NCAA Wrestling Tournament--Lehigh gets 7 entries

[ngineer]

Mountain Hawks Ciasulli at 141 and Kennedy at 197 have received wild cards to the NCAA's at Omaha starting next Thursday. This gives Lehigh 7 entrants with Zack Rey at 285 seeded 3rd and David Craig at 184 seeded 12th. Top 33 wrestlers in the country at each weight class go at it starting at 11 a.m. that day. Champions crowned on Saturday evening.
For you 'other' Cowboys, VomBaur of Wyoming received a Wild Card at 133. Currently ranked #20 in coaches' poll.

[MrTitleist]

I'm excited for VomBaur.. I think he'll at least have one win. I'm hoping to see 2-3 Cowboy All-Americans, I think we'll have one for sure, possibly 2, 3 is a possibility. I can't wait!! I'm sad I can't see it live.

[kardplayer]

Exciting stuff! Hopefully the fellas wrestle their best at Nationals.

[ngineer]

I will be thrilled with one All-American and egstatic if we'd get two. On paper, we should really be in the hunt for two (Rey and Craig) with Fisk at 133 a real darkhorse. However, paper is worthless at The Big Dance. It's mostly between the ears, and unless Craig receives a transplant of new 'eyes of the tiger' I would not bet him. Has a ton of talent, but seems to be missing the necessary 'fifth gear' to be a national champ. I'm hoping the others can get us some meaningful points. A top 20 finish would be very good for us. We have a very strong dual meet team, but tournament wrestling is something altogether different. Got tickets in section 221 if anyone out there is attending. Look for the Lehigh garb as I think the friends of a friend who got our tickets are Iowans, so we'll like be in a sea of bumblebees....

[MrTitleist]

I'm hoping the Cowboys can pull off a top 25 finish. Last year they finished 32nd.. I think they can improve upon that this season.

[MrTitleist]

One of only a handful of wrestlers in the history of the UW program to compete in four national championships, VomBaur will enter the event unseeded in the 133-pound weight class. In his first match, he will face the winner of a pigtail bout between Matthew Fisk from Lehigh and the No. 11 seed, Scotti Sentes of Central Michigan. At the 2009 Championships, VomBaur went 1-2. He is 18-8 this season.

[ngineer]

One of only a handful of wrestlers in the history of the UW program to compete in four national championships, VomBaur will enter the event unseeded in the 133-pound weight class. In his first match, he will face the winner of a pigtail bout between Matthew Fisk from Lehigh and the No. 11 seed, Scotti Sentes of Central Michigan. At the 2009 Championships, VomBaur went 1-2. He is 18-8 this season.

I've never figured out why seeded wrestlers have to wrestle pigtails. Seems to me if you're seeded in the top 12 you should not have to do that. VomBaur isn't seeded, so it would seem to me that he and Fisk should be facing off in a pigtail
So our boy Fisk will have his work cut out early with Sentes, though Matt is capable of knocking him off. Fisk was ranked about 14/15 most of the year, I think. If he pulls it off, we could have an "all brown" match later on Thursday--although I know the Cowboys use a yellow singlet, too. Lehigh now has three: white with brown lettering/stripes; brown with white lettering/stripes; and a new 'old gold' color with brown lettering and no stripes.

[MrTitleist]

Cowboys have been using white w/ gold trim this year, w/ the trademark bucking horse right in the middle of it.

[ngineer]

Cowboys have been using white w/ gold trim this year, w/ the trademark bucking horse right in the middle of it.

Most teams have at least two sets--one primarily white and the other in primarily the predominant school color for contrast with opponent. Your guys using yellow or brown? How many entries do you have?

[MrTitleist]

My guess is gold is the other singlet. Four entries, not a lot of gold going to be around, but some!

[dbackjon]

What is a pigtail?

[93henfan]

What is a pigtail?

I didn't know either: http://www.orangepower.com/archive/inde ... 22279.html

[ngineer]

The explanation by iowapoke on the link above is pretty good. Since there are an odd number of wrestlers, top 33 in each weight class, they have an odd number of early bouts to even out the brackets. Who gets stuck in a pigtail is the luck of the draw. I have seen highly seeded wrestlers get stuck there and it can be a problem sometime with having to wrestle the extra bout. Can get your team some extra points, but there is always the risk of getting pushed real good that effects the performance in the first round of the preliminaries.

[MrTitleist]

Pigtail match is a huge disadvantage.. and probably more harm than help.

[ngineer]

Pigtail match is a huge disadvantage.. and probably more harm than help.

I would think that is the general consensus. It is pretty exciting sometime when an unseeded guy is beating or pushing a high seed. But I agree, it does create a disadvantage for the guys who have to wrestle the extra bout.

[ngineer]

Based upon seedings, rankings and returning points, projections for the NCAA (without consideration for bonus points) have Lehigh finishing 16th with 38 points, IF all wrestlers meet their projections. Wyoming is projected 27th with 23 points. However, Wyoming was one of a few schools last year that exceeded their projections.

Over the last 10 years Lehigh and Cornell have been the top FCS schools with aggregate points placing Cornell 9th and Lehigh 11th. Oklahoma St., Iowa, Minnesota, and Iowa State are tops.

Of all 330 NCAA Qualifiers, Pennsylvania has the most native qualifiers with 47, followed by Ohio (32), New Jersey (28), California (24), and New York (24).

[MrTitleist]

You know, I would think that Pennsylvania is right up there w/ Iowa and Oklahoma as far as wrestlers go.. it seems like Pennsylvania, from HS to college, always has a strong tradition in wrestling.. so the fact they got 47 guys in, isn't surprising. Very strong tradition there. I wish Wyoming had that kind of tradition, but sparse population doesn't help, even though the state is full of talent.

[ngineer]

I read where the Cowboys have shots at 3 AA's. Will be rooting for them, unless, of course...you know.

[MrTitleist]

Unless it's Vom Baur and Fisk in the 1st round?

[MrTitleist]

Damn that Fisk!!!

Not a great day for the Cowboys.. tomorrow will hopefully be better for the young Pokes.

[BlueHen86]

Based upon seedings, rankings and returning points, projections for the NCAA (without consideration for bonus points) have Lehigh finishing 16th with 38 points, IF all wrestlers meet their projections. Wyoming is projected 27th with 23 points. However, Wyoming was one of a few schools last year that exceeded their projections.

Over the last 10 years Lehigh and Cornell have been the top FCS schools with aggregate points placing Cornell 9th and Lehigh 11th. Oklahoma St., Iowa, Minnesota, and Iowa State are tops.

Of all 330 NCAA Qualifiers, Pennsylvania has the most native qualifiers with 47, followed by Ohio (32), New Jersey (28), California (24), and New York (24))

Here is the link showing the state by state breakdown of all wrestlers at the NCAA's:

http://www.themat.com/section.php?secti ... leID=21671" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think PA usually has the most NCAA qualifiers (PA has had the most every year I've seen the stats).

[dbackjon]

So more from CA than Iowa and Minnesota combined?

[MrTitleist]

At last look Lehigh was in the top 15, and Wyoming was nearing the top 25. Cowboys have one all-American right now, and a second one possibly following.. their only two wrestlers left. The other two have been eliminated already.

[MrTitleist]

And.. Cornell hanging around in 2nd behind Iowa.

[BlueHen86]

And.. Cornell hanging around in 2nd behind Iowa.

Cornell has a top notch program. I believe that 3-time PA state champion Marshall Peppelman is going there next year. Peppelman finished his HS career with 178 wins and only 7 losses. He hasn't lost since his sophomore year.