Chicks Heart Fights

Wrestling started at 11, and my head stopped pounding just a few minutes ago. These posts are not going to give results; you can find them here.  What I will provide is some quick thoughts about the things you will not see in the results:

•  I had never watched Anthony Robles wrestle before, and he just blew me away. I can’t write much about him that hasn’t already been said, but he is an expert at turning a negative into a positive. He uses his flexibility and upper body strength in ways that make his wrestling truly beautiful. He gave Escobedo a heck of a match, and will continue to be a force throughout the tournament.
• The arena went crazy when McKnight (Penn St.) turned Shinn (Okie. St.) OSU fans aren’t the force this year that they have been in the past.
• Franklin Gomez (MSU) and Brent Metcalf look unstoppable.
• During Morningstar’s loss, Tom Brands looked more hysterical than he has ever been. He was on the ground in a split. Unbelievable.
• One of the things about the tournament is that you often end up sitting by the family of some wrestler. When a seeded wrestler was upset, his dad was behind me, and my heart just fell for him. As hard as it is for the wrestler, it’s triply hard for the parent.

… from some sweet seats that a friend of a friend hooked me up with! I walked in the door, and a man handed me a ticket for free, and then my friend and I saw an old friend of his, that friend had seats in the center reserved section, about ten rows up. I’m a lucky gal! My lucky thoughts on the Midlands finals, after the jump… (more…)

With a big win over in-state nemesis Iowa State, Iowa took the top spot in the Intermat rankings for the first time since 2000. The win and rise to number one is even more impressive when you consider that the Hawkeyes were without returning national champion Mark Perry. (Perry was suspended a week after being DQ’ed and getting a little snippy with the refs at Vegas.) Brands’ boys won the old-fashioned Iowa way - winning matches they weren’t expected to (Fields over Zabriskie) and winning big when you can (Metcalf major dec. over Mueller.) Since I picked the Hawks to get it done this year, I am pleased with their season so far. The Hawkeyes will face the Panthers of UNI on Thursday night, and you can catch live text scoring at Intermat.