2024 Mat Town II Open, Jan 28th

[HFO]

**** Forrest looks bigger. Luke almost had him toward his back about 3 times but ref ruled no exposure. Both kids are going to be great. I don't see either staying at 125 for long as they are both tall . The question will be will Crookham stay at 133, for 24 through 26? He is much more physically developed and muscled? Crookham does not look over tall at 133, but with his strength and frame he could probably be successful at 141 in 25-26. Luke would have to hit the weights hard to get to a solid 141-49.

I think both could be 133 or 141. Stanich is pushing the bounds of making 125. So he has been at 120-125 pounds now for jr, sr and first year of college. He is for sure will be over 141 in the off-season. So it is likely they will both certify 133. Then you have Crookham, Stanich, McGonagle, Hines all 4 natural 133 lbs for 133/141.

Stanich has option of being redshirt next year. No McGonagle at most recent tournament. We shall see if Hines can do it at EIWA and NCAA at 141, but it appears this is where he will be for remainder of his career unless someone beats him out.

These are good problems. There is depth and there are NCAA points.

[gimpeltf]

It will take some time for this to heal, psychologically speaking, but I agree (grudgingly) IMO, these high school kids should be limited to seniors or post-grads to any college tournament. Let them enter freestyle tournaments.

The issue is with the way NCAA compliance rules are written. If you recall, they banned hs kids from events maybe 15 years ago for several years. I told them the compliance rules didn't agree and after a few year they realized the same thing and relented.
These rules were mainly written to allow kids to enter open track and field / XCountry events. They need to differentiate between contact sports and non-contact.

Or just honor that it is an OPEN which means anyone who registers can compete whether pre-college, college, or post college. No need to add even more rules to NCAA binder.

Nothing wrong with high schoolers entering Opens and beating college wrestlers.

That's the problem. Since they allow kids in opens it makes for matches that have no meaning for the college kids. In Track/XC there's no further risk of injury and the college kids results stand on their own. In wrestling you need to get a number of relevant bouts. These aren't relevant.

[martinsilvestri]

It's one of the risks of entering a true open tournament i guess where you are accepting all challengers. I agree it's a lose-lose-lose. But I also recall Santoro saying Stanich is one of the mentally toughest kids he has coached. Now's the time for that toughness.

There are just these HS super-studs like Forrest Blaze and Bassett. We have to assume they would have a viable shot at the NCAA championships if they could enter. Theyre just that good. This is most an issue at the lower weights where you're gonna have the most competition from the best highschoolers who are still growing. Same thing happens on the other end with middle schoolers like Paul Kenny who demolishes all the highschoolers at 110/114 and wins the u17 championship at 15 years old...

[jdalu75]

Stanich could have gotten injured in any of the bouts that he wrestled in that tournament. I guess the coaches had their reasons, but I was surprised that he was entered at all. Seemed like a no win situation to me. But having been entered, before the final I was fine with him not dropping out and I'm still ok with him not having done so.

The point to him entering was to get his bout totals up with just one weigh-in. He now has 14 Div I matches, needs one more to qualify for an RPI ranking. While he'll almost certainly earn a pre-allocated spot for the EIWA with just his winning percentage and CP ranking, it's safest to have all three. I've heard most of the EIWA coaches talk about the need to earn as many pre-allocated spots as possible; they don't want to be seen as having their wrestlers "steal" spots at NCAAs.

So he's up to 14, needs one more, there's one tournament (Edinboro Open next weekend) and four duals remaining. I posted recently about competing at the MT2, Bucknell in two weeks, ASU in two more weeks, and then EIWAs two weeks after that. I'm thinking now that maybe the plan is just one more dual, maybe Princeton in three weeks. Reasoning -- the next time he wrestles in a dual will be his fifth official date, the limit under which he still can redshirt. If he wrestles a sixth time before EIWAs and is injured, his r/s is already blown and he's too far into the season to claim a medical hardship waiver. This season would count as one of his four.

[JAD77]

I thought this was his 5th date - no? Meaning next competition the redshirt is gone. Am I wrong?

[gimpeltf]

I thought this was his 5th date - no? Meaning next competition the redshirt is gone. Am I wrong?

He was unattached. He gets 5 attached dates.

[jdalu75]

Wow - that HS kid is good. Luke had at least 4 good shots that he couldn’t convert.
That kid will be at least 149 in college - he’s big!

Different ref, larger mat, and that bout doesn't make it into OT.

Forrest taller for sure, I wouldn't expect see him at 125 in three years.

[Spladle1989]

I would think all the high end talent coming out of high school in next couple years would only help to insure Stanich goes for it this year…..

[Richb-3]

Rich: what is this post of your's referring to?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yfyuxGo3lw

It looks like Jax parents posted all four of his sunday bouts

[Richb-3]

In an ideal world The next 4 weekends would be this order, Bucknell, AzSU, Princeton, AWP, with 125 being the last bout. I would expect Seymour easily wins Bucknell, and Princeton. Seymour also, he also he also needs another Bout. It is possible 2 wins could push him into the top 27 and earn a spot for EIWA. (but I think it would take a little more.

I am sure there were others, but the first HSer I remember in an open was Kolat. I think Midland gave him a special invite his sophomore year. Did he finish 3rd? Skip forward to Marsteller. He Entered a college open, I think in 8th or 9th Grade. Then NCAA said, no more HSers forever(or about 5 years).

I wonder If opens became available to HS after McCort got banned for about 3 years.