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From my perspective this was another good showing for the Mountaineers. Although the team scores may not have been as close going into the last few matches, this was still a competitive performance. Caleb Dowling and Michael Wolfgram picked up good wins over ranked opponents and Peyton Hall had a really nice win over a very good guy. One exciting spot in the dual was Sam Hillegas taking down his opponent and taking him to his back, if he could have completed the move and held it for just another second or two, he may have been able to pick up a match winning pin.

While there is still plenty to work on, this team is gaining confidence and momentum going into the last few weeks of the season in preparation for the BIG 12 and National Tournaments.

Jon Perkins wrote:From my perspective this was another good showing for the Mountaineers. Although the team scores may not have been as close going into the last few matches, this was still a competitive performance. Caleb Dowling and Michael Wolfgram picked up good wins over ranked opponents and Peyton Hall had a really nice win over a very good guy. One exciting spot in the dual was Sam Hillegas taking down his opponent and taking him to his back, if he could have completed the move and held it for just another second or two, he may have been able to pick up a match winning pin.

While there is still plenty to work on, this team is gaining confidence and momentum going into the last few weeks of the season in preparation for the BIG 12 and National Tournaments.

“ gaining confidence and momentum “…. Personally I think you are setting the bar way too low.

The intent of the post was just to state a few opinions. I was not setting a bar for any expectations. In fact this team has surpassed the expectations I had for them this past month. In the years past they have not even come close to competing with teams like Oklahoma, OKST, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa and looking at the lineups the odds were not in their favor in any of these matches this year. The match against OKST wasn’t great but they were very competitive with the other three teams. They were only one missed move away from defeating UNI and they were one bad call from the referee in defeating Oklahoma. Now there is no sense in crying over spilt milk but this team is very close to having a Big 12 dual record of 3-3 instead of the 1-5 record they have. These wins will start come with more consistency. By Davin Rhoads, Jordan Titus, Caleb Dowling, Scott Joll and Michael Wolfgram all getting wins over ranked opponents this weekend shows me that the consistency is starting to come around. On the flip side to that, this team has a 1-5 Big 12 record so the consistency that is needed is not quite there yet.

Very optimistic of u. Hope u are correct

Not saying anything that isn't obvious, but I don't think the 1-5 record is the issue. If you've only been beaten by #3, #8, #11, #14 and you've beat #18 (and their team was at full strength) then you might be the 17th best team in the country, despite any record. The loss to Oklahoma was unfortunate (not sure if WVU was at full strength). However, dual wins do not always equate to good tournament showings and individual results, especially as the tournaments get tougher. WVU is ranked #27 in the nation. Not sure there's much difference being ranked there as opposed to #21. It would be hard to imagine being in the top 15-20 year in and year out. If WVU wants to "feel" better about wrestling, then they probably should join a different conference, just don't pick the Big 10. I personally think they are doing just fine and having a decent year so far.

The 1-5 record doesn’t bother me at all. In fact I would rather have a 1-5 in the Big 12 conference than to have a 6-0 record in the MAC.

The original post wasn’t intended to convey expectations but rather to show that many of the guys on the team are beginning to compete with Top 10 and Top 20 ranked guys in the country and as a team they are beginning to compete with those Top 15 teams.

They have two more weeks of competition and then a two week break before the Big 12 tournament. Hopefully everyone will be healthy and the team will be at full strength. It would be nice to see them at full strength when it counts.