What to Watch - Journeymen Fall Classic
The Fall Classic kicks off this morning in Pennsylvania and will continue through the weekend. This is one of the original tournaments that awards a hammer to the champions and is one of the best “pre-season” tournaments around the country. It also will be one of the handful of tournaments we use when constructing the #dirtydozen rankings (Rankings of the top 12 kids at each weight in the SE).
Brackets will be in FloArena
Be sure to click the correct division on the far left side of the page. Be sure to check back in our new SEWrestle+ page to get an in-depth look at all of the action this weekend. In years past - Journeymen has put them into pools (A, B, and C with cross bracketing at the end) … I’m not certain how they will do on the FloArena platform this year. Not sure what is meant by pools and cross-bracketing? Check out our Wrestling 101 page (specifically the 10 or 12-man scramble - which will be fairly similar to how they’ve done it in the past).
Here is a quick look at who is there and who you should watch from the SE:
106 - none from the SE
113 (28 entrants) - Lake Highland Prep’s (#11 at 106) Ethan Rivera headlines to field along with Missouri’s Draegen Orine (#18). Keep an eye on Carter Nogle (MD), Isiac Paulino (MA), and Carson Wagner (PA). Former Florida hammer Christian Fretwell (now at Wyoming Seminary) should be in the mix as well. Alabama’s Thomas Giere (Thompson) is also in the field at 113.
120 (37 entrants) - 8 wrestlers ranked in the top 20 by flo including Leo Deluca who just won Who’s #1. Three SE wrestlers are part of the group … Matthew Rowland of North Carolina (Pinecrest), Hudson Waldrop of Alabama (McAdory), and Colin Kacena of Florida (Lake Highland Prep).
125 (36 entrants) - Former Floridian Vince Bouzakis comes in as the top ranked 125 (#17). Tons of honorable mention candidates, but Bouzakis has to be considered the favorite. Four SE hammers listed … 3 from Lake Highland Prep: Danny Martinez, Andrew Wittenberg, and Zachary Lewis, plus Colton Holmes of South Carolina (Hillcrest).
130 (32 entrants) - PJ Duke and Tyler Vazquez headline the weight. Eligh Rivera of LHP is one of a handful of honorable mentions that should be in the thick of things. Two other LHP’s in the weight as well - Luis Bazan and Brady Conlin. David McClelland is also listed, but back in his home state of Ohio - McClelland has spent the last two-ish years at LHP.
135 (25 entrants) - Jordan Soraino is the only ranked wrestler at the weight with a bunch of honorable mention candidates. Florida’s Andrew DeSola is the only SE wrestler in the mix.
140 (30 entrants) - Minnesota’s Zach Hanson is ranked #12 at 132 and should be the favorite in this bracket. Tennessee’s Brayden Ivy is listed as an honorable mention and should be in the hunt. Two other Tennesseans - Sean Pitts and Caleb Gumlick as well as LHP’s CJ Torres is also in the bracket.
145 (37 entrants) - Best weight of the tournament? #9 Jude Swisher (Pennsylvania), #10 Pierson Manville (Pennsylvania), #12 Kelvin Griffin (Maine), #13 Kal Miller (Missouri), #15 Dylan Evans (Pennsylvania), and #19 Ethan Mojena of Lake Highland Prep (Florida). Add in another LHP hammer in Josh Boykin, James Latona of Alabama (Thompson), Jeremiah Price of North Carolina (Surry Central) and Thomas Snipes of South Carolina (Hillcrest) and this should be a great weight to watch.
152 (33 entrants) - Former North Carolina hammer Joe Sealey is #8 (now at Wyoming Sem), #4 Nicco Ruiz (CA), and #9 William Henckel (Connecticut) headline the weight. Excited to see Georgia freshman Dominic Bambinelli listed as well as Florida’s Brandon Cody and Michael Shannon (both The Master’s Academy) and Alabama’s Clay Johnston (Vestavia). This is another good, deep weight that shows where you stand with some of the best competition around.
160 (25 entrants) - 5 that are ranked including #9 Jonathan Ley of LHP and 4 others listed as honorable mention. Wask, Fea, Lillard (former Georgia hammer), and Mackay should give Ley a run for the hammer here. Tennessee’s Colby Dalon will be in he mix as well.
170 (18 entrants) - #12 Rune Lawrence of Pennsylvania headlines the weight. No SE wrestlers are listed.
182 (16 entrants) - Headlined by #7 Kole Mulhauser of New York and #10 Ryder Rogotzke of Minnesota. Florida’s Joseph Nicolosi (AHDB) is the only SE wrestler listed.
195 (7 entrants) - Florida’s Mikey Tal Shahar (AHDB) and Thomas D’Avanzo (LHP) as well as Caleb Beaty of North Carolina (Wake Forest) should be in the running for the title.
225 (15 entrants) - Virginia’s Parker Ferrell #14 at 220 is probably the favorite. No SE wrestlers listed.
285 - none from the SE