TJ Stewart (class of 22 commit) is looking to complete the Trilogy of High school tournaments championships this week at the powerade open. I covered his Ironman open championship but I failed to cover his Beast of the East championship even tho I watched it😂 this week he is yet the #1 seed again at 215 pounds and from what I seen him do the last couple weeks I say he got a really good chance for the triple championship this week😎. I'll cover this one since I'm over covid😂
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Glad you got through it!
Go TJ!
I feel like with the way we've recruited the last few years and what we're about to get, I think we should be contending for a natty in 2-3 years.
Also, what became of John Borst? He's not listed on the roster anymore.
Natty I'm not sure of😂 top 4 is looking likely tho. Also I think Borst graduated last year
Just need to get lucky one year dammit.
Yeah. You need like 4 finalists and 8-9 All Americans to have a fighting chance for a natty
While a Natty is certainly achievable, B1G is owning the upper echelon of talent and coaching.
If we can continue to grow the ACC along with NC State, which is becoming a hell of a wrestling rivalry, we can start pulling some of that talent.
We were very close a few years back finishing 4th in 2016. We had great matchups in the tournament, which is the second half of the equation. Need some good matchups to really make a run.
Yeah Zach Epperly Coming back and winning 7 matches for 3rd helped big time in the score
If I remember correctly. Epperly And Nick B finshed 3rd. Walz finshed 4th and Chisko Haught and McFadden finish 6th. And if Joey dance and ZZ had better tournaments tech probably would had finished top 3
Random side note, Borst's dad was my 6th grade natural resource / conservation teacher. He had no kids back then. Damn I'm old.
While I'm here. Caleb Henson and Tom Crook won the Knockout Christmas classic today!
Oh I just seen where 2023 commit Mac Chruch is in the tournament as well😂 he's in the hole mat 8
Mac wins by Pin. Was up 16-3 in the 3rd when he went head pinch to a far side cradle to get the pin
Tj on deck mat 6
And TJ wasted absoutly no time and gets the pin in 24 seconds😂
2023 Hokie target Gabe Arnold won his first match by pin as well
Mac with a easy 11-3 MD to get into the quarters
TJ with a 20-4 Tech fall and Gabe with a 20-5 tech fall. Both on to the quarters
Are these guys THAT good, or is the competition level suspect?
These dude's are that good. There's a reason why they are top 10 overall in their respective classes. Really high potential. Penn State really wanted Stewart and they also really want Arnold and you know when Penn State wants you. You're really damn good😂
Mac Chruch in hole mat 3
Mac with a 13-5 MD. On to the semis
He faces the #3 seed who is also the number 3 guy in the country at 132
Gabe in the hole mat 1
Gabe won 3-2 and TJ won 13-3. Onto the semis
TJ is a wild man😂 man went for a flying squirrel and he's 215!😂 he also has one of the best double legs I ever seen👀
Alrighty its semis time. Mac Chruch in hole mat 3
CHURCH JUST TOOK OUT THE #3 GUY AT 132! down 4-1 at the start of the 3rd period. Mac gets a early reversal and cuts him to make it 5-3 Chruch then gets a single leg and finished it and cuts him again to make it 6-5. Then Chruch with a another single leg finished it with 40 seconds left and rides out the rest of the match to win 7-6. He faces the 1# seed and #1 guy at 132 this evening in the finals
I don't know what any of this means, but I appreciate your taking the time to provide updates. I'm now headed to YouTube to learn about the flying squirrel.
Just looked up what a flying squirrel move is and that is one athletic move for anyone let alone at 215 lbs!
Thanks for all of your postings APrimus!
No joke. I'd be in traction or a coma if I tried that. I think I'll stick to dominating my 9 year old in thumb wrestling.
TJ won his semis 6-3. Gabe loss 3-2 in overtime. Mac and TJ will be in the finals at 4pm est
Will the 4pm matches be broadcast that you know of?
If you have a flowrestling subscription you can watch. It's 9.99 a month I think but I got the year subscription cause I watch the freestyle tournaments during late spring/summer
Church Losses 3-2. Had one good shot but the Ohio state commit stuffed it. He wrestled tough tho. The other wrestler had 3 pins and a 19-1 TF before the finals
Tj loss 4-2. I don't understand his coaches decisions in that match
Thanks for posting the updates. Much appreciated.
APrimus, I would love to see a brief recap of our recruiting class, and they will likely fit into the line-up for next year. Did we Improve the weight classes where we needed to? What names that we did not hear much from next year should be good this year? Is there somewhere to go for that? Or is spending time on something like that something you would want to do? Or I could buy you some beers and talk about it.....
So for the 2022 class we got 3 recruits. Caleb Henson who is number 1 in the country at 152 and the number 4 recruit overall in the class. He's projected to wrestle at 149 in college which Bryce Andonian holds as of now. I don't know if BA is gonna move up to 157 but im gonna say no. He would really be a small 157 so I think the plan is to redshirt him but Idk. TJ is projected 197 and he would be a instant upgrade. No disrespect to Andy Smith or Cody Howard but TJ imo could easily get AA status as a freshman. Or i can see him going down to 184 for a year cause I heard Bolen might be done wrestling after this season but thats just a rumor. Tom Crook is projected to wrestle 133/141. I think he's gonna be a redshirt no matter what.
I really wish Hilliegas didn't get re injured a couple weeks ago cause I would have loved to see how much he improved. Cause if you remember he hang in most matches against rank guys last year so he probably would have gotten a couple ranked wins this year. I think Andy Smith could be a top 20 guy. He always in matches just gotta take the next step
My ideal 2023 lineup would be.
125: Eddie Ventresca or Copper Flynn. Whoever improves the most during the off season
133: Sam Latona
141: Sam Hilliegas
149: Byrce Andonian
157: Connor Brady or Caleb Henson (only if to good too keep on the bench which is a very high possibly)
165: Clayton Ulrey or Connor Brady (if Caleb Henson is indeed to good too ride the bench😂)
174: Mekhi Lewis aka Bro bro aka the champ is here aka Chicken legs😂
184: Hunter Bolen(Hopefully) or TJ Stewart
197: TJ Stewart(if bolen stays another year) or Andy Smith
285: Hunter Catka
Imo that's a top 6 team maybe top 5
Thank you!
Gabe Arnold commited to iowa😞