This 80kg Akron Bracket Is Getting Out Of Hand
This 80kg Akron Bracket Is Getting Out Of Hand
A dozen Fargo All-Americans will do battle in an absolutely loaded UWW Cadet 80kg field this weekend in Akron.
One of the most simultaneously fun and annoying things about preparing for major tournaments is figuring out not only who will be wrestling but also at which weight they will be competing. This weekend, 80kg is one of those weights that has been on the watch list from jump street at the UWW Cadet and U23 World Team Trial Qualifier in Akron, Ohio,
Look at this list of credentials, where there are a dozen Fargo All-Americans in the field. Complete registration (and eventually brackets) can be found in FloArena.
80kg Contenders
Abe Assad, IL - Fargo Runner-Up
Carter Starocci, PA - Fargo Champ
Chris Foca, NJ - Northeast Regional Champ
Darrien Roberts, PA - Fargo 3rd
David Key, GA - Fargo Runner-Up
Gerrit Nijenhuis, PA - Fargo 4th
Jacob Logan, NY - Fargo Runner-Up
Jonathon Fagen, ID - Fargo 4th
Julian Ramirez, FL - 2016 Fargo Runner-Up
Kyle Haas, KS - Fargo 8th
Patrick Kennedy, MN - Fargo 3rd
Peyton Craft, OH - NE Regional runner-up
Rocky Elam, MO - Fargo 6th
Zach Glazier, MN - Fargo 5th
Wow. So, where to start?
Let's go with Super 32 champ Patrick Kennedy. The Minnesota native attends Kasson-Mantorville, the same high school that junior world teamer Brady Berge went to before heading to Penn State. Kennedy was 30-0 this season but battled injuries throughout the year. At the Northern Plains Regional a couple weekends ago, he wrestled his first two matches and then defaulted out. If at full strength, Kennedy hand fights like a college kid already. Oh, and he was beating Travis Wittlake in the second period last year here.
Kennedy was third in Fargo last year, finishing behind Abe Assad, an Army West Point commit. Assad went from not placing in Illinois states in 2017 to being 47-0 this year in winning 3A, the largest classification. Also in that bracket was Gerrit Nijenhuis, fresh off a Pan Am title and finals run at FloNationals.
WATCH UWW CADET TRIALS LIVE ON FLO
Where: Akron, Ohio | When: June 2-3
Nijenhuis twice beat Rocky Elam in last year's 170lb Fargo field. Elam was third this year in big school Missouri for Staley and met Kyle Haas in the semis of Folkstyle Nationals in March. Haas, the younger brother of Tyler Caldwell, was foolishly my pick to win the Fargo bracket with all the above-mentioned hammers. I still think he has crazy potential, but he might not even place in this loaded bracket!
One of the most interesting entries is Carter Starocci, who is up quite a bit in weight from last year when he was fifth at 69kg and then won 152 in Fargo. The PA state champ was beating Will Lewan 6-2 with 20 seconds left before giving up a fireman's and a trap arm. That was in the round of 32! Akron is absurd.
I, for one, hope we see more of the rivalry between Chris Foca and Julian Ramirez. The freestyle chops favor Ramirez, who was a Fargo runner-up and had an absolutely insane match with Travis Wittlake here last year. But Foca's length and willingness to scramble make him permanently dangerous, plus it will be fascinating to see if he can turn his strong folkstyle top game into par terre points. Ramirez may be 80kg, but he can hit the splits like Nico.
A couple 160lb Fargo AAs from last year are coming up in David Key and Zach Glazier. Key made the finals, including a 9-8 win over David Ferrante, one of the best young upperweights in Illinois right now. But, Key also lost in his Georgia state final and took a loss in the Southeast regional. Glazier was fifth in Fargo but is coming off a folkstyle season that started with a win over Peyton Robb and ended with him losing just one match en route to a big school Minnesota state title.
Jonathon Fagen is a very solid wrestler from Idaho, but he was handled pretty easily by Jacob Logan in the Fargo semis. Darrien Roberts would also beat Fagen for third in that 182lb field. Part of why I like all those guys is that they're going to be big for the weight and are used to competing this heavy, while a lot of the other studs are coming up in weight this year.
Speaking of guys who could be huge, Peyton Craft was at 195 for Blair this year. The freshman from Ohio had an 11-11 barn burner with Logan in the third-place match at the Northeast regional.
In spite of the litany of credentials attached to these hammers, none of them are unblemished, and none have ever made a world team. Again, you gotta think Kennedy is the favorite based on his Super 32 performance, as well as the fact that his Akron loss (Wittlake) and Fargo loss (Ferrari) won't be in the field. We also haven't seen Ramirez in a freestyle match since Akron last year.
Starocci might have the most potential of anyone, but he had to go to overtime to beat Nijenhuis in the PA state semis this year. Nijenhuis is a stud, but he probably isn't quite on the level yet to make a run in this weight. Foca's freestyle results aren't great, not quite as bad as say Pat Glory when Glory first started doing it, but Foca also has scary potential.
Give me Kennedy over Starocci right now. Oh, and make sure to set your FloArena alerts for basically this entire weight. You won't regret it.