Pennsylvania Has Ups and Downs at Flo's Who's #1?

At the third annual Who’s Number One? presented by Flo Wrestling Pennsylvania’s Jody Strittmatter headed Team Green that featured five of the top Keystone State wrestlers.

One of those wrestlers, Luke Pletcher (Greater Latrobe), had something to prove at 132 lbs. and he did just that. Despite not coming out on top of the four wrestler mini bracket Pletcher turned heads with his relentless attacks and determination. In his first match Luke took on Cadet World Champion and 2x Super 32 Champion Yianni Diakomihalis (New York) in an epic battle. The two faced each other in April 2013 at the Flo Nationals at 106 lbs. when both were high school freshmen. Pletcher was coming off his first PIAA State Championship and dominated Diakomihalis racking up a (15-0) tech-fall. Fast forward two and a half years and the two seniors are much closer ranked #2 and #3 in the Nation respectively. Most notably in 2015 Yianni won a UWW Cadet World Freestyle Championship propelling him to National stardom. In the bout Pletcher defended his #2 National Ranking by defeating Diakomihalis in a narrow (6-5) match. The future Ohio State Buckeye advanced into the second match at 132 lbs. to face #1 Chad Red.

Pletcher and Red have a long history and that continued at the Snake Pit. At the 2014 Flo Nationals Pletcher defeated Chad Red (New Palestine, Indiana) in the semifinals at 120 lbs. by a (7-3) decision. A year later the two again clashed at the Flo Nationals but this time it was Chad Red who was victorious winning by fall over Pletcher (2:15) in the finals of 126 lbs. The pair of 2014 Super 32 Champions are both future BIG 10 stars with Red heading to Nebraska and Pletcher to Ohio State.

Now, in the finals at 132 lbs. of Who’s Number One?, Pletcher and Red were the highlight bout. Despite nearly earning a match winning takedown the Greater Latrobe star fell in overtime (3-1 SV) to Chad Red in an epic match. Multiple times Luke was in on Red’s legs but the flurries always ended up back to neutral.

The first Pennsylvania wrestler who defended his #1 National Ranking was Franklin’s Dakota Geer at 182 lbs. over #2 Beau Breske (Wisconsin). Geer, a 2015 PIAA State Champion, defeated Breske, a 2x Fargo National Champion, by decision (3-2). The match solidified Geer’s place a top the National Rankings. The future Edinboro Fighting Scout and District 10 star succeeded on the biggest stage of his career against Breske.

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The lightest wrestlers of the event included Pennsylvania’s Gavin Teasdale (Jefferson Morgan) who entered his second straight Who’s Number One? Event at Lehigh. The sophomore and returning undefeated PIAA State Champion took on 4x Fargo National Champion Ramon Bravo-Young from Arizona. It took overtime but Teasdale defended his #1 National Ranking at 113 lbs. defeating RBY (2-1 OT).

At 145 lbs. PIAA State Medalist #1 Jarod Verkleeren would have liked to make it a more convincing victory to defend his #1 National Ranking but at the end of the day he still had his hand raised. Verkleeren took down #2 Kyle Bierdumpfel of New Jersey with a (3-2) decision. Jarod, a 2015 Cadet Freestyle World Champion, reminded viewers in his post-match interview that despite winning a World Championship over the summer he has yet to win a PIAA State Championship in his career.

 

One of those reasons Verkleeren has not won a PIAA State Championship is because of Hayden Hidlay (Mifflin County). Hidlay and Verkleeren were the only two participants at the event who do not own State Championships. #1 Hidlay, competing at 152 lbs., took on #2 Mason Manville for the fourth time in the last six months. After picking up wins over Manville in Greco and Freestyle at the Fargo Junior Nationals Hiday made it three straight wins earlier this month at the Journeymen Classic. In the finals at 152 lbs. Hayden outlasted Manville for the third time winning (3-1) over the Penn State recruit. Manville, a 2014 World Cadet Freestyle Champion, was able to get the job done over Hidlay at Who’s Number One picking up a (3-1 OT) win. It will be interesting to see where Willie Saylor and the Flo Wrestling team ranks Hidlay and Manville based on the latest results between the two studs.

• 7/20/2015: Junior Nationals (Greco-Roman) – Hayden Hidlay over Mason Manville (6-3)
• 7/24/2015: Junior Nationals (Freestyle) – Hayden Hidlay over Mason Manville (7-0)
• 10/3/2015: Journeymen Classic (Folkstyle) – Hayden Hidlay over Mason Manville (3-1)
• 10/17/2015: Who’s Number One? (Folkstyle) – Mason Manville over Hayden Hidlay (3-1 OT)

The final participant from Pennsylvania came at 220 lbs. with 2015 PIAA State Champion Jordan Wood (Boyertown Area). The 2014 Cadet World Bronze Medalist made his debut competing at Lehigh’s Grace Hall where he will be spending quality time in the future competing for the Mountain Hawks. For Jordan Wood this match-up with Gable Stevenson was about revenge. At the UWW Cadet Freestyle Nationals Stevenson defeated Jordan in the 220 lbs. semifinals by a score of (8-1). In the re-match at Who’s Number One? it looked as though Wood, the senior, was going to upend the sophomore and reclaim the top spot. Jordan jumped out to a (3-0) lead over Stevenson but the Minnesota State Champion came back to win (5-4).[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]