What to expect this week:
The usual suspects return and although we don’t know the rosters for any state outside the Southeast, we can expect that Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and others will be in the hunt for the title. If we knew some of the rosters we could project ahead to possible seeds and matchups … unfortunately that is not the case. So we will focus on the SE and a few wrestlers to watch from each team:
Georgia: On paper, this is the best team from the Southeast. They fill every weight except one (100 lbs.) and have the ability to rotate as needed. Teams struggle when heading to the duals because (individually) you want to get as many matches as possible. What that can mean though is that the team falls apart after individuals get banged up over the course of 4 days if high-level competition. A year ago, Georgia split into a Georgia Black and Georgia Red squad and struggled in both styles to reach the top 16. That shouldn’t be the case this year.
Not only do they have some hammers on the squad, but they have doubled up at 113, 120, 132, 144, 157, 165, and 215. Allowing them the flexibility to move wrestlers in and out as necessary. We’ve already mentioned the return of Rheaume, Boyden, McCoy, McCormack, Reel, and Secoy (not on duals, but in Fargo a year ago). Their presence up top will be huge for Georgia. Georgia adds 6 wrestlers that competed at 14U duals last year in Ariah Mills, Cody Clarke, Tanner Hunt, Ty Valenzuela, Cruz Hezel, and Mihai Necula. Still the biggest addition might be the return of Ronan An and the presence of James Sievers … An missed last summer due to injury and Sievers has already demonstrated his ability to compete with anyone.
With 10 wrestlers sporting a PIN Rating above 1100 in Freestyle and few holes in the lineup … this is a team that could make some noise.
Florida: The sunshine state brings another solid squad led by former 14U hammers Jovanni Tovar and Peter Mocco. Both Tovar and Mocco dominated 14U duals a year ago and both have looked great thus far at 16U (despite being 1st year 16U’s). That said, the only other member of the squad with 2023 duals experience is Daniel Sanchez. That doesn’t mean Florida won’t have success – we saw Armand Williams beat Sievers at Southeast Regions, Jonathan Moreno wrestle extremely well, Reid Yakes, Mac Andrews, RJ Phelan, Nik Blake, and others … but this is a team that will likely take some losses to the big dogs (Iowa, Pennsylvania, etc.) and will need to get some wins over the next tier to finish top 16.
One of Florida’s biggest challenges is that they lack depth. If you look at the top 8 teams from a year ago, they all brought rosters that had more than 20 wrestlers (and that afforded them to move people in and out of the lineup). For example; Iowa brought 27, Illinois had 26, Pennsylvania Blue had 22, etc. Florida sits with 18 and just one weight where they have two wrestlers (138).
South Carolina: Really like the direction of South Carolina over the last few years. They might be a better Greco team than Freestyle and they still lack some numbers (bringing 17, but at least 2 holes at 165 and 285 … Larranga or Holcombe will probably step up and wrestle 165 for them, but that’s a big ask in a tournament of this caliber … it is tough to get wins at your normal weight … it is very difficult moving up a weight). Still South Carolina brings nearly a full squad and has 6 wrestlers that competed in 14U duals last year.
That means they are young, but they have experience. Stephano Calderon, Mikale Lynch, Zane Chavis, Jacob Bannister, Henry Schultz, and Jesse Howard all won matches at 14U duals in 2023 and each will play an important role for Team South Carolina this week. Tommy Perez, Montero Royal, and Logan Hinton all have solid PIN Ratings as well and it will be interesting to see how this team does. Jesse Howard was 6-1 in Greco and 7-0 in Freestyle at 14U’s last year … 190 is a tough weight at 16U’s (Howard was 5th at SE Regions in both styles with losses to Ronan An). That said – he has faced some of the best 16U 190’s – will he take another step this week?
North Carolina: North Carolina continues to struggle a bit in terms of numbers. Not sure why they do not have a more complete dual team. Individually North Carolina has had some hammers in Fargo … Cam Stinson was a 16U All American and others have come exceptionally close to making the podium. But this is a dual event and that means numbers … something North Carolina is lacking. Both Aaron Ellison and Jeshurun Mills competed at last year’s 14U duals and both come in with PIN Ratings to watch. Keep an eye on Tsap – no PIN Rating as yet, but certainly one to watch in a tough weight this week.
