Let's quickly recap the action from Day 1 at the 2022 Big Ten Wrestling Tournament.
SESSION I RESULTS
FIRST ROUND
125: #6 Drake Ayala DEC (4-0) #11 Tristan Lujan (Michigan State)
133: #2 Austin DeSanto -- BYE
141: #2 Jaydin Eierman -- BYE
149: #4 Max Murin MAJ DEC (12-0) #13 Peyton Omania (Michigan State)
157: #2 Kaleb Young -- BYE
165: #2 Alex Marinelli -- BYE
174: #4 Michael Kemerer FALL (2:30) #13 Connor O'Neill (Rutgers)
184: #5 Abe Assad DEC (6-4) #12 Zach Braunagel (Illinois)
197: #4 Jacob Warner MAJ DEC (17-4) #13 Nick Willham (Indiana)
285: #2 Tony Cassioppi -- BYE
Only five Iowa wrestlers were in action here, since five Iowa wrestlers earned a #2 seed, which comes with a bye into the second round. The Iowa wrestlers in action went 5/5 with three bonus point wins, highlighted by a pin from Michael Kemerer. This was a very solid start to the competition.
QUARTER FINALS
125: #3 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) DEC (4-3) #6 Drake Ayala
133: #2 Austin DeSanto DEC (6-3) #7 Chris Cannon (Northwestern)
141: #2 Jaydin Eierman DEC (10-3) #7 Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State)
149: #4 Max Murin DEC (6-5) #5 Yahya Thomas (Northwestern)
157: #10 Brady Berge (Penn State) DEC (5-3) #2 Kaleb Young
165: #2 Alex Marinelli DEC (8-2) #10 Creighton Edsell (Penn State)
174: #4 Michael Kemerer DEC (5-4) #5 Ethan Smith (Ohio State)
184: #4 Taylor Venz (Nebraska) DEC (4-2) #5 Abe Assad
197: #5 Patrick Brucki (Michigan) DEC (3-1) #4 Jacob Warner
285: #2 Tony Cassioppi DEC (9-3) #7 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)
Iowa went 6-4 in the quarterfinal round, which was good, but not great -- and great is probably what they needed in order to win a championship here. Iowa got pretty comfortable wins from Eierman, Marinelli, Cassioppi, and DeSanto here. They got thrilling wins from Murin (who scored three points in the final few seconds of the third period off a stall point and a takedown on the edge to beat Thomas in a barnburner) and Kemerer, though the latter came at a cost -- Kemerer appeared to aggravate a pre-existing shoulder injury during the match. He was able to grind out a victory here, but it seems to have cost him the rest of the tournament. Meanwhile, Ayala lost a heartbreaker on a late escape point, while Warner and Young lost matches in a familiar fashion: not enough offense. Assad was fairly game in his match with Venz, but he wasn't able to convert action into takedowns.
SESSION II
CONSOLATION ROUNDS
125: #6 Drake Ayala MAJ DEC (12-3) #12 Jacob Moran (Indiana)
157: #2 Kaleb Young DEC (10-5) #8 Robert Kanniard (Rutgers)
184: #5 Abe Assad MAJ DEC (9-0) #6 Layne Malczewski (Michigan State)
197: #4 Jacob Warner MAJ DEC (10-1) #11 Jaron Smith (Maryland)
Iowa went 4/4 in the first set of consolation match action last night, including a trio of major decision wins. That's what you need to do if you find yourself in the consolation bracket and all four of these guys handled their business well.
125: #8 Mitch McKee (Minnesota) DEC (5-2) #6 Drake Ayala
157: #2 Kaleb Young DEC (5-3) #6 Chase Saldate (Michigan State)
184: #8 Kyle Cochran (Maryland) DEC (4-3) #5 Abe Assad
197: #4 Jacob Warner DEC (4-2) #9 Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State)
The second set of consolation matches last night was a mixed bag. Young and Warner picked up no-fuss decision wins in their matches, but Ayala and Assad lost their bouts. Ayala fell to 0-4 this year against McKee; he just cannot get over that hump. Assad gave up a late score to Cochran to lose his match. Definitely a pair of frustrating losses.
SEMIFINALS
133: #2 Austin DeSanto DEC (4-3) #3 Lucas Byrd (Illinois)
141: #2 Jaydin Eierman MED FFT #3 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)
149: #1 Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) DEC (3-1) #4 Max Murin
165: #2 Alex Marinelli DEC (3-2) #3 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin)
174: #1 Carter Starocci (Penn State) MED FFT #4 Michael Kemerer
285: #2 Tony Cassiopi DEC (6-4 SV) #3 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
The semifinals was a bit like the quarterfinals for Iowa: good, not greatness -- when greatness was what was needed to claim a Big Ten championship this year. Iowa went 4-2 in the semis, led by narrow wins by DeSanto, Marinelli, and Cassioppi. Eierman somewhat surprisingly picked up a win by medical forfeit over Rivera, who is apparently dealing with an injury of some sort. DeSanto and Marinelli got third period takedowns to edge out close wins in their bouts, while Cassioppi left it even later -- he got a reversal with seconds remaining to tie his match with Kervkliet, than got the winning takedown in sudden victory. That was a dramatic (and satisfying) way to end the night for Iowa.
Murin lost a narrow bout to Sasso when he wasn't able to convert any shots into takedowns. Kemerer didn't even take the mat against Starocci, taking a medical forfeit instead. As noted, he seemed to re-aggravate a pre-existing shoulder injury in his win over Smith in the quarters. Hopefully Kemerer can rest and heal up in the just-under-two-weeks that's left until the NCAA Tournament gets underway.
TEAM SCORE
1) 116.0 -- Michigan (5 finalists, 4 in consolation semifinals, 1 in 7th place match)
2) 111.5 -- Penn State (5 finalists, 2 in consolation semifinals, 1 in 7th place match)
3) 109.0 -- Iowa (4 finalists, 4 in consolation semifinals, 2 in 7th place matches)
4) 72.0 -- Ohio State (1 finalist, 5 in consolation semifinals, 2 in 7th place matches)
5) 70.5 -- Northwestern (1 finalist, 5 in consolation semifinals, 1 in 7th place match)
An updated bracket is available here.
Michigan has surprisingly taken the catbird's seat in the team race here, thanks to a strong team-wide performance. Penn State's high-end firepower is keeping them firmly in contention, but getting very few points out of three weights (125, 149, 165) is looking costly for them at the moment. The challenge for Michigan is growing their 4.5-point lead before the finals. While Michigan and Penn State each have five finalists, only one of Michigan's finalists is likely to be favored in his match (Suriano at 125), while four of Penn State's finalists are likely to be favored in theirs (all but Dean at 197, and even that match is likely a toss-up rather than a strong lean either way). If the favorites win all of those finals matches, Penn State would net +12 points on Michigan (plus any bonus points they manage to score). Michigan does go head-to-head with Penn State in two finals (174, 184), so upsets there could be huge for their title push.
But the other thing they can do is extend their lead before the finals matches even begin. Wins in the consolation semifinals are worth 3.5 points (plus any bonus points that are scored) and Michigan has four wrestlers in those matches, while Penn State only has two. And I would say all four of of those Michigan wrestlers should be favored in their matches (133, 141, 197, 285). One of them (Micic at 133) likely has 5.5 points in the bag because he's slated to face Sebastian Rivera -- who medically forfeited out of his quarterfinal match. If they win all those matches, that would be at least another 16 points for Michigan this morning (including the two bonus points for Micic's presumed forfeit win over Rivera). Penn State can only net 7-11 points from their consolation semifinal matches (157, 285), and they're probably only a clear favorite in one of them (285). If Penn State and Michigan take care of business in their consolation semifinal matches, things could be set up for a pretty thrilling race for the team title in the finals.
And what about Iowa? They're not out of title contention -- but they do probably need to be just about perfect in all of their remaining matches. Any margin of error they might have had has been thoroughly erased by this point. And they really can't max out in the consolation matches because Kemerer isn't going to get them any more points -- he's expected to medically forfeit out of his consolation semifinal and the 5th place match. The path for an Iowa win is technically there, but it will require some real magic to bring it to reality. But Iowa can definitely play spoiler to Penn State, especially with two head-to-head matchups in the finals...
SESSION III -- CONSOLATION MATCHES
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS (winner wrestles for 3rd; loser wrestles for 5th)
149: #4 Max Murin vs #6 John Van Brill (Rutgers)
157: #2 Kaleb Young vs #5 Peyton Robb (Nebraska)
174: #2 Michael Kemerer vs #7 Troy Fisher (Northwestern)
197: #4 Jacob Warner vs #3 Cameron Caffey (Michigan State)
Again, Kemerer isn't expected to wrestle his match against Fisher. Young beat Robb two weeks ago -- hopefully he can do the same today. Warner and Murin will have their hands full with Van Brill and Caffey.
7TH PLACE MATCHES
125: #6 Drake Ayala vs #9 Dylan Shawver (Rutgers)
184: #5 Abe Assad vs #10 Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota)
Neither Ayala nor Assad wrestled either of these opponents previously this year. But they both appear eminently beatable. Go out and get some wins and end your Big Ten Tournament on a high note, fellas.
FINALS
133: #2 Austin Desanto vs #1 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)
141: #2 Jaydin Eierman vs #1 Nick Lee (Penn State)
165: #2 Alex Marinelli vs #4 Cameron Amine (Michigan)
285: #2 Tony Cassioppi vs #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota)
Plenty of familiar faces here. DeSanto and Eierman have past wins over RBY and Lee, both they've also each lost their last two (at least) matches to their PSU foes. We'll see if they have anything new to offer today to earn wins -- and Big Ten championships. I'm leery of Eierman's chances since he seems to be competing on an injured knee/leg this weekend, based on the knee brace he's sporting and the limp he had during his quarterfinal win yesterday. Beating Lee is hard enough at 100% health... Marinelli didn't face Amine this year, but he beat him 2-0 at Big Tens last year. As for Cassioppi and Steveson... I mean, we all know the history there. It's not pretty for Tony. We can pray for a miracle, but that's about it.
