Wrestling Round Up : Tony Ramos would like you to know, facts are facts

Fresh off of a two match sweep of Nahshon Garrett in Arizona, Matt McDonough has given the University of Iowa three World Team members at the 57 KG weight class, and four in total.Tony Ramos, who is also out in Arizona at the training camp had some thoughts on Iowa’s recent success in the lightweight department.

In his interview with Flowrestling’s Christian Pyles, Ramos let the world know the cold hard truth about Iowa wrestling : “If you’re a little guy and you don’t want to come to Iowa there’s a problem. I mean results are what results are. You can’t argue with them, it’s a fact and that’s where the best guys in the world are right now.” I think that about says it all really. Could a person actually argue that there is a better wrestling room to be in for lightweights than than the Hawkeye wrestling room? As if having two coaches who are past World and Olympic medalists weren’t enough, Iowa had to go out and take all of the 57 KG spots, just to drive the  point home. Of course we all know that making the team isn’t enough for the Iowa room, for them it’s all about winning that gold medal.

The new rule which stated that the highest eligible placing member from the World Team Trials is able to challenge the University Nationals champion appears to have worked to positive results, giving Team USA a stronger group of wrestlers to take to Hungry. McDonough was joined by Dustin Kilgore (97 KG) and Tyrell Fortune (125 KG) as all three of them were able to win their challenge matches against University National champions. If you truly want the best guy on the mat, USA Wrestling is doing a fantastic job in making sure that they aren’t taking the second best wrestler to the World Championships.

“It’s bittersweet, it’s not what I wanted, but it’s a World Team and it’s really exciting and you can’t down play that at all.” McDonough said in an interview with USA Wrestling. “Obviously the ultimate goal is to be a World Champion and I missed that chance three weeks ago, and I was given this opportunity and it’s one of those you can’t pass up.” Really good stuff from McDonough on not getting his head down after missing out on the World Team, and being able to bounce back. On how his thought process on getting down early to Garrett in the first match and coming back to win : “I got caught in a position that I shouldn’t have been in the first match and it cost me four points. When people score points it always gives them momentum..The key to any tough match is not putting yourself out of it before it’s over.”

Finally, Tony Ramos was unable to claim the Big Ten’s Male Athlete of the Year, as Penn State’s David Taylor claimed that honor last night. Ramos was looking to join the likes of Ed Banach, Barry Davis, and fellow World Team member Brent Metcalf as former University of Iowa wrestlers to earn the honor, but when you are going up against one the NCAA all time bonus leaders, with two Hodge trophies on his resume, it’s a tall order.