Just for fun, and because I'm so excited for the season to start! I'm going to predict team finishes, as well as PSU individual finishes. Feel free to add your predictions as well!
My top 5 team rankings:
1. Penn State. Great balance from top to bottom, and a number of serious title threats.
2. Oklahoma St. They've got threats up and down the lineup too. Really a coin flip between them and PSU in my book. But, as an Eagles fan, I'm automatically anti Cowboy.
3. Ohio St. Losing Snyder to the Olympic RS certainly hurts. Still, tons and tons of talent in this lineup.
4. Iowa. They have a good shot at 4-5 high AA placers, and maybe a champ or two as well.
5. Lots of possibilities here, I reached into the hat and chose....Michigan. Lehigh, Cornell, and Mizzou will be in this discussion too.
Now for the individual predictions:
125. Nico: National Champion. NaTo, Gilman, Moisey, and Dance make this a super competitive weight, but I'm hoping Nico can finally get his title!
133. Conaway: R12. This is a real meat grinder of a weight. Conaway certainly can AA at this weight, but with all of the talent at this weight, its going to be tough. I'm going with Cory Clark as Champ.
141. Gulibon: 3rd. I see an absolute ton of parity at 141. Looking at rankings I could see any of the top 8-9 as real title threats. Dean Heil is my prediction here.
149. Zain: National Champion. Jason Tsirtsis, and Brandon Sorensen will certainly have something to say about this, but I love me some Zain! If Hunter Stieber can return to full health he'll certainly be a name to watch for as well.
157. Nolf: 4th. IMar is on his own planet until proven otherwise. Two talented seniors (Miller and Braschetta) slot in behind them. It'll be interested to see how Chance deals with 157, he's certainly got the talent to make noise here as well.
165. PSU's six headed monster: Tough to predict because its anyone's guess who'll be the starter here. Dieringer and the Jordan twins are going to make the top 3 very tough to crack. I'll go with a low AA finish for whoever our starter is here. Don't sleep on Zach Beitz. Dieringer is my pick as Champ.
174: Nickal: 6th. This weight has parity almost like 141. I think Bo has as good a shot as any, but I'm going with Zach Epperly as my champ.
184: McCutcheon: 8th. This is a really tough weight. Cutch could certainly finish higher (or frankly, lower). Assuming Gabe Dean is taking an Olympic shirt, Nate Brown is my pick.
197: MacIntosh: 2nd. I hate to make this pick. I'm mad at myself. But I'm going with J'Den Cox here. If he ends up at 285, Mac is my pick.
285: Nevills: 7th. It's not wise to predict a freshman to AA (see Coon, Adam) but I'm doing it anyways! 3 AA's have graduated, so I think there's room for Nick to make the top 8. Binghamton's (errr, NC State's) greatest wrestler of all time, Nick Gwiazdowski is my pick for the top spot.
My top 5 team rankings:
1. Penn State. Great balance from top to bottom, and a number of serious title threats.
2. Oklahoma St. They've got threats up and down the lineup too. Really a coin flip between them and PSU in my book. But, as an Eagles fan, I'm automatically anti Cowboy.
3. Ohio St. Losing Snyder to the Olympic RS certainly hurts. Still, tons and tons of talent in this lineup.
4. Iowa. They have a good shot at 4-5 high AA placers, and maybe a champ or two as well.
5. Lots of possibilities here, I reached into the hat and chose....Michigan. Lehigh, Cornell, and Mizzou will be in this discussion too.
Now for the individual predictions:
125. Nico: National Champion. NaTo, Gilman, Moisey, and Dance make this a super competitive weight, but I'm hoping Nico can finally get his title!
133. Conaway: R12. This is a real meat grinder of a weight. Conaway certainly can AA at this weight, but with all of the talent at this weight, its going to be tough. I'm going with Cory Clark as Champ.
141. Gulibon: 3rd. I see an absolute ton of parity at 141. Looking at rankings I could see any of the top 8-9 as real title threats. Dean Heil is my prediction here.
149. Zain: National Champion. Jason Tsirtsis, and Brandon Sorensen will certainly have something to say about this, but I love me some Zain! If Hunter Stieber can return to full health he'll certainly be a name to watch for as well.
157. Nolf: 4th. IMar is on his own planet until proven otherwise. Two talented seniors (Miller and Braschetta) slot in behind them. It'll be interested to see how Chance deals with 157, he's certainly got the talent to make noise here as well.
165. PSU's six headed monster: Tough to predict because its anyone's guess who'll be the starter here. Dieringer and the Jordan twins are going to make the top 3 very tough to crack. I'll go with a low AA finish for whoever our starter is here. Don't sleep on Zach Beitz. Dieringer is my pick as Champ.
174: Nickal: 6th. This weight has parity almost like 141. I think Bo has as good a shot as any, but I'm going with Zach Epperly as my champ.
184: McCutcheon: 8th. This is a really tough weight. Cutch could certainly finish higher (or frankly, lower). Assuming Gabe Dean is taking an Olympic shirt, Nate Brown is my pick.
197: MacIntosh: 2nd. I hate to make this pick. I'm mad at myself. But I'm going with J'Den Cox here. If he ends up at 285, Mac is my pick.
285: Nevills: 7th. It's not wise to predict a freshman to AA (see Coon, Adam) but I'm doing it anyways! 3 AA's have graduated, so I think there's room for Nick to make the top 8. Binghamton's (errr, NC State's) greatest wrestler of all time, Nick Gwiazdowski is my pick for the top spot.
