NCAA Week 9 Round-Up

NCAA Week 9 Round-Up

The biggest stories in the ninth week of Division 1 college wrestling.

Jan 3, 2022 by Jon Kozak
NCAA Week 9 Round-Up

The first week of wrestling in 2022 provided some of the biggest stories of the college wrestling season. Take a look below for a summary of the top performances, upsets, and stories from the past week in D1 NCAA wrestling.

Spencer Lee Out For The Year - Ayala In?

The most surprising story in college wrestling this past week and the season is Spencer Lee’s choice to undergo surgery on his knees and miss the remainder of the season. You can read more about that story here.

The conversation and speculation after the announcement immediately turned to the status of true freshman Drake Ayala. Still in redshirt for the Hawkeyes, Ayala looks to be Iowa’s best 125 pounder on the roster and was in action last weekend at the Southern Scuffle. There, Ayala made the semis but lost in a back and forth battle to All-American Patrick McKee. Ayala then went on to take third in one of the best comebacks in recent memory against Noah Surtin. You can watch that match below, but up to this point in the season Ayala has put together a 10-2 record and his only two losses are to the aforementioned Patrick McKee. Ayala is capable of challenging for All-American honors and accumulating much-needed points at the NCAA Tournament for the defending champion Hawkeyes. 

Ayala’s incredible comeback win against Noah Surtin:

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Is Keegan O’Toole The Best In The Country At 165?

Keegan O’Toole extended his record to 13-0 on the year on his way to winning the Southern Scuffle at 165 pounds. On top of that, O’Toole recorded 4 bonus wins in his five matches with 2 pins and 2 major decisions. He now has bonus wins in all but 2 of his matches on the season - 5 of those being pins. O’Toole won’t face a top 10 opponent until Missouri’s dual with Oklahoma State on February 6th against #8 Travis Wittlake. He’s likely to go into the NCAA Tournament with an undefeated record without facing off against #1 Evan Wick, #2 Shane Griffith, or #4 Alex Marinelli. So the question remains - Is Keegan O’Toole The Best In The Country At 165? We won’t find out the answer to that until March but O’Toole is certainly as good a case as anyone at 165 up to this point in the season.

O’Toole’s victory over Peyton Hall in the Scuffle finals:

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Keegan O'Toole shares his thoughts on his performance at The Southern Scuffle:

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Myles Amine Takes Out Mark Hall

Myles Amine has accomplished a lot in the sport of wrestling but has yet to win an NCAA title or defeat NCAA Champ Mark Hall…until now. Up until their match at the Matmen Open, Amine was 0-5 in his college career against Hall - all losses coming by only 1 point. In their finals match, Amine was able to secure a takedown as the first period came to a close by catching Mark Hall in danger for over three seconds. Amine escaped in the second to extend his lead to 3-0 but Hall secured a reversal in the third to close the gap to 3-2. After Amine scored an escape, Hall got to Amine’s legs a few more times in the third, but was unable to finish due to the scrambling ability of Amine. As the match came to a close, Amine finally secured the allusive win over Mark Hall with a final score of 4-2.

 Hall, now an assistant coach for the University of Pennsylvania, has been focused primarily on freestyle since his collegiate career ended in 2020 and will look to make a world team at 86kg in the coming year. Take a look below at Hall's thoughts following his performance in Chicago.


Real Woods With Ice In His Veins

The 141-pound bracket at the Southern Scuffle was absolutely stacked with #6 Clay Carlson, #7 Andrew Alirez, #12 Allan Hart, #13 Real Woods, and HM Angelo Martinoni. Real Woods proved to be the top dog with wins over Alirez in the semis and Hart in the finals. In those matches, Woods showed incredible poise by defending a late takedown against Alirez and securing nearfall against Hart during a third-period ride-out. Woods is steadily moving up the rankings and will be favored in every remaining match on the season leading up to the NCAA tournament. 

Woods’ win over Alirez in the semis:

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Bulsak Upsets Bonaccorsi At Matment Open

#17 Greg Bulsak won the Matmen Open with impressive wins over Junior World champion Braxton Amos and NCAA runner-up #3 Nino Bonaccorsi. The 4-time NCAA qualifier for Rutgers has put together an impressive season up to this point and is 12-0 on the year. Bulsak is sure to make a major jump in the rankings this week and will face challenging competition in the coming weeks. After a rematch against Amos, Bulsak will consecutively face off against #2 Max Dean, HM Cam Caffey, and #10 Patrick Brucki in dual meet competition. We’ll quickly find out if he’s capable of contending for a national title this season. 


Wyatt Hendrickson Dominates At The Scuffle

Hendrickson had only 1 match on the year going into the Southern Scuffle. In Chattanooga, Hendrickson went 5-0 with five bonus-point wins - 3 pins, 1 tech-fall, and 1 major decision. Hendrickson finished in the round of 12 last season and is currently ranked #13 in the country. His recent performance at the Scuffle proves he has jumped levels and will look to earn his place on the podium in Detroit this March. Below, hear some of the challenges Hendrickson has faced up to this point in the season and the impact of his experience at junior worlds over the summer.

Hendrickson's interview after his Southern Scuffle title:

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Hendrickson’s pin in the finals over Lewish Fernandes:

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Get To Know Kyle Cochran

Going into the 2021-2022 season, #24 Kyle Cochran had a career record of 31-29 in college. This year, Cochran has put together a 14-1 record and recorded wins over #12 Jonathan Loew, #16 Jeremiah Kent, and #8 Hunter Bolen on his way to a Scuffle title. In the next six weeks, Cochran's matches against #1 Aaron Brooks, #2 Myles Amine, #5 John Poznanski, and #6 Kaleb Romero will truly show us where he stacks up against the best in the country at 184 pounds. As the #41 ranked wrestler coming out of the class of 2017, Cochran is finally hitting his stride for Maryland and looks to be capable of challenging for All-American honors this season.

Cochran’s semi-final win over Hunter Bolen:

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