With the 2019-20 season now behind us, it's time to reflect on individual stories that wove together to form the fabric of the team. Continuing this series, let's look at some exceptional wrestlers on this team.
Bryce: Starting us off, we have Bryce, who's appearance is already impressive as he is a freshman. His second match of the season was against the reigning Far East Champ in the first round of the Yokota tournament, a tough draw in the unseeded format. He went on to beat the former champion 6-0 in a heated match that set the tone for the rest of the season. After tech-ing or pinning his way to the Far East Champ title to bookend the season, he finished with a 20-1 (.950) record, only beaten in a close decision match by an outstanding Olympic-track Japanese wrestler in the Beast of the East finals who tech-ed every other opponent (last year and this) easily. It's hard to demonstrate just how amazing Bryce was this season. He won the Yokota, CAJ, Kanto, and Far East tournaments! Being tied with the best dual meet record (7-0, with some matches being extremely important), he was also the team leader in 4-point takedowns and second in the team for the most pins. These stats show just how clean his wrestling was. He certainly blew our expectations out of the water and set a high bar for the future - he's a good one. Take Z: This year, Take had an amazing season. Not only his accolades, which include winning the CAJ, Yokota, and Kanto tournaments, were impressive. Take was a crucial piece of the team, winning his match against St. Mary's for 3rd at the team dual at Far East to go 3-1 against an old rival. He also tech-ed his opponent in our dual against Kinnick which allowed the team to become league champs for the first time since 2007, even though he was wrestling up a weight against the future Far East finalist at that weight. Another example of impressive wins would be him winning 13-11 in an exhibition match against the future Far East champ at a different weight, in his first match of the season. Just for good measure, Take wrestled another great match against a super tough Japanese wrestler which included overcoming the partisan refs, winning over the non-partisan crowd Rocky IV style, and a last second come-from-behind pin to win it. The fact that Take didn't lead the team in any of the statistical categories made it that much more impressive that he had the third best record on the team at 13-3 (.813). He pulled the team through when he was needed, he posterized an awesome opponent in the Kanto finals, and we can't wait to see what the future holds for this critical piece of team success. Liam: Last season was not easy on Liam, with him missing most of it overcoming an injury he sustained. This season was a complete 180 from where he was before. With a top five record, 19-5 (.792), he went from one varsity appearance last year to a 12-match winning streak to start out the season. He was impressive in many statistical categories this year, being tied for most 4-point takedowns and being top 5 in pins, takedowns, and total points scored. Liam was an incredible role model on the team, who's sportsmanship and leadership was top-notch. Maybe it was the fact that he's a Paul Anka look-a-like, or maybe it was the bond and connection he had built with every single member of the team. It all culminated in the epic last second win in his match against his opponent (who had beaten him earlier) in the dual for 3rd place against St. Mary's in the Far East dual meet tournament. If he hadn't won his extremely tight match (8-6), the team would've lost the final dual of the season. It was the first time the Mustangs had finished above them at Far East in ages. Dani: Wise men say, only fools rush in, but Dani can't help winning a match for you (...some people say he looks like Elvis). Here are some impressive facts to back up his great wrestling. He was the only wrestler in the whole team to have a full and perfect 5-0 (1.000) conference record. He led the team in dual meet team points scored. He only lost to two people all season. He had a top 5 record on the team. He was top 5 for pins on the team. He was the conference champ at 215. He was a Far East finalist. Last season Dani had a .556 winning percentage. This season, in addition to the above mentioned accomplishments, he beat tough kids who had beaten him last year and destroyed all new, up-and-coming challengers. He was a guaranteed dual meet win and the exclamation point to the dual meet victories against Kinnick (to lead us to become league champs) and both times against St. Mary's (to let us beat them at Far East). And that was how Dani "Jailhouse Rock-ed" the competition. Those were some of the wrestlers with incredible seasons. With these Mustangs coming back to lead their peers, we're looking for a repeat of their performances, or even better, to set the pace for an even more incredible season for the team.
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With the 2019-20 season now behind us, it's time to reflect on individual stories that wove together to form the fabric of the team. Let's start this series by recognizing our seniors and the value they had for the team at ASIJ.
Rin: As the undoubted MVP, Rin's improvement from his prior undefeated season was very welcome. He showed his growth as a wrestler by pinning two of his first five opponents, one during the St. Mary's league dual meet, where every team point counted. He also never got scored on the entire season. That's right. In all 20 matches of the season, nobody could score on him. That's how good he is. On the offensive end, it only took Rin an average of 1:03 to end his matches. He finished the season as the undisputed best wrestler at 158 and 148, winning the Kanto championship (158) and Far East championship (148). Rin was also the captain this year, with an extra responsibility to teach the many new wrestlers how the ASIJ team functions, both on the mat, and off. His leadership and standard-setting helped them earn the Team Sportsmanship Award at Far East. He was the captain that every wrestler could look up to and aspire to be. He, with good reason, earned the respect of the entire team, something that is invaluable as a captain of the team. Being with the team for four years, he'll be hard to not miss next season. Ira: This season Ira scored 59 takedowns in his 23 matches. For comparison, the next closest wrestler had 48 takedowns (Bryce, the freshman phenom and 108 champ). He played a crucial role as the team's captain through leading by example. With all the younger wrestlers looking up to him, he demonstrated how to set up shots, take shots, and win matches. His value to the team was not only the example he set, but also with his 4th place finish at Far East adding to the team's points. It would be a disservice to not talk about his sportsmanship and value as a captain in more detail. Before dual meets, he would gather the team and speak to their hearts. This is no doubt one of the reasons why he is the proud owner of the Coach's Award. With many, many new wrestlers (and freshmen) coming in, he helped create and strengthen the bonds between them and the existing team. Although they played many "stupid" games, they were a testament to the bond that the team had achieved and made everyone feel more like a family than just a group of people that wrestled. There's no doubt the team will miss having him after his four years on the team. Keibun: With a season of injury last year, Keibun was excited to finally wrestle again his this season. He showed off his training in a match with a double leg resulting in the only 5 point takedown on anyone in the team. With great execution in his wrestling, he walked away with an overall 4-5 record and many memorable wins and moments with the team. The team will undoubtedly miss his bright and optimistic aura after his three years on the team. Yo: Yo's time in practices was where a great demonstration of determination and tenacity to become better was exemplified. He had other responsibilities, notably ski season, but he still came to practices and put in every ounce of effort he could. He helped the team set the pace for the rest of the season with his win during the very first wrestling event of the year. Even though he's only been on the team for two years, he is one of the greatest examples of striving to become better no matter what. That's it for our seniors this year. We will miss them all greatly and we hope the team can follow their example of improvement and continue to even greater heights after their absence! The American School in Japan Winter 2019-20 Sports Recognition Program was held in the ASIJ theater today. Athletic director Brian Kelley waxed poetic about the winter sports teams, which included wrestling, swim, boys soccer, field hockey, cheer, and girls and boys basketball. He specifically mentioned the growth of the wrestling team, noting that the wrestling program is now the largest of all winter sports.
The Booster Chair, Heidi Regent, presented Sportsmanship awards for all the JV teams, and the coaches presented the varsity awards. Wrestling awards were as follows: JV Sportsmanship: Aaryan Most Valuable Player: Rin Most Improved: Kaisei Sportsmanship: Michiru Coach's Award: Ira Starting with Rin and the MVP, there was likely no serious debate on this award winner. Winning Far East and Kanto championships two years in a row, both undefeated seasons, is rare. Being so good you're recruited by colleges is rare - I think there are, at most, four seniors throughout the Far East who will wrestle at the next level. Unprecedented this season in the entire Far East, and at ASIJ as long as I've been keeping records, is the dominance that he showed. He took just 21 minutes and 3 seconds to win 20 matches. He scored 180 points in this time, giving him an otherworldly 8.6 points per minute. The most incredible part is that he wrestled all his matches without allowing a point - NOT A SINGLE POINT ALLOWED. That unparalleled accomplishment is something I've never seen before and may never see again. What a treat it has been to have him in the wrestling room with the mere mortals that make up the rest of the team. His teaching skill as team captain was a huge bonus, too. Other stats: - Overall record: 20-0 (1st) - Dual meet record: 7-0 (1st, tied) - KPASS record: 4-0 1.000 (best win %, tied) - Technical falls: 16 (1st, by far) - Most exposures: 38 (1st, tied) There were many worthy candidates for Most Improved this season. The winner, Kaisei, is a freshman who started the season at 101. However, he only went 3-4 in his first 7 matches, with two of those wins coming from foreits. In other words, he appeared to be over his head on varsity. In his last 8 matches, though, he went 5-3, with wins over opponents who had bested him earlier in the season from Kinnick, Kadena, and St. Mary's. His win over the St. Mary's foe came after 3 previous losses to the Titan, in his last match of the season. It caused the team to beat St. Mary's for 3rd and finish ahead of them in the Far East. Kaisei also beat Kinnick, despite previous losses to him, in the last dual meet of the league regular season that enabled ASIJ to co-win the conference championship for the first time since 2007. The Sportsmanship award going to Michiru was not surprising. After spending his freshman year on varsity, taking 4th at Far East and 3rd at Kanto, he lost his early season wrestle off this year. His debut performance on JV was a loss. After that, when pressed into varsity action, he lost. Including a single win against a backup wrestler from Zama, his season started with a soul-crushing 1-4 record, with all the losses via pin. Michiru did not stop coming to practice. He did not show a "crushed-soul" attitude. He kept practicing hard and kept his good attitude. He finished the season on a 5-0 tear but, more importantly, he kept himself on an even keel and used his experience - in wrestling and in winning and losing - to help his fellow teammates. He's pretty much the picture of the "right way" to do things. The Coach's Award went to Ira. Winning smile, leader, teacher, attitude, effort, performance, results - his record over his four years of wrestling contains some great wins, some incredible almost-wins, and a lot of "wins" in places not determined by official referees. He grew in his time as a wrestler, and he lifted those around him along the way. Continuing that this year, he was a great example to the younger wrestlers, a great consoler, a great encourager, and a great leader. Ira was the glue that strengthened the bonds between teammates and welcomed new wrestlers and freshmen. Aaryan received the JV Sportsmanship award. He attended all the practices held over Christmas break. When he was injured, he still came to practice to help and encourage in any way he still could. When offered an opportunity to represent the team on varsity, he jumped at it. He knew when to socialize and when to take the work seriously. He took 4th at the Yokota tournament, filled with varsity wrestlers, and 2nd in the JV Kanto Finals. He will be a great asset on the team for the next 3 years. After the awards were all presented, and the winter sports participants had separated into sport-specific rooms, the juniors presented the seniors - Ira, Yo, Keibun, Rin - with some parting words of thanks and big cards filled with messages from team members. Coach Carlson gave a nice summary of the team from three years ago (small, weak, individual) to now (big, strong, together) and his time with each of the seniors. Ira and Rin provided some parting thoughts with their teammates. Ira spoke of his bond with the team and his feeling that "this is my home." He urged the returning Mustangs to remember that their growth potential is limitless. Referring to the incredible success of the last two years, he exhorted them to remember that it's up to them to keep the team strong. Rin spoke of how difficult a sport wrestling is, but that his motivation came from the team, "You put the fun in wrestling for me." He talked about his time with the wrestling team being the best experience of his life and that, even though it was nice to have lots of success (he had a LOT of success), he was most proud of the sportsmanship and respect that everyone showed, that manifest itself in winning the Team Sportsmanship award for the second year in a row. The coaches reminded the team of the goals from "the whiteboard" after the small team had just finished their season (see 2019-20 COACHES tab for a picture the whiteboard). Next year is the 3rd year, and there are some lofty goals set for the team. The ability to reach those goals will only come from work in the offseason. There were also expressions of appreciation for the many parents and supporters, for the managers, and for the team parents. The success of the team was built on many, many contributions from many, many people. I echo my heartfelt gratitude for every mother who doesn't know the first thing about the sport and doesn't really like their boy being twisted up and smooshed into the mat but showed up to cheer him on anyway and for everyone who brought food, took pictures, sent emails, and everything else. Adam Carlson and Rei Suzuki really do have something special going on here, and I'm glad we're a part of it. The American School in Japan wrestled St. Mary's International School for the team 3rd place at Far East today. ASIJ WON 28-22! The win put ASIJ in 3rd place and dropped SMIS to 4th in the Far East team tournament. The winners of the two awards voted on by the coaches from each of the teams (can't vote for yourself) were: Team Sportsmanship Award: ASIJ - This is the 2nd year in a row that ASIJ won the award. The ASIJ parents received many comments from other teams and parents praising the sportsmanship of ASIJ wrestlers. This can be directly attributed to the coaches and the team captains inculcating the boys with the best values that ASIJ espouses. Most Outstanding Wrestler: Marshall China (Matthew C. Perry), 3x Far East Champ - All the champs were great, but there's no question that it should have been Rin, who outscored his opponents 50-0. He was so dominating that all five of his matches combined took just 5:15 (and the 6th was a forfeit because the other team was afraid to put someone against him). The winner did have a closely contested match, complete with controversial calls and a picture perfect finish against the hometown favorite. Dual Meet vs St. Mary's: Kaisei wrestled probably his best match of the year at 101 and pinned his opponent (who he hadn't beaten in 3 previous attempts). Far East Champion Bryce won a decision against a 108-pounder determined not to lose. Katsumi was back to his aggressive ways at 115, but it wasn't enough as he was tech'ed; but SMIS, looking for the extra team point that comes from a pin, opted to continue the match and, unfortunately, their bet paid off, leaving the score at ASIJ 8 SMIS 5. Ira made mince meat of his opponent at 122, tech-ing him in the first period. Take took three takedowns from his former nemesis (now duly subjugated) during a 7-2 win at 129. Kai went against his guy at 135 for the 5th time this season, and it showed as they fought to a 1-1 tie through the first 5 minutes. In the last minute, he got caught and pinned, however, putting SMIS within striking distance at 15-10. Using a little strategery (if a president has used it, it's a word - look it up), ASIJ gave up a forfeit at 141 and bumped the next three up a weight class. Ricky, going 148, took on a motor-doesn't-stop wrestler, falling just shy of winning a decision. SMIS gave Rin their forfeit at 158 (wise move; anyone they could have put out there would have gotten crushed). Shawn, going at 168, took on their best wrestler and made a go of it until getting tech'ed. Going for another continuation with about 4 minutes of match time remaining, he thwarted their plans letting the score go up but not letting his shoulders hit the mat. The team score at this point was SMIS 22 ASIJ 20. Neither team had a heavyweight going, so there were only two contested matches left. If SMIS got a victory in either of them, even a victory by pin for us would have left us losing the dual on a tie breaker in the best case scenario. Knowing this, Liam battled hard in a back and forth match at 180, going up 2-0, down 4-2, up 6-4, and tied 6-6. With the tie breaker not in his favor, he needed a score to win and keep ASIJ's chances alive. He got a takedown with 0:01 left on the clock, setting the stage for Dani. At 215, Dani decided to test everyone's heart by going to his back against an overmatched foe, fighting through it to come out on top, turning him over and pinning him, all in 30 seconds to seal the victory over St. Mary's. This was the second year in a row that ASIJ beat both SMIS and Kinnick in dual meets, finishing this season 2-1 against the best of Kanto (both took 2nd at Far East, SMIS in individual, Kinnick in dual meet). Wrestling in the medal rounds, ASIJ took home two championships:
- At 108 Bryce tech'ed a total stud from Kadena 10-0 in 1:09 - At 148 Rin tech'ed a college level beast from Kinnick 10-0 in 0:47 seconds Both of these were utter domination of the best their weight brackets had to offer. It was pretty incredible to watch. Other individual placings shook out as follows: 2nd - Take, Dani 4th - Ira, Kai, Liam 5th - Kaisei, Shawn Each of those medals were worth teams points. Added together ASIJ garnered 63 points, good for 4th place behind Kubasaki (79), St. Mary's (69), and Kinnick (68) out of the 14 teams participating. Following the individual tournament, the team tournament started. The teams were broken up into Division I and Division II. The top 4 placers plus Kadena and Humphreys are in D-I. The teams were seeded according to placement in the tournament, with the top two teams getting a first round bye. Being 4th, the Mustangs faced the 5th highest D-1 team in the first round. Kaisai kick-started the kerfuffle against Kadena against the 101 opponent who sent him down to the 5th place match yesterday. He got even with a 9-4 victory that put us on the right path. Newly crowned Far East Champ Bryce also had a rematch, this against the Far runner-up from just an hour or so prior. Instead of tech'ing him, Bryce finished the muscle-bound behemoth (for his weight...they're 108 pounds) with a second period pin this time, to vary things up a little bit. In a familiar refrain, Katsumi met a foe from yesterday, the one who had put him out of the tournament at 115. The tune was sweeter this time as Katsumi came out aggressive and got a first period pin. The score was a good looking 13-0 at this point. In yet another rematch, the Kadena kid who Ira squeaked by yesterday was no match for the 122-pound Mustang today. Ira got out to an early lead, let him in a little, and slammed the door shut by scoring 8 straight points for the tech win. Far East runner-up Take was looking forward to his rematch against the one who took his title away earlier in the day. The replay didn't go as well, with the good guy getting pinned. Kai looked to get things straight and got out to an 8-1 lead before getting caught and pinned. Having closed the gap to 17-10, Kadena had just unlocked their hope chest, with little rays of possibly pulling off a comeback win shining out. Ricky grabbed away the hope chest, shut the lid tight, locked it up and swallowed the key (in regular words, he tech'ed his guy in the first period at 141). Just to make sure there was no glimmer of hope left in their world, Rin tech'ed his kid at 148 in less than a minute Rin still hasn't allowed a point this season). Not to be outdone, Shawn got a first period pin to push the lead to 30-10. Liam and Dani took forfeits for the final score. The reward for winning is tougher opponents. ASIJ's reward was the Far East team champ Kubasaki, who had a first round bye in the team tournament and were lollygagging around just spectating as the Mustangs were toiling with their first round foe. For some Mustangs this would be their 8th match in two days (that's a lot). After a designated time had passed, the team semi-finals started with, as per usual, Kaisei kicking it off. He wrestled tough against the Far East champ at 101 but succumbed by pin. Bryce flipped the script on Kubasaki with a 10-0 tech (so glad he's on our team; he's just amazing). At 115 Katsumi took on the Far East champ an didn't give up a pin, which saved a team point that would possibly be crucial to advancing to the finals, depending on how the rest of the matches went. Ira re-faced his medal round foe, but was physically depleted compared to his well-rested opponent, so got tech'ed. Take broke out of his mini-losing streak in a big way with a HUGE pin from a 4-point takedown that brought ASIJ within 13-9. Going against the new Far East champ at 135, Kai wrestled really tough, even taking the lead before getting taken down and pinned in the second period. In a see-saw match at 141, Ricky scored 6 straight, allowed 6 straight, got a takedown to put him to his back, then got rolled through and pinned. Flying in like a 148-pound Superman rescuing a damsel in distress, Rin flew around the mat scoring another 10 straight for another tech fall victory pulling ASIJ back within 23-13. Shawn got out to a nice 6-2 lead at 158 before the gauge read empty on his gas tank and he lost 13-6. Liam got one back, taking down and turning, and turning, and turning, and turning his opponent for a make-it-look-easy win, an almost exact repeat of their match yesterday. Dani wrestled so tough against the kid favored to win the Far East a couple days ago, frustrating his every action and scoring on him at 215, but the other guy's throw skills are highly developed and he popped a throw out with just the right timing to pin Dani. Giving up forfeits at 180 and heavyweight gave the final score of 41-17 ASIJ will face St. Mary's for 3rd place in the team tournament tomorrow after they beat Humphreys but lost to Kinnick today. ASIJ wrestlers were raring and ready to go at the end-of-season Far East tournament. Kaisei literally got the first takedown after the first whistle was blown in the first match of the first day of the 3-day meat grinder set up to find the best individual and team.
After the first day of the individual tournament, the following Mustangs were still in the running for a placewinner finish: 1st: 108 Bryce - bye, W-tech St. Mary's, W-pin Zama 129 Take - bye, W-tech Yokota, W-tech MC Perry 148 Rin - bye, W-tech St. Mary's, W-tech Osan 215 Dani - bye, W-tech Osan, W-pin Humphreys 3rd: 122 Ira - bye, L-tech Yokota, W-tech St. Mary's, W-dec Kadena, W-tech MC Perry 135 Kai - W-pin Zama, L-tech Kubasaki, W-tech Osan, W-inj def Humphreys, W-tech Kadena 168 Liam - W-tech Zama, L-tech Kinnick, W-tech, Kubasaki, W-tech Osan (last year's Far East Champ) 5th: 101 Kaisei - W-pin MC Perry, W-pin Kinnick, L-pin Kubasaki, L-dec Kadena 158 Shawn - L-tech Edgren, W-pin EJ King, W-pin Yokota, W-inj def Kinnick, L-dec Humphreys HWT Nathanial - W-pin Kinnick, L-pin MC Perry, W-inj def Yokota, L-inj def Zama 115 Katsumi - L-tech CAJ, bye, W-pin Humphreys, L-pin Kadena (1 prior to medal round) 141 Ricky - W-pin Yokota, L-tech St. Mary's, L-pin Edgren (2 prior to medal round) As for team points, we can calculate a max (if every wrestler going for a top-6 finish won) and min (everyone loses) for the top 4 teams still with a chance to win it all. The max/min scores at the end of day one are as follows: Kubsaki (85/59), St. Mary's (79/57), Kinnick (79/57), and ASIJ (77/54). Each team is in the same situation: we want all our guys to win, but if they don't, we need the other three teams to lose to each other in equal portions (too much losing by one competitor would pump up another competitor too much). In terms of numbers of wrestlers, these 4 teams each have 4 wrestlers in the finals (16!) and a combined 38 of the remaining 78 wrestlers still going for a place. The other 40 placewinner hopefuls are sprinkled throughout the other 10 teams. You can bet these four will be seeing each other again in the semifinals and finals of the team tournament that starts tomorrow after the individual tournament wraps up. For the first time since 2007, ASIJ has won the league regular season conference title!
Thanks to Kinnick's win over St. Mary's tonight, and ASIJ's victory last week over Kinnick, all three teams finished the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools (KPASS) regular season with a record of 4-1 and a share of the regular season conference championship. How it happened ASIJ kicked off the conference dual meet schedule against Yokota December 4th, getting pins match after match to send the visitors away with a 54-9 beating (1-0). On January 15th, ASIJ hosted St. Mary's and Zama, losing the first half of the double header against St. Mary's by a hair, 32-28 (1-1), followed by winning big against Zama 51-10 in the second half of the night (2-1). On January 23rd, ASIJ gave several JV wrestlers a chance to represent the team and still left the CAJ gym with a 44-13 win (3-1). Closing out the regular season, ASIJ's last dual meet was against Kinnick on January 29th. The Mustangs came, saw, and conquered, leaving the Navy base with a 32-22 win and 4-1 record Dani was the lone ASIJ wrestler with a 5-0 record in the dual meet regular season, but there were 18 Mustangs who contributed at least 1 conference dual meet win to the team's effort. Among the many great wins were team captains Rin and Ira winning their matches against St. Mary's and Kinnick opponents to lead the team by example when the spotlight was the brightest. St. Mary's record: vs Yokota: W 48-13, 1-0 vs Zama: W 51-10, 2-0 vs ASIJ: W 32-28. 3-0 vs CAJ: W 48-6, 4-0 vs Kinnick: L 14-45, 4-1 Kinnick's record: vs Yokota: W 35-18, 1-0 vs ASIJ: L 22-34, 1-1 vs Zama: W 47-14, 2-1 vs St. Mary's: W 45-14, 3-1 vs CAJ: W (forfeit), 4-1 After finishing within one match of each other at the conference tournament on Saturday, we can expect more tough matches against St. Mary's and Kinnick at Far East February 13-15, along with the best from around the entire Far East region, including Kubasaki from Okinawa and Humphreys and Seoul Foreign from Korea. In a photo finish featuring the top 3 teams in the conference, ASIJ took 2nd at the Kanto Finals on Saturday. An incredible 4 champions and 12 placewinners powered the Mustangs. The final team scores were: 1st St. Mary's - 80, 2nd ASIJ - 76, 3rd Kinnick - 74, 4th Yokota - 47, 5th Zama - 31, 6th CAJ - 14.
In conjunction with the season ending tournament, the JV and middle school Mustangs also competed in tournaments. JV tied for top team score and the middle school had some good and great performances. Leading the varsity crew were Bryce at 108, Take at 129, Rin at 158, and Dani at 215. They all put together undefeated runs against the best the conference had to give at their weight classes, with Bryce, Take, and Dani pinning their opponents in the finals and Rin getting another technical fall (while remaining unscored-upon for the season). Other results: 101: Kaisei took 3rd, only losing to the eventual champion 115: Leon took 4th to provide 3 team points 122: Ira took 3rd, losing a barn burner in the quarterfinals 135: Kai H took 2nd, looking dominant until getting caught in the 2nd period of the finals 141: Ricky took 4th, almost getting over the hump against a Yokota nemesis 148: Luke didn't place, just a couple tweaks away from multiple victories 168: Shawn took 4th, snagging another pin and pushing the champ 180: Liam took 3rd, dropping a winnable one before destroying everyone else HWT: Nathanial took 3rd, repeating his pinning performance from last Wednesday The JV wrestlers gave a glimpse of a bright future. The team scores for the JV tournament were: 1st ASIJ - 49, 1st St. Mary's - 49, 3rd Kinnick - 34, 4th Yokota - 22, 5th EJ King - 20, 6th Zama - 15. EJ King resurrected their wrestling program this year and, although they are not part of the Kanto Plain conference, it was good to see wrestlers from Sasebo back in action (and hopefully competitive at the varsity level in the near future). JV champions were Michiru (129) and Matthew (168/180). Taking 2nd were Aaryan (129), Kaz (135), and Isak (141), while in 3rd place we had Take K (108), Joey (141), Connor (148), and Keibun (158). Overall we looked really good at the tournament. In several weight classes, one match going our way would have brought home the league title; it would've taken just two in any of the other weight classes (very realistic in nearly every case...we weren't getting blown out, just caught). In the coming weeks the varsity team will work on what it takes to flip that match or two to our favor to bring home a team championship at the Far East against the best wrestlers in Kanto, northern and western Japan, Okinawa, and South Korea. The Far East tournament will be held February 13-15 in Osan Air Base, Korea. In the last conference dual meet of the season, the 3rd-ranked ASIJ wrestling team put on a show at Yokosuka Wednesday evening. The Mustangs beat the No. 2-ranked Kinnick Red Devils, 34-22, highlighted by big wins from Kaisei, Michiru, and Nathanial. At 129 pounds, Michiru, coming off a varsity/exhibition double-header sweep at CAJ last week, defeated his opponent 10-0. The tech fall, carefully earned over the course of five and a half minutes, came takedown by takedown, with one exposure sandwiched in between, to provide 4 points for the Mustangs and build on an early lead. This match was a question mark, and we needed to win some of the "question" weights or get some upsets to have any chance of winning a tight contest. No. 3 Kaisei wrestled tough at 101. He lost a rough one for 3rd at the Beast on Saturday and had been pinned by this foe earlier but bounced back in a big way last night. Kaisei took him down, finagled him into an advantageous position, and head-and-arm-ed him for the pin in just a minute. This was another question mark match, and its place at the beginning of the dual meet set the tone for the matches that followed. First year wrestler Nathanial, ASIJ's first heavyweight in several years, recorded his first competed victory by uprooting the No. 3 wrestler in the weight class. He started with a shot that toppled the other big for 4 points, then did it again, then did it again. It was like watching Paul Bunyan chopping down 4-pt trees in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Kinnick wrestler didn't sit there like a bump on a log, though. He made Nathanial work for every point, not giving up the pin, scoring his own takedown, and reversing 2 of the 3 big moves by the good guy. After all the blood, sweat, and toil, Nathanial felled the foe via 15-5 tech fall. The upset carved the final 4 points into the team score, allowing everyone to go for flapjacks (or burritos or fried chicken) in a jolly mood. Bryce's 2nd period 12-2 tech included multiple 2-pt takedowns and exposures with a big ol' 4-pointer smack dab in the middle at 108. Leon got into a couple close-but-no-cigar situations but was still very much in it before he was caught in a pin move at 115. Ira put on his (team) captain hat and put things right in the world at 122 with a pin of an overmatched opponent in just over a minute (most of Ira's opponents are overmatched...), leaving the score at 14-5 to set the stage for Michiru. Wrestling up a weight against the top non-ASIJ wrestler in the league at 135, Take made a statement by getting the hard-earned 10-0 tech fall over his bigger, stronger opponent. Ricky's wrestler at 141 must have something between his ears as it was announced during recognition of the seniors that he was going into the Air Force after high school, despite being raised in a Navy family! (that's a little inter-service rivalry joke; don't try them unless you're in the service...). He used his powers of discernment to find the right opening to negate Ricky's early lead with a 4-pt-to-pin combo. Looking to leverage his unsullied league record, Luke traded score for score with the Red Devil at 148, coming up just short in a 13-12 nail biter. The team score was 24-13, still a nice but nervous lead going into the upper weights. The 158 weight class pitted team captain Rin against the Kinnick team captain who will wrestle at college after graduation. Let's just say the other guy hopes they don't keep seeing each other at the next level as Rin made it look too easy with a 10-0 win in just over a minute. Shawn staked out a 4-3 lead over the No. 1 wrestler at 168, but the upset did not materialize, ending with a 2nd period pin. Clearly not functioning at 100%, Liam was upset by a strong wrestler at 180 to leave the team clinging to a 26-22 lead with 2 matches left (the possibility of 2 more losses in the remaining matches would leave us on the wrong end of a score somewhere between 28-26 and 32-26). Riding to the rescue, Dani kicked off his 215 match with a 4-pt takedown, rode him down again, roped him into another takedown, and turned him over for a 10-0 victory that allowed the many fans, parents, teammates, and coaches to exhale and prepare for the final contest featuring Nathanial. In exhibition matches, Take K fell behind 4-0, came back to tie it up at 4, but ended up losing an 8-4 decision. Connor couldn't quite finish his shots, giving up the defensive takedown (x5) and finally falling 12-1. Alex got in a good takedown, but then gave one up that led to a pin. Yo fought tough against a very chippy scrapper, trading push-outs at one point, but eventually allowing a throw-to-pin in the 2nd period. Matthew kept his perfect JV record intact with a dominating performance from start to finish ending in a 12-0 tech fall win. Coach Adam Carlson said, "Coming off a frustrating Beast, the team stayed focused and pulled off a win when they needed to." The 34-22 win over Kinnick (for the 2nd year in a row!) left the Mustangs in possession of a 4-1 league record and in the awkward position of rooting for the 1-loss Red Devils to defeat St. Mary's, creating a 3-way tie for the regular season championship. In a scheduling quirk, that dual meet won't happen until after the end-of-season Kanto Finals tournament on Saturday. All eyes are now trained on Kanto as the last chance for JV to wrestle other teams and the first chance for varsity to win a conference title in over a decade. When looking at the number of matches wrestled (and not time elapsed since the start of practice), we're slightly over the halfway point of the season. To illustrate, Ira and Rin are pretty representative with 10 and 11 respective matches under their belts while Ricky and Shawn represent the upper end at 14 matches a piece. We can figure around 8-10 matches remain in the season between the Kinnick dual meet, Kanto Finals, and Far East. So, how are we doing halfway through the season? Before getting into the meat of the analysis, let's remember that stats do not win or lose matches, may not pertain to a certain match's particular opponent, and are a lagging indicator. They can, however, paint a broad picture of areas of success or areas that need improvement, especially when compared with opponents' numbers or previous years' numbers. The first stat we'll look as is the takedown-to-exposure ratio. This shows how many times a wrestler exposes the back of their opponent for every takedown they score. A typical good example would be a takedown followed by an exposure (that doesn't lead to a pin) followed by another exposure (that ends the match in a pin). A typical bad example would be a takedown that leads to no exposures. Using this stat we can determine if we need to work on turns and leg laces - both scoring more (offense) and preventing better (defense). | td-2 | e-2 | scored | 1 | 0.88 | allowd | 1 | 0.48 | This is a great improvement over last season; we're scoring 0.88 exposures for every 2-point takedown we score (vs 0.52 last year), and our opponents needs to take us down more than 2 times to get an exposure (allowed 0.57 last year). It feels to me like we get laced too much and we miss a lot of opportunities to go straight from a takedown to a leg lace, but the raw numbers (355 td-2s, 186 e-2s scored; 231 td-2s, 131 e-2s allowed) confirm that we're actually doing pretty well in this area. It's good to have a better ratio of td:e scored than allowed. In my December stat review, I listed 4-point takedowns as a point of potential concern. How are we doing now? 4-pt tds SCORED: 43, ALLOWED: 21 This has not developed into the problem I had worried about. We get almost exactly twice as much as we give in these big moves. That said, 3 of the top 4 most-pinned wrestlers are also the top 3 in 4-pt moves allowed. The link is clear...on defense. Interestingly, on offense, the leaders in 4-pt moves scored are not the leaders in pins scored; they tend to tech their opponents. Let's skip push-outs (19 scored to 16 allowed - no overarching story here) and look at a troubling trend: 2-pt reversals. Coming from the bottom to the top/controlling position gives you 2 points if you put them on their back when doing so. We have given up 10 of these and only scored 2. This is not just noise in the numbers; we're not as good at rolling through throws and such, and our opponents are better at reversing us to our backs when we're on top. Points per minute: this stat has proven to be less useful than I had hoped (but it does get the most space in this analysis...go figure). I was hoping to back up the old adage that aggressive, offensive-minded wrestling produces more wins, but it turns out that any one match that goes the full 6 minutes skews the rest of the numbers.
What I did find, however, was that every wrestler with a higher ppm scored than allowed has a winning record in matches wrestled - one bad match against a tough foe doesn't affect the overall trend. Another find was the opposite of what I expected: the magic number for ppm allowed appears to be 1.1. The wrestlers who have allowed about 3 points per period or less have a combined .857 winning percentage, with the lowest being .643. This indicates that these wrestlers tech or pin their opponents quickly/before they can be scored on much or wrestle tough kids the whole 6 minutes without giving up more than that many points (and typically scoring more than 6 themselves). Mustangs who allow 2.0 ppm or more are not doomed, but they must score a lot to overcome giving up an extrapolated 12 points or more in a full match. These wrestlers have a combined .500 record. Keeping track of each match's time has been interesting. For example, Rin has an 11-0 record in a total of 12.8 minutes of wrestling. Having scored a team-leading (by far) 106 points in that amount of wrestling gives him a ppm of 8.3. In a world without tech falls or pins to end matches early, he would score 50 points per match. That's just crazy! Liam (11-1) holds to the maxim with a 6.2 ppm scored, but Bryce (11-1) shows that truisms are not always true with his 2.0 ppm scored. Remember that the common thread among these wrestlers is ppm allowed - all are under 1.1. One last item of note is the makeup of our wins and losses. Do we pin more, lose by decision more, etc.? I've eliminated forfeit wins to just focus on matches wrestled. Our win ratio (pins:techs:decisions) is currently 48:45:7, meaning we pin about as much as we tech, with a few decision wins sprinkled in. Our loss ratio (pins:techs:decisions) stands at 55:31:14, showing that we get pinned at a higher rate than we get tech'ed. This is related to the r-2 allowed stat discussed above; we have trouble getting off our backs. (I don't think there's anything to be said about the decisions - we've won 6 and lost 7 in raw numbers, but we've won a lot more than we've lost overall, so it looks higher in the losses ratio.) These next few weeks will determine the regular season and tournament conference champion and the Far East champion, so hopefully these stats can help some wrestlers work on a few areas they may not have thought about very much in order to pull off some good wins that would otherwise go the other way. |
PhilSend me a note at [email protected] if you have ideas for a story or corrections/additions to these write-ups. Archives
March 2020
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