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Darkhorse Derby 2026

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Wrestleknownothing

All-Conference
Oct 30, 2021
1,685
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This is something I did for the last two tournaments on Intermat that a lot of people found interesting. It creates an incentive to think about and watch the guys who generally do not wind up on the podium. It acknowledges that their struggle is every bit as real even if their recognition generally is not.

  • The idea is that everyone picks 1 wrestler per weight (10 total wrestlers) who is seeded in the 17 - 33 range. No wrestlers seeded 1 - 16 are eligible.

We will use regular tournament scoring to determine who has the strongest lineup of darkhorses at the conclusion of the tournament.

  • If you would like to make my life more easy in your post use the following format for your entry:

Weight - Seed - Wrestler - School

For example, if you were interested in all #17 seeds it would look like this:

125 – 17 - Jett Strickenberger – WVU
133 – 17 - TK Davis – GW
141 – 17 - Caedyn Ricciardi – NAVY
149 – 17 - Lucas Kapusta – LH
157 – 17 - Luke Mechler – WIS
165 – 17 - Braeden Scoles – ILL
174 – 17 - Jared Simma – UNI
184 – 17 - Ian Bush – WVU
197 – 17 - Dillon Bechtold – BUCK
285 – 17 - Vincent Mueller - COL

One caveat. I will not be around as much this year during the tournament as I was in past years due to my own stupidity, so my scoring updates will be a little less frequent.

I will be posting this on all four on3 boards.
 
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S

sdvike

All-Conference
Feb 23, 2016
908
2,033
93
125 (23) Nicolar Rivera Wis.
133 (25) Wil Betancourt Rid.
141 (22) Lorenzo Frezza Col.
149 (20) Chance Lamer Neb.
157 (20) Jimmy Harrington Harv.
165 (20) Ty Whalen Prin.
174 (22) Brody Baumann Pur.
184 (24) Joe Curtis Col.
197 (27) Gabe Arnold Iowa
285 (18) Christian Carroll Wyo.
 
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S

sdvike

All-Conference
Feb 23, 2016
908
2,033
93
Wrestleknownothing said:
This is something I did for the last two tournaments on Intermat that a lot of people found interesting. It creates an incentive to think about and watch the guys who generally do not wind up on the podium. It acknowledges that their struggle is every bit as real even if their recognition generally is not.

  • The idea is that everyone picks 1 wrestler per weight (10 total wrestlers) who is seeded in the 17 - 33 range. No wrestlers seeded 1 - 16 are eligible.

We will use regular tournament scoring to determine who has the strongest lineup of darkhorses at the conclusion of the tournament.

  • If you would like to make my life more easy in your post use the following format for your entry:

Weight - Seed - Wrestler - School

For example, if you were interested in all #17 seeds it would look like this:

125 – 17 - Jett Strickenberger – WVU
133 – 17 - TK Davis – GW
141 – 17 - Caedyn Ricciardi – NAVY
149 – 17 - Lucas Kapusta – LH
157 – 17 - Luke Mechler – WIS
165 – 17 - Braeden Scoles – ILL
174 – 17 - Jared Simma – UNI
184 – 17 - Ian Bush – WVU
197 – 17 - Dillon Bechtold – BUCK
285 – 17 - Vincent Mueller - COL

One caveat. I will not be around as much this year during the tournament as I was in past years due to my own stupidity, so my scoring updates will be a little less frequent.

I will be posting this on all four on3 boards.
Click to expand...
Are we able to change til next Wednesday night? And hope this is for fun cause you didn't mention entry fees.
 
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W

Wrestleknownothing

All-Conference
Oct 30, 2021
1,685
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sdvike said:
Are we able to change til next Wednesday night? And hope this is for fun cause you didn't mention entry fees.
Click to expand...
You certainly can give me money if you like. But this is only for bragging rights, so you won't get any back.

You can make changes right up until the first whistle blows on Thursday.
 
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InTheCircle

InTheCircle

All-Conference
Apr 3, 2018
381
1,294
93
125 - 18 - Spencer Moore - Illinois
133 - 19 - Gage Walker - Missouri
141 - 21 - Tyler Wells - Oklahoma
149 - 19 - Brock Herman - Little Rock
157 - 21 - Charlie Millard - MN
165 - 18 - Gunner Filipowicz - Army
174 - 21 - Lenny Pinto - Rutgers
184 - 29 - Nick Fox - UNI
197 - 20 - Wyatt Ingham - Wisconsin
285 - 18 - Christian Carroll - Wyoming
 
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G

Gopher4Life

Junior
Jun 30, 2025
113
244
43
125 19 seed Kysen Terukina UNC
133 28 seed Garrett Grice ISU
141 19 seed Hayden Drury Utah Valley
149 22 seed Eligh Rivera Princeton
157 21 seed Charlie Millard Minnesota
165 18 seed Gunner army
174 26 seed Derek Glicher Indiana
184 22 seed Zach Ryder OK State
197 21 seed Rune Lawrence West Virginia
285 18 Seed Christian Carroll
 
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W

Wrestleknownothing

All-Conference
Oct 30, 2021
1,685
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InTheCircle said:
125 - 18 - Spencer Moore - Illinois
133 - 17 - Gage Walker - Missouri
141 - 21 - Tyler Wells - Oklahoma
149 - 19 - Brock Herman - Little Rock
157 - 21 - Charlie Millard - MN
165 - 18 - Gunner Filipowicz - Army
174 - 21 - Lenny Pinto - Rutgers
184 - 29 - Nick Fox - UNI
197 - 18 - Wyatt Ingham - Wisconsin
285 - 18 - Christian Carroll - Wyoming
Click to expand...
TK Davis is the 17 seed at 133. Do you want him or Gage Walker?
Andrew Reall is the 18 seed at 197. Do you want him or Wyatt Ingham?
 
M

maxpain

All-American
Jul 6, 2006
1,939
6,409
113
125 – 19 - Kysen Terukina – UNC
133 – 25 - Will Betancourt – Rider
141 – 20 - Julian Tagg – SDSU
149 – 20 - Chance Lamer – Neb
157 – 18 - DJ McGee – GMU
165 – 25 - Mac Church – VT
174 – 20 - Daschle Lamer – Oregon St
184 – 17 - Ian Bush – WVU
197 – 23 - Mikey Squires – Bing
285 – 20 - Dayton Pitzer - Pitt
 
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W

Wrestleknownothing

All-Conference
Oct 30, 2021
1,685
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Time for my picks:

125 - 26 - Cooper Flynn - CHAT
133 -17 - T.K. Davis - GW
141 - 20 - Julian Tagg - SDSU
149 - 19 - Brock Herman - UALR
157 - 21 - Charlie Millard - MINN
165 - 18 - Noah Mulvaney - BUCK
174 - 25 -Sergio Desiante - VT
184 - 17 - Ian Bush - WVU
197 - 18 - Andrew Reall - BRWN
285 - 26 - Luke Luffman - ILL

Though I am having second thoughts about not having any Columbia wrestlers in the lineup.

Edit: I heard Braeden Scoles is hurt, but is going to attempt to wrestle regardless. So I changed that .
 
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TherealGrip220

TherealGrip220

All-Conference
Oct 14, 2025
482
1,449
93
Wrestleknownothing said:
This is something I did for the last two tournaments on Intermat that a lot of people found interesting. It creates an incentive to think about and watch the guys who generally do not wind up on the podium. It acknowledges that their struggle is every bit as real even if their recognition generally is not.

  • The idea is that everyone picks 1 wrestler per weight (10 total wrestlers) who is seeded in the 17 - 33 range. No wrestlers seeded 1 - 16 are eligible.

We will use regular tournament scoring to determine who has the strongest lineup of darkhorses at the conclusion of the tournament.

  • If you would like to make my life more easy in your post use the following format for your entry:

Weight - Seed - Wrestler - School

For example, if you were interested in all #17 seeds it would look like this:

125 – 17 - Jett Strickenberger – WVU
133 – 17 - TK Davis – GW
141 – 17 - Caedyn Ricciardi – NAVY
149 – 17 - Lucas Kapusta – LH
157 – 17 - Luke Mechler – WIS
165 – 17 - Braeden Scoles – ILL
174 – 17 - Jared Simma – UNI
184 – 17 - Ian Bush – WVU
197 – 17 - Dillon Bechtold – BUCK
285 – 17 - Vincent Mueller - COL

One caveat. I will not be around as much this year during the tournament as I was in past years due to my own stupidity, so my scoring updates will be a little less frequent.

I will be posting this on all four on3 boards.
Click to expand...
We should do one for guys ranked 11-16 also
 
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I

inspiteofourselves

Sophomore
Jan 16, 2017
92
192
33
125- 19 Kysen Terukina UNC
133- 19 Gage Walker MIZZ
141- 20 Julian Tagg SDSU
149- 17 Lucas Kapusta LH
157- 21 Charlie Millard Minn
165- 19 Noah Mulvaney Buck
174- 21 Lenny Pinto Rut
184- 22 Zack Ryder Okst
197- 25 Evan Bates Mizz
285- 18 Christian Carroll WYO
 
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J

Jacob1one!

Freshman
Aug 4, 2022
32
89
18
125–Strickenburger WVU 17
133-TK Davis GW 17
141-Nogle AF 18
149-Lamer Neb 20
157-Millard MN 21
165-Olguin OSU 22
174-Pinto Rutgers 21
184-Dailey UNC 18
197-Wasley NDSU 22
HWT-Carroll WY 18
 
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C

Crablegs1

Senior
Feb 27, 2009
196
602
93
125 - 17 Jett Strickenberger WVU
133 - 24 Blake Boarman Purdue
141 - 20 Julian Tagg SDSU
149 - 20 Chance Lamer Neb
157 - 19 Kai Owen Col
165 - 17 Braden Scoles Ill
174 - 21 Lenny Pinto Rut
184 - 20 Brian Soldano Ok
197 - 29 Colton Hawks ASU
285 - 18 Christian Carroll Wyo
 
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L

loonhawk

Junior
Iowa Swarm member
Dec 15, 2003
141
282
63
I'll play:

125 - 22 - Motyka - Penn
133 - 20 - Farber - UNI
141 - 20 - Tagg - SDSU
149 - 19 - Herman - LR
157 - 17 - Melchyz - Wisc
165 - 25 - Church - VT
174 - 18 - Kelly - Ill
184 - 22 - Ryder - OkST
197 - 22 - Wasley - NDSU
285 - 19 - Schon - Drex
 
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P

parchy

Redshirt
Mar 22, 2015
14
28
13
125 strickenberger
133 Andrick
141 Tagg
149 Lamer
157 Millard
165 Scoles
174 Augustine
184 Bush
197 Arnold
Hwt Carroll
 
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Bones Malone

Bones Malone

Freshman
Jan 21, 2019
28
93
13
125 - 18 Spencer Moore ILL
133 - 23 Braxton Brown MD
141 - 20 Julian Tagg SDSU
149 - 20 Chance Lamer NEB
157 - 21 Charlie Millard MINN
165 - 17 Braeden Scoles ILL
174 - 18 Colin Kelly ILL
184 - 17 Ian Bush WVU
197 - 20 Wyatt Ingham WIS
285 - 20 Dayton Pitzer PITT
 
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W

Wrestleknownothing

All-Conference
Oct 30, 2021
1,685
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Entries are beginning to slow down a bit so I thought I would pause and share a statistical update.

So far we have a total of 35 competitors duking it out to be the king of prognosticators. BWI leads the way with 20 entrants, followed by HR with 10, 34AC with 3 and TKR with 2.

Be Not Afraid
The boldest among us is @PUR158. He is not afraid to scan down the seeds to look for the value play. With an average seed among his ten wrestlers of 23.1, he is a full 4.3 slots behind the most conservative swami @parchy who comes in at an average seed of 18.8.



Diversification is Key
No two users picked the same lineup. So hopefully there will be no tie to break as I had not thought about that. But if there is I think I will go with lowest seeded wrestler to score points.

Who Ya Got?
Among the 170 eligible wrestlers seeded #17-#33, you saw fit to bless 79 of them with your statement of confidence. But this is a popularity contest after all, and the most popular is Wyoming's Christian Carroll, favored by 22 of you. Minnesota's Charlie Millard is not far behind with 19 fanboys/girls on these forums.

There were 17 wrestlers who garnered a single vote of confidence. PUR158 and @sdvike chose three of these each. Rugged individualists, those two.



Can't We All Just Get Along?
By weight, 285 was where we agreed the most as only 4 of the 17 wrestlers garnered support.

At the opposite end of the scale is 133. There is zero consensus in the top half of those seeds, so why should there any consensus in the bottom half?



We Get Nowhere Without the Team
Of the 70 teams entered in the tournament, 47 are proud to claim entrants in the 2026 Dark Horse Derby. I fully expect this to serve as the motivation for many of these wrestlers to pull off upsets and then acknowledge their forum supporters by username in their post match interviews.



Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Normally I would provide updates after each of the six sessions. But I did something dumb this year and agreed to speak at a conference without looking at the calendar first. So my plan is to do a single update for both Thursday sessions followed by individual updates per session thereafter. Wish me luck.
 
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W

Wrestleknownothing

All-Conference
Oct 30, 2021
1,685
4,480
113
We closed on Thursday morning with 47 total entries - 46 of those are real and 1 is a what if. Given the struggles @SlipperyPete had nailing down his lineup I decided to test the grade school teacher warning that you should stick with your first answer, so I kept his original lineup and his revised lineup. We will see if Mrs. Crabapple was right.

Pole Position
@johnstownsteel races out to the early lead by getting points from 9 of his 10 dark horses. What did he know and when did he know it?

But the race is still too close to call. With the likes of @parchy, and @Crablegs1 just a half point behind, and another 4 entrants within 2 points it is still anyone's game.



Coach of the Year
Tom Ryan's people reached out to me this morning from the team bus. They said that after seeing @topc22blue's coaching performance in the first two rounds of the all important 2026 DHD - ALL 10 Dark Horses basking in the light - the coach would not feel right keeping the B1G COTY trophy. I assume the topc stands for Top Coach?

Fun Facts
  • No one lost more than half of their wrestlers in the first two rounds. Good work everyone.
  • I kinda suck at this.
  • ASU's Colton Hawks is only the second #29 seed to make the quarterfinals. He ties Caleb Fish who made the quarters as a #29 seed at 165 in 2023. Fish did not make the semis - falling 4-10 to #5 Quincy Monday. Hawks will face similar long odds when he faces #5 Joey Novak who is coming off a pair of pinfalls.
  • 165 has the most Dark Horse Heroes still alive. At this stage if everything goes chalk the #25 - #33 would be eliminated. But at 165 6 of them are still alive and kicking.
  • 174 is at the other end of the spectrum with 8 of the bottom 9 seeds already done for the weekend.
 
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R

Random4598375

All-Conference
Jan 10, 2020
599
1,723
93
Wrestleknownothing said:
We closed on Thursday morning with 47 total entries - 46 of those are real and 1 is a what if. Given the struggles @SlipperyPete had nailing down his lineup I decided to test the grade school teacher warning that you should stick with your first answer, so I kept his original lineup and his revised lineup. We will see if Mrs. Crabapple was right.

Pole Position
@johnstownsteel races out to the early lead by getting points from 9 of his 10 dark horses. What did he know and when did he know it?

But the race is still too close to call. With the likes of @parchy, and @Crablegs1 just a half point behind, and another 4 entrants within 2 points it is still anyone's game.



Coach of the Year
Tom Ryan's people reached out to me this morning from the team bus. They said that after seeing @topc22blue's coaching performance in the first two rounds of the all important 2026 DHD - ALL 10 Dark Horses basking in the light - the coach would not feel right keeping the B1G COTY trophy. I assume the topc stands for Top Coach?

Fun Facts
  • No one lost more than half of their wrestlers in the first two rounds. Good work everyone.
  • I kinda suck at this.
  • ASU's Colton Hawks is only the second #29 seed to make the quarterfinals. He ties Caleb Fish who made the quarters as a #29 seed at 165 in 2023. Fish did not make the semis - falling 4-10 to #5 Quincy Monday. Hawks will face similar long odds when he faces #5 Joey Novak who is coming off a pair of pinfalls.
  • 165 has the most Dark Horse Heroes still alive. At this stage if everything goes chalk the #25 - #33 would be eliminated. But at 165 6 of them are still alive and kicking.
  • 174 is at the other end of the spectrum with 8 of the bottom 9 seeds already done for the weekend.
Click to expand...
I've never played anything like this, but I was happy with my results yesterday. I have one guy in the Qs (Lamer), who actually has a winnable match to get to the semis against Carter Young, who has been inconsistent over his whole career and gassed hard in his morning match and barely hung on but looked better in the evening. My 165 went 1-2 BBQ, but my 174 is still alive (Messer) and has a winnable match in the early session against Baer before he meets Singleton (or maybe Pinto).

Was Ryan able to get out of the bus?
 
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W

Wrestleknownothing

All-Conference
Oct 30, 2021
1,685
4,480
113
Random4598375 said:
I've never played anything like this, but I was happy with my results yesterday. I have one guy in the Qs (Lamer), who actually has a winnable match to get to the semis against Carter Young, who has been inconsistent over his whole career and gassed hard in his morning match and barely hung on but looked better in the evening. My 165 went 1-2 BBQ, but my 174 is still alive (Messer) and has a winnable match in the early session against Baer before he meets Singleton (or maybe Pinto).

Was Ryan able to get out of the bus?
Click to expand...
Reports on Ryan's whereabouts are mixed. When I track his phone it appears to always be on the move - almost like he is driving around.
 
W

Wrestleknownothing

All-Conference
Oct 30, 2021
1,685
4,480
113
Session 3 was some fun. As always there was a lot of Dark Horse on Dark Horse crime.

Achieving Simplification
Like any good mystery we are getting to the part where we achieve simplification. After starting with 170 Dark Horse candidates all but 14 have been taken to the glue factory.

With only 12 wrestlers alive at any weight each of our heroes are defying the odds at this point of the tournament.

And it is the big boys leading the way, with 285 and 197 having the most still alive.



Heading Into The Home Stretch
As our horses make the turn, it is Chance Lamer leading the pack for home. With 10 points scored he is running away from Dayton Pitzer in second place.



The Standings
With today's action there has been a big shakeup in the standings.

@Kiddagger311 takes over the lead from @johnstownsteel who fell all the way to a tie for 16th place. Ha, that guy must not know much. Oh, wait.... there is some jabroni who goes by @Wrestleknownothing. That dude is really putting the nothing in knowledge.

The Kid should not get too comfortable though. @Crablegs1 and @parchy maintain the next two spots again. And with 6 wrestlers still alive crabbie is looking dangerous.

 
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