A win would give Upper Iowa a 3 p.m. quarterfinal match-up with the winner of the Pitt-Johnstown and Central Missouri State dual. Third-ranked Pitt-Johnstown is the tournament's three seed while Central Missouri State is 16th in the country. The championship semifinals, championship finals, third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches will be Sunday. Preliminary, second round and third round consolation duals will be Saturday afternoon and evening.
The top NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA and NJCAA teams compete at the National Duals. The 16-team Division II field consists of 15 of the top 17 teams in the country, including the top seven. Top-ranked Nebraska-Omaha and second-ranked Minnesota State University Mankato highlight the field.
Upper Iowa is coming off a strong showing at the Midwest Classic. The Peacocks crowned three individual champions to share the team title, including Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Wrestler of the Week Tyler Mumbulo at 125 pounds. Mumbulo, seeded fifth at 125 pounds, won his initial match by fall in 1:09. He proceeded to knock off the four, one and two seeds in succession to earn the title. Mumbulo wrapped it up with an 8-6 victory over Ohio Northern's Ty Klofta in the championship finals.
C.J. MacNaught, a previous national qualifier, won the 174-pound title. He picked up back-to-back tech fall victories to reach the semifinals before slipping past two-seed Clint Carmony (Ashland) 4-3 in overtime. MacNaught won by medical forfeit over West Liberty's Tommy Clark to claim the championship. Two-time heavyweight All-American Brian Black cruised through his draw. He won by fall in 1:07 and by a 13-3 major decision to reach the semifinals. There, Black was tested before claiming a 9-7 win over Heath Soderstrom from Adams State. Black closed out his bracket with a fall in 5:43 over three-seed Jared Bonnell (Missouri Baptist) in the finals.
Kyle Burkle (141 pounds) and Brady Hakeman (165) each finished fourth. Burkle advanced to the semifinals before losing 7-5 to eventual champion J.J. Zanetta from Mercyhurst. Burkle picked up a win in the consolation bracket before narrowly losing 8-7 in the third-place match. Hakeman won his opening match by a 12-3 major decision. He then pinned his quarterfinal opponent in 1:33 before losing to three-seed Eric Lakia (Ashland) 8-4 in the semis. Hakeman earned a 7-3 decision in consolation action before losing 8-6 to finish fourth. Ralph Acosta, a 2002 All-American, advanced to the semifinals at 133 pounds before settling for sixth place. Cory Schmitz also finished sixth for the Peacocks. Dan Goodson battled for seventh place at 197 pounds.
While sharing the team title with Ashland, Upper Iowa finished ahead of several top Division II teams, including eighth-ranked Adams State, 12th-ranked Mercyhurst, 10th-ranked Findlay and 19th-ranked Indianapolis.
Upper Iowa is an affiliate member of the NSIC in wrestling this season and will be a full league member beginning in 2006-07. Upper Iowa University, located in Fayette, is the only NCAA Division II Institution in the state of Iowa.
For more information on the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals, visit http://unipanthers.collegesports.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/niwa-06-nwca-main.html. The Division II bracket is attached.
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