125 D A lot has been said already. Obviously, he's not firing on all cylinders right now. I thought he did a decent job in the first getting in deep twice, but couldn't finish. He was done when Picc got away.
133 B A high grade for a loss, but I think he looked good in defeat. I've never seen someone move Daton Fix like that. Not sure what to do going forward regarding choice. I say if you get choice in the second, you go down. At least gives you a chance to come back in the third if you get ridden. If you're down 1-0 heading into the third, take your chances on your feet. One thing is clear that I would have considered crazy 2 months ago: Austin Desanto is a legit title contender this year.
141 B Nightmare matchup for Murin, and that's also the best I've seen Brock wrestle this year. He seems to be putting it together. He gets a B because he showed some grit getting himself back into the match late and was a swipe away from sending it to OT, but he was outclassed on his feet overall, and he's not a strong enough mat wrestler and scrambler to exploit Brock's weaknesses.
149 A That's the best he's looked all year in my opinion. I said last week he needed a second attack to keep guys from keying in on his high crotch and he hit a beautiful sweep right away. Opened up his high crotch later on. He's definitely a guy that can get rolling after an early takedown.
157 B+ Open up young man. He took 2 shots and they were both excellent. Good controlled win, but that could be a major if he opens up.
165 A Clutch pin against an over matched opponent.
174 D Felt that was coming the whole match. Bowman scraps, but has poor awareness. You have to know that's Rogers' best hold, and stay away.
184 C Smith is very good, but Wilcke has to open up. Thought he started out well with a good handfight and activity, but never fully committed to an attack. Once Smith secured a lead he could sit and just reattack which is what he's best at.
197 B- I thought Warner wrestled really hard, but made a really really bad mistake in the third that essentially ended the match. Weigel is very good too. There was definitely a lot to build on in this match, and Warner has been making steady improvement since Midlands. Midlands Warner would have broken after that early takedown.
285 C He was competitive, but is clearly limited. He'll be in the hunt to place, but won't contend with the top guys. Feel bad for the big fella. He's been very unlucky.
Overall: The people calling for Brands to be fired are great caricatures of the uneducated fans that call into sports radio shows. The hawks got beat by a very good team on the road. This wasn't like the Iowa State meet either. Ok State has been wrestling better this year and showed it today, but let's not pretend that Iowa hasn't been incredibly unlucky this year. Spencer is struggling with something, we lost Kemerer who is our second best wrestler in my opinion, and obviously Stoll is not healthy either. That's our 3 highest returners not being 100%, and we expect this team to be lights out? On the positive side, Desanto has emerged as a title contender and that will be huge for next year. Kaleb Young is wrestling well. Marinelli has been a danger to society. Overall, I think every wrestler who is healthy is noticeably better this year than last year, and they'll all be back next year.
