' 26 Clarion Open, 11/1

[Corby2]

Clarion seems to be getting squeezed out of this particular weekend. Mercyhurst had their own open this weekend which siphoned off some teams that usually go to the Clarion Open. You also had Senior Worlds (only really applies to Bo), Preseason Nationals, and the Cowboy Invitational this weekend as well to further dilute the pool. Couple that with minimal marketing and a Clarion program that has been going through some lean years and you get what you saw today.

I think in future we see less and less opens and more invites. Coaches don't want to be wrestling D3 , D2 and HS kids in matches since they don't help with RPI or seeding.

 

[El_Jefe]

Not Clarion ... but at the Southeast Open:

Seidel gave up 2 takedowns to Jack Cole, who went 14-7 last year.

That is, 14-7 in high school. Cole is a sophomore at Bethlehem Catholic.

There's some familiarity for certain, both trained at Marsteller's club. Still. Guys aren't yet at peak performance.

 

[McScoreley]

Going to guess Seidel took that match kind of lightly, like a big brother toying around with a little brother.

 

[Coastal2]

Not Clarion ... but at the Southeast Open:

Seidel gave up 2 takedowns to Jack Cole, who went 14-7 last year.

That is, 14-7 in high school. Cole is a sophomore at Bethlehem Catholic.

There's some familiarity for certain, both trained at Marsteller's club. Still. Guys aren't yet at peak performance.

Va Tech is back to gaming the system again. Hitting a bunch of Opens to pump up the record against backups. If a wrestler with a pulse is in the tournament, the starter doesn't attend. Ty Watters and Branson John didn't have Gaj or Sasso.

As long as the NCAA sticks with RPI for wrestling (most other sports have altered/dropped it) then hammering a backup with a decent record because they only hit Opens against mostly other backups helps more than wrestling the starter with a poor record.

Edinboro was a classic example of this last season. Landon Bainey was the clear starter but due to a horrendous record, wrestling any of his backups gave a significant RPI advantage. Getting TFd in the first period to the one big time starter at an Open gives the opponent opponents advantage.