Thrive Spine & Sports Rehab Wrestler of the Week: Brick’s Evan Tallmadge
Every week this season, Shore Conference wrestling fans will have their chance to vote for the Thrive Spine & Sports Rehab Shore Conference Wrestler of the Week on our website.
The winner of the first poll encompassing the first three weeks of the season is Brick sophomore Evan Tallmadge, who is off to a blazing start as one of the top-ranked 106-pounders in the country.
Between the start of the season on Dec. 19 and matches wrestled on Jan. 4, Tallmadge has piled up a 12-0 record with none of his bouts going the distance. Wrestling mostly at 106 pounds with a handful of matches at 113 and one at 120, Tallmadge has five pins, six technical falls and one win by forfeit. Just three of his matches have made it to the third period. He also leads the Shore Conference in takedowns with 25, according to statistics compiled on Trackwrestling.com.
Tallmadge had a very successful freshman season in the always deep and talented 106-pound weight class, going 33-5 with a District 24 title before finishing second in Region 6 and reaching the third round of wrestlebacks at the state tournament. It was over the summer when his stock rose considerably, however, as he won the 106-pound cadet freestyle national championship at the USA Wrestling Junior and Cadet Nationals in Fargo, N.D.
Tallmadge is currently the No. 2 wrestler in the country at 106 pounds as ranked by InterMat, making him the favorite at the Shore Conference Tournament as well as a state title contender in another stacked field.
It was a two-wrestler race for the first Wrestler of the Week award between to wrestlers quite familiar with each other as Tallmadge secured 43.6 percent of the votes to win over Brick Memorial standout freshman Anthony Santaniello, who had 32.6 percent of the votes cast.
Managing editor Bob Badders can be reached at bob.badders@townsquaremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bob_Badders. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest video highlights.