Wrestling Blogs - Martin Floreani

If this weekend taught us anything it is that wrestling is the greatest sport in the world and it is the most exciting sport in the world hands down.

I wanted to say thanks to Matguard for talking a chance on Flowrestling and Mineful.com (business intelligence) for performing in the clutch.

Here is my summary of this weekend before we move on deeper into the 2009 wrestling season (we go year round!!!).

Iowa showed vulnerability. Brent Metcalf in his interview said that Iowa "we were duped" coming in. I think 99% of people in the nation didnt give anyone else a chance to win this tournament including me. Iowa maybe went into the tournament thinking other wrestlers were going to lie down for them because they were wearing black and gold singlets. Who knows...but they did find a way to pull it out....something very characteristic of champions.

Dan Erekson shows everyone in the nation how good Tom Brands system is. He went from a liability who probably wouldnt qualify to a contender and in my book is the most exciting wrestlers at HWY. I saw Dan Erekson get worked earlier in the year but at the NCAA tournament he looked like an athlete with a seriously dangerous and smooth inside snatch single. In the All American round Dan Erekson was down by two to Fedone of Edinboro with 12 seconds left. He came back with a takedown and won in overtime. That single act scored about an extra dozen points for Iowa....clutch.

Iowa had 3 medical forfeights on the backside of the bracket giving them a total of six bonus points (medical forfeights count as pins). Iowa won by 4.5 points.

I just read a book about the "Rumble in the Jungle" between Ali and Foreman. I felt like Caldwell was Ali and Metcalf was Foreman. It will go down as a historic upset that most people didnt think they would see. I cant wait for them to square off next year.

Kent State finished with 2 All Americans and left 2 or 3 guys in the round of 12. They finished 18th and are a new force on the college wrestling scene. Congrats to Jim Andrassy and his crew.

Boise State flexed their muscles from the west by finishing 12th.

Steve Garland from Virginia got its first All American. Congrats to their coaching staff and getting over that hump.

Ryan Williams from ODU made it to the finals. The highest he ever placed at the state tournament in PA was 7th.

Ohio State placed second (3 finalists) but the difference between last year and this year is this year they arent happy with it. They went from 6th in the Big Ten to 2nd in the nation....was anyone else stunned? They continue to move in the right direction. They will be knocking on the Team Champions door next year.

Steve Luke won in the finals against a guy he wrestled with growing up with. Michigan finally punching their NCAA champion after a string of seconds in the last couple of years.

Everyone thought Central Michigan was not going to place in the top 20 this year. They followed up last years performance where they took 7th and graduated a handful of influencial seniors. They placed 14th with a pretty young team.

The heavy weight match was like a scramble fest. I dont know if we have ever seen such an exciting big boy show down. Mark Ellis barely topped Konrad Dudziak of Duke. Good battle.

Binghamton got its first All American. Popalizio and the rest of the coaches are doing great things in upstate NY.

Speaking of upstate NY. Cornell had a really difficult tournament and still finished in the top 5. Rob Koll is an awesome coach and has built something special there. He is one of the smartest coaches if not the smartest coach in the nation.

John Hangey, Riders assistant coach showed the nation he can produce results. Umbehaurer had one of the most exciting matches in the tournament in the quarters vs Keddy from Iowa. Umbehaurer or Jersey Fresh, finished third in the nation.

Wyoming and Mark Branch did in one year what takes programs 6, 7 or 8 years, they got an all american with Joe LeBlanc (5th). I have know doubt that Mark Branch is building something special there.

American University Mark Cody punched in two All Americans. They continue put themselves in good positions.

The new Qualifying system probably contributed somewhat to all the upsets that we saw this year. It deserves some reservation by its critics til we see what happens next year. The West has to adjust its scheduling and find a way, it puts them at a lil disadvantage but they need to find a way for it to work for them.

Watch out for Bucknell. This team is coming back. They had an AA this year but I dont think it was a fluke.

Maryland took 10th. Im sure Kerry McCoy is riding the Santoro wave a little bit, but expect him to take it up a notch next year. They performed well and we get one more year of the magic from Hudson Taylor....sweet!

We will miss Mike Poeta from Illinois as an extremely exciting wrestler who always put it on the line. Maybe we will see him on the international level.

Jarrod King from Edinboro was ranked 19th, and won the NCAA tournament. Nuf Said. He wins the Branch Award as the wrestler with the lowest seed coming in that performs out of his mind.

Mark Manning got on the stand with Nebraska (4th). They are going to have a wicked team coming back lead by Burroughs and Brester.

3rd time is a charm for Varner (Iowa State) at 197 as he avenged his loss to Brester in the finals of the Big 12s. Varner is an NCAA champ!