Penn State Wrestling 2018-2019

Well I will say this, Millennium, between you and Ethan we have to be the best informed fans on the planet. Thank you so much for all you do.

The Keystone Classic is not for the faint of heart. Last year, my brother and I saw something like 583 matches between 10:00 a.m. and ca. 8:00 p.m. Two fewer teams this year (and generally lesser competition; no Eastern Michigan or Northwestern) should make the day a little shorter. But with dual meet tickets so hard to get, it is an opportunity to see PSU guys wrestle 5 or 6 marches. The inter-squad matches that could occur will be the highlight of the tournament: Cassar v. Nevills, Berge v. Verkleeren, and (to a much lesser extent), Hall v. Manville. And the competition for quickest fall among Nolf, Nickel, Hall, and Joseph will be fun too.

I envy you goldengoal. I usually don't get to see them except on BTN. Tho I hopefully will be able to see the PSU vs Northwestern match in Chicago.

Watching Berge and Verkleeren face off at the Keystone Classic was amazing. It was a tremendous bout that Berge won by a point. How does Cael decide who starts? Verkleeren had an impressive win at the Kent State dual.

I think Cassar has taken the starting spot from Nevills. Both are definitely All-American caliber and in the discussion for the national championship. Unfortunately, the NCAAs are not an open tournament and only one will be able to compete there.

First, my brother reminded me I grossly exaggerated the number of matches at last year's tournament, which was like 383, not 583 (still a lot). With the reduced field this year, there were just under 300 total matches. The number of entries per weight were very uneven, so while Joseph (who looked fantastic) and Lee each had five matches on the way to becoming champion, Bravo-Young and Nickel each had only three, which was disappointing.

Cassar looked very quick and very slick in defeating Nevills, who is an elite heavyweight in his own right. I thought after the match with Berge, Verkleeren looked very sluggish and out-of-sorts in his two consolation matches. Not sure if that was residual disappointment or a sign that he might not be as developed as thought. RBY looked better than I anticipated. Rasheed at 184 appears to Ben more dominant than last year at 197. Nickel's last match made me think that on the other hand he might find the completion with the bigger opponents at 197 a little more difficult than last year--not that he was ever threatened.

Supposedly Nevills weighs about 265, which is pretty big for a heavyweight (the class used to be unlimited, so there were a few really huge guys). Cassar, according to published reports, ate about 6000/7000 calories a day since the end of last season--and lifted weights--and is now 230-235. When he wrestled 197, he was probably walking around at about 210.

Last year's champion, Ohio State's Kyle Snyder, was even smaller, probably 220-225. He wrestles freestyle internationally at 97 kg (about 214). He got decked in the first period of the championship match of the recent world championships. In the same competition, PSU's David Taylor won the gold medal at 86 kg (about 190); his highest college weight was 165. Also his training partner in Budapest was Bo Nickal.