Happy Soldier Salute Week!
- Thread starter dtripp26
- Start date
On the positive side, I can go ice fishing now and not feel guilty about sitting inside on a nice weekend
They do need to lower ticket prices quite a bit to continue to get a good turn out. If you get several good teams sending their future starters that are redshirting and back ups that could start at many teams, it would still be an interesting tournament, a peek into the near future of these teams.
Yeah, I had a big responsibility in that tournament. Going downhill too nice work.
I meant Iowa had a big part in the destruction of the Midlands Tournement by pulling out. They were the Premier team there back in the day when everybody wanted to see them and compete against them. Then they start this crap of a tournament.
I might get it if it’s PSU or tOSU in 5 days but it’s Wisconsin. Pull some of our starters for that dual.
If I'm not mistaken season ticket prices went up by a decent amount this year too.
Someone in IC is playing fast and loose with the golden goose that is the Iowa fan base.
Season tickets didn't sell out for the first time in 4 years.
Iowa opted into revenue sharing. To be able to pay the athletes more you have to have the revenue to share.
Well based on that, March hasn’t mattered for a lot of Iowa guys, save Stephen Buchanan recently. PK had a really good tourney in Philly too I guess. But after that,
Guys. We are just preparing all the starters to blast Wisconsin and then rest all the starters against Penn State to play mind games with Cael, so we can be average to below average at Big Tens and in Cleveland. T&T are just playing chess right now. 
Getting harder and harder to defend the choices being made…
My understanding of the date change (by only a few days, mind you) was that it was done as a way to attract more teams who didn’t want to compete at a tournament nearly as close to Christmas.
Was that not the case?
I dont understand this tournament anymore.
Not a chance for second with this staff and these wrestlers! Fighting for 4th
Tanner,
Did something happen between Brands/Iowa Athletics and the SS commissioners? This is so out of character based on past SS years. Is someone going to try and dig deeper into this story with Brands? The fan interest is going to tank after this year. I would hope Brands isn't going to try promoting and propping up this tournament anymore.
The Cougar Clash held by SIUE , in Edwardsville Ill may have been the best holiday tournament this year.
This certainly doesn’t help the Wrestle Town USA brand.
When the team considered to be the host does this, it’s a bad look. Why would the other teams competing spend the money to come next year? They come here expecting to get quality matches against some of Iowa’s best. You can’t blame them for feeling malevolent.
I understand not having some weights compete, however having one solid starter competing is irritating, which brings confusion and spite.
When the team considered to be the host does this, it’s a bad look. Why would the other teams competing spend the money to come next year? They come here expecting to get quality matches against some of Iowa’s best. You can’t blame them for feeling malevolent.
I understand not having some weights compete, however having one solid starter competing is irritating, which brings confusion and spite.
I was going to head down there this weekend, glad I didn’t buy my tickets before hand.
Can you explain how a date change affected the women’s wrestling?
Also if this is going to be the lineup the men’s team sends just make it a women’s only tournament. They at least had good teams and top wrestlers showing up to it.
Sure, so in the past the Soldier Salute has been slated for December 29-30.
Meanwhile, National Duals is typically set for the Friday/Saturday of the first full week of January.
A year ago, that left a 10-day gap between the SS - where all of Iowa's top women competed (and got 5-7 matches against a pretty darn tough field to boot) - and the National Duals.
This year, with the SS on Jan. 3-4, that gap would've been just four days between the two competitions.
For those who don't know, on the women's side both Iowa and the rest of the sport treat the National Duals as an equal championship event to their national tournaments (NCAA/NAIA) in March. So, with that in mind, you'd have a really tough time bringing top teams/athletes (Iowa included) to the event if the timeline with National Duals was going to be that condensed.
What Iowa and the Iowa City Sports Commission chose to do instead is form a new (dual) tournament set for early February - where Iowa and several of the top NCAA/NAIA teams from around the country will duke it out.
Is there a chance Deluca goes unattached and wouldn’t be listed on the roster that was released? Not sure how that works…same with CJ Torres being a gray shirt.
Yea it sucks but the team wrestles Wisconsin on Friday. This would be 3 weigh-ins in less than a week coming off Christmas break. Plus there is precedent for this; years ago, Iowa didn't go to Midlands because they had tOSU in the first couple of days in January.
From a fan pov, I'd like to see them all wrestle this weekend. The last couple of years of Soldier Salute, the team had nearly two weeks between it and their first dual. Now it's 5 days. Tom has to prioritize B1G duals.
Edit: Or what Tanner said above.
From a fan pov, I'd like to see them all wrestle this weekend. The last couple of years of Soldier Salute, the team had nearly two weeks between it and their first dual. Now it's 5 days. Tom has to prioritize B1G duals.
Edit: Or what Tanner said above.
I can't speak to the relationship between the two parties other than to say I feel confident the folks in charge of the tournament weren't expecting Iowa to suddenly send a skeleton crew like this after three years of all the top guys competing.
Regarding Brands, we'll see what he says during media availability this weekend (maybe one after Day 1 and another post-finals).
But I'd disagree with your description of his "propping up this tournament" as though it's solely Iowa who has been behind the successful establishment of the Soldier Salute. This has been a two-way street, with organizers doing plenty of heavy lifting themselves to create an event that, IMO, has been pretty fan friendly - and gave Iowa the unique local tournament it was looking for when it bailed on The Midlands a few years back.
I don't view it as Iowa's responsibility to continue attending the Midlands just because they're the biggest draw. So, IMO, their part in its 'destruction' - while true to a degree - isn't exactly as malicious as that word portends.
When they wanted to do their own thing, fine. And I thought the Soldier Salute had been on a steady trajectory, too - though feel free to categorize it as a "crap of a tournament" if you so choose.
What I don't understand is this particular (sudden) pivot. Because unlike pulling out of the Midlands, this decision does have a direct impact on your fanbase - not to mention an important local partner who has only done right by you over the years.
RE: DeLuca
No, he would be listed even if competing unattached (Ludington is doing so and received a specific asterisk on the graphic Iowa released today).
Now for Torres, I could see that potentially happening.
I just reached out to ask, so if he gets back to me, I'll let you know.
To @Slim45 (and everyone else)
CJ Torres will be wrestling this weekend - competing unattached at 165 for the HWC
CJ Torres will be wrestling this weekend - competing unattached at 165 for the HWC
Tanner, I appreciate your contributions, thank you.
So too, will fellow greyshirt Paolo Ciatto - up at 174.
The Salute was a good idea (why would Iowa carry water for NU and a tourney in Chicago?) and though growth might have been too slow for many, it was steady and very real. It had become a nice tournament and could really have grown into something.
But leave it up to the unsteady hand of Tom Brands to awkwardly pull the rug out at the last minute. Worried about rest? They haven’t wrestled in 3 weeks and have a single dual next weekend against a team that sucks. That’s one match in a month. Only one dual the following weekend as well. So laughable.
Is really it a big deal? On its own and viewed in a vacuum, of course not. But it is just one more pebble on a scale that tipped some time ago.
Things are going to get really ugly in River City in two weeks.
But leave it up to the unsteady hand of Tom Brands to awkwardly pull the rug out at the last minute. Worried about rest? They haven’t wrestled in 3 weeks and have a single dual next weekend against a team that sucks. That’s one match in a month. Only one dual the following weekend as well. So laughable.
Is really it a big deal? On its own and viewed in a vacuum, of course not. But it is just one more pebble on a scale that tipped some time ago.
Things are going to get really ugly in River City in two weeks.
Thank you I appreciate the info. That event in February is a must attend if it has the same kind of talent the soldier salute has had on the women’s side in years past.
It's going to be a good one - that's for sure.
Here are the current rankings of the eight teams set to compete on February 8th:
NCAA - #1 Iowa, #2 McKendree (IL), #20 William Jewell (MO), Ursinus (PA)
NAIA - #1 Life (GA), #4 William Penn (IA), #7 Indiana Tech, #13 Ottawa (KS)
Idk about DeLuca - though we haven't seen him since he tweaked something at National Duals.
As for Estrada, he had a procedure before the season and has been working his way back (Flo reported that he weighed in at 157 at the Uncivil War event back in December).
Someone asked Brands about Estrada on Monday's (brief) Zoom presser and he seemed to indicate that a redshirt could be in store - but no decision had been made as of yet.
And speaking of Estrada (and CJ Torres) - they were both part of the latest BTS video that got released earlier today on the WrestleTownUSA YouTube account:
Looking forward to see our guys compete. The holiday tournament idea just does not bode well with the meat of the season and thats the problem. Most teams now have adjusted how many dates they wrestle and focus on end of season results, which means peaking and being healthy. Midlands is a joke nowadays, TnT have their focus on the Big10 duals and March which all teams do now. Look at all of the top teams and how much their guys are competing and its clear how things are trending.
This is who SDSU is sending to SS. They are not sending their starters to Coralville. Not sure if they ever have sent their full starters to SS either.
SOLDIER SALUTE LINEUP:
125: Carson Dupill, Logan Graf, Daniel Guanajuato
133: Kenton Cooke, Cale Seaton
141: Tyson Peach, Liam Neitzel, Logan Swensen
149: Colin Dupill, Conlan Carlson
157: Zach Ballante, Bas Diaz
165: Jacob Herm
174: Jacob Fistler, Ryan Dolezal
184: Burk Blasius, Connor Gaynor, Shane McConville, Jared Thiry, Jarrett Wadsen