Michigan Grappler's 2009 Disney Duals Preview
AAU Scholastic Duals
June 22-26
Orlando, FL
6/19 - The AAU Scholastic Duals will be getting underway next week in Orlando, Florida and Michigan will look to continue their reign as one of the top states at the Duals. The Scholastic Duals, also known as the "Disney Duals", will consist of 38 teams in the All-Star/Distric division, and most of the big time Midwest and Eastern states will be represented: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa to name a few.
This year Michigan will have four teams competing and all four are chocked full of state placers and state champions. Michigan Freeze and Michigan Red will be back after finishing in the Top 6 the past two years. Michigan Blue is back for the third straight year as well after finishing 4th last year.
Before we look at this year's teams lets take a look back at what happened a year ago. Last year's Disney Duals were borderline monumental for the state of Michigan in many ways. For starters, we had a team (Michigan Red) make it to the Championship match, losing only to the Ohio Samsons in the finals.
In addition, a Michigander (Jacob Burge) was the named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler last year. Those are the apparent accomplishments from last year, but their are many less glaring, but equally significant storylines to remember....
First off, lets remember the handful of then-Juniors who made a statement for themselves on the national scene heading into their senior year. Brandon Zeerip, Kyler Elsworth, Kyle Waldo, Craig Eifert, Andrew Schutt, Jared Germaine, and Dillon Kern were the big name Juniors who tallied big-time wins here last year. All of them are now signed to wrestle at Division 1 schools for next year, with the exception of Elsworth who is playing football in college.
The other major theme from last year's Duals were young guys getting their first taste of national success. Then-8th grader Jordan Thomas' coming out party was last year at Disney, he then went on to place top 4 in Fargo and is now ranked as the #4 freshman in the entire country right now. BJ Suitor, Tyler Keslering, and Nick McDiarmid were other young guys to land key-note wins over big name guys last year at Disney.
So who will it be this year? The past two years there have been a handful of guys who either established or solidified themselves as big-time college prospects with solid performances in Disney, the question is not whether that will happen again this year but to whom it will happen. We will have to wait a week to find out.
5 Guys to Watch in Disney:
- Dan Yates (Freeze, 160lbs) - Yates has soared in the national rankings since winning the Senior Nationals this spring. He will enter this year's Disney Duals as one of the bigger names in the whole tournament and he will have a target on his back following his Senior National performance. Last year Ben Bennett, Mark Weber, and Jacob Burge entered Disney in similiar positions and they both lived up to the hype with dominant performances. Will Yates do the same?
- Jackson Morse (Red, 145lbs) - Morse has been consistently ranked in most national polls since his imressive Super 32 win last fall, however, his Disney performance could be huge in him solidifying that Super 32's was no fluke. The middleweights are usually deep at Disney and Morse should run into a couple studs, if he can knock off a couple more marquee guys like he did at Super 32s, then he will likely cement his status as a blue-chip recruit heading into his senior season.
- Jake Dorulla (Red, 160lbs) - Disney will be big for state champ Dorulla, who has not been seen much nationally besides his Preseason National title this fall. He scored a big win over state champ Kyven Gadson of Iowa in the preseason national finals, however, besides that he has little big wins under his belt. This week will be his chance to further make an argument for himself as a top-tier recruit heading into next year.
- Ryan Nieman (Freeze, 130lbs) - Nieman had a huge state tournament, knocking off Roger Wildmo in the Division 3-130lb finals, however, he will go to Disney with something to prove after a mediocre performance last year. Nieman is now a 2x state champ and everyone in Michigan knows of his talent, however, he will have to improve upon his 5-5 performance from last year if he wants to be considered among the top recruits in the state and country.
- Alec Mooradian (Red, 112lbs) - After a breakout freshman season where Mooradian went undefated en route to the Division 1 state title, he has placed himself on the brink of national exposure. He scored a big win over 3x state champ BJ Suitor this year and he did well at the FILA Cadets this spring, earning All-American honors, however, he could jump into the national rankings this summer with good performances at Disney and Fargo. The Disney Duals have traditionally had tough lower weights the past few years, so expect to see some good competetion for Mooradian.
Juniors looking to increase Recruiting Stock in Disney:
Listed according to MI Grappler's Top Junior Rankings
- #6 Nick McDiarmid (Blue, 215)
- #7 Tyler Keselring (Blue, 119)
- #10 Joe Stefanski (Red, 215)
- #11 Nick Smith (Heat, 119)
- #12 Darius Wass (Freeze, 119)
- #13 Ryan Olep (Freeze, 171)
- #14 John Rizgallah (Red, 171)
- #15 Nick Humes (Freeze, 140)
- #16 Jake Johnson (Freeze, 152)
- #20 Rafael Rodriguez (Blue, 152)
- #23 Collin Zeerip (Red, 130)
- #24 Ben Matthieson (Freeze, 112)
Copyright 2007-09 Michigan Grappler LLC
May not be reproduced without expressed written consent
