Dreshaun won 5 to 0 but did not use his speed very often. Merrill beat Mocco 8 to 2 with 8 step outs. How will 225 Dreshaun not, get pushed off the mat? Mocco did get 1 takedown and close to a few others when he shot on Merrills legs. Interesting match coming. Dreshaun is going to have to be in good shape, use his quickness to move away from being pushed out and use his speed on quick powerful shots. Dreshaun will lose a sumo match just like Mocco did. Lincoln Robideau won by pin and I think Ramirez won a decision but was watching the HWTs. Holman teched Hodgins in a minute and a half. Very dominant. I remember Routledge won in consolations decisively. In a match just finished Routledge got teched by Cassiopia. I did not see the match but we lost 10 to 0, so not good.
2026 US Open
- Thread starter HopkinsPoke
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Merrill was 261.2 and Dreshaun 225.5 and Mocco 238.7. Gotta use angles and keep his hands busy to beat this Coby
I think Ross is more athletic than Mocco as far as quickness and lateral movement. He also has powerful snaps.
I watched the match and Routledge did not put out much effort and walked away from his coaches after the hand raise. He looked like a beaten wrestler. Holman again looked very tough and despite a 4 point mistake he won by tech. He just finished his junior year of high school and I believe he was the best wrestler at this weight except he got himself pinned by a very inferior wrestler. I noticed he got stuck again on a gut wrench but did not get pinned. He needs to work on bridging thru on gut wrench finishes.
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I also would like to know especially since both did not show. If they couldn't make weight, you would think they would up a class.
Howard won that match with some ease against young Robideau but Howard in the 2nd period had several good opportunities to get the tech ahead 8 to 0 but Lincoln fought them off and would not quit. Reminded me of last year Duke winning fairly easy against Landon but Landon battled to the end. Lincoln has 2 more years in high school to improve.
Thinking optimistically here. Seems like we still have a good chance to see Jax, Zahid, and Wyatt make the Senior Team.
Robideau and Ross potentials on the U20 team. Would Jax go for U20 WTT?
Plus some wildcards. Raneys in Greco.
Robideau and Ross potentials on the U20 team. Would Jax go for U20 WTT?
Plus some wildcards. Raneys in Greco.
I just watched Romero's last match and he lost on a takedown with 12 seconds left and he was ahead by 3 to 2 and loses 4 to 3 to Dallas Russell. A few guys have really come thru but in general this weekend could have been so much better.
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Yes, overall disappointing for a variety of reasons. Puzzling. But we do have a ton of depth. And several stars. Hopefully when the word teams are set we have good representation.
Wyatt will be a favorite at Final X
Zahid should have a good chance
I still think Jax will pull it off
Zahid should have a good chance
I still think Jax will pull it off
Dreshaun does have some great snaps, it'll be interesting to see if he can move coby with them though. Maybe he can wear him down a little with his quickness and get a late takedown or two.
I just watched the Cortez- Burnett finals at 57 and sure would have liked to see Villasenor as planned wrestle. Also watched Ramirez try to hold on to a 2 to 0 lead and gives up a passivity point and then a takedown, and step out to lose 4 to 2 with 18 seconds left. They also put Ramirez down and 5 seconds left Ramirez got on the legs but lost it and lost the match trying to hang with 1 takedown. He earned the loss like in the semi's.
Robideau wins 8 to 2 over Mendoza with an early takedown and gut wrenches and then held on. I wish he would have finished it with a tech but he didn't try to hold unto a slim lead.
I hope LRob goes to senior WTT. He blew through U20s.
Holman gets 3rd with a 1st period tech. His head pinches are deadly. His opponent had no real chance.
Coby executed very well this week. Great resilience and perseverance from Ross after a rough first period though. Now let’s get DT and crew working on those adjustments for WTT.
My thoughts on the Ross match:
1- Ross needs to get in shape
2- Ideally he'll need to put on 15 - 20 lbs
3 - A folkstyle match would look a lot different without the pushout rule
4 - Ross starting well outside the center circle every time gave Koby a big advantage - why Ross did that was baffling
5 - Ross has massive upside potential if he has the mental attitude needed to train like a champion
1- Ross needs to get in shape
2- Ideally he'll need to put on 15 - 20 lbs
3 - A folkstyle match would look a lot different without the pushout rule
4 - Ross starting well outside the center circle every time gave Koby a big advantage - why Ross did that was baffling
5 - Ross has massive upside potential if he has the mental attitude needed to train like a champion
Ross’ll be fine. Get him in Stillwater with the nutritionists and S&T coaches and get some good muscle on over the next 8 months. He’s got a lot more growing to do than “baby” Merrill does.
Adding weight and endurance at the same time is a tall order. I've been on the redshirt train and I'm staying on, but options for that are extremely limited now.
Agreed about folk vs free, but folkstyle Coby on top will be rough, and 7 minutes of hard wrestling against a guy who has 35 pounds on you is rough as well.
Ross did show resilience and refused to quit. That and his in-match adjustments were great to see.
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Ross started with a very foolish strategy of trying to match Merrill in strength and gave up 6 push outs and a takedown. He got 6 points in about 2 minutes and almost had the winner at the end and he started to use his quickness and explosiveness. It was really frustrating to watch him get pushed to the edge and the few times he used his quickness to pull away he stayed near the edge instead of going to the center. Hopefully he remembers how he is going to need to wrestle against Merrill or the big, strong college HWT's. I think if he gets up to 235 he will be big enough with his quickness to dominate.
I almost think paradoxically that adding muscle might help with endurance vs bigger guys. More mass means not having to fight against being pushed around as much, if that makes sense
Lincoln went ahead 8 to 0 but then his opponent came back and took the lead, he got a step out and then a takedown to tie the match but behind because he gave up a 5 point throw. Only seconds left and he took his opponent down to his back out of bounds to score 4 points for the win. Camryn Howard won the weight class and beat Lincoln soundly. Howard wrestles smarter than Lincoln and doesn't make many mistakes and doesn't lose focus. I like Ross and Holman the best from our high school kids who have committed and wrestled at the US Open.
Bo Bassett really stood out with winning seniors and 20's. These young wrestlers beating veterans will likely continue. Merritt or Ross could win next year along with Bassett
It wasn’t an endurance or gas tank issue in the Ross ve Merrill match. It was a size issue.
Merrill juts out his head down, tied up and tried to push Ross out each time. Pretty boring style that doesn’t work when he doesn’t have the size advantage.
Ross was much more active offensively. A little change in strategy and he wins that match. As he gains size, Merrill’s advantage gets minimized.
Merrill juts out his head down, tied up and tried to push Ross out each time. Pretty boring style that doesn’t work when he doesn’t have the size advantage.
Ross was much more active offensively. A little change in strategy and he wins that match. As he gains size, Merrill’s advantage gets minimized.
Koby tried making it a sumo wrestling match, which is boring but effective. He won u20s and did very well in the senior division.
When Ross sits on the mat for an extended period of time after going out of bounds over and over it certainly looks like he's not in shape. He would've been hit for stalling several times in collegiate wrestling doing that.
Ross has tremendous potential as I've said. If he puts on 15-20lbs and his head is right, he can win multiple titles.
Ross will jump levels pretty quickly with the guys in our room.
I hope so. If he does, he'll be a title
contender next year.
Dreshaun has always been a winner and that will be no different in college. He could use a RS to get bigger and get better at the handfight. If he does compete he will develop quickly and be an AA right away. He's not afraid of working hard I have watched him at a few camps at Sebolt and work ethic will not be an issue
So far Taylor has wanted the best 10 on the mat. I don't see anyone in the room beating Ross out for the spot. Am I missing something?
