This week we saw around 20 upsets go down in division 1 wrestling. The major stories involved two hits to NCAA title contending team Ohio State.
10) #4 Brett Pfarr, Minnesota over #3 Nathan Burak, Iowa
This one may be an upset in ranking only. We even deliberated on having Pfarr ahead of Burak prior to this match. It was a great bout and its inclusion is more about the gravity of the win for Pfarr than how unexpected the result was.
9) #10 Amar Dhesi, Oregon State over #9 Tanner Hall, ASU
Dhesi sent a message with a 12-4 beatdown of Tanner Hall. Last time these two met Hall stole the win late at Midlands. Dhesi wasn’t leaving anything up to chance this time around. Here's the Midlands stunner from Hall:
8) Zack Davis, Navy over #18 Josh Martinez, Air Force
Martinez was in the driver’s seat the entire match but Davis stole it late. Davis has struggled most of the year but like many of the guys we’ll mention, has been in a lot of matches. He hung around against Josh and made the most of the opportunity in the All-Academy finals.
7) BJ Clagon, Rider over #11 CJ Cobb, Penn
Clagon needed this win in a major way. He’s been trending down from the word go this year losing nearly all his matches against ranked opponents. He’s in every match too, so this could be a sign of a good end of the season for BJ, much like we saw him have a year ago when he placed as a Freshman.
6) May Bethea, Penn over #11 Chad Walsh, Rider
Bethea hasn’t been great this year, but he apparently has Chad Walsh’s number. This is the second time he’s beaten Walsh this year. Match ups matter!
5) #18 Michael Boykin, NC State over #7 Jake Smith, WVU
Boykin has been knocking at the door for that breakthrough win for awhile now. He is almost always in the matches but frequently falls short against elite opponents. This time he gets the job done against a very tough Jake Smith.
4) Dom Malone, Northwestern over #11 Rossi Bruno, Michigan
Bruno has been all over the place this year. At Vegas he lost to Keegan Moore and Brancale. He rebounded and worked his way back up only to fall to Dom Malone this weekend.
3) Jacob Morrisey, Purdue over #14 Myles Martin, Ohio State
Quite the weekend for Myles who took out a top 5 Nate Jackson Friday only to lose to an unranked Morrisey on Sunday. This was Morrisey’s first ranked win all year and he has a number of unranked losses.
2) Luke Welch, Purdue over #8 Johnni DiJulius, Ohio State
Another Buckeye gave their opponent their first ranked win of the year. Welch lost to DiJulius 8-3 last time. It was a 3-1 win for the Boilermaker this time around.
Purdue sent a tweet which features highlights of both Purdue/Ohio State upsets:
1) Lelund Weatherspoon, ISU over #5 Mike Ottinger, CMU
One week Weatherspoon is losing to Rustin Barrick and Sean Mappes, the next he’s beating #5 Mike Ottinger 8-3. You just never know.
10) #4 Brett Pfarr, Minnesota over #3 Nathan Burak, Iowa
This one may be an upset in ranking only. We even deliberated on having Pfarr ahead of Burak prior to this match. It was a great bout and its inclusion is more about the gravity of the win for Pfarr than how unexpected the result was. 9) #10 Amar Dhesi, Oregon State over #9 Tanner Hall, ASU
Dhesi sent a message with a 12-4 beatdown of Tanner Hall. Last time these two met Hall stole the win late at Midlands. Dhesi wasn’t leaving anything up to chance this time around. Here's the Midlands stunner from Hall:8) Zack Davis, Navy over #18 Josh Martinez, Air Force
Martinez was in the driver’s seat the entire match but Davis stole it late. Davis has struggled most of the year but like many of the guys we’ll mention, has been in a lot of matches. He hung around against Josh and made the most of the opportunity in the All-Academy finals.7) BJ Clagon, Rider over #11 CJ Cobb, Penn
Clagon needed this win in a major way. He’s been trending down from the word go this year losing nearly all his matches against ranked opponents. He’s in every match too, so this could be a sign of a good end of the season for BJ, much like we saw him have a year ago when he placed as a Freshman.6) May Bethea, Penn over #11 Chad Walsh, Rider
Bethea hasn’t been great this year, but he apparently has Chad Walsh’s number. This is the second time he’s beaten Walsh this year. Match ups matter!5) #18 Michael Boykin, NC State over #7 Jake Smith, WVU
Boykin has been knocking at the door for that breakthrough win for awhile now. He is almost always in the matches but frequently falls short against elite opponents. This time he gets the job done against a very tough Jake Smith.4) Dom Malone, Northwestern over #11 Rossi Bruno, Michigan
Bruno has been all over the place this year. At Vegas he lost to Keegan Moore and Brancale. He rebounded and worked his way back up only to fall to Dom Malone this weekend.3) Jacob Morrisey, Purdue over #14 Myles Martin, Ohio State
Quite the weekend for Myles who took out a top 5 Nate Jackson Friday only to lose to an unranked Morrisey on Sunday. This was Morrisey’s first ranked win all year and he has a number of unranked losses. 2) Luke Welch, Purdue over #8 Johnni DiJulius, Ohio State
Another Buckeye gave their opponent their first ranked win of the year. Welch lost to DiJulius 8-3 last time. It was a 3-1 win for the Boilermaker this time around.Purdue sent a tweet which features highlights of both Purdue/Ohio State upsets:
Just a bit short today but a GREAT fight by this team! Here are the highlights. #AlwaysAggressive https://t.co/Di0AnLNScP
— Purdue Wrestling (@PurdueWrestling) January 31, 2016