141 is a super tough weight class with anyone of 3 different wrestlers being capable of winning the NCAA title this year. Even outside of those 3 Brock Hardy is another high level wrestler capable of winning it all, and surging Sergio Lemley also has championship caliber wins on his record. Welcome to our preseason podium picks at 141
#1. Andrew Alirez
Returning with full dedication to this year after taking last season off for freestyle, has come back to find his medal kept warm by Jesse Mendez. These two are a complete toss up, but if you love recent results then Mendez is your guy, beating Alirez in beat the streets with freestyle rules in June is not enough. We don’t place a lot of stock in freestyle so we took a look at common opponents record where Mendez is still dominant 6-1 where Alirez went 5-1, but Mendez losing to #3 Beau Bartlett (Penn State) set the tone. The accolades are all there, National champion, Dan Hodge Trophy Finalist, 2X All American, 2X Big 12 Champion and 4X qualifier. 72-10 record overall at an 87 percent win rate. A preseason rank #1 from flowrestling and a disrespectful #3 from wrestlestat. he is our favorite to take the title.
#2. Jesse Mendez
Mendez can’t be any less than #2, obviously returning champion and seeks to repeat with everyone drooling over what a folkstyle match will look like with these two. On paper there’s nobody better, even Alirez. There’s still a chance Bartlett can beat him again, highly unlikely, but really puts him at #2 is an uncanny loss to #12 Cole Matthews. Yes understandably guys at the top do get upset, but the top 3 are always judged by their ability to be perfect. We can talk all we want but any of the top 3 can take a title this year either way. 48-11 record overall at an 81 percent win rate. A preseason rank #2 from flowrestling and #1 from wrestlestat.
#3. Beau Bartlett
Really trying not to have a bias and place him at #4 we regrettably agree with the experts for Beau Bartlett, while very tactical, a loss to Brock Hardy 7-3 by decision in January is a huge eyesore that we haven’t forgotten when talking about perfection within the top 3. Is Beau Bartlett a better paper warrior than Hardy? Of course, but a loss is a loss. Either way he still has yet to get a national title, to counter has won gold in Greco Roman, but needs to have a phenomenal year to win it all. 74-18 record overall at an 80 percent win rate. A preseason rank #3 from flowrestling and a #2 from wrestlestat.
#4. Cael Happel
Now get your tomatoes ready to throw, we have Cael Happel here because of his performance against Hardy. It is difficult to put him here based on head to head stats against Ryan Jack (NC State) but keep your insults in a holster, his record against like opponents with Hardy are 22-11. Hardy is 22-15 against like opponents. 61-29 record overall at an 67 percent win rate. A preseason rank #6 from flowrestling and a #7 from wrestlestat.
#5. Brock Hardy
Unanimously voted #4 across the board, Brock Hardy can hang with the top 3, having a close NCAA tourney loss to Mendez 6-2 still hasn’t gotten a shot at Alirez which we would like to see. But we have to shake up the status quo and bring up the fact that Hardy has lost to Happel twice, eye opening enough to move him a little further back. It is not out of the realm for him to end up in the semis just like Happel interdependent on the bracket layout. 61-20 record overall at an 75 percent win rate. A preseason rank #4 from flowrestling and a #4 from wrestlestat.
#6. Ryan Jack
Any preseason ranking list could put Ryan Jack at #4 and/or #5, finally grabbed his first AA last year and had a breakout year last year going 22-5 but falls behind Hardy on our list with a loss to him at the NCAA’s by fall and holding in 18-8 record against like opponents where Jack is 16-8. Hopefully we see a continuation of the rivalry with an even 500 and a tie breaker after that to end it. 66-22 record overall at an 75 percent win rate. A preseason rank #5 from flowrestling and a #6 from wrestlestat.
#7. Sergio Lemley
Sergio is our darkhorse title contender for the weight class. He has already proven he has the capability to beat the divisions best, as we saw last season when he took out NCAA finalist Read Woods as well as2x All-American Brock Hardy. Sergio did have a few strange loses during his true freshman season, but that is expected when making the jump to college competition. I expect big things from him this year.
#8. Vance Vombaur
Looking at who we have left, drawing straws would sort out the last two ranks but we’ll go with Vance Vombaur who hit podium last year, but putting him behind Ryan Jack is ideal having lost to him in the NCAA’s. Only by a point though, so it’s safe to say if this list was a current in real life ranking then Vombaur could challenge and overturn Jack, hard maybe. Could he beat any in the top 5? Highly unlikely but we always have an open door to be surprised. 37-18 record overall at an 67 percent win rate. A preseason rank #8 from flowrestling and a #12 from wrestlestat.