And I think Jayden James has a good chance to make it as well.
Senior World Team Trials
- Thread starter GableBeer
- Start date
Oh stfu. He had a good showing at the US Open and just won the Pan Ams.
If he should unlace then so should 95% of the guys competing at the senior level.
Dear God what a ridiculous comment.
The answer is really simple. Iowa doesn't focus enough on freestyle. The only active Iowa wrestler or recruit at these trials is in the portal. Sorensen might be the best person and the greatest coach in the world but are people going to flock to be trained by someone whose greatest freestyle accomplishment is probably winning the 2018 Canada Cup?
OkSt, VaTech have multiple athletes attending.
OkSt, VaTech have multiple athletes attending.
I don't think he can compete with the top of the field at 61, and he's nowhere near a 65.
Tough competitor but the window is probably closed for him to make a team.
Except for Davino, the four guys listed have been in their college programs less than a year. Bo not at all. VA Tech and Ohio State have better coaching than Iowa?
For freestyle, yes probably a dozen schools have better coaching than Iowa.
not too long ago someone made the comment that 5 years ago all these boys got locked out of school for 6-8 months, and they did nothing but wrestle, the amount of reps that gave them at a critical point in their development built the base they used to become absolute hammers and they just never stopped.
then you add that they wrestle year round, not just during a high school wrestling season. The amount of mat time these kids have by age 16-17 far surpasses what we all grew up experiencing.
working theory.
Your ability to consistently up the stupid is almost impressive.
Iowa isn’t living up to the program’s own expectations. Fans? Pfft.
Did you just skip right over his first two words? Recruiting is a big part of coaching.
What does that even mean, directly from him on social media. If he was not planning on returning to Iowa, I would be shocked that coaches would still allow him in the room. They aren't currently giving him a place to train so that he can be better for another team this fall.
Brands arguing and jawing with Khalid-- might as well keep alienating and pissing off the best club coaches.
But we don't need kids from best club teams to finish 4th right ?
But we don't need kids from best club teams to finish 4th right ?
No, it was via TikTok Live. I’m guessing after this tournament we should start to hear things ?
Now do Lee Roper accolades
The HWC is run by Brands or at least run the way he wants it run. Same with Taylor and the Cowboy club. The difference is the trajectories of their respective programs.
One program has a rich talent laden program full of young recruits that will likely develop into contenders on the world stage.
The other hedges everything on Lee (’24 Olympic silver, ‘25 did not medal worlds, ’26 us open 2nd - lost to current college athlete).
For the record, I like Sorensen.
If Lee Roper wasn't a big reason for guys development, why would he have been taken from UNI. Under your reasoning they could've grabbed a guy off the street to be the Cowboy RTC coach and it wouldn't have made a difference.
Also people saying we only have Spencer are stupid. The guys that we have in the HWC are some of the best in the world. They go over seas and compete. Guys not making a world team doesn't mean they need to hang it up. There are 10 guys from the entire US that get to compete in freestyle at the World Championships and even less at the Olympics. Having guys in the room that are competitive both internationally and domestically is crucial for building.
I can be just as negative as anyone, but the guys who come on here and act like we're working with some JV squad don't know what they're talking about.
Who else on the team can contend for world/olympic medals? You do know you have to make the team to do that, right?
So OSU snags an outsider to run their club - which has supposedly benefitted them in a positive way… while HWC kind of demotes their head coach months ago, elevates a guy that has been there already and doesn’t tell anyone for months and gaslights and lies to those that figured it out.
At the end of the day, results drive the discourse...
"Also people saying we only have Spencer are stupid. The guys that we have in the HWC are some of the best in the world"
We have ONE guy that can compete for world and Olympic medals.
We have a couple others in Desanto And Buchanan that are competitive, but a couple notches below.
Then we others that compete but not really a factor.
They can all be valuable work out partners for the collegiate team-
Tom Brands has never coached and Olympic gold medalist.
HWC is behind a few clubs,just like the college team.
What can we do to get better ?
We have ONE guy that can compete for world and Olympic medals.
We have a couple others in Desanto And Buchanan that are competitive, but a couple notches below.
Then we others that compete but not really a factor.
They can all be valuable work out partners for the collegiate team-
Tom Brands has never coached and Olympic gold medalist.
HWC is behind a few clubs,just like the college team.
What can we do to get better ?
Are you one of those who describe anyone getting less than first place a loser? Good for AD in whatever he chooses to do and when he decides its time to hang them up. Everyone gets told at some point its time, but far more regrets are from quitting too early.
You know full well that Roper was hired as the Executive Director to handle the operations end while Taylor and others handle most of the day to day technique. HIring is different when your Olympic champ is from this century.
Outside of Spencer. Desanto is probably the 5th best guy in the country. Buchanan being in Final X means he is a top 2 guy in the country. Kennedy will be wrestling for true 3rd at Final X. That isn't counting Caliendo who admittedly had a disappointing first showing at the senior level. It's also not counting Keuter who has 2 age level world medals but has been dealing with injuries.
Do you think that's the normal? Penn State and recently Ok State are the outliers, but do you genuinely believe that any club in the country besides those wouldn't be over the moon about having that roster?
Agree… I disagree with his statement. This new crop is something that we have not seen before. What makes this new crop unique is that there are MANY elite ones in this crop, it’s not just 1 or 2 of them; but many.
And we have landed none of them... that is a problem
I’m not ragging on the athletes that are competing. My gripes start and end with the guy at the top that is responsible for the program and its results.
I don’t care that other inferior programs would love our roster. We are not other programs, we are Iowa and that means something or at least it used to.
Being content with less than stellar results is loser mentality.
No, it's not. You're crowning all the young guns the best of the best when they actually haven't won anything on the senior level yet.
When and if they do, then I'll retract that statement, but at this given moment it's completely rational.
Brands bros always wanna let everyone know how tough they are and how loud they can be. Crazy to just go after every other coach or wrestler.
But Jax and PJ are the first freestyle high schoolers to make the world team since Jimmy Carr, and they did it at much higher weights.
Blaze has been wrestling senior level since his Jr year with a huge hit list of NCAA stars.
A 17 year old just beat one of the 5 best guys in our room regardless of age.
All senior level wins.
It’s almost such a bad take that it’s not worth responding to.
Jax beat a world champion to make the team. PJ beat a 4x NCAA champ and world silver.
tell me the last time 2 high schoolers made a world team? Then tell me the last time there were 3 true fresh NCAA champs (one still actually a highschooler). Then tell me this youth movement is not at a level we’ve never seen before.
Agree with everything but you saying Jax is still a high schooler. Jax turned 19 eight months ago.
Not a bad spot…he can only improve. I like his odds.