Short Time Shots - December 1, 2017 Short Time Wrestling Podcast

The big news in college wrestling is of course the wonderful world of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. There’s a lot to watch and with 20 different schools represented in the semifinals, it’ll sure to be a good Saturday of wrestling. Thanks to Earl Smith for that stat, I’m Jason Bryant and this is Short Time Shots, a semi-daily look around the world of college wrestling. Michigan leads the CKLV after the first day. Ohio State’s in second place followed by Nebraska, Arizona State and Northern Iowa. Michigan put five wrestlers into the semifinals, while Ohio State put six. Nebraska and UNI each have four. As always, the Cliff Keen provides then ranking public some major headaches as upsets are plentiful. At 125 pounds, a pair of All-Americans fell as returning NCAA runner-up Ethan Lizak was knocked off 4-3 in the quarterfinals by Utah Valley’s Taylor LaMont. Jay Schwarm of Northern Iowa avenged a loss earlier in the day to Cornell’s Mike Russo and Schwarm then beat Arizona State’s Ryan Millhof to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Boise State transfer and past JUCO All-American Will Bardezbain of Kent State topped North Carolina’s Dalton Macri 18-15 in the Round of 16. Josh Terao of American is the lowest seed to reach the semifinals at 133 pounds. The Eagle topped No. 2 seed Dom Forys of Pittsburgh 6-3 in the quarters. He’ll face Jack Mueller of Virginia, who defeated 11th-seeded Austin DeSanto of Drexel in the other bottom bracket quarter. Up top, It’s a Michigan-Ohio State semi with top-seeded Stevan Micic set to face off with Ohio State’s Luke Pletcher. Pletcher survived a scare in a first-round tiebreaker win over Ben Thornton of Purdue. At 141, two-time All-American Bryce Meredith of Wyoming will give Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis his first test in the semifinals. Down low, it’ll be a Chad Red-Josh Alber semifinal. Nebraska’s Red topped Eli Stickley of Wisconsin 7-5 in the quarters while Northern Iowa’s Alber upended Tommy “The Cat” Thorn of Minnesota 4-3. Top upset of that bracket came as Pitt’s Nick Zanetta beat No. 4 seed Javier Gasca of Michigan State in the pigtails. At 149, a modest upset saw North Carolina’s Troy Heilmann go all South Plainfield on Ke-Shawn Hayes of Ohio State. Heilmann beat Hayes after falling behind 6-0 in the first period. Heilmann will face All-American Max Thomsen of UNI in the top bracket semi, while Justin Oliver of Central Michigan will face 900-year-old Colton McCrystal of Nebraska in the bottom bracket semi. McCrystal saw a huge lead evaporate in the quarters, but held on to beat Zander Wick 11-10. I found out Mr. Wick’s secret internet password -- it’s Mister Wick! Drew Carey Show reference if you’re wondering. At 157, top-seeded Tyler Berger of Nebraska looked uninspiring, but he got the job done reaching the semifinals. He’ll face All-American Alec Pantaleo of Michigan. Pantaleo pinned North Dakota State’s Clay “I’m a lot smarter than you” Ream in 1:09. We’ll see a rematch of an earlier dual this year in the bottom bracket semi as Arizona State’s Josh Shields will face Ohio State’s Micah Jordan. Michigan’s Logan Massa fell 8-4 to the other Wick twin, Evan, 8-4 in the quarters at 165 pounds. Wick scored a third-period escape and a takedown and added a riding time point to beat the returning All-American. Down low, TeShan Campbell of Ohio State will face All-American David McFadden of Virginia Tech. Campbell beat Nebraska’s Isaiah White, last year’s Division II champion, 3-1. Nick Wanzek of Minnesota survived a scare in the Round of 16 and then used riding time to outlast Anthony Valencia. He’s got Wick next. Anyone else getting a Monty Python reference at all? 1-2-3-5 here in the semis at 174 pounds. Arizona State’s Zahid Valenica is beast mode right now. He’ll face a dangerous Taylor Lujan of Northern Iowa in the semifinals. Lujan pinned Jaeden Bernstein of Navy in under a minute, while it’s that whole M