ODH

I did not see Varner try one offensive move in the entire match.
Starting toremind me of Nate Gallick.

ODH

i agree with you except match of the noght was Glenn and Tamillow

bluestater

You didn't think that throw he wasn't given points on was offensive?

My recap is finally up on my blog.

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• Fourth Place Medal

ODH

The throw was a counter to Herbert's shot.
It was impressive to throw him right to his back and just as impressive for Herbert to get as quickly as he did. I think Varner should have gotten 2 for the takedown, I don't think he had him down long enough for backpoints.

ISU2008

That was my first Midlands, I'd say I was not disappointed in the quality of the wrestling, only the outcome (and possibly the refs).

Scoring: Does anyone know how the team scoring goes? ISU won 4 matches Sunday (1st, 3rd, 3rd, 5th) night but only scored 7 more points. Seems kind of low.

Forfeits: Was it just me, or did it seem like Iowa got a ton of forfeits? I'm sure they didn't get that many, but I know they got at least three. For that matter, what's with all the forfeits in the first place? Simmons "medical forfeited" out after losing to Precin (apparently an acute case of puss-itis, didn't even show to get his medal), Deaguero fft'd out after losing to Herbert, Kruger fft'd out after winning by DQ (That may have been a slam though).

Bonus points: Iowa picked up a TON of bonus points, every round it seemed like they were getting a couple pins. Their winning margin over ISU may have been entirely bonus points. This could (obviously) be huge at NCAAs.

Shoving: What's with Iowa and the off-the-mat antics? In the Perry-Bergsrud match, they go off the mat and Perry gets up, then shoves Bergsrud who's still on the mat. Then Borschel tossed one of his kids off the mat, and it cost him a point. It's not just them though, in Bertolino's match against Morrison, Bert had Morrison's leg, and Morrison slapped him in the face at least 3 times. There was one match (wish I could remember which one) where one guy got a penalty point against him and he ended up losing by 1. Bad sportsmanship pisses me off.

Prater-Dowining: One of the most exciting matches I have seen in a long time. Downing got out to about a 10-point lead then Prater works his way back and nearly gets the tying takedown at the end but comes up short. If this match is up on Flo, check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Metcalf-Wagner: This looked a bit like Lang-Caldwell. I thought Metcalf was stuck. Check it out if it's up somewhere.

149 Finals: I thought Patacsil would be a tough matchup for Metcalf, winning by major, tech, fall, tech before the finals. But Metcalf doesn't stop, and Patacsil gassed. Hard. On an interesting note, anyone see Patacsil before his matches? He stands on the line, not moving, until the match starts. Before the finals, he was there while the 133 awards were being handed out. I think I would be psyched out a bit by that.

Perry-Reader: Perry tooled Reader. I thought he would do better, but when you can't get away, you don't have much of a chance. I would like to see Reader get on top of Perry, not saying he could turn him, but it would be interesting to see.

Herbert-Varner: As I said before, I can't wait until next year when Herbert is training folkstyle full-time. On a side note, why did Herbert try an armspin? I think he had a legit chance to take Varner down in OT.

Heavyweights: There was some good action in some heavyweight matches, to my surprise. Zabriskie-Fox in OT actually had a good scramble, and I thought Zabriskie was going to take him down. Some of the 5- and 6-OT matches were brutal though.

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[Wrestling] did nothing for comedy except for when I slammed people and thought it was funny. -Gerald Harris

ODH

I thought Patacsil gave Metcalf a tough match for two periods. He almost tilted Metcalf and had two cradles locked up in the second period. Definitely a dangerous wrestler who you would hate to see your man uderneath.

The Iowa guys looked tough, especially Perry. OK, Perry still doesn't look tough...He looks like a 9th grader, but he brutalized Reader on top.

bluestater

It's funny, when I was looking for pictures for Perry for my blog, I found one of him from high school. He doesn't really look all that different now.

I can't remember seeing a whole team being SO dominant from top. And not stupid, boring, stalling riding, but smothering, hard-working barely allowing their opponent to breathe riding.

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• Fourth Place Medal

Cyclone85

I agree on the Perry thing. I wrote this earlier, but I don't understand Perry at all. He is not physically intimidating whatsoever, and he appears to be undersized against every dude he faces. He has tiny arms and no neck. What gives? I guess you don't have to bench a buck fifty to win?? )

Beyond that, I've never seen a more flexible guy and someone who bends his opponents in ways that would seem to snap bones than MPerry.com. How is he overpowering guys twice his size with tiny little Rico Chiapparelli arms!! I would've put a g-note on Johnny Hendricks (based simply on a mug shot) last year vs. Perry....good thing I didn't.

He must have a weapons grade meanness to him that doesn't show up in his high school looking face!!