Vito Arujau v. Ryan Crookham: 2024 NCAA wrestling semifinal (133 pounds) 

Indubidubly 🙂

And a HUMBLE guy!

pretty sure vito was injuried both times he wrestling crookham prior or ncaa finals

@@ChaosForLunch hard to imagine he’s fully recovered but certainly know how to peak that the right time.

Motivation is the key there, can’t imagine that he’s as excited for a Journeymen Classic Open Championships or a conference title. Not rocket science.

This time it looks like he was able to re shoot instead of trying to back out after a shot n sprawl, and getting caught by Crookhams heavy hands. Wasn't able to do this with his spine injury the way it was previously.... My assessment anyways.

absolutely loved that i had to replay it a few times

Yep, I loved that

I said the same thing! Sometimes people don’t give a damn about a story you want to tell talk about the match

podcast in the background and watching some of the matches i missed. Such a good day at work!

Loser was a good sport. Refreshing.

I think fix xould beat crokham. When vito is locked in no body can beat him.

crookham would work fix, especially if they met in this tournament@@comesmokewithus

@@comesmokewithus Can't wait for him and Spencer to go at trials

@@VoodooChild2000ahh shittt that’s gonna be a good one! Big Spencer fan but Vito man he’s good and also big fan is his too!

Fix hates participating in wrestling sequences lol

and last year too. Beat fix in the semis and RBY in the finals both in dominant fashion

Wrestlers are not robots! There are many types of ways to win matches! Stop complaining about defensive and counter wrestlers! The irony of fans who complain about wrestlers who back up and defend against singles and doubles! Is that most fans who complain would wrestle the same way! There are only a few wrestlers who are constantly on the attack all 3 periods! Most top wrestlers are looking and waiting for their opponent to make a mistake!

Wouldn’t say a weakness per say just not his style of wrestling that style is called leg riding it’s not for everyone me personally I love leg riding I won almost all my matches that way

Vito is all about freestyle, and in freestyle you don't hold your opponent down, so it makes sense he wouldn't practice this. Especially now that takedowns are worth 3 points, it makes even less sense to ride hard.

He's a world champion precisely because he focuses on takedown technique and not leg riding. There's no leg riding in freestyle.

Yes I would have liked to see more of that from takedown machines like Vito as much as I like his wrestling and his character is great. Others as well seem can be a bit light on top the I know they are educated. He won't need it after this year, but it would have been cool to see Vito practice a top game similar to Gene Mills, and add breakdowns off the whistle like Nick Lee or Zain Retherford.

Pound for pound

Vito was sick or hurt most of the season so you gotta consider that for those 2 loses. But crookham is very good, I bet he makes it to the finals next year

@gunthur696 yes I just found that out. My buddy told me that Vito wasn't 100% when he lost to crookham. Which means a lot.

Vito has talked about his growth and a change of attitude and perspective that helped him overcome situations like that semi with Glory. Not that he wrestles much differently, instead he sees things differently. He's not the same Vito that lost to Glory. That Vito was always on the cusp of winning but not understanding how to get over the hump. He broke through last year. His losses to Crookham are easily understood if you know he was injured and admittedly didn't know Crookham and didn't take him seriously. Neither of his losses to Crookham mean that Vito is back to his old ways. They say more about how good Crookham is and how awesome he will be moving forward. Love Vito, but props to Crookham as well. Hopefully next year we'll stop calling him Crookham and refer to him simply as Ryan because everyone will know who Ryan is.

I see it exactly as you do. His first match against Crookham was right after a bad injury in his back (likely scapula levator, sub-scap or lower traps-- looked similar to what some of us get when we're not completely contracting on a leg and get sprawled on...). Then the next time you could see Vito wanted to turn it up but a blend of the injury not quite healed yet (you see him re-injured against a mid-season "comeback") and likely a bit of mental frustration/dented confidence helped him lose the second time. the third time you could see Crookham was almost expecting it. That is one tough freshman, but he never did face the 2023 Vito.

telling crookham to go to the center and actually wrestle instead of backing up

He was like: "get over here!"

Mind games

😂

@@DlFl-ww6xj Crookham was hanging back... his own mind game Vito called him on it.