2017 U.S. Open Wrestling Championships

Seven Super Semifinals At The 2017 U.S. Open

Seven Super Semifinals At The 2017 U.S. Open

The seven best semifinals from the 2017 U.S. Open

Apr 28, 2017 by Nomad Lobdell
Seven Super Semifinals At The 2017 U.S. Open
The action in Vegas has been even better than anticipated, and it won't stop tonight. The men's freestyle semis start at 7:30 Pacific time, and a six-pack of awesome semis wasn't enough, so we upped it to seven. Here are our favorites.

57kg: Tony Ramos vs Nathan Tomasello

The lightweights continue to beat each other up, but it was NaTo and Ramos who made it through the heap to get to the semis. Ramos gave up the first takedown against Roman Bravo-Young and outlasted Frank Perrelli on criteria, while Tomasello had a last second pushout to secure his second straight one point win over Nico Megaludis. The Ohio State junior is one many people picked that could upset the apple cart at this weight, but until proven otherwise, Ramos is the favorite in this battle of NCAA champs.

Complete Brackets on FloArena

61kg: Cody Brewer vs Kendric Maple

Can we interest you in an all Sooner semifinal? Maple won 141 in 2013 and Brewer won 133 two years later. These two former teammates rolled to the semis, teching all of their opponents and only giving up four points between them.  Brewer even weathered a slap at the end of his quarter. There was some question about where Maple would be since he hadn't wrestled freestyle since November of 2015, but he doesn't appear rusty at all.

65kg: Frank Molinaro vs Jimmy Kennedy

The two semis at 65kg are somewhat of a package deal. For our first two top semis, we've never seen them wrestle. For the next few, there is some history there. Kennedy beat the 2016 Olympian 4-2 the last time they wrestled, back at the 2015 World Team Trials. Kennedy is the best athlete in this bracket and may be able to stymie Molinaro's high crotch once again.

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65kg: Zain Retherford vs Jordan Oliver

These two met at the 2015 Dave Schultz, with Oliver coming out on top 6-2. As expected, these two cruised to the semis, with Oliver outscoring opponents 30-4 and Zain outscoring his 20-0. I mentioned in my preview that Oliver's recent losses have to high pace hand fighters, but he clearly has cleaner leg attacks than Retherford. This one will be a fascinating style match-up.

70kg: James Green vs Jason Nolf

The only time these two have seen each other was the 2015 Scuffle finals, won by Green 7-4. That was before Nolf became one of the most destructive forces in recent college wrestling history, and before Green made a couple world teams and won a bronze medal. Green has been able to close off before against high volume shooters, but Nolf may be a tougher test of that domestically than anything Green has seen.

Full Results Through the Quarterfinals

86kg: Bo Nickal vs Richard Perry

Nickal was an unknown quantity heading into this and has likely exceeded expectations but not potential just yet. Nickal has run through three opponents by a 10-0 score each time, but Rich Perry is 1) massive for this weight and 2) one of the more successful guys on an international level at this weight. Perry came down from 97kg a few years ago and Nickal was a 174 last year in college, so the Penn State sophomore may be a bit undersized. I'm not sure Nickal will be able to go upper body against Perry (who had an incredible five in his QF), and could have trouble finishing shots on him.

125kg: Nick Gwiazdowski vs Dom Bradley

These two have a rivalry going back several years, with the margin of victory separating them by only a point. Gwiz has been the heir apparent for years, but will have to go through the former world champ Bradley to do it. Although Bradley is a similarly daunting size task for Gwiz like his quarterfinal opponent Bobby Telford, the two-time NCAA champ should benefit from 8+ hours of rest until the semis start.