Ok, we are now up to 184 lbs. This is a weight that has a clear top, and a clear bottom.
Conference Championship Predictions
Big Ten – Aaron Brooks (Penn State)
ACC – Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech)
Big 12 – Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)
PAC-12 – Bernie Traux (Cal Poly)
EIWA – Louie Deprez (Binghamton)
MAC – Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois)
SoCon – Caleb Hopkins (Campbell)
All-American Predictions
1. Aaron Brooks (Penn State)
2. Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)
3. Trent Hidlay (NC State)
4. Myles Amine (Michigan)
5. Bernie Traux (Cal Poly)
6. Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech)
7. Taylor Venz (Nebraska)
8. Dakota Geer ((Oklahoma St)
Round of 12
- John Poznanski (Rutgers)
- Louie Deprez (Binghamton)
- Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois)
- Kaleb Romero (Ohio State)
Aaron Brooks
Aaron Brooks has been the clear number 1 at this weight for the last two seasons and I do not know why this year would be any different. I think every year we try to find a new number 1 or try to pretend that last year’s results mean nothing, and some publications try to say, “this guy is better than Brooks because…” Stop it. Brooks is a career 29-1 wrestler which includes the COVID short years of 2020 and 2021. His only loss came in his redshirt freshman season to Taylor Venz, which he has recently, multiple times, avenged that loss. I think Keckeisen will take a step up from last season and make it to the NCAA Finals to take on Brooks. I think this match is going to be awfully close at the end, but Brooks will pull this one out late.
Round of 12
Matchups
- Hunter Bolen vs John Poznanski
- Taylor Venz vs Louie Deprez
- Dakota Geer vs Britt Wilson
- Bernie Traux vs Kaleb Romero
First match we could see is Bolen vs Poznanski. I see Poznanski losing early due to a bad see and Bolen most likely will fall in the Quarterfinals. I will go with Bolen in this one because I think a little more experience will benefit Bolen here. Next up could be Venz vs Deprez and I do not see this as much as a challenge for Venz. Venz will probably drop from a tight Quarterfinal loss and Deprez could be a second-round exit.
Next up could be Geer vs Wilson in a closer match than some might expect. Wilson will probably be the one dropping from the Quarterfinals and Geer could be the early round exit. I see Geer winning this one in an awfully close match that could come down to riding time. Finally, we could see Traux vs Romero. Last season’s surprise Traux will drop from the Quarterfinals in a tough match and Romero could drop from the second round. Give me Traux in this one, I do not think last year was a fluke.
All-Americans
So, for consolation matches we would see Bolen vs Venz and Geer vs Traux to wrestle for the Consi-Semi’s. I will take Bolen over Venz in a really close match, and I will take Traux over Geer in the second matchup. Now we could see Hidlay vs Bolen and Traux vs Amine in the Consi-Semi’s. Hidlay and Bolen will be an ACC Final rematch and I see this one going to Hidlay. On the other matchup I see Amine bouncing back and taking out a dangerous Traux. For the medal matches now we see for seventh Venz vs Geer and I see Venz bouncing back Saturday morning and taking this one. For fifth we will see Bolen vs Traux, and I like Traux in this one, but it will be a close one. Finally for third we would see Hidlay vs Amine, and I like Hidlay to take this one over Amine. I think Amine is a better Freestyle wrestler than Folkstyle and I think Hidlay is best in Folkstyle.
Wrap-Up
To get back to my first sentence of this article. This is about the only weight that you can say for sure that these are the top six wrestlers, (Brooks, Keckeisen, Hidlay, Amine, Bolen, and Venz) and say they will place but sort out the order when we get there. Traux could be included in that list, and I think he should be, but I just want to see him come out and prove that last year was not a fluke to prove he is a contender in this weight. To whom is number 1. I get when people look at Myles Amine and argue that he is an Olympic Bronze medalist and that makes him a step better than the field because the rest were not. But to me, when talking about a Folkstyle season, I take trends from Folkstyle into account and not Freestyle. Brooks would have won the NCAA title in 2020 if the tournament were not canceled and we know he won last year. Amine has not been able to get it done yet so I will not pick anyone over Brooks until they prove they can beat them and so far, no one really has except Hidlay, but I think Brooks took his foot off the gas pedal a bit at the end of that NCAA final.