2011-12 Breakout Wrestler Watch
Last season, D1CW put out their breakout watch prior to the start of the 2010-11 season. This year we decided to change it up and talk about wrestlers who "broke out" in the first half of the season.
As always, the term "breakout" is very subjective and open to interpretation. We define candidates for this list as someone who has not appeared in the NCAA Tournament, for whatever reason. For the hardcore National wrestling followers. it is hard for someone to go unnoticed if they have wrestled in the NCAA Championships. Also, true freshman are not included and the bluest of the Blue Chip Redshirt Freshman are not included. Your Logan Stieber's, Mike Evans', and Dylan Ness' had way too high expectations by fans to be included on this list.
#6 Jesse Delgado--Illinois (125)
The writing was on the wall that 2011-12 could be a big year for Jesse Delgado. While at redshirting at Cal Poly Delgado accumulated a 16-1 record. He defeated two NCAA Qualifiers and won the Cal-Baptist Open, the Menlo Open, and the National Collegiate Open. This year at Illinois has been even better, as Jesse has pulled one of the biggest upsets of this season defeating NCAA Champion Matt McDonough of Iowa. After a half season of wrestling, Delgado has vaulted up the rankings into 6th place.
Matches to watch:
12/29-30-Midlands Championships
1/13 vs #1 Zach Sanders-Minnesota
1/27 vs #8 Levi Mele-Northwestern
2/12-National Duals (Oklahoma-#3 Jarrod Patterson, Cornell-#9 Frank Perrelli, Central Michigan #15-Joe Roth
#15 Joe Roth--Central Michigan (125)
As is often the case with CMU wrestlers, Roth came into Mt. Pleasant with a very good but not “out of this word” high school resume. Now after a redshirt season and a year spent as mostly a backup, Joe Roth has flourished for the Chippewas. Joe’s 16-2 record has earned him a #15 ranking in D1CW’s latest poll. The only two losses this season for Roth have come at the hands of All-American’s Zach Sanders of Minnesota and Nic Bedelyon of Kent State. Notable wins have come over EIWA Runner-Up Garrett Frey of Princeton and Ohio State’s tough Freshman Johnni DiJulius (two times).
Matches to watch:
12/29-30-Midlands Championships
1/20 vs #24 Nick Smith-Northern Illinois
1/27 vs #25 Mason Beckman-Lehigh
1/29 vs #5 Nic Bedelyon-Kent State
2/12-National Duals (Oklahoma-#3 Jarrod Patterson, Illinois #6 Jesse Delgado, Cornell-#9 Frank Perrelli)
#10 Aaron Schopp--Edinboro (133)
After reviewing his record from the 2010-11season, it may not be right to have Aaron Schopp on this list. His breakout season really should have been expected. As redshirting freshman Shopp amassed a 26-6 record. Four of the 26 wins came against NCAA Qualifiers. Most impressive was a 5th place finish at the Southern Scuffle and a Championship at the Michigan State Open. This year has been even better as Aaron has won 19 of his first 20 matches, including Tournament Titles at the Buffalo Open, Michigan State Open and a Runner-Up finish at Las Vegas. 15 of his 19 victories have come by either fall or tech fall.
Matches to watch:
12/29-30-Midlands Championships
1/13-14-Virginia Duals
2/17 vs #18 Shelton Mack-Pittsburgh
#15 Mike Nevinger--Cornell (141)
When the 2011-12 season began many wrestling followers (myself included) figured that the 141lb weight class for the Big Red would be occupied by all-everything, top recruit Chris Villalonga. Nevinger quickly has staked his claim as the starter with Runner-Up finishes at the Binghamton Open, Body Bar Invitational and placed 8th at Las Vegas. He was also instrumental in the Cornell upset of Minnesota, staging a furious comeback against Gopher Freshman Nick Dardanes. Although this is the first full season as starter for Mike, he is no stranger to the Big Red lineup. Last season, as a freshman, Nevinger had a 24-9 record.
Matches to watch:
1/1-2-Southern Scuffle
1/8 vs #7 Stephen Dutton-Lehigh
1/14 vs #4 Zack Kemmerer-Penn
2/4 vs #25 Luke Vaith-Hofstra
2/12-National Duals (Oklahoma #5-Kendric Maple, American #8-Matt Mariacher)
#12 David Habat--Edinboro (149)
David Habat is the second of an excellent crop of Edinboro Freshman on our list. Habat, however may have come from farther off of our radar than teammate Aaron Schopp. He announced his presence nationally with a 3rd place finish in Las Vegas. During that tournament David defeated Ohio State Super-Freshman Cam Tessari and Pitt All-American Tyler Nauman (two times). A one point decision to eventual Champion Eric Grajales accounted for his only loss. A week later Habat won three matches two claim a PSAC Championship.
Matches to watch:
12/29-30-Midlands Championship
1/13-14-Virginia Duals
2/10 vs #21 Dan Osterman-Michigan State
2/17 vs #13 Tyler Nauman-Pittsburgh
#14 George Ivanov--Boise State (157)
It is never easy to predict how a wrestler will handle a transfer from the DII level to DI, but so far Boise State’s George Ivanov has more than passed the test. Ivanov was a National Runner-Up and 3rd place finisher at the DII level wrestling for the now-defunct Nebraska-Omaha program. This year with the Bronco’s George has jumped out to a 12-2 start, recently winning a title at the Reno Tournament of Champions. In the final Ivanov defeated a top 10 opponent, Binghamton All-American Justin Lister. At this time he looks to be on top of the Pac-12 after a fall over Oregon State’s RJ Pena in the Reno Semi’s. He now has a 2-1 advantage on Pena in their three meetings.
Matches to watch
12/29 vs #12 James Green-Nebraska
12/30 vs #19 Albert White-Oklahoma State
1/20 vs #13 Steven Monk-North Dakota State
1/27 vs #15 RJ Pena-Oregon State
2/12-National Duals (Nebraska #12-James Green, Oklahoma State #19-Albert White)
#5 Chris Spangler--Iowa State (174)
Chris Spangler is a Junior but only the full-time starter for the first time in his career. After redshirting as a Freshman, Spangler sat behind a Senior and when healthy last season he did show flashes of possible stardom. At the Midlands last year, Chris beat the eventual NCAA Runner-Up Tyler Caldwell and another NCAA Qualifier Ethan Headlee before bowing out due to an injury. This season started off with a one point loss to Old Dominion’s Te Edwards, however since then Spangler has run through an impressive gauntlet of 174lbers, Oklahoma State’s Chris McNeil, Iowa’s Ethan Lofthouse, Minnesota’s Logan Storley, and Missouri’s Dorian Henderson.
Matches to watch
12/29-30-Midlands Championships
1/18 vs #6 Dorian Henderson-Missouri
1/29 vs #21 Billy George-Cornell
2/12-National Duals (Iowa #7-Ethen Lofthouse)
#10 Greg Zannetti--Rutgers (174)
In his first two seasons of collegiate competition Greg Zannetti was a solid, yet unspectacular 33-20. He went up a weight class and redshirted last season, which yielded a 20-1 record with the only loss being a 2 point decision to 3x All-American Mack Lewnes of Cornell. This year Zannetti is undefeated and has earned a top-10 ranking. He has knocked off three ranked opponents, Maryland’s Jimmy Sheptock in the Brockport Final, ODU’s Te Edwards with a football-like 27-12 score, and 2x NCAA Qualifier Jim Resnick of Rider by major decision.
Matches to watch
12/29-30-Midlands Championships
1/13-14-Virginia Duals
2/11-National Duals (Cal Poly #3-Ryan DesRoches, Missouri #6-Dorian Henderson, Michigan #9-Justin Zeerip, Minnesota #12-Logan Storley)
#8 Christian Boley--Maryland (197)
Christian Boley’s 2010-11 redshirt freshman season was very solid, despite missing out on qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. He finished with a 21-12 record and was third in the ACC. After another off-season with Terps Head Coach Kerry McCoy, Boley has started off this year on a blazing 15-0 winning streak. He has two tournament titles under his belt, winning at Brockport and the Penn State Open. Along the way, Boley has victories over NCAA Qualifiers Dan Rinaldi of Rutgers and Dan Mitchell of American (twice), as well as the top incoming freshman in the country (Morgan McIntosh of Penn State).
Matches to watch
12/29-30-Midlands Championships
1/8 vs #24 Nick Vetterlein-Virginia Tech
#14 Kyle Frey--Drexel (285)
After a season spent redshirting, Kyle Frey is back for Drexel and looks to be the class of the CAA heavyweight division. Frey narrowly missed an NCAA berth two seasons ago with a 24-8 campaign. In that season he defeated four eventual NCAA qualifiers and lost a 1-0 decision in the CAA Championships. This season Kyle won the Body Bar Invitational with a decision over Binghamton’s very tough Freshman Nick Gwiazdowski. Another big victory for Frey came over former Round of 12 finisher Brandon Williamson of West Virginia. That win took place in Las Vegas a tournament which has accounted for his only two losses.
Matches to watch
12/29-Mat Town Invitational
1/13-14-Virginia Duals
1/21 vs #15 Nick Gwiazdowski (Binghamton)