D1 Stock Market Report: First Week Shake Up

Whose stock is up and whose is down after one week of NCAA D1 wrestling?

Nov 8, 2018 by Andrew Spey

D1 Stock Market Report: First Week Shake Up

The first weekend of NCAA action is in the books! Not every college team wrestled, but quite a few did. A plethora of tournaments and a smattering of dual meets in week one was enough to cause a good amount of movement in the top 20 rankings. Let's check out the big movers from the preseason in our first D1 Stock Report of the season.

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Stock Up

125 lbs: Rayvon Foley, Michigan State

#18 to #12

Sparty's leadoff man looks to have a breakout sophomore season. He's now beaten his intrastate rival, Drew Mattin of Michigan, in their last three meetings, the latest coming in the finals of the tough Michigan State Open by the score of 12-3.

Foley went 0-2 at Nationals but has the talent make a deep March run, especially as 125 pounders continue to outgrow the weight class.

125 lbs: Pat Glory, Princeton

Unranked to #14

The New Jersey native was #17 on the Class of 2018 Big Board, so this move was hardly a shock, except perhaps for the alacrity to which Glory has climbed into the top 20. But that's what beating Purdue's #15 Devin Schroder will do for one's rankability. Glory also took out Army's Trey Chilafoux and Rider's Jonathan Tropea on his way to winning the Princeton Open in his first varsity matches in his new collegiate home gym.

149 lbs: Henry Pohlmeyer, South Dakota State

Unranked to #17

NCAA qualifier Henry Pohlmeyer was right on the bubble of being ranked for most of the 2017-18 season. Thanks to a title-winning performance at the Daktronics Open, which included a win over Nebraska's likely started Collin Purinton in the semifinals and a victory over Minnesota's All-American Tommy Thorn in the finals, Pohlmeyer is unranked no more.

Watch Pohlmeyer defeat Purinton:

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165 lbs: Joey Gunther, Illinois

Unranked to #16

Joey Gunther was able to make the Iowa Hawkeye lineup at 174-pounds last season and qualify for the NCAAs, all while being one division above his natural weight class of 165. Now at Illinois and back down to 165, Gunther showed that he can be a contender by beating Missouri' then #13 Connor Flynn in the first dual meet of the season for both squads.

Watch the full dual, held outdoors in Illinois:

Stock Down

133 lbs: Korbin Myers, Virginia Tech

#11 to #15

Korbin Myers and Noah Gonser were both wrestling for different teams last season. Myers was at Edinboro and Gonser at Eastern Michigan. The change of scenery worked out better for Gonser, at least in the first weekend of the season. Now at Campbell, Gonser took out the newly minted Hokie in the quarterfinals of the Hokie Open.

There is no shame in losing to a national qualifier like Gonser, and Myers has plenty of quality wins to his name on his own career ledger. However, 133 is shaping up to be a monster weight class, and there is little margin for error even among the established competitors.

133 lbs: Colin Valdiviez, Northwestern

#15 to #18

Colin Valdiviez also discovered how difficult the 133-pound weight class will be this season, and quickly. The NCAA Tournament qualifying Wildcat beat two ranked wrestlers in Cleveland in Korbin Myers and Dylan Duncan. But the Missouri native was felled by Cam Sykora in a dual meet on the first day of the new season.

Watch the match between Sykora and Valdiviez:

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157 lbs: Zac Carson, Ohio

#17 to UR

Zac Carson, like the aforementioned Noah Gonser, was part of the dearly departed Eastern Michigan wrestling program, shuttered by a myopic and dunderheaded administration. Now an Ohio Bobcat, Carson ran into trouble at the MSU Open, losing to Ohio State's Elijah Cleary and Michigan's Will Lewan. Both Cleary and Lewan are highly talented wrestlers with high ceilings, but there's is a good chance neither start for their respective times this year, and are thus unranked at the moment.

Carson very well may rebound and get back in the top 20, especially as we learn more about Cleary and Lewan, but for now, he remains just on the bubble.

Buy Or Sell

133 lbs: Matt Schmitt, West Virginia

As mentioned earlier, 133-pounds is a shaping up to be a real meatgrinder of a weight class, a veritable abattoir. Sophomore Mountaineer Matt Schmitt had the misfortune of being the last man out of the top 20 when Nick Suriano made his season debut at 133, up from 125-pounds where he spent the previous two seasons. With one less spot in the rankings, Schmitt found himself on the outside looking in, despite winning a deep Hokie Open field over the weekend.

Should Schmitt be ranked? Are there other bubble contenders that have a claim on a top 20 spot ahead of him? Let us know if you're buying or selling your Schmitt stock now and we shall see how that decision plays out over the rest of the season.

197 Pounds

I just wanted to personally throw this whole weight class out there because I have no idea what's going on here. I just don't know. Can anyone help me? Please, I need help.

Thank you.