Grappler Fall Classic - 189-285 and Girls
The girls feature 13 nationally-ranked wrestlers and several potential ranked matchups. As expected in a “pre-season classic” the 189-285 lb. weight classes feature less depth than the lower weights because of football, but still bring in some top end talent. Still both 189 and 215 feature at least two nationally-ranked wrestlers and some quality depth from around the SE.
189 is actually quite deep and includes a number of wrestlers that have a real shot at taking home the title. Manatee’s (FL) Ty Lukens and Woodland’s (GA) Jaxon Smith met in last year’s Knockout final with Lukens coming out on top in overtime. It wouldn’t be a surprise if a re-match happened in the GFC finals. But both will need to bring their “A” game because Tal Shahar, Badge, and Hightower are all currently ranked or have been ranked recently. Keep an eye on outstanding freshman Sawyer Bartelt … he finished 2nd a year ago in Florida as an 8th grader and will be a tough out for anyone in the weight.
Pettigrew and Mora come in as the top two pre-seeds and appear to be on another level than the rest of the 215’s. That’s not a knock on Walley, Kluttz, Gaston, etc. but both Pettigrew and Mora have some wins over nationally-ranked wrestlers in the past. Can one of the others get that “nationally-ranked" win” at the expense of either Pettigrew or Mora? I’m a bit surprised to not see NC’s Triston Norris on the list (perhaps he is playing football) … but he split with Pettigrew about a month ago at the Chaos Duals in GA.
A pair of North Carolina heavyweights headline the 285 lb. weight class. Add in Nugent of Michigan and Hustoles of Colorado and you have a small but solid field at 285.
The girls will get the opportunity to wrestle both freestyle and folkstyle this weekend. The SE has several hammers and it will be interesting to see if anyone can down Heaven Fitch, Catherine Bertrand, Juliana Diaz, and Madison Diaz. GA’s Amani Jones should get a matchup with fellow nationally-ranked Sylvia Pierce of Michigan and Chloe Ogden of Florida should get a match against Alicia Pieper. It is interesting that Florida is bringing quite a large group (as is NC and SC), but Georgia has just 4 registered and Tennessee, which sanctions girls wrestling, has no competitors listed. We are also missing some nationally-ranked girls from here in the SE … just wondering why.