So, my first year doing the Class L rankings. Overall I'm going to toot my own horn a bit here.
I successfully called 12 of 14 champs (86%), 23 of 28 finalists (82%), and 65 of 84 placers (77%). Pretty good if I do say so myself. My biggest misses were the finalists (and ultimately runner-ups) at 182 from Maloney and 195 from New Canaan. Two obviously talented unranked wrestlers showing me up by making the finals. I hope my lack of respect for you two inspired you to the finals (LOL). Of my 3 other finalist misses, a 3rd ranked wrestler beat a 2nd ranked wrestler to make the finals, so fairly minor upsets (@132, 138 and 170).
My best weights were 106 and 120 where I successfully picked the champ, both finalists and all 6 placers (although a bit out of order, close though). My worst weight was easily 195, were I missed the Champ (ranked #2), the runner-up (unranked as previously noted) and two other unranked athletes (4th & 5th place) making the podium.
I'll try to do better next year.
Thanks to everyone for their help this year. Updating me on results, weights and thoughts on the class. Class L was a great tournament (by far the closest tournament of the 4 classes). Congrats again to Bristol Eastern, Simsbury and Xavier for their top three finishes. Congrats to all the Champs and placers, your hard work paid off with the hardware. Your name is written in the books forever more.
Some Class L observations and opinions.
106 - Rapuano is so good. He will be tough to beat for anyone. Thompson has such a fun style and will contend to place at opens. Linder is right there too, and can contend to place at opens for sure. Hamilton is a bit smaller than the 3 above but is very talented. Fun weight to watch.
113- Cyr was dominant. Outside of that it was a very competitive wright class. Aldi is steady and wrestled a nice tourney. I will say that there is a slew of good young wrestlers here. Mannino, Lishness, Carpenter, Loria, were good. Lishness stood out to me. I thought Pressler wrestled very well.
120 - Fun class. Ty Finn was great. He looked dominant and will contend for open champ for sure. He and Powell-Keyton we a cut above the rest. Arnold wrestled really well. Pulled out some good wins. Would like to have seen Davern, but appears he was hurt, but looked tough winning against Kanaitis. It was a deep class with some non placers impressing. Peil from New Milford, Bobe from Middletown and Saleh from Maloney look like the will have a nice impact next season.
126 - Top 3 were really good. Mairano is amazing, sky is the limit for him. Super impressed. Shabbaz is a beast and Coniglio is one of the scappiest kids you can watch. All 3 will contend at opens. Cruz is young and talented, Nicholas is a tough out and had a nice tourney. Manganiello will be very good. Some young guys like Krystopa impressed as well.
132 - Not super deep, but real good at the top. Nichols was pretty dominant, but Barber is nails. Both guys will contend at opens. As will Pera who's match with Barber was great. Barber caught him and finished it perfectly. Glad Zotti placed, he has always been good and right there. Feto also is fun to watch. All action.
138 - Very good weight to watch. Mastroianni clearly is amazing, and can win opens. Laurie had a big win over Robertson. Appeared to hurt his shoulder so not sure of the impact of that. As for Robertson, he can beat anyone, he is a gamer and has endurance beyond what you typically see. Oken wrestled great. He was right there with everyone. Oulundsen wrestled a great match against Moynihan for 5th/6th. He wanted it and went after it. Good match. Moynihan on top is a beast.
145 - Sung is so good. He made it look pretty easy against Lunt. I don't see anyone beating him this year. So smooth. Lunt is so good which makes is crazier about Sung. Lunt will be right there for opens. Marshall from Eastern had a very good tourney and Sullivan from South Windsor is realy good as well.
Will get to the other weights later.
I love the commentary and rankings. You did an incredible job. Please feel free to add more :) I know I will be reading it. As soon as I get a minute I will add some thoughts as well. I was so impressed by so many kids. Very exciting weekend.