InterMat Staff

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Jon Masa of Hofstra University, and Chris Cowen of Drexel University, have been named the Colonial Athletic Association Wrestlers of the Week, and Mike Kessler of Rider University was named the CAA Rookie of the Week, for all competition January 17-23. Masa, a senior from Long Beach, NY (Long Beach), won all five of his bouts at the CAA Duals last week in impressive fashion. Currently ranked fourth in the nation at 149, Masa collected two falls, two tech falls and a major decision at the CAAs to improve to 22-5. Masa extended his winning streak to six matches. Cowen, a junior from Mexico, NY (Mexico), won all three of his matches at the CAAs last week, collected a pair of pins. The defending CAA heavyweight champion, Cowen has now won six of his last eight bouts. Kessler, a freshman 149 from Randallstown, Md. (Owings Mills), won all five of his bouts at the CAAs, including two victories over wrestlers who are ranked in the top five in the CAA, along with a major decision. Kessler improves to 6-0 in the CAA.

DALLAS, Texas -- Nathan Morgan went 3-0 last week, including two wins over ranked opponents, and was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for Jan. 17-23 as it was announced by the Big 12 Office this morning. Morgan won both matches of a double dual against Cal Poly and Fresno State on Jan. 20. His first match was against fellow Bakersfield, Calif. native and third-ranked Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly. Morgan scored a takedown in sudden victory to beat his friend, 6-4. The Sophomore added a major decision against Sean Carlson helping the Cowboys to a 44-3 dual victory over Fresno State. Morgan closed out the week with a 9-4 decision over No. 19 Tyler McCormick. Morgan currently owns a 21-1 record, best on the team, and is ranked as high as second by the NWCA/Intermat. Morgan also leads the Big 12 with 50 takedowns in dual meets. You can see Morgan in action on Sunday when Iowa State visits Gallagher-Iba Arena for a 2 p.m. dual.

State College, Pa. -- The No. 10 Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, under the guidance of head coach Troy Sunderland, will host two more national powers this weekend, including the country's top-ranked team, in its final two home duals of the season. Action takes place in Rec Hall on Friday and Sunday. The Nittany Lions, 8-2 overall and winners of five straight, host No. 18 Michigan State (2-3 overall) on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in Rec Hall. Penn State then readies itself as No. 1 Minnesota invades Rec Hall for a 1 p.m. dual on Sunday. Sunday's battle with the Gophers will also serve as Senior Day for Penn State. Using USA Today/NWCA rankings as of 1/17, a total of 21 ranked wrestlers are on tap in the three probable starting line-ups, including two individuals ranked No. 1 in the country at their respective weight classes. Penn State, with a total of eight ranked grapplers, will be led by senior Eric Bradley (Plaistow, N.H.), who is ranked No. 1 at 184. Bradley, the reigning two-time Big Ten Champion and a returning All-American, is 3-0 on the season. Minnesota's Cole Konrad, a junior heavyweight, is ranked No. 1 at heavyweight and is a perfect 26-0 on the year. Each weight class could feature exciting bouts and will showcase some of the nation's top wrestling talent. Michigan State's Nick Simmons leads the charge at 125, sporting a 20-0 mark and a No. 4 ranking. Penn State will send either sophomore Tim Haas (Camp Hill, Pa.) at 13-4 or freshman Brad Pataky (Clearfield, Pa.) at 12-6. Minnesota will go with either freshman Travis Lang, 21-10 overall, or junior Andrew Domingues, 13-7. Nittany Lion freshman Jake Strayer (South Fork, Pa.) heads into the weekend with a 14-1 record and a No. 10 national rank at 133. Strayer will certainly be tested in a match-up with No. 3 Mack Reiter of Minnesota, who comes in with a 21-2 record. Michigan State will counter with freshman Jeff Wimberly, who is 9-12 overall. The 141-pounder weight class will feature three ranked wrestlers. Penn State senior DeWitt Driscoll (Connellsville, Pa.) is ranked No. 9 nationally and sports a 10-4 mark while Michigan State's Andy Simmons is 22-2 and ranked No. 4. Minnesota's line-up will feature No. 19 Manuel Rivera, who is 20-9 overall. At 149, Nittany Lion senior James Woodall (St. Dupont, Pa.), ranked No. 10 and 5-2 overall, will get a shot at two national powers. Michigan State senior Darren McKnight is 17-7 and ranked No. 12 while Golden Gopher Dustin Schlatter brings a superb 28-1 overall mark and a lofty No. 2 ranking to the table. Tough battles loom at 157 as well for Nittany Lion junior Nathan Galloway (State College, Pa.), who comes in ranked No. 14 and sporting a 9-7 mark. Galloway will face Michigan State's Tony Greathouse, a junior with a 12-7 record, and Minnesota's C.P. Schlatter, a sophomore with a 25-4 mark and a No. 6 rank. Penn State true freshman David Erwin (Urbana, Ohio), who has burst onto the scene with an 18-4 mark and a No. 11 national rank, will face stern tests each night out this weekend. Michigan State will go with one of two talented sophomores, either Greg Goidosik, 10-5 overall, or Bryan Harney, 6-6. Minnesota's Matt Nagel is a senior with a 21-6 record and a No. 10 ranking. Junior James Yonushonis (Philipsburg, Pa.) will look to continue his hot year at 174 for Penn State. Yonushonis is ranked No. 12 in the country and is 13-3 overall. The Philipsburg native will battle two ranked grapplers. Michigan State will send senior R.J. Boudro to the mat. Boudro is 17-3 and ranked No. 7 nationally. The Golden Gophers counter with sophomore Gabriel Dretsch, who is 21-8 and ranked No. 16. At 184, Nittany Lion Bradley will face two of his toughest foes to date this season. The Spartans will go with either No. 20 Joe Williams, who is 6-7 overall, or outstanding freshman John Murphy, who is 14-8. Minnesota features sophomore Roger Kish, who is 24-3 and ranked No. 13. Returning All-American Phil Davis (Harrisburg, Pa.) leads the charge at 197 for Penn State, sporting a 10-3 mark and a No. 6 national rank. Michigan State will go with senior Jeff Clemens, who is 13-9 overall. The Golden Gophers will enter one of two sophomores, either 7-13 Justin Bronson or 5-6 Mitch Kuhlman. Set to challenge top-ranked and undefeated Konrad at heavyweight will be one of two talented Nittany Lions. Penn State will go with senior Joel Edwards (Upper Darby, Pa.), 10-2 overall and ranked No. 20, or junior Aaron Anspach (Columbia, Pa.), 13-8. Michigan State counters with senior Max Lossen, who is 10-8. In addition to the outstanding talent that will be featured in the two duals, exciting promotions are also on tap. The first 1,000 fans through the Rec Hall doors on Friday night will receive a free Jeff Prescott Bronze mini-statue. The first 1,000 fans through the doors on Sunday will receive a free Kerry McCoy Bronze mini-statue. Also, due to the shipping problems that prevented distribution of the Andy Matter statues on Jan. 8, fans with vouchers from that dual can pick up their statues this weekend. Additional Matter statues will be made available to those without vouchers on a first come first serve basis. Single match tickets can be purchased by visiting the BJC Ticket Center or by calling 814-865-5555 or 800-863-3336. Prices are $5 for adults and $3 for youth and senior citizens. Both duals will be televised. The PSU/MSU match will be a WPSU-TV live broadcast while the Nittany Lion/Golden Gopher dual will be 'live-to-tape' and shown on a tape delay basis to a CSTV national audience. Check local listings for exact dates and times. The action can also be heard live on WBLF 970 AM, streamed live on www.GoPSUsports.com (which also features live scoring of every home dual).

JOHNSTOWN, PA -- Pitt Johnstown senior National Champion Thad Benton (141 lbs) (Claysburg, Pa./Claysburg-Kimmel H.S.) will look for career victory #100 when Head Coach Pat Pecora's (30th season) #3-ranked Mountain Cat wrestlers host #16-ranked Gannon University Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. in the Sports Center. Prior to the match, the Pitt Johnstown Athletic Department will recognize Coach Pecora by presenting him with a plaque to commemorate his 400th career victory he earned with a 37-4 win over Anderson (S.C.) College on Friday. With a victory, Benton will become the 17th Pitt Johnstown wrestler to reach 100 career wins. Benton, the 2005 NCAA Division II National Champion at 141 lbs., comes in with a 28-5 record in 2005-06 and a 99-21 career record. Along with Friday's win over Anderson, the Mountain Cats also posted four victories by a combined score of 140-33 at Saturday's East Coast Duals. The Mountain Cats have five wrestlers in Wednesday's starting line-up nationally-ranked, including Benton (141 lbs.) and Mike Corcetti (184 lbs.), who are both ranked #1. Ryon Mazzocco (125 lbs.) is ranked #3, while Mike Fowler (197 lbs.) and Zach Majocha (HWT.) are ranked #8 in their respective weight classes. Head Coach Don Henry's (22nd season) Golden Knights come in ranked #16 in NCAA Division II with a 3-4 record following a 2-2 showing at last weekend's East Coast Duals. R.J. Paterniti, a 2005 All-American, is ranked #3 at 149 lbs. The Golden Knights also have 2005 National Qualifier Jacob Tazzi at 184 lbs. Probable match-ups include: NCAA #3 Ryon Mazzocco (UPJ) vs. Adam Green at 125 lbs…NCAA #1 Thad Benton (UPJ) vs. East Region #5 Joe Cavalier at 141 lbs…East Region #5 Jay Matteo (UPJ) vs. NCAA #3 R.J. Paterniti at 149 lbs…Joe Strittmatter (UPJ) vs. Mike Cavalier at 157 lbs…Rob Sakmar (UPJ) vs. NCAA #8 Blake Pennock at 165… Adam Musisko (UPJ) vs. East Region #4 Jason Radtke 174 lbs…NCAA #1 Mike Corcetti (UPJ) vs. East Region #4 Jacob Tazzi at 184 lbs…NCAA #8 Mike Fowler (UPJ) vs. Chris Moerke at 197 lbs…NCAA #8 Zach Majocha or Jon Neese (UPJ) vs. Dan Shields at Heavyweight.

Note: This story also appears in the Jan. 25 issue of The Guillotine. The Guillotine has been covering amateur wrestling in Minnesota since 1971. To subscribe to The Guillotine, click here. Roger Kish of the University of Minnesota owns the national high school record for career victories with 252. But the 184-pound sophomore couldn't care less. In fact, if you ask him whether or not anyone since then has come close to challenging that record, he says, "You know, I couldn't tell you. I don't know. The record just kind of happened. When I was in high school, I didn't even think about it until someone said, hey, you're only two wins away from tying the record or something. But it was cool." It's classic Roger Kish. As a freshman last season, Roger Kish posted a 28-11 record and qualified for the NCAA Championships.The 21-year-old Michigan native remains one of the most gifted wrestlers in the country (and has the accolades to prove it), but you would never know it from talking to him. He carries himself off the mat in a way that makes him seem almost oblivious to his talents. He doesn't have a clue how many national titles he won growing up. Four? Five? Six? He doesn't know or care. When he arrived on the Minnesota campus in the fall of 2003 as the No. 1 high school wrestler in the entire country, his goal wasn't to be the next four-time NCAA champion or break Cael Sanderson's consecutive victories streak. Not even close. "I just wanted to come here and wrestle, kind of see what it was all about," said Kish. "I guess my biggest goal was to break into the starting lineup after my redshirt season." That's exactly what he did. Last season as a redshirt freshman, Kish posted a 28-11 record, which included tournament titles at the Bison Open, Kaufman-Brand Open, and the Southern Scuffle, where he defeated eventual NCAA runner-up Tyler Baier of Cornell in the finals, 7-4. He missed five weeks of the season, though, in January and February, because of a skin infection. Kish went on to place sixth at the Big Ten Championships. At the NCAA Championships, he won three matches, but lost in the round of 12 and missed out on becoming an All-American. "I was really disappointed with the way my season ended up," said Kish, who began the season with 11 straight victories. "With being out so long, and not being able to get on the mat or work out, I went from beating the (NCAA) runner-up the week before I got my skin infection to not even placing. It gave me a lot of motivation going into this season." Minnesota head assistant coach Marty Morgan, who also serves as the recruiting coordinator, first spotted Kish at the Michigan State High School Championships in 2000, when he won a state title for LaPeer West High School as a freshman at 160 pounds. Morgan was there to watch Nick and Andy Simmons, but came away impressed with what he saw from Kish. From that point on, Morgan kept a close eye on Kish and followed his progress throughout his high school career. Marty Morgan is in his 11th season as the top assistant at Minnesota (photo courtesy of TheGuillotine.com).In addition to shattering the national record for career victories, Kish reeled off 223-consecutive victories (a national record that was broken in 2004), won Cadet Nationals, Junior Nationals, NHSHA Senior Nationals, four Michigan Class B state titles (led his team to two), and picked up the Junior Schalles Award, which is given annually to the nation's top high school pinner. "When he came here on his (recruiting) visit, we had some exceptional upper-weight training partners for him at the time," said Morgan, who is in his 11th season as the top assistant at Minnesota. "Brandon Eggum, Tim Hartung, and Damion Hahn were all here training, along with me, and some other guys on the team. Plus, I think he realized the style we wrestle is kind of his style. We wrestle an aggressive, conditioning-type style, and that's what he likes." Kish, who also considered Iowa, Iowa State, and Michigan, became the prized recruit in Minnesota's 17-member 2003 recruiting class, which was ranked as the nation's best by virtually every major wrestling publication and Web site. The class also included current Minnesota starters Mack Reiter (133), Manuel Rivera (141), C.P. Schlatter (157), Gabe Dretsch (174), and Mitch Kuhlman (197). Kish redshirted his first season at Minnesota and posted a 9-4 record while wrestling unattached at 184 pounds. He worked out daily with the likes of Eggum, Hartung, Hahn, Morgan, Jacob Volkmann, and Luke Becker. "It was a rare occasion when I worked out with another freshman," said Kish. But coming from a small high school in Michigan to a major Division I university was a bit of an adjustment for Kish. "I've had classes here at Minnesota that were as large as my whole high school," said Kish. "I was kind of lost in the crowd. I just wasn't used to that many people." Kish was honored that season as a Scholar-Athlete for his efforts on the mat and in the classroom. On Sunday, Roger Kish defeated two-time All-American Paul Bradley of Iowa, 4-1 (photo courtesy of TheGuillotine.com).In the spring of his redshirt season, Kish was one of three Gopher wrestlers (along with Mack Reiter and C.P. Schlatter) to compete on the 20-and-under U.S. National Team. He was the lone wrestler on the team to capture titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the Junior Pan-Am Championships in Maracaibo, Venezuela. It was a memorable experience for Kish. "I really enjoyed it," said Kish. "I never had the experience of flying that far away, being that far way from home while competing. It was fun. You got to see a lot of new styles of wrestling, a lot of new guys, good competition, and different attitudes about the sport." Kish is having a tremendous sophomore season for Minnesota. He currently owns a 24-3 record and is ranked No. 9 in the country at 184 pounds by RevWrestling.com. "I feel really good right now," said Kish. "I'm working on a couple things. A couple things I'm staring to figure out. It's all kind of coming together for me." Morgan is pleased with the adjustments he's made. "I think he's finally starting to figure out the style he wants to wrestle," said Morgan, who was an NCAA champion for Minnesota in 1991. "He's learning that he has some scoring positions that he didn't have last season. Probably more than anything else, he's found ways to score on people without using his old reliables." Kish played a major role in helping the Gophers claim the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals title in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He finished the weekend with a perfect 4-0 record, which included avenging an early season loss to Iowa State All-American Kurt Backes, and picking up a key win in the championship match against Oklahoma State's Rusty Blackmon. Kish says that he won't be satisfied with anything less than a national title this season for both himself and the Gophers. Regardless, the future appears to be extremely bright in Minnesota, with eight of their 10 starters being freshmen or sophomores. Is it conceivable that Minnesota could win the next three national titles and eclipse the back-to-back titles won in 2001 and 2002? "I would like to think so," said Kish, who is majoring in business and marketing education. "That's one of our goals. It's something we've thought about since we were seniors in high school."

I must confess. I thought Blair Academy was vulnerable this year. I believed that this was the year that another national powerhouse would topple the dynasty of high school wrestling. After all, they had graduated Adam Frey, Hudson Taylor, Rollie Peterkin, Ross Gitomer, and Tyler Thurgood. Jeff BuxtonYou just don't replace wrestlers like that, right? I thought for sure that Lakewood St. Edward's -- or perhaps another team -- would prevent Blair from winning their sixth straight national title. When the dust settled on Blair Academy's 37-18 win over St. Edward's on January 14 (which followed wins at the Ironman and Beast of the East), it was assured that Blair would collect their sixth straight national title. I recently had the chance to speak with the architect of this dynasty, head coach Jeff Buxton. I was struck by Buxton's enthusiasm for his program, his school, his wrestlers, and the sport in general. We could have probably talked wrestling all night if we did not have other obligations to attend to! Coach Buxton, first I'd like to ask you some background questions, how long have you been coaching at Blair? Buxton: I've been there for 24 years. Your recent win over St. Ed's guaranteed that you your sixth straight national title and eighth overall. What would you say has been the single biggest factor in your success? Buxton: I've had very motivated kids that want to excel. It's fun to come to the practice room every day and see the kids give every thing they have. Every year, each team wants to top the previous team! At some point it's going to have to stop (string of national titles), some thought it would stop this year and some thought it would stop last year. Can you talk a little bit about what your coaching philosophy? Buxton: I try to prepare the kids for college, both in the classroom and on the wrestling mat. We get them ready for college as students and wrestlers. You know, at Blair it's a different environment because the kids are here 24 hours a day. They develop a different relationship with the faculty, eating lunch and dinner with them, and getting to know them. It's a lot like a college atmosphere -- only a lot more structured. In the St. Ed's match, there were some surprising lineup moves that proved successful. Why did you decide to go with Victor Mocco at 160 rather than Adam Hogue? Buxton: Just a feel. On that particular day, I wasn't sure if they were going to go with Swift or Tomasone. I wanted to go with a more physical kid on this particular day, which was Mocco. How is Victor Mocco related to Steve Mocco? Buxton: Victor Mocco is cousins with Steve Mocco. The win over St. Ed's was surprisingly convincing, what was the key to the match in your mind? Buxton: We had some "luck of the draw" starting at 130 pounds that played a big part in the match because we started in the heart of our lineup -- Russell, Shanaman, Mason, Blasco, Medina. Blasco winning 4-2 against Nemec gave us a lot of momentum. That match got Medina fired up and he went out and got a quick fall against Bertin, which gave Mocco momentum … and it just sort of snowballed. Are the changes you made to your lineup for the St. Ed's dual permanent? Buxton: We want to spread the wealth around. It's good sometimes to go with young kids. It shows that I am comfortable going with them, which is a confidence boost for the younger kids. Going into this year, it seemed Blair had taken some pretty big hits to graduation, losing Adam Frey, Peterkin, Taylor, Gitomer, and Thurgood among others. Yet, you prevailed at Ironman, won Beast by a huge margin, and dominated St. Ed's in your recent dual. Have you been surprised by the way this year's team has responded? Buxton: Absolutely. Going into Beast, I don't think we were the favorites. St. Ed's, they have a lot of horses, a very strong nucleus of kids. Talking to our team before the meet -- I told our team that this was going to be a tournament we were going to have to win through the consolations … if things don't go your way, you have to recover. That's basically what we did having nine place-winners. Coach, what is a typical Blair practice like? Buxton: It changes every day. Doing periodization is something I really work on. There are times we train really hard and times we don't train so hard. I have to pick and choose the days we go hard versus the days we focus on technique or strength training. Trying to get the right thing at the right is something that doesn't always happen, but it's something I'm working toward, getting the guys peaking and performing at the right time. I also go by feel -- seeing how the guys look on a particular day. I will say when I push them hard they respond to it! The other thing I think we don well is prepare for certain teams. Certain teams have certain tendencies. You prepare for St. Ed's differently than you prepare for Easton or Upper Perkiomen, knowing how each team has different tendencies. Could you provide an example of how your preparation differs? Buxton: Sure. Ohio kids don't do a lot of mat wrestling. St. Ed's has worked really hard on getting their kids better in the top position, but against any Ohio team we try to take advantage on the mat. St. Ed's and St. Paris Graham are teams that have to put their hands on you (i.e. "tie-up"), so we work on hand-fighting and getting guys off our heads, They are very good penetrators and stay in position on their feet. Certainly we didn't do a good job with either Palmer, but both of those guys are exceptional competitors. Where I think we did a very good job (in the St. Ed's dual) was coming off the bottom. Now, I have a tough question for you. If you had to pick who is the best wrestler you have coached, who would it be? Buxton: (Laughs): You know I can't do that! There have been so many good ones for so many different reasons. How about I list the best in certain categories? Okay, that works. Buxton: Here goes… Steve Mocco -- Hardest trainer. Came to practice every day with his lunch pail ready to work. One of the best competitors. You knew every time he was going to give it every thing he had. Impossible to score on, but his biggest thing was that he had huge lungs and could wrestle all day. Cory Cooperman -- Greatest scrambler. His hips were so good he could score off anyone's shot. And he was also a great rider. Zack Esposito -- Purest athlete. Speed, strength, and incredible coordination. He has an incredible mind for the sport. I could give him or Cooperman a tape of an international wrestler and they could come back with 14-15 new things. They could watch the tape and wrestle like the guy on the tape … oh man do they love the sport! They really pushed me as a coach -- to keep their minds always stimulated and learning. Kurt Backes -- Physically strongest In 2003, Mark Perry won the NHSCA Senior Nationals title at 160 while at Blair Academy and earned Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament in the process.Mark Perry -- One of the greatest riders. And he could scramble with the best of them -- a tremendous competitor. Matt Palmer -- Just so tough on top! Damon Johnson -- A tremendous athlete. Teched one of the Hughes brothers at Junior Nationals and beat the other 11-0! Ryan Davis, Rob Preston, and Max Meltzer deserve mention. Pat Santoro came in here as a post-grad -- it was rewarding seeing him go from a Pennsylvania state third-place finisher, to a four-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion! There was a period of time where it was ridiculous what was going on in our room, every day was so fun to watch -- Esposito, Perry, Palmer, Davis… Back to this year's team. Eric Medina had an outstanding freshman season, but was somewhat disappointing last year as a sophomore. He seems to have really improved this year. What would you say has been the key for him? Buxton: He's a lot more focused, just about everything he's doing, and certainly confidence has played a big factor. Seeing how he went out against Bertin, and how he is practicing, he's got it going on! Both he and Blasco have more passion for the sport than last year. They're fired up about what they are doing. For Medina, I used the loss at Cadet Nationals (Medina was pinned in the semifinals and went on to take third, one year after dominating the Cadet Nationals) as something to work off of. He came into the season with specific goals. He wanted to dominate at 152 pounds … and he has done so. He is just a pure athlete -- great strength and speed, the flurries he can get into are unbelievable. Probably the biggest difference is maturity. He is in a good place. Anthony VallesA lot of people were surprised that Anthony Valles wrestled at 112 after winning Cadet Nationals last year at 98. Would you say he is sort of between weights this year? Buxton: Well, it's always a big jump from 98 or 103 to 112. Not only is it a jump, but it's a jump technically. And he's a very technical kid. The hardest adjustment he's having is how physical Palmer was with him. He is on the small side at 112. It's an adjustment, and there's an adjustment to being away from home -- Blair's an adjustment. I think he's going to be okay. He's taken a few bumps this year. He's certainly not, to answer your question, a big 112. Coach, 99.9% of teams have their most important competition at the end of the season. For Blair, the tournaments and duals that determine whether you are national champions, and your toughest competition, are in the beginning and middle of the year. Does this make the National Preps "anti-climactic" -- and how does it affect your training? Buxton: At the end of the year, we have a lull. But we try to put the pedal to the metal at the end, even though the National Preps isn't the toughest tournament that we have, it is the last tournament of the year and it affects seeding for the next year. Plus, you don't want to go through this grueling schedule and not perform at the end of the year. You don't want to end with a letdown. Coach Buxton, one last question. In your opinion, who is the best high school wrestler in the country, outside of your team? Buxton: Two names come to mind. We haven't seen him this year -- but David Craig. He is good in all position and just a great competitor. I haven't seen Henry Cejudo in two years, but I hear he is really dominating, even with the senior-level guys.

WAVERLY -- Top-ranked Wartburg remained unbeaten and grabbed a slice of Iowa Conference dual history Friday, Jan. 20, with a 31-16 win over No. 3-ranked Luther in front of 1100 fans at Knights Gymnasium. The third-ranked Norse, despite dropping to 9-3-1 on the season, gave the home side all it could handle, winning by a major decision at 125 and a decision at 133 and 157 to tie the score at 10-10. Falls from senior 165-pounder Dustin Bliven of Columbus Junction, senior 184-pounder Akeem Carter of Waterloo and junior 197-pounder T.J. Miller of Cedar Falls gave the Knights their 100th consecutive league dual win in a row. Since head coach Jim Miller took over the program, the Knights have never lost a home Iowa Conference dual. Only two schools have won a dual in Knights Gymnasium against coach Miller's teams: Iowa State and Augsburg. Coach Miller's conference dual record is an amazing 122-3-1 and part of that mark was a win on Dec. 1, 1994, when Wartburg defeated archrival Luther 48-0 to begin their current string of 100 straight wins in league dual competition. Wartburg's last IIAC home dual loss was Jan. 17, 1991 to Buena Vista – they were tied by Central 20-20 the following year – it's a record of 51-0-1 and a span of 16 years. It's last league dual loss was at Buena Vista, 18-16, in the final dual of the 1993-94 season. UW-STEVENS POINT/UW-OSHKOSH The Knights claimed their 19th and 20th dual wins Jan. 21 at Quandt Fieldhouse in Stevens Pt., Wis., rolling past the No. 22-ranked UW-Stevens Pt. Pointers 30-6 and UW-Oshkosh 51-0. The two wins helped Wartburg reach the 20-win level for the third consecutive season. Senior 125-pounder Paul Reedy of Emmetsburg, freshman 133-pounder Zach McKray of Iowa City, senior 141-pounder Dustin Hinschberger of Belle Plaine, sophomore 157-pounder Justin Hanson of Humboldt, freshman 165-pounder Joe Bunne of LeRoy, Minn., senior 174-pounder Scott Kauffman of Emmetsburg and Carter each won two matches during the day. Wartburg resumes dual action Wednesday, Jan. 25, with a visit to Simpson College in Indianola. Match time is 7 p.m. in Cowles Fieldhouse.

Stanford, Calif. -- Stanford picked up its second-straight dual win tonight with a 26-11 victory over Cal State Fullerton in Burnham Pavilion. The Cardinal improved to 5-3 on the year with a 2-0 mark in conference action, while the Titans fall to 2-10 on the season with an 0-6 mark in Pac-10 competition. "This was a good win," noted head coach Kerry McCoy. "We had some rough spots, but they fought hard. We were at a high level of intensity. We were better than we were on Friday night and we're getting better every time out." The meet started at heavyweight, as redshirt freshman Jared Boyer notched his first conference victory with an 8-5 decision over Matt Methling. Sophomore co-captain Tanner Gardner picked up a technical fall over Johnny Rojas to give the Cardinal an 8-0 lead before Fullerton scored its first points with a major decision from T.J. Dillashaw at 133 pounds. At 141, junior Juston Johnson stepped into the starting lineup and scored his second dual win of the year with an 8-5 decision over Joaquin Carlos. Sophomore Josh Zupancic added a 6-3 decision over Morgan Atkinson to help the Cardinal to a 14-4 lead. At 157, Stanford's Scott Loescher, ranked second in the Pac-10, jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the second period over Shawn Reilly, who is ranked fifth in the conference. Reilly refused to give up, taking an 11-10 lead as time expired, but Loescher still had the bonus point for riding time, forcing overtime. Loescher came back immediately, scoring a takedown and nearfall for the 15-11 overtime win. At 165 pounds, senior co-captain Ray Blake scored four takedowns and a three-point near fall en route to his 32nd win of the season, an 11-4 victory over Risto Martinnen, who is ranked sixth in the conference. With the win, Stanford owned a 20-4 lead before the Titans' Ian Murphy and Jesse Taylor scored back-to-back wins to cut Stanford's margin to nine with one bout to go. The dual ended with Stanford on top 26-11, as Ian Bork was awarded the forfeit victory for the Cardinal at 197 pounds. Stanford will be on the road this weekend as the Cardinal travels to UC Davis for a Friday night dual. Stanford 26, Cal State Fullerton 11 * match started at heavyweight 125 pounds -- #9 Tanner Gardner (S) tech. fall John Rojas (F), fall at 3:31 [8-0] 133 pounds -- T.J. Dillashaw (F) maj. dec. Eric Minnick (S), 14-2. [8-4] 141 pounds -- Juston Johnson (S) dec. Joaquin Carlos (F), 8-5. [11-4] 149 pounds -- Josh Zupancic (S) dec. Morgan Atkinson (F), 6-3. [14-4] 157 pounds -- Scott Loescher (S) dec. Shawn Reilly (F), 15-11 sv. [17-4] 165 pounds -- Ray Blake (S) dec. Risto Martinnen (F), 11-4. [20-4] 174 pounds -- Ian Murphy (F) dec. Luke Feist (S), 8-7. [20-7] 184 pounds -- Jesse Taylor (F) maj. dec. Ryan Hagen (S), 9-1. [20-11] 197 pounds -- Ian Bork (S) by forfeit. [26-11] *HWT -- Jared Boyer (S) dec. Matt Methling (F), 8-5 [3-0]

I write this as I sit for the sixth straight hour in the Atlanta airport due to weather. Can't get to Raleigh, NC. Carter and the boys will be featured in a "TDR Room Show" this Thursday afternoon at about 4:30 PM Eastern. Please tune in as we will talk to Coachs Jordan and Davis, the team, the staff and Guz too. The balance of the schedule should remain the same as I will be driving. I want to send a big thank you to Coach Brian Smith and his Tigers of Missouri for hosting us last night as they saw action with John Smith and Oklahoma State. It was a terrific meet in front of a record crowd at the Hearns Center in Columbia. I'm sure Coach Smith would have been happier with a win, but overall he had some great moments with the experienced members of his squad and some glimpses of things to come from his younger men. Congrats to Coach John Smith and his Cowboys. They may not be in first in the rankings, but they are wrestling like they are. They had a overall terrific weekend after two big duals on Friday against Cal Poly and Fresno St. and then it was on the Missouri. God wrestling season is great. So, in a recap, join TDR this Thursday at about 4:30PM Eastern as TDR will be LIVE from NCST The Home of the Wolfpack! Scott Casber

San Francisco State's wrestling team won the first three matches of this afternoon's non-conference dual meet with the visiting Titans of Cal State Fullerton (2-9), but the Titans rebounded and won the last seven matches to take the dual meet, 29-8, at Main Gymnasium. The Gators (0-7) will return to the mat this Saturday, January 28'th in Warrensburg, Missouri, for four dual meets against Truman State (MO), Southwest State (MN), Minnesota State-Moorhead, and Central Missouri State University. Fullerton wrestles again tonight at Stanford. Sandeep Singh won the first match of the afternoon by a 5-3 decision over the Titans' heavyweight Matt Methling. At 125, SF State's Brian Watanabe won by a 5-4 comeback decision over Johnny Rojas, a Lassen College transfer making his Titan debut. The final Gator win came at 133 as junior Virgil Lockett won by a 6-5 decision in overtime over T.J. Dillashaw. Teddy Astorga at 141 changed the momentum with a 16-7 major decision over Alek Butler and Morgan Atkinson scored another four team points with a 12-4 win over Merrick Tan at 149. Shawn Reilly put the Titans ahead to stay with a technical fall at 157 and the Titans won out with Chris Chambers winning by forfeit at 197 to wrap up the scoring. CAL STATE FULLERTON 29, SAN FRANCISCO STATE 8 285 Sandeep Singh (SFSU) won by 5-3 dec. over Matt Mehling (CSUF) 125 Brian Watanabe (SFSU) won by 5-4 dec. over Johnny Rojas (CSUF) 133 Virgil Lockett (SFSU) won by 6-5 dec. (OT) over TJ Dillahaw (CSUF) 141 Teddy Astorga (CSUF) won by 16-7 MD over Alek Butler (SFSU) 149 Morgan Atkinson (CSUF) won by 12-4 MD over Merrick Tan (SFSU) 157 Shawn Reilly (CSUF) won by 20-4 TF (6:13) over Jeff Johnson (SFSU) 165 Risto Marttinen (CSUF) won by 9-2 dec. over Will Simmons (SFSU) 174 Ian Murphy (CSUF) won by 5-1 dec. over Danny Dahl (SFSU) 184 Jesse Taylor (CSUF) won by 12-1 MD over Richard Escobar (SFSU) 197 Chris Chambers (CSUF) won by forfeit San Francisco State penalized one team point after the 157-pound match

For the third consecutive week, an Upper Iowa University wrestler was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Wrestler of the Week. Today, the honor went to Peacock senior Ralph Acosta (Orlando, Fla.). The 133-pounder defeated Logan Hyman by fall in 2:32, helping #13 Upper Iowa to a 39-6 win over Northern State Friday. The dual victory was UIU's first as an NSIC member against a rival league foe. Upper Iowa is serving as an NSIC affiliate member in wrestling this season before beginning full conference membership in 2006-07. Acosta shared the honor with Joe Werner of Minnesota State Moorhead. Acosta, a former Division III All-American and Iowa Conference champion at Upper Iowa, improved to 15-4 on the year. His four losses have all come at the hands of Division I opponents, including losses to Iowa State's Jesse Sundell and the University of Iowa's Daniel Dennis. Earlier this season, Acosta defeated returning All-American Mike Hansen (Central Missouri State) by a 9-1 major decision at the NWCA National Duals. Acosta follows Tyler Mumbulo (Jan. 9) and C.J. MacNaught (Jan. 16) as consecutive NSIC Wrestlers of the Week from Upper Iowa. Brian Black also earned NSIC Wrestler of the Week honors for the Peacocks on Nov. 29. The Peacocks will host Minnesota State Moorhead Thursday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m.

Manheim, Pa. -- The National Wrestling Coaches Association announced that Russ Cozart, Terry Brands and Greg Jones will be the featured clinicians at the annual NWCA Coaches Clinic at the 2006 NCAA Division I Championships in Oklahoma City March 16-18, 2006. "We're excited to have such a cross-section of talent represented at this year's clinic," said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. "The level of knowledge these three men possess from the high school to collegiate to Olympic levels is phenomenal." Terry Brands, the current freestyle resident coach for the U.S. Olympic Training Center, was a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist and collegiately, is a two-time NCAA champion while wrestling under Dan Gable at Iowa. Brands' coaching career started at his alma mater before moving on to Nebraska for two seasons and then Montana State-Northern for a season. Brands most recently coached at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for three seasons, grooming the Mocs into one of the premier programs in the Southeast and setting the table for the program to move forward. A three-time NCAA finalist, Brands is revered as one of the sport's most intense competitors and coaches. "The name Brands is synonymous with success," Moyer said. "Having Terry as a part of our coaches clinic really gets us excited about this year." Russ Cozart has led Brandon High School in Brandon, Fla., to 422 consecutive dual meet victories in what's simply referred to as "The Streak." Brandon's won 16 Florida state championships and 15 of them under Cozart. He's coached 56 wrestlers to state championships and produced 135 state placewinners. In 2005, Brandon High School wrestlers and graduates earned nine medals including five champions at the USA Wrestling Cadet & Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D. Current high school senior David Craig won both freestyle and Greco titles, while Eric Grajales won a cadet freestyle championship, Marco Toledo won a junior Greco title and Franklin Gomez won a junior freestyle championship. Cozart's son Rocky won a junior Greco title and current Penn freshman Cesar Grajales doubled up with medals, finishing second in Greco and third in freestyle. Collegiately, he's coached Division I All-Americans Josh Lambrecht (Okalahoma) and Bret Gustafson (UT Chattanooga) along with NAIA All-American Matt Juncal (Cumberland College). Cozart wrestled at Alabama and is an eight-time Veterans National Freestyle Champion, winning them between 1997-2004 and a seven-time Veterans World Champion. He was an Olympic Trials qualifier in 1980. Greg Jones was one of the most dominant wrestlers in NCAA Division I history, winning three championships and being named the 2005 Outstanding Wrestler after he won his third national championship. Currently an assistant coach at his alma mater of West Virginia, Jones is dynamic and a solid technician. "Very few wrestlers have had the chance to do what Greg Jones did as a competitor on the collegiate level," Moyer said. "Now we have the chance to welcome Greg into the coaching fraternity and there's no doubt he will be as successful on the bench as he was on the mat." Jones is the only Mountaineer to ever go unbeaten during a season, doing it twice, and the only Mountaineer to win an NCAA championship. He amassed a career record of 126-4. Jones is no stranger to NWCA events, winning all three matches in his career at the NWCA All-Star Classic. "We're excited to have such a great staff at this year's event," Moyer said. "It will be one of the best clinics we've ever had."

T.J. Miller is beginning his fourth season as the head wrestling coach at Loras College (Photo/Loras College Athletics) Augsburg and Wartburg. Wartburg and Augsburg. For the past quarter-century, one of the Burgs has been the king of NCAA Division III wrestling. But is this the year another team finally breaks through? The Loras College Duhawks certainly hope that is the case. Loras starts this season ranked No. 1 nationally in Division III. Wabash is ranked second in the preseason poll followed by Wartburg and Augsburg. "We return five All-Americans, so we bring back some experienced and proven guys," Loras coach T.J. Miller said. "We've never been ranked No. 1 before in wrestling at Loras, so it's huge for our program. It's pretty cool to have that type of recognition, but we still have to wrestle and take care of business." Since Ithaca won the Division III national championship in 1994, the Burgs have won every title while dominating at the small-college level. Over the last 25 years, Wartburg has captured 14 national titles and Augsburg 11. The Auggies have won 13 championships since 1991 and earned the most recent DIII crown in 2019. Wartburg struggled to a sixth-place finish at the 2019 NCAA tournament, but the Knights are expected to be back in the mix this season. Loras returns a strong group of wrestlers from the team that finished second in the country last season. The Duhawks have six wrestlers ranked in the nation's top seven in their respective weight classes. Clint Lembeck starts the season ranked No. 2 at 141 pounds (Photo/Loras College Athletics) Loras is led by Clint Lembeck (141 pounds) and Brandon Murray (157), who are each ranked second in the country. Guy Patron Jr. is No. 3 at 197 with Eddie Smith fourth at 165, Jacob Krakow sixth at 174 and Brice Everson seventh at 133. The second-place national tournament finish by Loras last season was the best in program history. Lembeck placed third at the 2019 NCAAs in Roanoke, Va., with Murray and Smith each finishing fourth, Patron sixth and Krakow eighth. "We're really excited to compete," Miller said. "We have a lot of firepower coming back from last year and we're chomping at the bit for this season to start. We're looking forward to it." Patron is one of the leaders on a veteran Duhawk squad. He finished as NCAA runner-up in 2018 after placing third as a freshman in 2017. "Guy Patron is trying to become the first four-time All-American in school history," Miller said. "I knew him from when I coached down in New Orleans -- he was at a rival high school. When I came up here to Loras, he was a top priority for me in recruiting. Guy had some other offers and we were lucky to have him come up here. It's been great to have him in our program. He's pretty fired up about this season. He can beat anybody. When he's on, he's on. He's really evolved with his wrestling." Miller is beginning his fourth season as the head wrestling coach at Loras. He was an NCAA Division III champion for Wartburg College and was a member of three national championship teams with the Knights. Miller wrestled collegiately for his father, Jim, who led the Knights to 10 DIII national titles. Jim Miller is now retired from coaching and running the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. "Obviously, I grew up around the sport and saw what my dad did as a coach. I have lived it since I was a kid," T.J. Miller said. "I wrestled for my dad in college and then I coached with him for two years at Wartburg. I saw how he coached and what his approach was. I saw first-hand how hard he worked and how dedicated he was. Seeing that and living it, I learned how you do it." It's not all about wrestling for the Millers. T.J. has three daughters and many of their conversations now revolve around their families. But T.J. also knows his father is always there to provide coaching advice. "It's huge to have my dad as a resource," T.J. Miller said. "If there's something I need, he's very good at helping me with anything I ask him about. He's one of the best college coaches ever at any level. I know he still helps a lot of other coaches and teams as well. He obviously knows what it takes to be successful." T.J. Miller is fully aware it will take a special effort to end the long streak of national tournament dominance by Wartburg and Augsburg this season. The Duhawks will compete at the 2020 NCAA Division III Championships in nearby Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on March 13-14. A month before that, Loras wrestles its final dual meet of the season at perennial power Wartburg. "It's like the old saying -- we have to be the best to beat the best," Miller said. "We focus day-to-day on ourselves. We don't talk to our team about Wartburg or Augsburg. We work on how Loras College can get better. It's going to take 10 guys fighting their butts off for us to reach our goals. You know Wartburg and Augsburg will have strong teams -- they always do. You have to be good at every weight class to beat those teams." Craig Sesker has written about wrestling for more than three decades. He's covered three Olympic Games and is a two-time national wrestling writer of the year.

Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week Wrestling -- Jestin Hulegaard, Buena Vista University, Anoka, Minn./Anoka Hulegaard, a sophomore, went 5-0 during the week with two major decisions and won the 133-pound class at the Northwestern (Iowa) Red Raider Invitational. In a Conference dual meet, he won by major decision over Cornell's Aaron Bingham, 10-2. At the Red Raider Invitational, Hulegaard won by major decision over Dana's Sonny Silva (11-3), and by decision over Morningside's Chris Utesch (6-3), Wartburg's Jake Helvey (13-9) and Augsburg's Vanier Jafari (7-0).

North Dakota State is riding a two-match winning streak heading into this weekend's duals with Air Force on Friday, January 27, and Wyoming on Saturday, January 28. The match with Air Force will begin at 7:30 p.m. and the dual with Wyoming is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start. North Dakota State leads the series with Air Force 3-1. The last time the two teams squared off was on Feb. 14, 2004 when the Bison blanked Air Force 42-0. This marks the last time NDSU has shutout an opponent. Wyoming leads the all-time series with the Bison 3-2. North Dakota State has taken the last two matches including last year's dual with the Bison squeaking out a 22-21 victory on Feb. 19, 2005. SCOUTING AIR FORCE: The Falcons come into Friday's dual with a 2-2 record on the season defeating Colorado School of Mines and Portland State. Air Force's defeats were to Division II schools, Adams State and Western State. Air Force has three returning starters who qualified for the NCAA Championships one year ago. They are led by senior Brenden McLean at 197 pounds. McLean is 6-1 on the year and ranked No. 17 according to the latest NWCA/InterMat Division I Coaches' Poll. Sophomore 141-pounder Jake Kriegbaum, also a 2005 NCAA qualifier, leads Air Force in wins with 24. The other NCAA qualifier, 133-pound senior Brandon Strong, is 9-3 on the season. Senior Zane Hershey is coming into the dual hot as he took home the 184-pound crown at the Colorado Collegiates on Saturday, Jan. 21. The Falcons are coached by Wayne Baughman. Baughman is in his 25th year with the program and has a career record of 175-111-5. He was also the head wrestling coach for the U.S. Olympic Team in 1976 and 1980. SCOUTING WYOMING: Wyoming is 3-5 for the year going into Friday's dual with South Dakota State. The Cowboys have victories over Portland State, Oregon and Western Wyoming and one of their losses was to No. 5 Nebraska back in late November. Senior heavyweight Dusty Hoffschneider, junior Gary Dack at 165 pounds and sophomore 157-pounder Dan Clum all return to the Cowboy lineup this year after qualifying for the NCAA championships in 2005. Head coach Steve Suder leads the charge for Wyoming. Suder is in his 17th year and during his tenure he has led the Cowboys to two Western Athletic Conference championships and has led 60 Wyoming wrestlers to the NCAA championships. BISON DOMINATE PORTLAND STATE 37-6: North Dakota State picked up its second consecutive win in dominating fashion by beating Portland State 37-6 in front of a crowd of 655 at the Bison Sports Arena on Friday, January 20. NDSU won eight of ten bouts which included three pins and four major decisions. The 37 team points is the most the Bison have scored on an opponent since February 15, 2004 when the Bison defeated Northern Colorado 37-3. The match began at 157 pounds with NDSU redshirt freshman Adam Aho winning his third consecutive match of the season by defeating Shane Evenhus 13-5. Aho improved his record to 6-4 overall, 3-2 in dual matches. At 165 pounds, Zach Molitor picked up his first career dual match victory for the Bison and 10th win of the season defeating Chris Feist in a close 7-5 battle. Portland State picked up their first win of the night at 174 pounds when senior Kalivas Karras defeated Matt Hermann in a 3-2 decision. NDSU (2-3) came storming back with pins from Matt Wetterling at 184 pounds and Jacob Bryce at 197 pounds, giving the Bison a 19-3 lead. Wetterling's pin was his team-leading 14th of the year and his 19th win of the season. The victory for Bryce was his first career dual victory and also his first pin of the season. Mike Maresh continued the winning ways for the Bison defeating Steve Fittinger 13-4. Maresh is now perfect in his first four bouts of his career. At 125 pounds, Mike Meger matched Maresh with four points of his own, defeating Bricen Yakabe 12-5. Eric Sanders picked up his second pin and ninth win of the year at 133 pounds, sticking Kip Watson in 2:17. David Cunningham also picked up bonus points for North Dakota State defeating Tony Kubec 14-2. Cunningham's win was his 12th of the year. Adam Duryee of Portland State and Gabe Mooney ended the match with an action-packed bout with Duryee coming out on top 6-5. NATIONAL RANKINGS: Several potential Bison dual-meet opponents are ranked nationally according to the January 17th USA Today/NWCA NCAA Division I Coaches' Poll. The Bison lost to No. 25 Penn 38-3 on Jan. 13 at the Virginia Duals and will travel to No. 23 Northern Illinois on February 12 and No. 24 Northern Iowa on February 18. Several individual wrestlers NDSU will face are also nationally ranked. Northern Illinois has five, American University has three and Air Force, Northern Iowa and Northern Colorado each have one individual nationally ranked. The Bison will host Air Force on January 27 and American University on February 20. MINNESOTA BORN: All 10 of NDSU's wrestlers in the Bison starting lineup are from Minnesota. Collectively, they won 12 Minnesota state championships in their high school careers and also have a combined 188 wins to go along with a .603 winning percentage while competing for North Dakota State. NORTH DAKOTA STATE SIGNS EVAN HACKER: Evan Hacker of Canby (Minn.) High School signed a National Letter of Intent to wrestle and continue his education at North Dakota State University during the November early signing period. Hacker, who went 40-3 last season as a junior, is the defending Class A Minnesota state heavyweight champion. Hacker was also selected to the all-state academic wrestling team and was an all-conference academic offensive lineman for Canby's football team as well as a member of the Minnesota Junior National Wrestling Team. LAST YEAR OF RECLASSIFICATION: The Bison are still without a conference affiliation, but NDSU is looking ahead to 2006-07 when its NCAA tournament eligibility begins, thanks to an NCAA ruling in September 2004 that North Dakota State could reclassify its wrestling and volleyball teams to Division I in three years instead of five. NDSU is on track to reclassify in all sports by 2008-09. MEET THE BISON: MIKE MEGER (125): Meger enters his second year as the 125-pounder for North Dakota State and is 5-6 on the year. The sophomore is on a roll, winning his last three dual matches, two of them by major decisions. ERIC SANDERS (133): After redshirting last season, Sanders returns to the Bison lineup. The sophomore started off the 2005-06 season hot, winning seven of his first eight matches and placing second at the Daktronics and Bison Opens. Sanders is coming off his ninth win and second pin of the year, pinning Kip Watson of Portland State. DAVID CUNNINGHAM (141): Cunningham begins his first year of action for North Dakota State after redshirting in 2004-05. Cunningham is one of six wrestlers in the starting lineup to have double-digit victories (12) and is 2-0 in home duals this season. GABE MOONEY (149): Mooney is currently second on the team in victories with 17 and has placed in three of the four tournaments he competed in which includes a championship at the Daktronics Open in Brookings, S.D. The redshirt freshman picked up his first career dual-match victory on Jan. 13 at the Virginia Duals defeating Billy Bullwinkel of The Citadel 7-2. ADAM AHO (157): Aho is 6-4 on the year and has been hampered by injuries this season. The redshirt freshman has been wrestling well of late, winning three of his last four matches. ZACH MOLITOR (165): Molitor is the starter for North Dakota State this year at 165 pounds as a true freshman. The freshman picked up his 10th win and first career dual victory last weekend against Portland State, defeating Chris Feist 7-5. MATT HERMANN (174): Team captain Matt Hermann also has been slowed by injuries this season and is 3-5 on the year. The junior leads the team with 58 career victories and defeated Mike Grogan of Virginia 5-4 at the Virginia Duals. MATT WETTERLING (184): Wetterling currently leads the team in wins (19), pins (14) and fastest pin (0:37) this season. The sophomore has won his last two matches by pin, coming against The Citadel and Portland State. JACOB BRYCE (197): Bryce is currently 12-8 and picked up his first career dual victory and pin last Friday against Portland State defeating Jake Schneider. Bryce also placed runner-up this year at the Daktronics and Bison Opens and had a fifth-place showing at the Northern Iowa Open. MIKE MARESH (Hwt.): Maresh made his North Dakota State wrestling debut at the Virginia Duals on January 13 with outstanding results. Maresh was the only Bison who went 3-0 at the tournament and also won his first home dual of his career, defeating Steve Fittinger of Portland State. Maresh will look to continue the trend against Air Force and Wyoming this weekend.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- United States Marine Corps Major and former Buckeye wrestler Ramon J. Mendoza will posthumously receive the Purple Heart before Ohio State's home wrestling dual meet against Minnesota at 7:15 p.m. Friday at St. John Arena. Mendoza, who was promoted to the rank of Major Oct. 1, 2005, died of wounds sustained during Operation Steel Curtain Nov. 14, 2005 in New Ubaydi, Iraq, while acting as commanding officer of Echo Company, 2nd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment. Mendoza's wife, Karen, will accept the Purple Heart in Mendoza's name and numerous family members and friends of Mendoza are expected to attend. "We are proud to be able to honor Ray," Russ Hellickson, wrestling head coach, said. "We are looking forward to sharing this ceremony with all of his family. He certainly earned it." Mendoza, a native of Blairstown, N.J., lettered for the Buckeyes in 1992 and '93 and was the Big Ten runner-up at heavyweight in 1993. At 6:10 p.m. Friday, a video presentation of Mendoza will run continuously in the northeast corner of the floor of St. John Arena until the ceremony at 7 p.m. Before every home dual meet, Ohio State honors Mendoza with a pre-match moment of silence and a color guard observance. Also, in memory of Mendoza, who joined the Marine Corps in 1995, the Buckeyes wear a patch on their singlets that bears Mendoza's first name. In addition to his wife, Mendoza, 37, also is survived by daughter, Kiana, 12, and son Aleksandr, 8, as well as his brothers, Niola and Jermaine Mendoza. In memory of her husband, Karen has initiated the Ray Mendoza Blair Wrestling Scholarship fund. The educational fund will provide financial contribution to a student-athlete attending Blair Academy. Following his graduation from John Adams High School in 1986, Mendoza studied at Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., for one year of postgraduate studies.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling team opens Southern Conference competition Tuesday as it travels to Charleston, S.C., for a match with The Citadel. The dual begins at 7:30 p.m. at McAlister Field House. The Mocs, 9-6-1 and ranked 25th nationally by one national wrestling service, defeated the Bulldogs 29-7 last year in the meeting between the two squads. In the dual, UTC won at each weight class except 157 pounds and 285 pounds. UTC Head Coach Joe Seay sends two former SoCon champions and three former NCAA Qualifiers to the mat with his lineup. The Mocs are led by local product and Nebraska transfer Matt Keller at 133 pounds. Keller is 27-7 overall and ranked as high as No. 7 in the national polls. He is a four-time SoCon Wrestler of the Week and competed for the Cornhuskers in last year's NCAA Championships. Michael Keefe and John Davis earned automatic bids to the NCAAs as SoCon champions last year at 141 and 184 pounds respectively. Keller, Keefe and Davis are joined in the lineup by Javier Maldonado at 125, Virginia transfer Aaron Martin at 149, Jake Yost at 157, Daniel Peterson at 165, T.J. Sayers at 174, Lloyd Rogers at 197 and Israel Silva at 285. "We have wrestled an extremely tough schedule this year, and it has gotten us ready for our Southern Conference schedule," Seay said. "Although this is my first year here, I know a lot about The Citadel program. They will be ready for us. It should be a great battle between both teams." The Bulldogs, 4-6 overall, are also facing their first SoCon opponent. The Citadel is coming off a 1-1 weekend where the Bulldogs lost to nationally-ranked Pennsylvania 43-0 but defeated North Carolina 33-9. Internet users will be able to listen to a live broadcast of the match by visiting TakeDownRadio.com.

Fresh off winning the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals, the Dana College Vikings faced another weekend of intense wrestling. Dana hosted No. 7 Missouri Valley Friday night and then traveled to Northwestern College for the Red Raider Invitational on Saturday Missouri Valley came to Gardner Hawks Center almost exactly one week after they squared off with Dana in the semi-finals of the national duals. Dana won that dual by a score of 19-15 to advance to the finals. Friday night's dual was highly anticipated and with a capacity crowd for the annual "Pack the House Night", the 2006 National Duals Champions once again defeated Missouri Valley, but this time by a run-away score of 32-6. Dana only dropped two matches to Missouri Valley. Senior Trent Leichleiter (Harvard, Neb.) avenged his only loss at the national duals by defeating Chad Jennings by a score of 10-4. Craig Trampe, Willie Parks and Blair Alderman scored bonus points for the Vikings. Alderman was the only wrestler with a pin in the dual. Trampe and Parks both won by major decision. At 133 pounds Dana's Sonny Silva (Kimberly, Idaho) scored a key victory 8-7 over Mo Valley's Garrett Harding. Scott Taylor took MVC's No. 1 ranked Darion Terry into overtime. Terry scored a takedown in sudden death to defeat Taylor 5-3 at 157 pounds. With the win over Missouri Valley, Dana has improved their record to 11-1-1 which ties the school record for most wins in a season. The Vikings still have six duals left which gives this year's squad a chance to set more records. After defeating Missouri Valley for the second time this season, Coach Costanzo and the Vikings traveled to Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa for the annual Red Raider Invitational. The Vikings are the defending champions of the invitational, but had a tall order in front of them. Standing in their way would be the nine-time and defending NCAA Division III National Champions, Augsburg College. Augsburg, ranked No. 2 in Division III and fresh off a runner-up finish at the Division III National Duals came to wrestle. The Auggies defeated Dana in 2005 in a dual by winning 9 of 10 matches. This would be Dana's day though as Augsburg finished the tournament in second place behind Dana by a team score of 162 to 146.5. Viking wrestlers Marshall Marquardt (Altoona, Iowa) and Willie Parks (Garden Grove, Calif.) won championships Saturday.. Marquardt won five straight matches, including 2 pins, to claim the title at 174 pounds. He was also named the tournament's outstanding wrestler. Parks recorded a tech-fall and three major decisions on his way to the championship at 184 pounds. Craig Trampe (Ord, Neb.) was the runner-up at 125 pounds. Trampe pinned a Buena Vista wrestler in the semi-finals, but lost 8-2 to Seth Flodeen of Augsburg in the finals. Dana's Terrence Almond (Pelham, Ga.) was also a runner-up. Almond picked up two pins on his way to the finals at 141 pounds. Almond lost 6-5 to Bacone's Bryan Odle in the championship match. Four Vikings took third place in the meet: Jason Lozier (149 Omaha, Neb.), Scott Taylor (157 Arapahoe, Neb.), Trent Leichleiter (165 Harvard, Neb.), and Blair Alderman (197 Spokane, Wash.). Placing fifth was Kyle Frawley (174 Buckley, WA) and Wade Jordan (285 Coulee City, WA). While the Viking varsity was competing at Northwestern, twenty-four other Viking wrestlers were competing at the annual University of Nebraska-Omaha Open (2). Four Vikings placed in the annual open with three individuals making the finals. Burke Barnes (125 Lake Stevens, Wash.), Jimmy Rollins (133 Woodbury, NJ), and Ryan Tuzon (165 Wailuku, Hawaii). Barnes finished second while Rollins and Tuzon both claimed titles. Brett Brandl (133 Madison, Neb.) finished in fourth place. The Vikings have completed tournament action until the GPAC tournament. The Vikings have a string of six dual meets over the next couple of weeks highlighted by a dual with Division II Northern State University and Augustana. Dana College Results 125-Craig Trampe 3-1 2nd 133-Sonny Silva 1-2 141-Terrence Almond 3-1 2nd 149-Jason Lozier 4-1 3rd 157-Scott Taylor 5-1 3rd 165-Trent Leichleiter 3-1 3rd 174-Marshall Marquardt 5-0 1st 174-Kyle Frawley 4-2 5th 184-Willie Parks 4-0 1st 197-Blair Alderman 4-1 3rd Hwt. Wade Jordan 4-2 5th Team Standings 1 Dana 162 2 Augsburg 146.5 3 Waldorf 74 4 Wartburg 63 5 Nortwestern 62 5 Bacone 62 Dana College 32, Missouri Valley College 6 125-Craig Trampe DC maj. dec. Brandon Nice MVC 13-2 133-Sonny Silva DC dec. Garrett Harding MVC 8-7 141-Terrence Almond win by forfeit 149-Jason Lozier DC dec. Sergio Matos MVC 5-2 157-Darion Terry MVC dec. Scott Taylor DC 5-3 OT 165-Trent Leichleiter DC dec. Chad Jennings MVC 10-4 174-Kyle Frawley DC dec. Jake Oberfoell MVC 11-8 184-Willie Parks DC maj. maj. dec. Josh Hohnston MVC 15-4 197-Blair Alderman DC winner by fall Seth Theriot 4:24 Hwt. Christ Johnson MVC dec. Wade Jordan DC 4-2

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oregon State's wrestling schedule for this weekend's home meets has undergone some changes. The Beavers wrap up their home schedule this Friday and Saturday. OSU (7-2-1 overall, 4-1 Pacific-10) will wrestle a Pac-10 dual against Cal State-Bakersfield (3-4, 2-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Truax Indoor Center, located just across the Prothro Field football practice area from Gill Coliseum. On Saturday, Oregon State will wrestle a pair of non-conference duals, meeting Fresno State (3-5) at 2 p.m. in the Truax Indoor Center and Northern Colorado (3-2) at 7 p.m. in Gill Coliseum. Originally, all three meets had been scheduled for the Truax Indoor Center.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Needing a win in the final bout of the day, Cain Velasquez again came through for the No. 13 Arizona State University wrestling team as his technical fall victory pushed the Sun Devils past visiting Oregon, 23-21, Sunday night inside Wells Fargo Arena. The win helped the Sun Devils improve to 9-6 overall this season and 4-0 in the Pac-10 Conference. Although the Sun Devils won their 12th conference dual in a row, it did not come easy as the Ducks (5-3, 2-3 Pac-10) took five bouts against the Sun Devils and forced the hosts to have to come back from a six point deficit with two bouts remaining. ASU, the top-ranked team in the conference, picked up two wins by fall, two by decision and one by technical fall while UO, the sixth-ranked team in the Pac-10, scored three wins by decision, one by major decision and one by technical fall. No. 7 Jeremy Mendoza (Sr., Temecula, Calif.) opened up the dual with six team points, although it was not easy. Despite being taken down by Beau Malia twice and gave up two near fall points, Mendoza stayed tough and eventually took Malia down to his back and pinned him at 4:07. But the Ducks responded back with a fall of their own as Ryan Dunn pinned Adam Hickey (So., Mayfield, Ohio) at 6:30. UO then took their first lead of the match as Skyler Woods picked up a technical fall over Elias Johnson (Jr., Manson, Iowa) with a 22-7 score. Trailing 11-6, ASU struck back with Pat Payne (So., Poway, Calif.) fighting for an 11-5 win to cut the deficit to two points (11-9). The Sun Devils reclaimed the lead at 157 as No. 8 Brian Stith (Jr., Hampton, Va.) pinned Jeremy McLaughlin in 4:39, pushing the host's advantage to 15-11. In the most exciting bout of the evening, No. 6 Joey Bracamonte slipped past No. 12 Patrick Pitsch (So., Spanaway, Wash.) at 165 with a 7-6 decision. After Bracamonte jumped out to an early lead, Pitsch continued to wrestle aggressively and eventually took a 6-4 lead with under 10 seconds remaining in the bout. But, with eight seconds showing on the clock, Bracamonte scored a takedown to tie the match at six and then took the victory with the riding time point for a 7-6 win. UO followed that win with two more in a row as Chet McBee defeated Alex Pavlenko (Fr., Mesa, Ariz.) at 174, 3-2, to take a 17-15 team lead before No. 11 Shane Webster scored a 14-4 major decision over No. 8 C.B. Dollaway (Sr., Mt. Gilead, Ohio) at 184 for a 21-15 team lead. Needing a victory, No. 10 Ryan Bader (Sr., Reno, Nev.) picked up a 6-1 decision victory to cut the deficit to three points (21-18) and bringing Velasquez (Sr., Yuma, Ariz.) to the mat. Velasquez dominated Chris Dearmon for the 22-7 techincal fall that added five points to the team's total for a 23-21 win. Velasquez secured the team win for the Sun Devils for the fourth time this season and the third time in the last two weekends. The first instance came at home against UC Davis with the Sun Devils leading, 20-18, before Velasquez' techincal fall won the dual, 25-18. Last weekend at the NWCA National Duals, he won both of his bouts against Missouri to seal two more wins. In the first dual, ASU trailed, 21-18, before Velasquez pinned his foe for a 24-21 team victory. The very next day, ASU trailed, 21-15, before he again pinned his opponent to force a tie at 21. The Sun Devils won the dual on tie-breaking criteria to finish seventh in the tournament. Arizona State returns to the road for a trio of conference duals next weekend as the Sun Devils face No. 20 Cal Poly at 7 p.m. Friday night in San Luis Obispo before wrestling Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Fullerton on Sunday at noon in Bakersfield and 6 p.m. in Fullerton, respectively. No. 13 Arizona State defeats Oregon, 23-21 125 - #7 Jeremy Mendoza (A) pins Beau Malia, 4:07 133 - Ryan Dunn (O) pins Adam Hickey, 6:30 141 - Skyler Woods tech fall Elias Johnson, 22-7 149 - Pat Payne (A) dec. Stewart Bogart, 11-5 157 - #8 Brian Stith (A) pins Jeremy McLaughlin, 4:39 165 - #6 Joey Bracamonte (O) dec. #12 Patrick Pitsch, 7-6 174 - Chet McBee (O) dec. Alex Pavlenko, 3-2 184 - #11 Shane Webster (O) majors #8 C.B. Dollaway, 14-4 197 - #10 Ryan Bader (A) dec. Shaun Dee, 6-1 285 - #4 Cain Velasquez (A) techs Chris Dearmon, 19-3

WASHINGTON -- The American University wrestling team's three ranked wrestlers won by fall and freshman Jordan Lipp ( Beachwood, Oh./Beachwood) took a close decision victory, but it was not enough to overcome an early 15-0 deficit as the Eagles fell 29-21 to No. 3 Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. Saturday night. "The reason we wrestle against a team like Nebraska is so we can get ready for the end of the year," head coach Mark Cody said. "Regardless of the outcome it's definitely a step forward. My guys fought hard." The Eagles fell behind early in the match, losing the first three bouts, two by fall. In his first match of the year, 141 pounder Jordan Zipkin (Hewlett Harbor, N.Y./Lynbrooke) was pinned by No. 18 Dominick Moyer in the first period. Senior Tom Kniezewski (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown) next dropped a 12-6 decision at 149 and Rudy Rueda (Waldorf, Md./DeMatha) got as close as 5-3 in the third period before getting pinned with just 17 seconds left. "On paper, we felt that we were going to win those two [the Kniezewski and Rueda matches]," Cody said. The Eagles were down 15-0 with Muzaffar Abdurakhmanov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) up. The undefeated No. 4 ranked 165 pound wrestler was due to face the Huskers' Marc Harwood who's ranked No. 16 in the country. Instead, Abdurakhmanov wrestled David Ingalls and ran to a 12-4 lead before pinning him at the 3:58 mark for the Eagles' first victory. The returning EIWA champion at 157 is now 15-0 in the 2005-06 season. At 174 Dwayne Hash-Barberis (Scotia, N.Y./Scotia Glenville) was faced with the unenviable task of taking on returning All-American No. 3 Jacob Klein who proved his ability by way of an 18-2 tech fall at the 3:49 mark. In the most anticipated matchup of the night, No. 3 Josh Glenn (Johnson City, N.Y./Johnson City) took on up-and-coming No. 10 Vince Jones at 184. The Huskers' Jones had recently defeated the No. 2 184 pounder in the country and won all four of his matches at the National Duals Tournament. Glenn stepped on the mat with a 20-1 record with 14 pins and left it 21-1 with 15 pins, putting the Nebraska freshman on his back at the 1:17 mark after leading at 4-2. After Tyler Flatt (Albany, N.Y./Blair Academy) was pinned by No. 3 B.J. Padden at 197 and the score was 26-12, No. 14 Adam LoPiccolo (Glen Rock, Pa./Glen Rock) stepped in with No. 18 John May. LoPiccolo struggled with May early in the first, but battled back with an escape and a takedown in the second for a 5-4 lead before pinning May at the 4:07 mark. "He got a very slow start," Cody said of the LoPiccolo's match. "He cannot get a slow start like that if he's going to win a big match. He has to come out ready to go and be confident in his attack." Omaha native Matt Morkel (Omaha, Neb./Skutt) was up next against No. 9 Paul Donahoe and fought him to down 2-1 after the first. Donahoe ran up a 5-1 lead over the next two periods and a Morkel escape at 1:45 left the score at 5-2 where it would remain to the end. With the loss, Morkel is 8-4 on the year. Though the dual was out of reach at 29-18, Lipp wrestled, in Cody's words, his best match of the season to take a 2-1 win over Patrick Aleksanyan. The match was tied at 1-1 when Aleksanyan was called for a second stalling warning and Lipp was awarded a penalty point. The freshman has won all five of his matches since the end of the first semester. "The reason we felt we had a good chance is because on paper we matched up with them where they were tough," Cody explained. "In the end, we're a couple breaks away from winning the dual." American hits the match next against Sacred Heart in their first home dual of the year at 2 p.m. on Sunday Jan. 29. ** Please note the finalized schedule for Sunday's dual is at 2 p.m. #5 Nebraska 29, American 21 141-#18 Dominick Moyer (NU) by fall over Jordan Zipkin (AU), 1:27 149-Ryan Davis (NU) by dec. over Tom Kniezewski (AU), 12-6 157-#16 Chris Oliver (NU) by fall over Rudy Rueda (AU), 6:43 165-#4 Muzzaffar Abdurakhmanov (AU) by fall over David Ingalls (NU), 3:58 174-#3 Jacob Klein (NU) by tech. fall over Dwayne Hash (AU), 18-2; 3:49 184-#5 Josh Glenn (AU) by fall over #10 Vince Jones (NU), 1:17 197-#5 B.J. Padden (NU) by fall over Tyler Flatt (AU), 3:48 HWT-#15 Adam LoPiccolo (AU) by fall over Jon May (NU), 4:07 125-#9 Paul Donahoe (AU) by dec. over Matt Morkel (AU), 5-2 133-Jordan Lipp (AU) by dec. over Patrick Aleksanyan (NU), 2-1

ITHACA, N.Y. -- In front of a record-setting crowd of 4,425, the Big Red wrestling team staked its claim as the top squad in the EIWA and a player in the national picture with a 19-14 victory over Lehigh on Sunday afternoon. Held in Newman Arena to accommodate the large crowd, the win capped an eventful weekend as Cornell's six national champion wrestlers - David Auble '60, Frank Bettucci '53, Donald Dickason '53, David Hirsch '94, Travis Lee '05 and Glenn Stafford '30 - were inducted into the Hall of Distinguished Wrestling Alumni. The Big Red is now 3-4 in dual meets and Lehigh falls to 8-5-1. It was Cornell's first victory over Lehigh in its last five tries, dating back to the 1996-97 season. The match started at 125 where Cornell freshman Troy Nickerson faced Matt Fisk. Nickerson, 20-1 on the year and ranked No. 5, recorded a pair of takedowns in the final minute of the first period to go up 4-1. Nickerson got another takedown late in the second, going up 6-1 and looking for a major decision. After Nickerson let Fisk escape to start the third, a penalty point was awarded to Nickerson for Fisk's stalling, and the Cornell freshman followed that up with a takedown with 18 seconds remaining in the period. With 1:52 of riding time, the final score was 10-2, giving Nickerson the major decision. Senior Mike Mormile (No. 13) was up next in the 133 pound bout where he took on John Stout. Like Nickerson, Mormile got two takedowns in the first and began the second up 4-1. The second started off with Stout being let free after choosing down. Thirteen seconds later Mormile scored his third takedown of the match followed by a quick Stout escape. The second finished with another Mormile takedown and Stout escape. There was no scoring in the third and Mormile finished the bout with nearly three minutes of riding time to take the 9-4 decision. In the 141 pound match, Nick Bridge took to the mat against No. 3 Cory Cooperman. Cooperman dominated the first, getting two takedowns and six near fall points to jump out to an early 10-1 lead. Bridge scored a three-point near fall to open the second but Cooperman escaped and followed up with a takedown with 39 seconds to go in the second. Cooperman got a takedown and another near fall plus the riding time point to win the match by technical fall, 19-3. Cooperman's win brought Lehigh within two points in the team score, 7-5. Cornell faced another top-20 wrestler at 149 pounds in Lehigh's No. 15 Matt Ciasulli. Junior Keith Dickey got the starting nod for the Big Red. After a Ciasulli takedown in the first period, the Lehigh junior also scored a reversal in the second to take a 4-0 lead. Dickey escaped to start the third and scored a takedown with a minute to go to make it a one-point match, but Ciasulli escaped and, after a penalty point and the riding time point, held on for a 7-3 decision. Ciasulli's victory gave Lehigh its first lead, 8-7. Trailing for the first time on the afternoon, the Big Red sent senior Dustin Manotti, ranked No. 4, to the mat for the 157 pound match against No. 10 Derek Zinck. The first period was slow-paced, but Manotti scored a takedown with a minute to go and finished the first up 2-1. The only scoring in the second period was a penalty point awarded to Zinck after the referee called Manotti for stalling. Tied heading into the third, Manotti chose down and escaped quickly, getting to his feet where he would eventually take Zinck down one more time. With 2:14 of riding time, Manotti took a 6-2 win and regained the lead for the Big Red, 10-8. Sophomore Steve Anceravage, ranked No. 13, kept the Big Red on the winning track against Dave Nakasone. With a considerable height advantage, Anceravage took Nakasone down two minutes into the first period but the period ended tied at 2-2 after Nakasone got two points on a reversal as time was winding down. Anceravage got three points in the second after an escape and a takedown to go up 5-2. Nakasone wouldn't give in and, after choosing down to start the period, he escaped to pull to within two points. He then scored a takedown with 17 seconds left in the match to tie it up at 5-5 as time ran out. However, Anceravage had accrued 1:43 of riding time and took the win, 6-5. Senior Dan Miracola, who has spent time at 184 pounds this season while teammate Joe Mazzurco was out with an injury, took on No. 19 Travis Frick. Miracola entered the third down 5-1 and pulled to within three points with an escape. Frick was able to hold off Miracola's shots for the 5-2 win, getting the Mountain Hawks to within two points, 13-11. Cornell took control of the match in the next two bouts as senior Joe Mazzurco and Jerry Rinaldi each picked up decisions at 184 and 197 pounds, respectively. Mazzurco, ranked No. 7, went down 1-0 early in the second after Lehigh's David Helfrich chose down and escaped 10 seconds into the period. Mazzurco took the lead with a takedown with one minute remaining in the second period. The Cornell senior chose down to start the third and got the escape point to go up 3-1. Neither wrestler could score the rest of the way and with the riding time point Mazzurco took the 4-1 win. At 197 pounds, No. 8 Rinaldi faced a tough test in No. 16 Matt Cassidy. After no scoring in the first period, Rinaldi escaped to start the second and scored a takedown with 10 seconds to go in the period. Cassidy was able to escape before the period ended, making the score 3-1 heading into the third. Cassidy chose down to start the final period and was able to escape 30 seconds in. With Rinaldi and Cassidy on their feet, Rinaldi was able to hang on for the final 1:30 for the 3-2 win. Rinaldi's win gave the Big Red a 19-11 lead, cementing the victory for Cornell. In the final bout of the afternoon, sophomore Zach Hammond faced Paul Weibel. The first period ended with a flurry of action at the edge of the circle but neither wrestler could score. Weibel went up 3-0 after an escape and a takedown in the second period. Hammond was able to record an escape in the third but no more, as Weibel won 3-1, making the final score 19-14 in favor of the Big Red. The Big Red will have a week off before hosting Columbia at the Friedman Wrestling Center on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m. No. 5 Troy Nickerson (Cornell) def. Matt Fisk (Lehigh), 10-2 (md); C: 4 L: 0 No. 13 Mike Mormile (Cornell) def. John Stout (Lehigh), 9-4; C: 7 L: 0 No. 3 Cory Cooperman (Lehigh) def. Nick Bridge (Cornell), TF: 19-3; C: 7 L: 5 No. 15 Matt Ciasulli (Lehigh) def. Keith Dickey (Cornell), 7-3; C: 7 L: 8 No. 4 Dustin Manotti (Cornell) def. No. 10 Derek Zinck (Lehigh), 6-2; C: 10 L: 8 No. 13 Steve Anceravage (Cornell) def. Dave Nakasone (Lehigh), 6-4; C: 13 L: 8 No. 19 Travis Frick (Lehigh) def. Dan Miracola (Cornell), 5-2; C: 13 L: 11 No. 7 Joe Mazzurco (Cornell) def. David Helfrich (Lehigh), 4-1; C: 16 L: 11 No. 8 Jerry Rinaldi (Cornell) def. No. 16 Matt Cassidy (Lehigh), 3-2; C: 19 L: 11 Paul Weibel (Lehigh) def. Zach Hammond (Cornell), 3-1; C: 19 L: 14

BOISE, Ida. -- Oregon State earned a pin and two major decisions in the first three matches Sunday afternoon, starting the Beavers on their way to a 25-10 win over Boise State in Pacific-10 wrestling at Bronco Gym. OSU 133-pounder Bobby Pfennigs recorded the fall, with 125-pounder Eric Stevenson and 141-pounder Kyle Larson the majors for the Beavers (6-2-1 overall, 4-1 Pac-10), who won for the fifth time in their last six duals. Oregon State 197-pounder Dan Pitsch earned an upset of 12th-ranked Casey Phelps of Boise State (6-4, 2-3) and Ty Watterson, OSU's heavyweight who is ranked 17th nationally, took a 2-1 decision over the Broncos' Andy Patrick. Both teams were without nationally ranked wrestlers, as Beaver 157-pounder Tony Hook and BSU 133-pounder Scott Jorgensen were out of the lineup. The Beavers return home next weekend for their final three home duals of the season, all to be wrestled in the Merritt Truax Indoor Center. Oregon State wrestles Cal State-Bakersfield on Friday at 7 p.m. in a Pac-10 meet, then on Saturday OSU takes on Northern Colorado at 2 p.m. and Fresno State at 7 p.m. On Sunday, the strong start by the Beaver lightweights gave OSU a 13-0 lead. "Those first three guys did exactly what they're supposed to do - they went out and got it started," OSU head coach Joe Wells said. "They got everybody fired up … At Arizona State (in a loss on Friday night), we were close on some opportunities; today, we were attempting more and executing better. "It's always a team issue, because once you get some momentum built up, it's hard for the other team to take that back … We wrestled with some courage, we went out and scored points." After his 9-1 major decision over Cory Fish, Stevenson is now 21-7 with four pins this season, one ahead of Watterson for the team lead in victories. Stevenson has won 14 of his last 18 matches with all four pins in that stretch. Pfennigs, who just returned to OSU's lineup on Friday after being out with an injury since early December, flattened BSU's Jeremy Baker in 5:18. Larson then beat Jordan Brock 15-5 for his seventh straight win and his 12th in his last 13 matches; he's now 17-4 with three pins this winter. OSU 174-pounder Jeremy Larson, ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10, took an 8-3 decision over Ben Gilliland for his eighth win in a row. The larger Larson is 18-8 this season, having won 12 of his last 14 matches. Wells had thought the dual could come down to the final two matches, and by then the Beavers led 19-10. Pitsch's upset of Phelps - his first win over a nationally ranked wrestler this season - wrapped up the team victory and improved Pitsch to 10-8 this winter. Phelps went into the match ranked second in the Pac-10 while Pitsch was ranked fourth. Watterson then finished things with his victory, a 2-1 decision over Andy Patrick; Watterson is ranked second in the Pac-10 and Patrick fourth. Watterson is 20-7 with a team-high seven pins this season.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Indiana wrestling team buried Purdue, 24-13, in a fierce intrastate dual on Jan. 22 in West Lafayette, Ind. In the win, senior Joe Dubuque claimed his 100th career victory with a 10-3 decision over Brandon Tucker (PU). Dubuque became the 12th Hoosier to accomplish the feat during their IU career. Indiana improved to 11-0 and 2-0 in Big Ten action, while Purdue fell to 8-5 and 0-2 in conference contests. Indiana's 11-0 start to the season is the best start since the 1995-96 season when it opened with 12 wins. The longest win streak for a Hoosier squad is 14, set during the 1989-89 season when it finished undefeated at 14-0 and 6-0 in Big Ten action. The 1989 Hoosiers also finished eighth at the NCAA Championships that year. Defending national champion Dubuque got the Hoosiers on the board with his decision over Tucker at 125 pounds. Top-ranked Dubuque moved to 14-0 and 2-0 in Big Ten action with the victory. At 133 pounds, redshirt freshman Andrae Hernandez (IU) defeated sixth-ranked Chris Fleeger (PU) by default. Hernandez, who improved to 21-5 and 2-0 in Big Ten matches, suffered an injury during the contest due to an illegal move from Fleeger. The win gave Indiana a 9-0 lead. Purdue rallied to tie the affair at nine with back-to-back wins over IU's senior Nick Spatola (8-10, 0-2 Big Ten) and junior Matt Cooper (11-5, 0-1 Big Ten) at 141 and 149 pounds, respectively. Sophomore All-American Brandon Becker gave IU back the lead at 12-9 with a 7-1 decision over Jake Murphy (PU) at 157 pounds. Becker, ranked seventh in the nation, improved to 16-3 and 2-0 in Big Ten matches. Indiana sophomores Max Dean (21-6, 2-0 Big Ten) and Marc Bennett (12-8, 2-0 Big Ten) extended the IU lead to 18-9 with wins at both the 165- and 174-pound divisions, respectively. Dean surpassed Purdue's Dan Bedoy by a 10-8 decision in overtime, while Bennett topped Nick Corpe (PU) in a 4-3 decision. The Boilermakers then claimed their final points of the day with an 11-6 decision by fourth-ranked Ben Wissel over Indiana's Justin Curran (20-6, 1-1 Big Ten) at 184 pounds. At 197 pounds, senior Brady Richardson moved to 21-3 and 2-0 in Big Ten duals with his 11-6 decision over Nathan Moore (PU). Two-time NCAA qualifier Richardson currently stands nine wins away from reaching his 100th career win and is ranked fifth in the nation. Sophomore Dave Herman wrapped up the winning affair with a 4-2 decision over Aaron Keough in the heavyweight division. Herman currently leads the Hoosiers in wins with 23, and stands at 23-7 and 2-0 in Big Ten duals. The Hoosiers continue their Big Ten slate in back-to-back home matches against No. 3 Illinois on Jan. 27, followed by No. 7 Iowa on Jan. 29. IU will face the Illini at University Gym, while it will host the Hawkeyes at Assembly Hall.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's 16th-ranked wrestling team earned a 24-15 win over No. 22 Wisconsin to record its first Big Ten win of the season Sunday at the UW-Field House. The Wildcats fell behind early, but orchestrated a comeback with five-consecutive victories to take the dual. Overall, Northwestern earned wins in six of the 10 weight classes. With the match beginning at 157 lbs., sophomore Greg Hagel (Linwood, N.J./Blair Academy) took the mat for the 'Cats, facing Wisconsin's ninth-ranked Craig Henning. Henning took the lead early on a series of takedown attempts and went on to an 8-0 major decision win. With Northwestern trailing 4-0, No. 18 Will Durkee (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy) faced the Badgers' 19th-ranked Jake Donar at 165 lbs. Donar got on the board first with a takedown early in the first period. Donar increased his lead when he earned a three-point nearfall and a series of takdowns in the second and third periods. Durkee scored a takedown late in the match, but the damage had already been done and Donar took the match 11-2, giving Wisconsin an 8-0 lead heading into the top- four weight classes. No. 2 Jake Herbert took the mat for Northwestern at 174 lbs., needing to get something going for the Wildcats. He did just that. Herbert notched a takedown against Wisconsin's Mike Felling 20 seconds into the match and controlled the action from that point. After entering the second round with a 4-0 lead, Herbert recorded three takedowns, a three-point nearfall, an escape and a penalty point to take earn a technical fall at 4:25, 17-2. Not only did Herbert's win help Northwestern on the scoreboard, but it also swung the momentum in the Wildcats' favor. With Northwestern now only trailing 8-5, Mike Tamillow (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick) propelled the 'Cats into the lead with a major decision over Wisconsin's Justin Peterson. Tamillow earned a 2-0 lead with a takedown midway through the first period, then tallied a late escape to enter the second period with a 3-0 lead. Tamillow made it 5-0 with a takedown midway through the second round and increased his riding time to 2:02 at the end of the round. Tamillow continued his dominating performance in the third round, earning a takedown and a penalty point after Peterson was called for his second stalling penalty. Tamillow went on to the win the match 9-0. Eleventh-ranked Matt Delguyd (Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) looked to increase Northwestern's lead with a win over Wisconsin's 18th-ranked Dallas Herbst. After a scoreless first period, the two traded escapes in the second round to enter the third period with a 1-1 tie. Herbst earned a point on an escape to start the third, but Delguyd came through with a single-leg takedown to regain the lead. Delguyd rode Herbst for the remainder of the match and came out with a 3-2 win, extending the Wildcats' lead to 12-8. After a 15-minute break, ninth-ranked Dustin Fox (Galion, Ohio/Galion) earned a big win over Wisconsin's Kyle Massey. Fox earned two first-period takedowns to take a 4-1 lead into the second round. There, Fox quickly increased his lead to 5-1 on an escape. Massey was then forced to default after suffering an injury. With the win, Fox increased NU's lead to 8-18 heading into the 125-pound weight class. At 125 lbs., senior John Velez (Kings Mills, Ohio/Kings) took a 2-0 lead over Wisconsin's Collin Cudd midway through the first period. Cudd cut the lead to one point when he recorded an escape, but Velez notched a takedown with less than 10 seconds to take a 4-1 lead heading into the second period. Velez earned a takedown and an escape to begin the second period, but Cudd cut the lead to 7-3 with a late takedown of his own. Cudd made it 7-4 with an escape to begin the final round, but Velez outlasted him for an 8-4 win, increasing NU's lead to 21-8. After Daniel Quintela (St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park) suffered an 8-2 setback to Wisconsin's fifth-ranked Tom Clum, Ryan Lang (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Edward) took the mat for the Wildcats at 141 lbs. Lang faced Wisconsin's Ed Gutnik and went to work with an early takedown. Lang entered the second period with a 2-1 lead and increased it to 5-1 on an escape and a takedown. Lang recorded another takedown in the third period and went on to an 8-1 win with riding time, all but sealing the deal for the Wildcats. At 149 lbs., Jimmy Kim (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria Community) suffered a setback to Wisconsin's fifth-ranked Tyler Turner, but Northwestern had already clinched the dual. "Everybody concentrated on their individual matchups and that obviously led to a much-needed win. Now we can ride that momentum into Michigan next weekend," Northwestern assistant coach Drew Pariano said. With the win, Northwestern improves to 6-3 this season. The 'Cats return to action when they travel to Ann Arbor to face Michigan at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28. #16 Northwestern 24, #22 Wisconsin 15 157- #9 Craig Henning (UW) MD Greg Hagel (NU) 8-0 (4-0) 165- #19 Jake Donar (UW) MD #18 Will Durkee (NU) 11-2 (8-0) 174- #2 Jake Herbert (NU) TF Mike Felling (UW) 17-2 (8-5) 184- #10 Mike Tamillow (NU) MD Justin Peterson (UW) 9-0 (8-9) 197- #11 Matt Delguyud (NU) dec. #18 Dallas Herbst (UW) 3-2 (8-12) 285- #10 Dustin Fox (NU) Inj. Def. Kyle Massey (UW) (8-18) 125- #8 John Velez (NU) dec. Collin Cudd (UW) 8-4 (8-21) 133- #5 Tom Clum (UW) dec. Daniel Quintela (NU) 8-2 (11-21) 141- #6 Ryan Lang (NU) dec. Ed Gutnik (UW) 8-1 (11-24) 149- Tyler Turner (UW) MD Jimmy Kim (NU) 10-1 (15-24)