Midlands thoughts

pin2win

pin2win

@hagertony
125 – #3 Matt McDonough (Iowa) dec. #4 Andrew Long (Iowa State), 9-7 SV

This outcome is outstanding with both wrestling their butts off! McD doesn't let us down by getting his first midland title. the match with long kind of shocks me after the clinic he put on at the isu meet. apparently long has got in a little better shape and listened to me.

133 – #1 Nick Fanthorpe (Iowa State) dec. Nate Moore (Iowa), 2-1 TB

beating fanthorpe would of made it sting that much more in the clowns heart at this tournament. nick can't be happy with his 5th place

141 – #4 Joe Slaton (Iowa-Unattached) #8 Lou Ruggirello (Hofstra-Unattached), 9-0

Joey Joey Joey Slaton is back and it feels good. this young man has been through so much and maybe he got some attention from brands in this tournament. Heard multiple times that brands was 'shrugging' him off or ignoring him at times but who knows. either way good showing by joey

141 – #7 Ryan Prater (Illinois) pinned #9 Montell Marion (Iowa), 2:24

for me marion stock went way down in this tournament and was expecting to get a lot of noise from marion. this is a good wake up call for marion

149 – #1 Brent Metcalf (Iowa) dec. #2 Kyle Ruschell (Wisconsin), 9-2

three words....."Most Outstanding Wrestler"

157 – Derek St. John (Iowa-Unattached) won by medical forfeit over #3 Steve Brown (Central Michigan)

Great showing for the freshman but seems he lost a little steem in the later rounds

165 – #3 Ryan Morningstar (Iowa) dec. #4 Nick Marable (Missouri), 4-2 SV-2

Once again has a good match with his lover from isu. been saying this for years and im not the only one bout his lack of aggression. this guy needs a bottle rocket put up his butt sometimes

174 – #1 Jay Borschel (Iowa) dec. #2 Ben Bennett (Central Michigan), 6-1

Jaybo wrestled a tournament and this win in the finals was a good one. jaybo didn't have really any problems in any of his matches. Another stepping stone for jaybo with his sites on the top of the podium at the end of the year

184 – #1 Max Askren (Missouri) dec. #3 Phillip Keddy (Iowa), 7-1

Keddy is in my eyes the bruised spot on the banana for the iowa team. his strength is only gonna get him so far! gotta work on finishing shots and if i remember right he got the crap rode out of him in a couple of matches

184 – #4 Louis Caputo (Harvard) dec. Grant Gambrall (Iowa), 5-0

Gamb had a great tournament and if tom wanted to give phil a wake up call he would start gamb for a dual here and there!

197 – #5 Chad Beatty (Iowa) dec. #4 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin), 6-3

MANBEAR! what a 3rd place tournament for him. in the past i have never liked or believed in this beast of a wrestlers. due to his new nickname he is now back on my list of wrestlers i look forward to hearing results on him!

HWT - not even gonna comment im mad
 
I was thinking that maybe a break for Keddy is just what he needs to get 100% healthy for a good run late. Gambrall proved this week he is more than capable of at least filling in for a few duals.

Keddy needs to be there at the end of the year and wrestling hurt and losing in the Big 10 duals will only hurt his seed late in the year. Just my thought but thats why the university pays Tom and his staff.
 
Here's my grades for the Midlands:

125: Matt M. gets a A+!!! What a match!!! He never quit and I look for BIG things down the road with him!!! He should move up to top 5 in rankings after this tournament.
JJ Krush. gets a C+ He didn't really have that bad of a tournament for him. Yeh he didn't medal but he was only 1 or 2 matches from doing it anyway.

133: Moore gets a solid B. Would have gave him a A if he beat Fan but didn't quite get it done. With his wins over the 2 and 7 seed easily earns him a B. Had the quickest fall in the tourny also. Another year under his belt and we won't have much of a drop from Dennis.
Ballweg gets a D. Tough tourny for him and I thought he would do a little better.

141: Slaton gets a solid B. If he beats Kennedy he wins it but Kennedy stalled out and won so I'll say a B for now. He is obviously our man and needs a little more mat time and he could make some serious noise at Nationals.
Marion gets a solid C. Losing to a quality wrestlers in Ruggirello and having a brainfart for 5th keep him from anything higher than a C. But his seed did not help him one bit.
LeClere gets a C-. I thought he outwrestled Marion but Montel is just to athletic for him. To bad for LeClere he's a good kid that works his tail off, but I doubt he ever see's the mat again for the Hawks.

149: Metcalf gets a A. Not that he does not deserve more I just think he was dissapointed to not major Russell that's the reason for not giving him a A+.

157: DSJ gets a solid B. While he looked great at times he seemed to fade a bit at the end. Let me emphisize how I think he needs the whole year and he will be special in the future we will NEED him more next year!!!
Kerr gets a D. Works his tail off but just not good enough sorry Jake.
Janssen gets a F. He failded to have his weight under control over the holidays and it showed. Honestly I think he's our guy but don't expect much out of him.
Ballweg gets a F. 2 and out enough said.

165: Star gets a B-. While his season will be full of nailbitters he will find a way to win down the road and there are bigger concerns on the team right now if you ask me.

174: Jaybo gets a solid A. He never really was challenged and just toyed with everybody a very nice tourny for Jay!

184: Keddy gets a C-. If not for his win over Caputo I would have gave him a D but he gets the LOW C! Right now he is my biggest concern on the team!! There is something wrong with Phil and I just can't place it right now. I don't care if he hurt to get thrown around like a rag doll 2 times in this tourny is just not good enough for Phil. If people want to rip on Star like they do you have to do the same to Phil 100% or not!!!!
Gambrall gets a B. Nice tournament for him. I was pleasantly suprised with him. Another win and I honestly think he would have beaten Keddy!! But he got a bit down on himself and faided at the end.

197: THE MANBEAR gets a A-, What effort and heart he showed us all again. He just does it time and time again. Remember he call a stall warning against Varner in the semi's when Varner was just standing around and countering all of Chad's shots!!! He could move up to 3rd in the Rankings after this tourny. He deserves it also!!!! Hands down my fav. wrestler so I am a bit bias but I love this kid and hope my son is just like him when he grows up!!!! I just hope his season is not over with his ankle/foot!!!!

Hwt: Raising gets a D. He's not our guy this year but will be next year and he is a work in progress! Once he figures out he CAN DO IT, he will be fine. He won't be the Daminal but he will win lots of matches next year!!!

Team grade a solid B+. To win by over 20 points without 3 starters is pretty impressive but there is still room for improvement!!!
 
So, let the debate begin. Assuming that Joey's grades come through, will he see starter time at the National Duals?
 
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