I haven't had time to go over them with a fine-toothed comb, but here are some of my initial impressions:
- 132 is loaded. Cambria Heights' Brad Thomas was a district runner-up last year. This year, he's the NINTH SEED. Thomas is just 13-4 and has had some off-the-mat issues, but he's a quality wrestler. Imagine how eighth-seeded Kord Aurand of Mount Union, who is no slouch himself at 24-7, feels after drawing a first-round matchup with Thomas. Penn Cambria's Michael Eckenrode (22-10) and Westmont Hilltop's Mike Walsh (19-7) also are in the top half of the bracket along with top-seeded J.P. Hayles of West Branch, who is 28-5. The district wouldn't do badly in take four qualifiers out of the top half of the bracket. The bottom half is almost as deep.
- 120 isn't bad either. Westmont Hilltop's Logan Blackburn was a District 6 Class AAA champ last year. To repeat the feat in Class AA he'll have to come from the sixth seed. The seventh seed, Quentin Whitsel of Southern Huntingdon is 23-7. Not sure I agree with all of the seeds here, as Central Cambria's Tom Opdenhoff is 25-3 but behind Huntingdon's Matt Wilson (21-12). And Tyrone's Jason Schopp, who really struggled at the Thomas Tournament, is the second seed at 22-6. I expect the regional qualifiers to look a lot different than the seeds.
- Noah Tarr of Blairsville is at 145 after spending most of the season at 138. Neither weight looks particularly deep, but at 29-2, Tarr isn't concentrating on a trip regionals as much as he is a strong placement and a run to Hershey. Not sure, maybe it's just an issue with Tarr maintaining his weight.
- Tyrone's D.J. Wunder is back at 195 pounds. Todd Irwin had a story in the Altoona Mirror today about Wunder and teammate Jared Beckwith both missing the tournament. Fortunately, Wunder got medically cleared to wrestle on Tuesday.
- 220 is deep. Penn Cambria's Seth McLendon, a regional qualifier last year, is the seventh seed. He's just 12-4 because an injury kept him out for the early part of the season, but a bottom half of the bracket that includes him, Moshannon Valley's Jacob Ludwig (23-3) and West Branch's Buzzy Maines (29-2) will be interesting. I look forward to seeing United sophomore Andrew Deitman, as I don't know anything about him despite his 23-2 record.
One of Deitman's losses was to Westmont's Don Shovestull, who seems to get overlooked a bit this season.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how he's getting overlooked. He's the top seed, which is the biggest and/or most important thing.
ReplyDeleteIf you're talking about a perceived lack of coverage for him, there are plenty of others that haven't gotten much love from me this year, either.
I'm not sure if I've written a word about Aaron Gill all year and he's a top seed. Triston Law and Justin Patrick also are top seeds that I've written next-to-nothing about them. Their older brothers, Josh Patrick and Cody Law, got stories on them when they committed to wrestle at Rutgers and Penn State, respectively, but other than that, they've gotten very little coverage.
The best teams get the majority of the coverage during the regular season. The best individuals will get their days in the sun now.
any updates on d6 tourny
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't been able to make it to Altoona yet. Spending too much time at my real job. I should be up there before the quarterfinals and hope to post all of the earlier results before then.
ReplyDeleteEscape sports is supposed to be doing live updates at http://liveresults.escapesports.com/PIAA/2013_D6_AA.html# but nothing has been updated so far.
Not referring to your coverage, Eric, you do a great job on this blog that you don't owe to anybody. Overlooked by your average folks because it's just a Westmont thing.
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