Cleveland is a great wrestling town

by Coach Gillespie , Omaha, Saturday, March 21, 2026, 11:51 (128 days ago) @ Mark

I’ve been to probably 15 NCAA tourneys (including in Cleveland a few years ago). The local enthusiasm for college wrestling is as high there as it is anywhere outside of maybe Iowa City and Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately watching from my couch in Omaha this year. Highlights from last night …

- Bastida, the heavyweight from Iowa State, is a beast. Haven’t seen anyone just kick Ferrari’s butt like that.
- Caliendo from Iowa is such a tough kid. Gutsy semifinal win. I think his odds of beating Mesenbrink tonight are 1 in 5,000, but who knows, maybe he’ll catch him in a throw and pull it off.
- This is as talented of a group of freshmen as I’ve seen. We could very well have, what, four freshmen champs? Insane.
- Okie State may be ready to rip the crown from Cael and company. Won’t happen this year but the Pokes are as deep as anyone.
- Very cool to see Stanford finish top ten this year, just six years from nearly getting cut. The ACC move probably helped their wrestling program.
- Same with Wyoming. I think they are like 12th, which has to be close to a high water mark. Mark Branch is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers.
- I wish my fellow Nebraska citizens would pay attention to what Mark Manning has built in Lincoln. But if it doesn’t have to do with volleyball, no one seems to care around here.
- The Gable-Smith-Kennedy Blades commercial is great.

Hoping to attend in person next year in STL.

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Throw em out Marianne.