Which is slated for March 25, at Peters Township High School.
USA Team Named for Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic (Dapper Dan)
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
- Start date
This year could be a beatdown -- down year for PA seniors.
Quick look at possible PA team (without checking postseason brackets yet). Hide the women and children.
120: Possibly no state champs (AAA Kamdyn Williams and AA Jaden Pepe both underclass)
Most likely Mason Leiphart, Dover AAA S3 (F&M)
Athens AA 113 Gavin Bradley (S6-S7-S2) could win states but has a returning champ (JR Wentzel) in his district.
126: Jake Van Dee, Erie Prep AAA S2-S1 (Nebraska)
Note, Karl Shindledecker (Chambersburg S3-S2) in the same bracket.
132: Brandan Chletsos, NDGP AA S6-S3-S2 (Rutger)
Note, Chletsos is the favorite at AA states but has 9 losses this year.
AAA Mac Church (Waynesburg S3-S1, Virginia Tech) is a JR.
138: Ryan Crookham, Saucon Valley AA S1-S1 (Lehigh)
145: Finn Solomon, Franklin Regional AAA S2-S1 (NC State)
Note, Solomon lost this year to Jude Swisher (Bellefonte S4-S3, Penn), will be in same bracket.
152: Jackson Arrington, Forest Hills S1-S3-S1 (NC State)
160: Most likely Jared Keslar, Connellsville AAA S4-S4 (Pitt) or Matt Colajezzi, Council Rock South AAA S4 (Navy)
Note: Grant Mackay (Laurel AA S1, Pitt) is a JR. Also this would be Levi's weight.
170: Probably no state champs (AAA Rocco Welsh and AA Rune Lawrence are underclass)
Most likely Nolan Lear, Benton AA S5-S3
182: Not a PIAA class, and no good PIAA candidates (see 170 above).
Most likely: Jack Wehmeyer, Malvern Prep (Columbia).
195: Cole Karpinski, Greenville AA S6 (189, Army).
Note, not a PIAA class. 189 AAA favorite Sonny Sasso is underclass. Also no good Prep options unless Malvern's 220 Caden Rogers (Lehigh) can drop.
Maybe Karpinski's club coach can teach him some Magic for Rylan Rogers.
215: Dayton Pitzer, Mt Pleasant AA, S1-S1 (Pitt)
285: Nick Feldman, Malvern Prep (anOSU)
PIAA favorites AAA Sean Kinney and AA Riley Robell both underclass.
Quick look at possible PA team (without checking postseason brackets yet). Hide the women and children.
120: Possibly no state champs (AAA Kamdyn Williams and AA Jaden Pepe both underclass)
Most likely Mason Leiphart, Dover AAA S3 (F&M)
Athens AA 113 Gavin Bradley (S6-S7-S2) could win states but has a returning champ (JR Wentzel) in his district.
126: Jake Van Dee, Erie Prep AAA S2-S1 (Nebraska)
Note, Karl Shindledecker (Chambersburg S3-S2) in the same bracket.
132: Brandan Chletsos, NDGP AA S6-S3-S2 (Rutger)
Note, Chletsos is the favorite at AA states but has 9 losses this year.
AAA Mac Church (Waynesburg S3-S1, Virginia Tech) is a JR.
138: Ryan Crookham, Saucon Valley AA S1-S1 (Lehigh)
145: Finn Solomon, Franklin Regional AAA S2-S1 (NC State)
Note, Solomon lost this year to Jude Swisher (Bellefonte S4-S3, Penn), will be in same bracket.
152: Jackson Arrington, Forest Hills S1-S3-S1 (NC State)
160: Most likely Jared Keslar, Connellsville AAA S4-S4 (Pitt) or Matt Colajezzi, Council Rock South AAA S4 (Navy)
Note: Grant Mackay (Laurel AA S1, Pitt) is a JR. Also this would be Levi's weight.
170: Probably no state champs (AAA Rocco Welsh and AA Rune Lawrence are underclass)
Most likely Nolan Lear, Benton AA S5-S3
182: Not a PIAA class, and no good PIAA candidates (see 170 above).
Most likely: Jack Wehmeyer, Malvern Prep (Columbia).
195: Cole Karpinski, Greenville AA S6 (189, Army).
Note, not a PIAA class. 189 AAA favorite Sonny Sasso is underclass. Also no good Prep options unless Malvern's 220 Caden Rogers (Lehigh) can drop.
Maybe Karpinski's club coach can teach him some Magic for Rylan Rogers.
215: Dayton Pitzer, Mt Pleasant AA, S1-S1 (Pitt)
285: Nick Feldman, Malvern Prep (anOSU)
PIAA favorites AAA Sean Kinney and AA Riley Robell both underclass.
This is not the point of your post, which is awesome of course, but felt compelled to note how much I enjoyed following Robell last year during the postseason. He was in my coverage area the whole time. Hoping to get out and see him again this year.
Of those, Feldman is the only lock to win.
Arrington will probably win his match.
Pitzer beat Stewart this year in OT rideouts at Powerade. Toss-up but winnable.
Crookham-Mendez would be a toss up if Crookham hadn't missed nearly 2 years. Hard to predict until we see more of him.
Wehmeyer and Solomon should be competitve but probably won't win. Maybe Chletsos too. The rest ...
Arrington will probably win his match.
Pitzer beat Stewart this year in OT rideouts at Powerade. Toss-up but winnable.
Crookham-Mendez would be a toss up if Crookham hadn't missed nearly 2 years. Hard to predict until we see more of him.
Wehmeyer and Solomon should be competitve but probably won't win. Maybe Chletsos too. The rest ...
Robell vs undefeated freshman Austin Johnson should be very interesting. Unfortunately it'll likely be the state semis, because Johnson as a freshman has no prestige points for seeding.
Actually had thought about that possibility recently but didn’t give enough thought to the seeding part. Good point though. Bummer.
Ok, I'm not a serious follower of wrestling recruiting, but isn't it a bit unusual for Penn State to have zero representation on either the national or the PA team for this event? Was the PSU recruiting last year SO good that this year's signees were predictably unimpressive? As I said, I'm just a fan in the peanut gallery posing a question about the incoming Penn State group.
it depends on the year. We've had a few years where PSU had several signed wrestlers participate in the event. And while less common, we've had a few years where there were no PSU signed wrestlers that participated.
@El_Jefe said this for 160:
And he (Levi Haines) would be pretty much an automatic at this event. Alas, he elected to forego his senior year of wrestling at high school, and headed up to State College. He's working out with the NLWC, and, I believe (haven't heard for sure), taking online courses to complete his high school graduation. (I was somewhat surprised he did this, as his dad is his high school wrestling coach, so he missed out on his last season of high school and his last season to wrestle with his dad as his coach, but Levi seemed to really want to do it, so who am I to second guess his decision.)
Last year, PSU had no wrestlers participate in the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic. You could have made a case for Gary Steen wrestling for PA, and for Shayne Van Ness and Alex Facundo wrestling for the USA team (and perhaps Lucas Cochran, though he would have been more of a reach).
It's a combination of how big a class PSU has (and the PSU 2022 class is really small), how elite the recruits are, as well as if they want to participate, etc.
In my humble opinion, it shouldn’t be concerning. We’ve got a young team, with superstuds Shayne Van Ness and Alex Facundo most likely entering the lineup next year. Again, my opinion is that Cael and staff find guys that are not only uber-talented, but that fit the profile they seek - guys who want to train against the best, want to be Olympic and World champs (and hence, train freestyle), aren’t afraid to take chances, want the big stage. Cael and staff have shown the ability to cherry-pick these guys, whether they’re ranked #1 or not. But unfortunately, we can’t get them all. Scholarship money is finite, and guys may not want to sit either. Depth is great, but I’m sure Michael Beard wishes he were out there. Injuries are the wildcard. If injuries linger for Van Ness or Robbie Howard or others, then people point to recruiting as the issue. Having AA depth is a true luxury, but I’m sure challenging to get and manage.
Bottom line … Relax and enjoy!!!!
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There's some small chance that Johnson could slip into the 3 seed, or maybe even the 2 seed. The only other returning placer (Ulrich) is in Johnson's district/regional.
Haven't dug into the possible SW and NW regional champs. They'd get less prestige points than a placer, and surely wouldn't be undefeated. Maybe that's enough to put Johnson into the other half?
Hopefully it works out that way.
To add onto Tom's comments:
Levi is our only 2022 commit at that level. Given his wins this year over Cerniglia and Gallagher, he made the right choice.
2023 is looking like a potential monster class for us, and thus for our presence at Dapper Dan. Josh Barr and Braeden Davis are both strong bets for Team USA. Cael is known to be after Meyer Shapiro, Jim Mullen, and Marc Anthony McGowan at least -- they're also strong bets for the event.
From PA 2023: Beca state champ Tyler Kasak is down to PSU and Nebraska. Muncy state finalist Scott Johnson is an M2 kid (though his recruiting isn't known).
Is it possible and/or likely that SVN, Facundo, and Levi could fill out 49, 57, and 65 next year?
149 Van Ness, 157 Levi, 165 Facundo seems to be most likely ... at least from what we know today.
That would be troubling…to others
Levi dec Riggins 7-3. Led the entire match. Won the takedown battle 3-0.
@El_Jefe, I added videos to several of your results posts from the PWC (Dapper Dan).
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