James Hackney
The Tigers sent a handful of wrestlers to Iowa’s Soldier Salute, and came back with just four wrestlers on the podium.
Colton Hawks had the best performance finishing 3rd. Hawks continues to show that he is a high caliber talent, taking out #29 Aaron Ayzerov of Columbia, but struggles with consistency. He also lost to Navy backup Zyan Hall in a close match. Hawks has a perplexing resume, with wins over All-Americans or those ranked in that area, but also surprising unranked losses.
Zeke Seltzer made a surprising run at 141, beating #7 Clay Carlson and losing to #32 Kai Owen and #18 Josh Koderhandt. This was Carlson’s first run of matches this year, so there is a small grain of salt with the win. I am not sure if Seltzer going 141 was the game plan, or there was another weight issue. If it is the latter, Seltzer at 141 looked pretty solid. He was clearly smaller in some of his matches, and I am curious what a full feed 141 Seltzer might be able to do. I think 133 is still the plan for him this year, but it could make that weight interesting in 2024.
Seth Nitzel was someone I was hoping could get the title here, but came up short. He dropped a barnburner to SDSU’s starter Rasmussen, and got caught in a scramble on the edge to get pinned in consolations. He scored two falls of his own, and has the skillset that I think could make him successful in the future as he continues to redshirt…
