Mat Town Open II

[McScoreley]

Lineup next year

125 - Davis/Lilledahl (I think either will be a contender)
133 - Nagao
141 - Bartlett
149 - SVN (Kasak RS)
157 - Haines/Mesenbrink
165 - Haines/Mesenbrink
174 - Facundo/Ryder (could Carter surprise here? TBD) Ryder I think will surprise a lot of people. He's fully focused on wrestling finally with NLWC/M2 this year. He won't ever be an offensive dynamo but he's very similar to Gabe Arnold.
184 - Barr (I see him being an upgrade over Bernie by NCAAs 2025, not yet but will be)
197 - Mirasola/Cochran/Transfer (prefer to RS Mirasola definitely as I think he needs work on the mats)
285 - Kerkvliet (he previously said he plans to return and since it's not an Olympic year or anything, I think he wrestles on some nice NIL deal, overall Kerk doesn't seem to be in a rush to do anything particularly)

 

[McScoreley]

I'm convinced Cael is just not showing his hand to Iowa lol. I'd be floored if Evans isn't the guy against D'Emilio. If he beats him, it definitely gives him another data point to think about as Kasak hasn't really had to wrestle an AA level guy yet (Rooks in his current stage does not count)

He did the same with Levi last year and intentionally made Iowa the "will he, won't he" 6th date. I know you'd like to think he doesn't care enough to do that but Cael has shown he has a bit of a troll side to him.

 

[Shot of Espresso]

I'm convinced Cael is just not showing his hand to Iowa lol. I'd be floored if Evans isn't the guy against D'Emilio. If he beats him, it definitely gives him another data point to think about as Kasak hasn't really had to wrestle an AA level guy yet (Rooks in his current stage does not count)

He did the same with Levi last year and intentionally made Iowa the "will he, won't he" 6th date. I know you'd like to think he doesn't care enough to do that but Cael has shown he has a bit of a troll side to him.

I don’t think Cael has this luxury this year. Last year Iowa was 1/27 which is a week and a half earlier. Last year Levi wasn’t changing weights in the middle of the season so he had plenty of matches at his weight.

This year Kasak needs every single match to get his 15 ..

IMHO Kasak wrestles from here on out…

 

[GogglesPaizano]

Cael has shown he has a bit of a troll side to him.

Troll, or something else?

 

[McScoreley]

I think Cael mentioned Kasak getting to another open for match count also. He’s at 6 matches (one against Evans doesn’t count) He’ll be at 11 if he wrestles out.

 

[STAND with PRIDE]

So many unknowns…

- what’s happening in the room? Is it back and forth?

- does Kasak want to preserve the redshirt? Can he and Beau work it out with Beau’s shirt?

- what did the 4-2 win on Sunday look like? Was Evans in deep and Kasak hit a low percentage move? We have no idea.

- do the coaches see points or do they see R16? If they don’t see points, you preserve the shirt

Totally agree that freshman Kasak has more upside, but it’s as close as close can be. SV and 4-2, in a match we didn’t see, and let’s not forget Evans had one more match that day. Five matches in one day is no joke.

(I’m not Evans’ Dad. Really. Just like the underdog story. Also read that his sr yr in high school, coach told him to stay at 132 and he said no - he wanted to drop and wrestle the best. He lost 6-3 to Crookham and 8-5 to Arrington at states. Check the current NCAA rankings for those guys.)

Adding: Just how serious IS SVN's injury??

 

[billrag]

Adding: Just how serious IS SVN's injury??

Not sure what you're getting at, but I've kind of quietly wondered all season whether there was ANY chance of SVN showing up in a dual and finishing out the season for PSU. I really don't expect it and presume that it's not in Shayne's best interest (though I have no idea what the nature of his injury is (presuming probably a knee)), but it's always fun to speculate.

 

[Random4598375]

Not sure what you're getting at, but I've kind of quietly wondered all season whether there was ANY chance of SVN showing up in a dual and finishing out the season for PSU. I really don't expect it and presume that it's not in Shayne's best interest (though I have no idea what the nature of his injury is (presuming probably a knee)), but it's always fun to speculate.

Someone on here said ACL surgery, although I personally can't confirm that. If that's true, it was clearly done early so that he'll be 100% for next year and there's no chance we'll see him this season.

 

[nerfstate]

Someone on here said ACL surgery, although I personally can't confirm that. If that's true, it was clearly done early so that he'll be 100% for next year and there's no chance we'll see him this season.

I think it possibly happened recently--as in the last week or so. I didn't see SVN "in the room" yesterday, and that was a first. Prior, no crutches or visible limp, and Cael confirmed they were waiting until after the holidays to get it scheduled. No idea what the injury was, but ACL fits the "out for season, no question" clarity Cael gave on the topic.

 

[pish69]

I think it possibly happened recently--as in the last week or so. I didn't see SVN "in the room" yesterday, and that was a first. Prior, no crutches or visible limp, and Cael confirmed they were waiting until after the holidays to get it scheduled. No idea what the injury was, but ACL fits the "out for season, no question" clarity Cael gave on the topic.

Just subscribed to your YouTube channel. Didn’t realize you were one of the reporters. Keep those vids coming!!

Question..how does it get determined what wrestlers get to do these weekly interviews? Can you just go and interview everyone of you wanted to? Or do they just give you a couple each week?

 

[nerfstate]

Just subscribed to your YouTube channel. Didn’t realize you were one of the reporters. Keep those vids coming!!

Question..how does it get determined what wrestlers get to do these weekly interviews? Can you just go and interview everyone of you wanted to? Or do they just give you a couple each week?

Thanks! Yeah, we've been posting them over on Black Shoe Diaries--all pretty new to me, but I'm having fun doing it. Wrestling's Pat Donghia (Strategic Communications) runs the show for these. He usually tries for at least one, sometimes two athletes, but we don't get a say on who we can talk to. Beau & Levi seem to be the favorites this year, and you can tell why.

 

[jmadden1998]

Yes

 

[Pitchfork Rebel]

Aren’t we all.

'
Why do I have this feeling 285 is really loaded here.

 

[Sportfan2017]

Don't wonder too much.
"Sanderson said Facundo has been working toward transitioning to a new weight class." (article dated 11/16/2023)

Penn State wrestling notebook: Alex Facundo takes Olympic redshirt, Aaron Nagao to compete

The Nittany Lions starter from last year will focus on freestyle wrestling.

ca.sports.yahoo.com

It is interesting that Cael said that. Since then, Facundo has been wrestling at 74 kilos so his "'New" weight class appears to be 162.8 pounds.......

 

[Little J]

It is interesting that Cael said that. Since then, Facundo has been wrestling at 74 kilos so his "'New" weight class appears to be 162.8 pounds.......

pretty close - 163.1 pounds
(2.205#/kg)
horseshoes and hand grenades

 

[backdrft76]

I think it possibly happened recently--as in the last week or so. I didn't see SVN "in the room" yesterday, and that was a first. Prior, no crutches or visible limp, and Cael confirmed they were waiting until after the holidays to get it scheduled. No idea what the injury was, but ACL fits the "out for season, no question" clarity Cael gave on the topic.

This was from Friday night. Brace on the left.

 

[86PSUPaul]

This was from Friday night. Brace on the left.

View embedded media

Sporting the brace and the sweet Beau shirt!

 

[Sportfan2017]

pretty close - 163.1 pounds
(2.205#/kg)
horseshoes and hand grenades

Pretty close.........if you insist on complete accuracy (and it appears you do), it is 2.20462 pounds per kilogram.

 

[KCLion]

Pretty close.........if you insist on complete accuracy (and it appears you do), it is 2.20462 pounds per kilogram.

1 kg = 2.2046226218 lbs 😀

 

[District four]

Sporting the brace and the sweet Beau shirt!

Love that shirt