The All-Star Classic will be hosted by the University of Pennsylvania on November 1st....
Matchups will be added below as the are released
125: Nahshon Garrett (Cornell) vs Joey Dance (Virginia Tech)
133: Aaron Schopp (Edinboro) vs Mason Beckman (Lehigh)
141: Logan Stieber (Ohio State) vs Mitchell Port (Edinboro)
149: Jason Tsirtsis (Northwestern) vs Josh Kindig (Oklahoma State)
157: James Green (Nebraska) vs Ian Miller (Kent State)
165: Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) vs Nick Sulzer (Virginia)
174: Robert Kokesh (Nebraska) vs Tyler Wilps (Pittsburgh)
184: Gabe Dean (Cornell) vs Jack Dechow (Old Dominion)
197: J'Den Cox (Missouri) vs Scott Schiller (Minnesota)
285: Nick Gwiazdowski (NC State) vs Mike McMullan (Northwestern)
Time to make our picks! Here is mine.
125 - Garrett - I'm very anxious to see how much Dance has improved over the summer. It's hard for me to believe that he was only a true freshman last year, and that he'll be a true sophomore this year. With a year of college under his belt, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he has fixed all of the little mistakes, and comes into this year extremely sharp. With that said, I still think he's going to have trouble with Garrett and Jesse Delgado every time he meets them on the mat. I see this being a bit of a very fast paced chess match, where the quickness and scrambling ability of Garrett will propel him over Dance by 2 to 4 points.
133 - Schopp - This is a match that I can see going either way and being a 1 or 2 point victory for the victor. Schopp's defense seems to get better with every match that he wrestles. While I can see him losing once or twice this season, I don't think he will in this match.
141 - Stieber - I am very happy and excited to know that Stieber and Port will meet at least two times this season. I'm going to go with Stieber in this first meeting, because I think Port will need to see him on the mat once in order to determine what techniques and strategies should be used to beat him. Whatever the outcome at the All-Star Meet, when the two face off in the duel meet, I think Port's chances of beating Stieber greatly increase. If the two meet three times or more this season, then I believe Stieber will have at least one loss on his senior record.
149 - Tsirtsis - I do not believe Tsirtsis will repeat as the champion this year and I think he'll have a handful of losses and not be the #1 seed going into Nationals either. However, I don't think that Kindig will be the guy to beat him. I think he has Kindig's number and his technique will be too much for Kindig to handle. I see a 7-3, 8-4, 9-5 type match.
157 - Green - The idea of Green ending his season as an undefeated NCAA Champion is one that I just don't think will happen. Much like Sam Hazewinkle who had the potential to be a multiple time NCAA champion, but never won one, I think Green is cursed to lose at least once at the NCAA's. With that said, I don't think he'll lose in this match, although Miller is one of those guys that has the ability to defeat him. I see Green with three takedowns.
165 - Dieringer - 8 lbs can make a huge difference. I've seen guys that have dominated at a weight class below, move up a weight class and not be anywhere near as dominate. Dieringer seemed unmovable, unstoppable and imperishable at 157 last year. Even though 165 isn't as tough of a weight class, will he be able to dominate it in the same manner? I'm saying that since his domination was as much quickness, athleticism and technique as it was brute strength that the answer is yes. On the same hand, this proves a golden opportunity for Sulzer to prove himself and establish himself as a title contender. A win here would boost his confidence to a level that would propel him to greater expectations than most of the wrestling community has for him. I take Dieringer by 3 points.
174 - Kokesh - This is really the only match in the All Star meet where I feel that one wrestler is truly better than the other. Wilps is a great wrestler, and could sneak his way into 4th place this year at the NCAA's, but in all sense of reality his most realistic best finish at the NCAA's will be 5th. The elite four, Kokesh, Evans, Brown and Storley (and that is in RANDOM order) are just heads and heels above the rest. I think Kokesh coast to a comfortable victory that will be decided by 5 or more points.
184 - Dean - The Dean vs Dechow match is a rivalry that will last the next three years (unless one of them changes weight classes) that is a true treat for wrestling fans. There is always someone that could come along to challenge the two gladiators (An incoming Freshman, someone moving down a weight class (Taylor Meeks), someone improving tremendously since last season (Sam Wheeler), ect) but I think the finals could be Dean Vs Dechow in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Wouldn't that be amazing? As for right now, I think that Dean has the upper hand over Dechow. I don't see him beating him by much, but always staying ahead of him by a point or two.
197 - Schiller - You have to have an upset at the All Star meet or they're just no fun. As well as Cox wrestled last year, the one major advantage that he had over his opponents was that he was new and they didn't familiarize themselves with his style. I see Schiller wrestling a very tactical match and getting Cox out of his game plan. I think this match is decided on a single takedown which I believe will be Schiller capitalizing on a mistake made by Cox.
HWT - McMullan - Even though Gwiazdowski is the returning NCAA champion, I do believe that McMullan is the best wrestler at HWT. He's been 3rd-2nd-3rd thus far in his career, and I think he'll end his career as an NCAA champion. I see him making a statement at the All Star meet and winning decisively over Gwiazdowski. The point spread may not be much, something like 4-1 or 3-0, but it'll be clear who the better wrestler is.
