2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships 197 Weight Class Preview

Destined to clash…. Again

Is this the year that Nebraska’s #2 Craig Brester (26-2) gets over the hump? Well his only losses are to Iowa State’s Defending National Champion #1 Jake Varner (26-0) who has had Brester’s number over the years.

I forget how many times we have heard this song before, but we expect to see it yet again. These two are on a course for one more tussle.

Now there is an entire field so we will look at some of the other wrestlers that hope to prevent us from seeing those two squaring off again. Maryland’s #3 Hudson Taylor (38-2) is no slouch and is what we call a pinner. Hudson has a loss to #5 Trevor Brandvold (20-3) of Wisconsin. His other loss comes at the hands of Varner 4-5. We also have Cornell’s #4 Cam Simaz (37-5) who is having a very good season as well.

Round 1

Iowa’s #9 Chad Beatty (14-3) does not get an easy first round match, he will face unseeded Oklahoma State wrestler Alan Gelogaev (25-7). They have not met this year and Beatty’s health may be an issue. We see Gelogaev getting the first round upset here.

Illinois #11 Patrick Bond (16-11) will face off with Pitt’s unseeded Matt Wilps (31-8) and we see Wilps knocking off Bond here as well.

Round 2

The first match we plan on keeping an eye on is when Gelogaev meets Minnesota’s #8 Sonny Yohn (24-10). Interesting match up and we think that mat wrestling will decide this one, with Yohn coming out on top of a close one.

Wilps should meet up with Oklahoma’s #6 Eric Lapotsky (24-6). Wilps is a tough and should push Lapotsky, but we see the sooner getting by and advancing.

Round 3 (Quarterfinals)

Look for Varner and Yohn to take the mat in the first quarterfinal of the weight. Not much to say here, we see Varner winning most likely by major.

In the second quarter we are looking at Brandvold and Simaz taking the mat. Brandvold advances here.

Next we see Taylor running into Lapotsky. Taylor has 24 pins on the year and has been dominate for the most part. Look for Taylor to move on here.

Brester should be facing Michigan’s #7 Anthony Biondo (33-5). We see the seeds holding true in this one.

Round 4 (Semifinals)

The first semi of the weight should be Varner and Brandvold. Brandvold has had a good year but we do see him having enough to knock off Varner in this one.

Taylor vs. Brester. This is one of the matches that we are looking forward to. In a great match we are going with the upset here and picking Taylor to win.

Finals

Varner vs. Taylor

They have met once this season with Varner coming out with a 1 point victory. I expect this to be another tight one as well. Our selection is that Varner comes away with another close victory.

Dark horses

1. Matthew Wilps (Pitt)
2. Alan Gelogaev (Oklahoma State)
3. Erik Schuth (Ohio)

TOM’s Picks

1. Varner
2. Taylor
3. Brester