World Team Trials

[Bigkevsuhr]

65kg Yianni, returning team member sits at the 2 seed. Kendrick Maple is the automatic 1 seed for winning the US Open. Mckenna is 3 seed and Nick Lee 4th. Trials are this coming weekend.

Vito is also the two seed. Matthew Ramos received automatic 1 seed for winning Us Open while Thomas Gilman sits in Final X awaiting the winner of the trials for a best 2 out of 3 for the world team spot.

Greg Diakomihalis is the 7th seed at 57kg

Kyle Dake is at Final X awaiting the winner of the 74kg bracket. The one seed at the trials is Nolf . I can’t get out of my head what Dake did to him the last time they wrestled.

[klehner]

Saunders is also seeded #13 at 65kg (having qualified at last chance).

Will Greg D. have to face Vito in the first match?

[Nard Dog]

Saunders is also seeded #13 at 65kg (having qualified at last chance).

Will Greg D. have to face Vito in the first match?

Greg has to get by Michael Tortorice in his first match. The winner will face Vito.

[Softmats]

If all those guys are as good at free as they are at folk,65kg seems like a pretty stacked weight class .

[Bigkevsuhr]

Surprised brackets are not out yet, the seeds are however and assuming that everyone makes weight and shows up , 57 and 65 look like this

65kg

#1Kendrick Maple
Bye
#9 Pat Lugo
#8 Evan Henderson

#5 Matt Kolodzik
#12 Carter Young
#13 Joshua Saunders
#4 Nick Lee

#3 Joey Mckenna
Bye
#11 Beau Bartlett
#6 Ian Parker

#7 Luke Pletcher
#10 Dean Heil
Bye
#2 Yianni Diakomihalis

Take on this… Maple Looked great at Open but he did have a very close match vs Lugo in semis in whcih he needed a takedown at the end to win. Not to mention Henderson can be a difficult match up for just about anyone. I would still bet on Maple/Lee semi with Lee winning.

Bottom half seems to be a forgone conclusion of Yianni vs McKenna . 2 of the last 4 matches they have wrestled against each other, Yianni has tech falled him. This is not a 2 out of 3 if they meet though so he can’t afford to let a match slip like first one had last year world trial finals. He won’t ..

I like Yianni vs Nick Lee at final X. Then for the love of God we can see what a inaccurate assessment the 3rd place olympic trial match was in which Yiannis mind frame was shot I am guessing from having dreams crushed in semis last second. every time I say that someone tells me well wrestlers always try and win matches and of course he tried to win the match but it doesn’t mean that he want to do it with the right mind frame. He’s had nearly 60 senior level matches and you’re telling me that Nick Lee is the only one out of everyone to score more than 10 pts against him (16) and give him his worst senior level loss (by 8). Bummer Saunders has Lee first round. Saunders seems to have much more freestyle success than folkstyle but that is a tough first round draw. I like Yianni 2 matches to 0’in final X over Nick Lee

57kg

#1 Matthew Ramos
Bye
#9 Aden Reeves
#8 Gabriel Townsell

#5 Anthony Morton
Bye
Bye
#4 Jakob Camacho

#3 Zane Richards
Bye
#11 Timothy Levine
#6 Caleb Smith

#7 Greg Diakomihalis
#10 Michael Tortorice
Bye
#2 Vito Arujua

My take.. Vito rolls 2 matches to 0 over whoever he faces in final and perhaps has a tougher Semi vs Richards than final. Yes Richards beat him once in the past but that was a much different Vito ago.
Unfortunately looks like Greg D and Vito wrestle in quarters. After getting rolled over first match Greg really did have a hell of an open with a 11-0 tech over Hansen, 12-2 tech over Henderson, 10-0’tech over Cortez, 10-0 tech over (the 9 seed in the trials tournament) Reeves, followed by a loss by last second takedown to (the 4 seed in the trials tournament) Camacho. It’s a shame that he isn’t on other side.
Final X Rematch of Olympic Trials final Gilman vs Vito

** These are not 100% the brackets I am
just taking the seeds and placing them in where they should go.

Go Big Red! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[Bigkevsuhr]

Looks like these brackets are correct. Greg Diakomihalis won his first match 12-8 and will take on Vito next.

[Bigkevsuhr]

Evan Henderson defeats Pat Lugo 7-4 in a good match. He was down 3-2 at the break. Saunders up now vs Lee

[Bigkevsuhr]

Saunders on the board first with push out off a nice single shot 1-0 Saunders.

Saunders in on other single deep but Lee able to maneuver out of it.

Saunders in on another single, Lee able to spin around 2-1 Lee.

Lee in on a high crotch for takedown , 4-1 Lee.

Passive warning for Saunders even though he has out shot Lee 3 to 1.

At the break Lee leads 4-1

Start of second Saunders in deep on single but afraid of getting crotch lifted and stalemate called.

Beautiful shot and takedown by Saunders , 4-3 Lee leads

Saunderson in on another shot , and Lee spins around for takedown 6-3 Lee with 1:30 to go

Lee with another go behind, 8-3 Lee leads .

Another take down for Lee 10-3

Final score Nick Lee wins 10-3

[Guillotine]

Saunders looked exhausted after 4 minutes. What's up with that?

[Docger]

When Saunders came from behind in the last seconds in the Last Chance, that was the exception.
I think sometime during his matches, he feels over-matched and gasses. Have seen it a lot with him. Personally think it is mental.
Lee is relentless but I have seen this with lessor foes than Nick.