Ranked Matchups To Watch At The 2018 Daktronics Open
Ranked Matchups To Watch At The 2018 Daktronics Open
There are four ranked Matchups to watch this weekend as the Daktronics Open helps kick off opening weekend in college wrestling.
College wrestling returns this weekend. Repeat that: college wrestling returns this weekend!
Among the many Opens on tap is Daktronics, held annually at South Dakota State. Aside from the #18 Jackrabbits, it will also be the first competition of the year for #7 Nebraska and #20 Minnesota, among several other non-Division 1 schools.
Watch Daktronics Open Live On Flo
Sunday, Nov. 4th | 9:00am Central
Although the list of D1 teams will be small, there are a few juicy matchups featuring two ranked wrestlers that can happen. They all feature a Husker against a Gopher and can be found below.
There likely won't be much if any rankings implications this weekend in Brookings, however, it will be your first look at several new faces on all three teams. So be sure to tune in Sunday morning and follow along on FloArena. If there's any one in particular you want to watch, make sure you get those alerts set up.
125: #6 Zeke Moisey (Nebraska) vs #10 Sean Russell (Minnesota)
Two high impact transfers to the Big Ten could meet in the 125lb finals on Sunday afternoon. Moisey comes to Nebraska from West Virginia after placing eighth last year for the Mountaineers. Russell finishes out his career as a Gopher after placing seventh for Edinboro in 2017. The two have only met once in college, with Russell winning in sudden victory back in February. Also at 125 will be star freshmen Patrick McKee of Minnesota and Alex Thomsen of Nebraska.
141: #6 Chad Red (Nebraska) vs #15 Mitch McKee (Minnesota)
Red was the Dak titleist last year to kick off a season that ultimately ended with him pinning two-time defending NCAA champ Dean Heil to place at the national tournament. To win his third straight Dak title, he'll have to knock off Mitch Mckee, who joined several of his teammates in bumping up in weight. They've never met before and it's early in the season, so I'm expecting at least a dozen points in this one.
157: #5 Tyler Berger (Nebraska) vs #12 Steve Bleise (Minnesota)
Berger had an incredible run at NCAAs to get third, and although he took a few losses during the season, it began with wins over Luke Zilverberg and Jake Short to win Daktronics. Bleise is joining Lizak, McKee, and Thorn in bumping up, as the Gopher coaches are hoping letting their athletes be bigger and stronger will result in wins over guys like Berger, the types of victories they'll need to get on the podium in Pittsburgh.
174: #11 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) vs #20 Devin Skatzka (Minnesota)
Half of this article has Minnesota guys bumping up, and the other half are transfers. Skatzka makes his way to Minneapolis from Bloomington, IN. The former Hoosier is a two-time qualifier. Labriola is looking to transition from blue chop recruit to legit All-American candidate. He took out two AAs last season in Jacobe Smith and David Kocer, the latter of which happened in the Dak finals.
BONUS: Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs Everyone
Remember, Steveson has a 4-0 record in college. He beat Rylee Streifel in the finals last year while still in high school, and will be making his debut this weekend.