Medal Matches
This live broadcast Ben Askren and Matt Dernlan will breakdown the Medal Matches of the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Dernlan explains these matches as pride matches. High-level wrestlers that are placing among the top of their weight class didn’t come into the tournament with any other goal in mind other than winning. At the beginning of the season, their goal may have been to be an All American and not worried about being a finalist. That doesn’t change their goal every time they step onto the mat, winning. When Dernlan was a coach, he would tell his wrestlers that were in the consolations to make up their mind where they want to place. Some wrestlers get stuck in limbo because they’re guaranteed being an All American but their National Champion dreams are crushed. You have to make up your mind you’re going to win your last match or matches of the season.
125 lbs (2:46)
125 is Askren’s new favorite weight class once he realized the top 7 guys will all be returning next year. Sebastian Rivera and Patrick Glory got into a shoot out with Rivera coming out on top 14-9. Asken says Glory has a good gas tank, flexibility, mat awareness, but the one thing that he can improve on is his basic defense. If he comes back next year with better basic defense, he’ll definitely be in contention to win it all next year. Vitali Arujau drops to Rivera in the 3rd place match 8-3. Askren likes that each top wrestler in this weight class has a unique and contrasting style.
133 lbs (6:39)
Askren has never heard a crowd go as crazy as they did after Luke Pletcher got the takedown on Austin DeSanto to go up 7-6 and then rode him out for the remaining 18 seconds. DeSanto finished 5th but Dernlan and Askren compliment him on his improvement in all three positions, strategy, and discipline. Next season looks like 133 lbs will be one of the most exciting weight classes again.
141 lbs (10:54)
No. 9 Dom Demas beat No. 3 Nick Lee 13-9 totally 5 takedowns. Demas ends up taking 4th overall. With Joey McKenna graduating and If Yianni Diakomihalis takes a gray-shirt and Jaydin Eierman takes an Olympic red-shirt, next years finals could very likely be Demas vs Lee.
149 lbs (13:10)
Austin O’Connor beats Brock Mauller in dramatic fashion. Mauller got the tieing takedown with 2 seconds left and it looked like it was going to overtime. Then O’Connor exploded up shoulder in and got the escape to win. O’Connor then beat Mitchell Finesilver for third place.
157 lbs (14:30)
This is a weight class that sees a lot of graduates. Jason Nolf, Alec Pantaleo, Christian Pagdilao all graduate this year. Kaleb Young beats Ryan Deakin 7-5 for 5th place. Dernlan and Askren talk about how impressed they were with Young this tournament.
165 lbs (16:01)
Lock Haven’s Chance Marsteller took 3rd beating out Evan Wick 6-5. They commend Lock Haven on their 2 All Americans and the fan base for supporting them. After Marsteller beat Alex Marinelli in the consi of 4, Marinelli dropped to the 7th place match beating Bryce Steiert 9-3.
174 lbs (18:01)
This was a tough one for Askren. Missouri and Michigan both had 1 wrestler each left in the tournament with 1 point separating them in the team race. Daniel lewis is on top in the third but Myles Amine gets the reversal and wins 4-2. Missouri takes 6th and Michigan takes 5th place by 1 point.
184 lbs (19:35)
Askren and Dernlan talk about Myles Martin performance after losing in the semifinals. He comes back to beat two tough wrestlers Emery Parker and then Ryan Preisch. Martin is such a good person, an outstanding wrestler, and has such great character it’s the perfect recipe to get behind someone and really root for them.
197 lbs (21:32)
Preston Weigel shuts Pat Brucki out 7-0 for 3rd place. Dernlan says justice proved its point to all the people that were upset Weigel got seeded above Brucki.
Heavy Weight (23:10)
Gable Steveson found himself taking 3rd place. Askren talks about how he doesn’t know the last time Steveson has been in wrestlebacks. The last time he can remember is at worlds which doesn’t have wrestlebacks.
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Ben Askren and Matt Dernlan host the RUDIS Wrestling Podcast. Askren, World Champion, and Olympic Wrestler joins in official partnership as a content provider for all things RUDIS. Matt Dernlan joins from years of experience in D1 college coaching at Binghamton, Clarion, and Penn State University.
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