NCAA Division II Bracket | NCAA Division III Bracket | NAIA Bracket | NJCAA Bracket | WCWA Bracket
Manheim, Pa. -- Mat Mayhem is here.
United Wrestling Group hosts the 2016 NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals presented by the United States Marine Corps in honor of Cliff Keen on January 8-9 from Fort Wayne, Indiana and the Allen County War Memorial.
Action begins on Friday with 88 teams across five collegiate divisions. Teams can now prepare for their opening opponents as the draws were released on Tuesday evening. While national rankings are posted for each division, each division seeds with their own set of votes and criteria.
In Division II, coach Mike Denney looks to coach Maryville to its second straight National Duals title. The Saints, seeded No. 1, will open up with Findlay. Two of Denney's former wrestlers, Marc Bauer and Steve Costanzo, will try to knock off their former coach. Costanzo, the head coach at St. Cloud State and Bauer, the head coach at Nebraska-Kearney, wrestled for Denney at Nebraska-Omaha. Costanzo's Huskies won a pair of National Duals titles in 2012-13 and are the returning NCAA Division II national champions.
St. Cloud State opens with Newberry with the winner facing the winner of the Lake Erie-Central Missouri dual. Nebraska-Kearney, returning to the event for the first time in four seasons, opens with Tiffin and the winner of that dual will face either McKendree or Pitt-Johnstown. Fourth-seeded Mercyhurst will take on Indianapolis in the opening round with the winner facing Notre Dame College or Minnesota State. Denney's Maryville squad eyes the winner of the Upper Iowa-Wheeling Jesuit dual should the heavily-favored Saints beat Findlay.
Eric Keller's Wartburg Knights have reloaded and are favorites to win the 24-team field in the Division III portion of the event. Winners of five straight National Duals championships and nine overall, the Knights will have a first-round bye and then face the winner of the Mount Union-Augustana (Ill.) dual. Augsburg, which moved up to No. 2 in this week's NWCA Division III team rankings, will also have a bye and will face the winner of the UW-Whitewater-Heidelberg dual. That dual is of interest as UW-Whitewater head coach Ned Shuck's previous head coaching job was at Heidelberg.
UW-La Crosse, Ithaca, Roger Williams, Wabash, Cornell College and Concordia-Moorhead will also have opening-round byes. A couple of intriguing first-round duals in Division III will see nationally-ranked teams clash with Baldwin Wallace facing NYU and Wilkes facing Luther.
Grand View's quest for a fifth consecutive National Duals crown in the NAIA begins with the Vikings opening-round dual with Missouri Baptist. The winner will face either Great Falls or York (Neb.). Missouri Valley, the second seed, will open with Ottawa with the winner facing either Concordia (Neb.) or Lindsey Wilson. Third-seeded Indiana Tech opens with the University of the Cumberlands with the winner facing the winner of the Midland-Oklahoma City dual. No. 4 Campbellsville opens with Williams Baptist with the winner advancing to face Life or Cumberland University.
On the women's side, King University, the University of the Cumberlands and Oklahoma City, the top three seeds, will have opening round byes and await opponents in the quarterfinals. The Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association also participates in freestyle wrestling, one of the two Olympic styles of wrestling, compared to the collegiate style or “folkstyle†colleges and high schools wrestle in the United States.
Junior college powers Clackamas, Iowa Central, Ellsworth and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M are all in the mix for an NJCAA title. Clackamas, winners of two of the last three championships, will open up with Triton with the winner facing either Mercyhurst NorthEast or Iowa Western. Iowa Central opens up with Northwest Tech (Kansas) with the winner advancing to face either Harper or Colby in the quarterfinals.
Ellsworth opens with Labette and the winner will take on either Western Wyoming or Muskegon, which is having a strong season. NEO's championship run will start out with Northwest College (Wyo.). The winner will face either Iowa Lakes or Neosho in the quarterfinals.
King, the two-time defending WCWA National Duals champions will face the winner of the Adrian-Ottawa dual. Both programs are new as Adrian, a Division III school in Michigan, is in its first year as a varsity program while Ottawa, an NAIA institution in Kansas, is in its second.
University of the Cumberlands, one of the most-established women's programs, will face the winner of the Wayland Baptist-Missouri Valley dual in the bottom half of the bottom bracket. Oklahoma City, multiple-time winners of the WCWA National Duals, will see the winner of the Life-Lindenwood dual in the quarterfinals.
Other first-round matchups include fourth-seeded McKendree facing Waldorf and Campbellsville facing Missouri Baptist.
TICKETS
Tickets will be available at the box office of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and are $40 for an adult All-Weekend pass and $20 for single day passes. Youth tickets (16-and-under) are $30 for an All-Weekend pass and $15 for single day passes.
RESULTS, STREAMING & TELEVISION
Event results will be available live on Trackwrestling.com and live streaming of the event will also be provided via Trackwrestling's TrackCast program. Fans will be able to watch every mat and every dual for the event for a one-time cost of $19.95.
FOX College Sports will also air one selected dual in each of the five collegiate divisions on a tape-delayed basis. Each dual will be re-broadcast a minimum of 10 times for a total of 50 national broadcasts to a potential universe of 54 million homes.
Results from the four men's divisions: http://bit.ly/Mayhem16
Results from the WCWA division: http://bit.ly/MayhemWCWA16
MEDIA INQUIRIES
For any media requests for the NWCA Duals this weekend please contact Eric Hughes at erichughes0667@gmail.com
About the National Wrestling Coaches Association
The NWCA brings the wrestling coaching community together to advance the sport and ensure that current and future generations have the opportunity to engage in a safe and educationally based wrestling experience. This is primarily done by strengthening existing programs, creating new programs, and providing coaches with progressive educational opportunities.
About the United States Marine Corps
On November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was established by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then, the Marine Corps, through service on land, in air, and at sea, have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term “Marine†has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue. Whether facing our nation's foes or conducting humanitarian relief and disaster recovery operations at home or abroad, today's Marine Corps stands ready to continue in the same proud tradition of faithful service to the United States. For more information, visit www.Marines.com.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now