22nd-ranked Princeton wrestling team over No. 6 Arizona State on Sunday in Jadwin Gym.

It was a great team win for Princeton and fantastic performance for Glory individually. It also brought an end to a rough 0-2 showing for the No. 6 Sun Devils, which dropped a pair of contests to Pittsburgh and Princeton, both teams outside the top 20 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll.