D1 Stock Report: Cliff Keen Crash Course

D1 Stock Report: Cliff Keen Crash Course

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

Dec 5, 2018 by Andrew Spey
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The NCAA rankings were in a tranquil place over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was all quiet on the top-20 front over Turkey Day. And then the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitation arrived and beasted all over them like Black Friday doorbuster shoppers going through the on-sale racks. 

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The NCAA rankings were in a tranquil place over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was all quiet on the top-20 front over Turkey Day. And then the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitation arrived and beasted all over them like Black Friday doorbuster shoppers going through the on-sale racks. 

Though not every match took place in Vegas last week, quite a lot of them did. And as the saying goes, "What happens in Vegas, gets discussed the next week on Flo." So consider this week's Stock Report a crash course on the rankings calamity caused by the 2018 Cliff Keen Invitational.

2018-19 NCAA Rankings

STOCK IS UP

125 lbs, Brent Fleetwood, North Dakota State

Unranked to #9

Brent Fleetwood, a two-time national qualifier at Central Michigan, transferred to North Dakota State before last season but only wrestled a few matches. If any college rankers forgot about Brent, they remembered after the CKLV. Fleetwood beat three ranked 125-pounders with wins over Louie Hayes, Zeke Moisey and Travis Piotrowski to make his season top-20 debut inside the top 10. 

Watch Fleetwood take out Illinois' #11 Travis Piotrowski in the CKLV consolation semis on his way to a fourth-place finish:

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133 lbs, Micky Phillippi, Pittsburgh

#17 to #5

Like Fleetwood, Phillippi's career took a circuitous path to the CKLV. Originally at Virginia, Phillippi transferred to Pittsburgh and is now in his first varsity season. Although most definitely on the radar at #17, Phillippi emphatically announced his presence with a finals run through a loaded 133-pound bracket, with wins over All-Americans Luke Pletcher and Ethan Lizak before being stopped by Nick Suriano in the finals. 


141 lbs, Kanen Storr, Michigan

#19 to #8

Kanen Storr is yet another wrestler who changed both teams and competitive tiers recently. Storr was at Iowa State last year, but the native Michigander is back in his old stomping ground full time and did some stomping in Vegas over the weekend. Storr upset All-American Chad Red in the round of 16 before losing a close bout to Jaydin Eierman. Storr then soared through the consolation bracket to a third-place finish. 

Check out Storr upend All-American Chad Red in the CKLV round of 16 on his way to a third-place finish:

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133 lbs, Austin Gomez, Iowa State

Unranked to #11

Our biggest climber not involved in the Cliff Keen Invitational, Austin Gomez did his damage in a dual meet against the Cyclones' intra-state rivals in Iowa City. We all knew it was only a matter of time before the redshirt freshman made it into the top 20, and Gomez' dramatic victory over Austin DeSanto in Carver-Hawkeye finally made it official. 

Watch what has been dubbed one of the most thrilling dual meet finishes in history:

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157 lbs, Griffin Parriott, Purdue

#18 to #8

Griffin Parriott was somehow denied a trip to the NCAA Championships last season, but after a showing like this, it is going to be nearly impossible to keep the redshirt sophomore out of the bracket in Pittsburgh. Parriott won five matches in a row (all by two points or less) to make the finals where he was finally cooled off by a nearly flawless Ryan Deakin. Parriott's sudden victory over two-time All-American Tyler Berger in the quarterfinals was one of the highlights of the entire tournament. 

Watch Parriott win in the semifinals of the CKLV over Virginia's Taleb Rahmani:

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197 lbs, Jay Aiello, Virginia

Unranked to #11

The Cavaliers had an impressive tournament, netting three placers, with Jay Aiello leading the charge with a bronze-medal finish. Although he finished last year with a losing record, the redshirt sophomore appears to have turned a corner. Aiello is 8-2 on the year with five wins over top-20 opponents, including two against Nathan Traxler in Vegas. 


285 lbs, Zach Elam, Missouri

Unranked to #11

Although not getting quite as much publicity as another true freshman heavyweight who competes a couple states due north of the Tigers, Zach Elam, is making plenty of people take notice despite the shadow Gable Steveson has cast on the weight class. Finishing in third place at the CKLV and sporting a 12-1 record, Elam made more than enough noise to support his new ranking. Showing tremendous grit, Elam lost in the round of 32, then battled back to win eight straight contested bouts to claim the unofficial Ultimate Road Warrior prize. Elam wrestled 10 matches in two days, going 9-1, very much earning his first-ever top-20 ranking of his very young and very promising college career. 


285 lbs, Demetrius Thomas, Pittsburgh

Unranked to #12

Demetrius Thomas was wrestling in the NAIA last year but is having minimal problems adapting to his new D1 home. Like Elam, Thomas was living life on the road in Vegas, losing a pigtail but then cruising through the consis and into the third-place bout after seven straight victories. Thomas dropped his final bout of the weekend to Elam in sudden victory but still earned himself a D1 top-20 ranking for the first time in his career. 


To give you an idea of just how cataclysmic the Cliff Keen Las Vegas was with regards to the top 20, below is a list of everybody who rose at least five spots in the ranking, which, under ordinary circumstances, would represent a seismic shift. 

157 lbs, Kaleb Young, Iowa, #165 to #7

157 lbs, Eric Barone, Illinois, Unranked to #13, CKLV 7th

184 lbs, WIll Schany, Virginia, Unranked to #13, CKLV 8th

197 lbs, Eric Schultz, Nebraska, #18 to #10, CKLV 2nd

125 lbs, Colby Smith, Missouri, Unranked to #14, CKLV dnp

141 lbs, Samuel Krivus, Virginia, Unranked to #14, CKLV 7th

165 lbs, Mekhi Lewis, Virginia Tech, #16 to #9, CKLV 2nd

285 lbs, Chase Singletary, Ohio State, Unranked to #14, CKLV 6th

125 lbs, Drew Mattin, Michigan, #16 to #10, CKLV 5th

133 lbs, Chas Tucker, Cornell, Unranked to #15, CKLV 7th

184 lbs, Drew Foster, Northern Iowa, #10 to #4, CKLV 3rd

184 lbs, Corey Hazel, Lock Haven, #15 to #9

184 lbs, Louie DePrez, Binghamton, #16 to #10, CKLV 5th

197 lbs, Tanner Orndorff, Utah Valley, Unranked to #15, CKLV 8th

149 lbs, Jarrett Degen, Iowa State, #14 to #9

165 lbs, Isaiah White, Nebraska, #10 to #5, CKLV 1st

165 lbs, Demetrius Romero, Utah Valley #13 to #8, CKLV 3rd

174 lbs, Devin Skatzka, Minnesota, Unranked to #16, CKLV 7th

184 lbs, Sammy Colbray, Iowa State, Unranked to #16

197 lbs, Jacob Warner, Iowa, #11 to #6

285 lbs, Trent Hillger, Wisconsin, #14 to #9

285 lbs, Tate Orndorff, Utah Valley, #15 to #10, CKLV 2nd


Stock Down

285 lbs, Jeremy Sweany, Cornell

#11 to Unranked

As the famous alchemist Isaac Newton once said, "That which goes up, like new heavyweights entering the top 20, must come down, in the form of other heavyweights exiting the top 20," or something to that effect. And so with folks like Zach Elam and Demetrius Thomas forcing their way into the rankings, a guy like Jeremy Sweany ends up being pushed out. In this case, a 1-2 record at the CKLV was Sweany's undoing. 


157 lbs, Justin Thomas, Oklahoma

#13 to Unranked 

Justin Thomas went 0-2 over the weekend in Vegas but the top-20 rankers bear some responsibility for this for having Thomas ranked a little too high to begin with. So that's partly my bad. I'll take the L for this one.


125 lbs, Louie Hayes, Virginia

#6 to #15

Although Louie Hayes battled hard in a loaded bracket for his podium step and contributed to Virginia's solid performance, he ultimately underperformed, losing to two previously unranked opponents in Colby Smith and Brent Fleetwood. Both are now ranked, however, and Louie's Vegas excursion need only be a minor bump in the road of his redshirt sophomore campaign. 


141 lbs, Sa'Derian Perry, Old Dominion

#9 to #18

Sa'Derian Perry had one of the best wrestling Cinderella stories in a long time last March. Perry entered the NCAA Tournament with a losing record but somehow managed an eighth-place finish. Although he didn't know it at the time, Perry would be Eastern Michigan's last All-American, as the school shamefully and inexplicably shuttered their wrestling program soon after Perry returned to campus with hard-earned glory. The clock has not exactly struck midnight on Perry's career, as the redshirt junior has nearly two full seasons left at his new home of Old Dominion. Still, a loss to Jamal Morris in a dual meet has brought expectations back down from their previous heights. 


285 lbs, Conan Jennings, Northwestern

#9 to #18

Conan Jennings was a surprise quarterfinalist at the 2017 NCAA Championships, and had a solid campaign last year despite missing the podium for the second consecutive season. Unfortunately for Jennings, a 1-2 record at the CKLV and the emergence of a host of young 285-pound contenders caused him to slip in the rankings. 


165 lbs, Cole Walter, Lehigh

#12 to #20

Cole Walter has a win over superstar and two-time All-American David McFadden, however, that win came in February of 2017. Walter missed most of last season, and has since lost most of the remaining benefit of the doubt he earned following a loss to Princeton's Dale Tiongson over the weekend.


149 lbs, Tommy Thorn, Minnesota

#13 to #20

All-Americans like Tommy Thorn also receive a healthy amount of room to operate, having proved themselves in the toughest tournament in college wrestling. Thorn's 0-2 record at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, however, severely constricted that room, leaving him on the cusp of the top 20.

As you would expect, there were quite a few other wrestlers who suffered substantial drops in the rankings, but I've written about the negatives from this past week long enough. If you're still curious about who dropped, the link to the rankings is right there at the top of the article. Please, investigate further at your leisure. 


YOU MAKE THE CALL

With all the changes to the rankings, we might as well put every spot under the microscope. So everything is for you to make the call!  Send your feedback of any kind on any rankings, it is all most welcome!