InterMat Staff

Bryce Andonian (left) and Alex Madrigal (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The Hokies host an in-state battle with George Mason in their annual event hosted at the Moss Arts Center. The Hokies have been on the forefront of teams hosting unique events to provide fans with a new experience. They have also hosted a Mat on the Mound event at the Hokies softball field to give fans a rare in-season outdoor wrestling event in Virginia. This will be the fourth event hosted at the Moss Arts Center--a beautiful performing arts center near campus in Blacksburg--and returns after not being hosted during the COVID year. I had the chance to attend the event when they hosted UVA in 2018 and it was an incredible experience that I highly recommend for all wrestling fans. Today's match against in-state foe, George Mason, will feature a mixture of starters and youth for the Hokies. With a huge dual looming in Raleigh, some of the usual starters for the Hokies will be getting a day off to ensure they are prime for next week. This will be a great chance to see some of the young talent the Hokies have waiting in the wings. Probables: 125: #21 Sam Latona vs. Benjamin Monn 133: Brandon Wittenburg vs. Cole Anders/Michael Rapuano 141: Collin Gerardi/Sam Hillegas vs. Kaden Cassidy/Shawn Nonaka 149: #7 Bryce Andonian/Kylen Montgomery vs. #23 Alex Madrigal 157: Jake Hart vs. Avery Bassett/Loranzo Rajaonarivelo 165: Clayton Ulrey vs. Tyler Kocak/Drew Dickson 174: Austin Dempsey vs. Logan Messer 184: Simeon Holmes vs. Kyle Davis 197: #33 Dakota Howard vs. Jeremy Seymour 285: #13 Nathan Traxler vs. Austin Stith The biggest things to look for in the dual--first and foremost, the possible return of Bryce Andonian. He hasn't been listed as a probable since before the Collegiate Duals, so I take this as a good sign moving into conference competition. I'm also looking to see if Sam Latona comes out firing like he did last week. He looked phenomenal against Binghamton last week; I'm hopeful he has returned to his top form in time for a huge match next week against #11 Jakob Camacho. The final thing I am watching is the reaction of #13 Nathan Traxler. He has been very excited about taking the mat at center stage and talked about it after transferring from Stanford--I hope it's a great experience for him and he continues the dominant run he has been on. The Hokies return to action next week in a rematch of last year's dual of the year in the ACC---taking on the Wolfpack in Raleigh next Friday night.

Iowa State All-American Jarrett Degen (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Friday's Dual Results Minnesota 19 Nebraska 13 125 - Patrick McKee (Minnesota) dec Jeremiah Reno (Nebraska) 7-2 133 - Jake Gliva (Minnesota) dec Alex Thomsen (Nebraska) 8-3 141 - Chad Red Jr (Nebraska) maj Jager Eisch (Minnesota) 9-0 149 - Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) dec Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) 7-2 157 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota) dec Peyton Robb (Nebraska) 4-0 165 - Cael Carlson (Minnesota) dec Bubba Wilson (Nebraska) 6-3 174 - Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) dec Bailee O'Reilly (Minnesota) 9-5 184 - Isaiah Salazar (Minnesota) dec Brandyn Van Tassel (Nebraska) 9-3 197 - Eric Schultz (Nebraska) dec Michial Foy (Minnesota) 2-1 285 - Gable Steveson (Minnesota) maj Christian Lance (Nebraska) 18-6 Northern Iowa 27 Air Force 11 125 - Kyle Gollhofer (Northern Iowa) dec Quinn Melofchik (Air Force) 7-2 133 - Kyle Biscoglia (Northern Iowa) fall Sidney Flores (Air Force) 4:58 141 - Cael Happel (Northern Iowa) maj Garrett Kuchan (Air Force) 21-9 149 - Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa) dec Dylan Martinez (Air Force) 6-4 157 - Giano Petrucelli (Air Force) dec Kaleb Olejniczak (Northern Iowa) 4-1 165 - Austin Yant (Northern Iowa) maj Trey Brisker (Air Force) 9-0 174 - Sam Wolf (Air Force) tech Dajun Johnson (Northern Iowa) 18-3 184 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa) maj Jake Thompson (Air Force) 14-4 197 - Noah Glaser (Northern Iowa) dec Kayne Hutchison (Air Force) 15-8 285 - Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) dec Tyrell Gordon (Northern Iowa) 9-4 Iowa State 32 Wyoming 6 125 - Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) dec Jake Svihel (Wyoming) 7-6 133 - Ramazan Attasauov (Iowa State) maj Job Greenwood (Wyoming) 12-3 141 - Ian Parker (Iowa State) maj Chase Zollman (Wyoming) 11-3 149 - Jarrett Degen (Iowa State) dec Jaron Jensen (Wyoming) 7-4 157 - David Carr (Iowa State) fall Darren Green (Wyoming) 3:54 165 - Isaac Judge (Iowa State) fall Cole Moody (Wyoming) 1:35 174 - Hayden Hastings (Wyoming) dec Joel Devine (Iowa State) 2-0 184 - Marcus Coleman (Iowa State) dec Tate Samuelson (Wyoming) 4-2 197 - Stephen Buchanan (Wyoming) dec Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) 6-4SV 285 - Sam Schuyler (Iowa State) dec Terren Swartz (Wyoming) 12-5 Lehigh 20 Columbia 16 125 - Joe Manchio (Columbia) dec Jaret Lane (Lehigh) 4-3 133 - Malyke Hines (Lehigh) dec Angelo Rini (Columbia) 12-9 141 - Matt Kazimir (Columbia) maj Connor McGonagle (Lehigh) 11-1 149 - Danny Fongaro (Columbia) dec Paul Watkins (Lehigh) 9-3 157 - Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) tech Andrew Garr (Columbia) 17-2 165 - Josh Ogunsanya (Columbia) dec Brian Meyer (Lehigh) 7-2 174 - Nick Fine (Columbia) dec Jake Logan (Lehigh) 4-3 184 - AJ Burkhart (Lehigh) dec Brian Bonino (Columbia) 4-2 197 - JT Davis (Lehigh) dec Sam Wustefeld (Columbia) 2-0 285 - Jordan Wood (Lehigh) fall Jalen Stephens (Columbia) 2:50 Drexel 22 Brown 15 125 - Kyle Waterman (Drexel) dec Hunter Adrian (Brown) 6-4 133 - Antonio Mininno (Drexel) dec Darby Diedrich (Brown) 4-3 141 - Timothy Levine (Brown) dec Jared Donahue (Drexel) 5-2 149 - Ricky Cabanillas (Brown) InjDef Luke Nichter (Drexel) 157 - Parker Kropman (Drexel) dec Mason Spears (Brown) 7-1 165 - Evan Barczak (Drexel) maj AJ Corrado (Brown) 10-1 174 - Michael O'Malley (Drexel) FFT 184 - James Araneo (Brown) dec Josh Stillings (Drexel) 9-4 197 - Santino Morina (Drexel) dec Cade Wilson (Brown) 9-4 285 - Lear Quinton (Brown) dec Elijah Anthony (Drexel) 5-2 Pittsburgh 24 Arizona State 19 125 - Brandon Courtney (Arizona State) dec Gage Curry (Pittsburgh) 10-4 133 - Michael McGee (Arizona State) dec Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh) 5-3 141 - Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh) fall Julian Chlebove (Arizona State) 1:44 149 - Kyle Parco (Arizona State) maj Dan Mancini (Pittsburgh) 16-2 157 - Jacori Teemer (Arizona State) dec Elijah Cleary (Pittsburgh) 6-2 165 - Anthony Valencia (Arizona State) dec Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh) 6-3 174 - James Lledo (Pittsburgh) fall Zane Coleman (Arizona State) 2:31 184 - Gregg Harvey (Pittsburgh) disq Josh Nummer (Arizona State) 197 - Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) fall Jake Ortiz (Arizona State) 2:26 285 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State) maj Jake Slinger (Pittsburgh) 18-5 Rutgers 21 Illinois 13 125 - Dylan Shawver (Rutgers) dec Justin Cardani (Illinois) 3-1 133 - Lucas Byrd (Illinois) maj Joey Olivieri (Rutgers) 13-2 141 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers) tech We Rachal (Illinois) 22-7 149 - Mike Van Brill (Illinois) dec Christian Kanzler (Illinois) 3-2 157 - Robert Kanniard (Rutgers) dec Joe Roberts (Illinois) 7-4 165 - Danny Braunagel (Illinois) dec Andy Clark (Rutgers) 9-3 174 - DJ Shannon (Illinois) dec Connor O'Neill (Rutgers) 7-5 184 - John Poznanski (Rutgers) dec Zac Braunagel (Illinois) 5-2 197 - Greg Bulsak (Rutgers) maj Matt Wroblewski (Illinois) 9-1 285 - Luke Luffman (Illinois) dec Boone McDermott (Rutgers) 7-2 Davidson 20 Franklin & Marshall 18 125 - Gio Diaz (F&M) tech Hale Robinson (Davidson) 16-0 133 - Kyle Gorant (Davidson) tech Jack Bruce (F&M) 23-7 141 - Wil Gil (F&M) maj Nick Cambria (Davidson) 11-2 149 - Cristiaan Dailey (F&M) dec David Loniewski (Davidson) 9-7 157 - Bryce Sanderlin (Davidson) dec Chase McCollum (F&M) 3-2 165 - Jaden Hardrick (Davidson) dec Crew Fullerton (F&M) 12-8 174 - Anthony Spera (Davidson) dec John Crawford (F&M) 8-6 184 - James Conway (F&M) fall Gavin Henry (Davidson) 4:17 197 - Finlay Holston (Davidson) dec Michael Wazen (F&M) 4-0 285 - Mitchell Trigg (Davidson) dec Vincenzo Pelusi (F&M) 5-2 Oklahoma 24 Lock Haven 15 125 - Anthony Noto (Lock Haven) dec Joey Prata (Oklahoma) 8-3 133 - Gable Strickland (Lock Haven) fall Caleb Tanner (Oklahoma) 3:45 141 - Jacob Butler (Oklahoma) maj Tyler Dilley (Lock Haven) 14-4 149 - Dom Demas (Oklahoma) maj Connor Eck (Lock Haven) 14-5 157 - Justin Thomas (Oklahoma) dec Ben Barton (Lock Haven) 4-1 165 - Ashton Eyler (Lock Haven) dec Joe Grello (Oklahoma) 5-3 174 - Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma) fall Tyler Stoltzfus (Lock Haven) 4:02 184 - Darrien Roberts (Oklahoma) dec Colin Fegley (Lock Haven) 3-1 197 - Jake Woodley (Oklahoma) maj Parker McClellan (Lock Haven) 9-0 285 - Isaac Reid (Lock Haven) dec Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma) 3-1 Maryland 25 Kent State 14 125 - Jake Ferri (Kent State) maj Tommy Capul (Maryland) 21-8 133 - King Sandoval (Maryland) fall Brendon Fenton (Kent State) 1:29 141 - Louis Newell (Kent State) dec Danny Bertoni (Maryland) 6-4 149 - Michael North (Maryland) fall Kody Komara (Kent State) 3:39 157 - Enrique Mungaia (Kent State) dec Lucas Cordio (Maryland) 7-4 165 - Brady Chrisman (Kent State) maj Gaven Bell (Maryland) 11-0 174 - Dom Solis (Maryland) dec Michael Ferree (Kent State) 7-6 184 - Kyle Cochran (Maryland) dec Colin McCracken (Kent State) 4-1 197 - Jaron Smith (Maryland) maj Tyler Bates (Kent State) 11-0 285 - Zach Schrader (Maryland) dec Jacob Cover (Kent State) 5-1 Oklahoma 35 Kent State 3 125 - Joey Prata (Oklahoma) dec Jake Ferri (Kent State) 6-4 133 - Gabe Vidlak (Oklahoma) dec Brendon Fenton (Kent State) 7-0 141 - Louis Newell (Kent State) dec Jacob Butler (Oklahoma) 3-2 149 - Dom Demas (Oklahoma) dec Kody Komara (Kent State) 6-3 157 - Justin Thomas (Oklahoma) fall Enrique Mungaia (Kent State) 1:02 165 - Troy Mantanona (Oklahoma) dec Brady Chrisman (Kent State) 7-6 174 - Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma) fall Michael Ferree (Kent State) :16 184 - Keegan Moore (Oklahoma) maj Colin McCracken (Kent State) 17-7 197 - Jake Woodley (Oklahoma) maj Tyler Bates (Kent State) 12-4 285 - Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma) dec Jacob Cover (Kent State) 3-1 Maryland 24 Chattanooga 14 125 - Fabian Gutierrez (Chattanooga) maj Tommy Capul (Maryland) 8-0 133 - King Sandoval (Maryland) fall Brayden Palmer (Chattanooga) 1:25 141 - Danny Bertoni (Maryland) dec Franco Valdes (Chattanooga) 6-1SV 149 - Noah Castillo (Chattanooga) dec Michael North (Maryland) 10-6 157 - Lincoln Heck (Chattanooga) maj Lucas Cordio (Maryland) 13-4 165 - Drew Nicholson (Chattanooga) dec Gaven Bell (Maryland) 9-4 174 - Dom Solis (Maryland) dec Carial Tarter (Chattanooga) 3-0 184 - Kyle Cochran (Maryland) dec Matthew Waddell (Chattanooga) 7-3 197 - Jaron Smith (Maryland) tech Nick Benton (Chattanooga) 15-0 285 - Zach Schrader (Maryland) maj Grayson Walthall (Chattanooga) 12-3 Buffalo 27 Long Island 6 125 - Tristan Daugherty (Buffalo) dec Robbie Sagaris (Long Island) 7-3 133 - Derek Spann (Buffalo) tech Bryce Cockrell (Long Island) 16-0 141 - Ben Freeman (Buffalo) dec Devin Matthews (Long Island) 6-1 149 - John Arceri (Buffalo) dec Drew Witham (Long Island) 5-0 157 - Hunter Shaut (Buffalo) dec James Johnston (Long Island) 8-2 165 - Noah Grover (Buffalo) maj Blake Bahna (Long Island) 10-1 174 - Ryan Ferro (Long Island) dec Jake Lanning (Buffalo) 8-1 184 - Pete Acciardi (Buffalo) dec James Langan (Long Island) 3-2 197 - Nunzio Crowley (Long Island) dec Sam Mitchell (Buffalo) 3-2 285 - Toby Cahill (Buffalo) dec Tim Nagosky (Long Island) 5-2 Bucknell 20 Harvard 12 125 - Brandon Seidman (Bucknell) dec Beau Bayless (Harvard) 5-2 133 - Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) dec Dillon Murphy (Harvard) 6-4 141 - Michael Jaffe (Harvard) dec Noah Levett (Bucknell) 6-1 149 - Lukus Stricker (Harvard) dec Kolby Depron (Bucknell) 8-5 157 - Trevor Tarsi (Harvard) dec Nick Delp (Bucknell) 5-3 165 - Zach Hartman (Bucknell) maj Alex Whitworth (Harvard) 10-2 174 - Sam Barnes (Bucknell) dec Michael Doggett (Harvard) 5-0 184 - Logan Deacetis (Bucknell) maj Luke Rada (Harvard) 10-2 197 - Mason McCready (Bucknell) dec Nick Marcenelle (Harvard) 6-3 285 - Jeffrey Crooks (Harvard) dec Luke Niemeyer (Bucknell) 3-2 Michigan 29 Ohio State 8 125 - Nick Suriano (Michigan) maj Malik Heinselman (Ohio State) 11-3 133 - Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) maj Will Betancourt (Ohio State) 14-5 141 - Stevan Micic (Michigan) dec Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State) 12-7 149 - Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) dec Cole Mattin (Michigan) 9-4 157 - Will Lewan (Michigan) dec Jashon Hubbard (Ohio State) 6-3 165 - Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) tech Patrick Nolan (Michigan) 22-6 174 - Logan Massa (Michigan) dec Ethan Smith (Ohio State) 10-5 184 - Myles Amine (Michigan) dec Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) 3-1SV 197 - Patrick Brucki (Michigan) dec Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State) 5-2 285 - Mason Parris (Michigan) fall Tate Orndorff (Ohio State) 2:21 George Mason 31 VMI 8 125 - Ben Monn (George Mason) FFT 133 - Michael Rapuano (George Mason) maj Cam Chicella (VMI) 19-5 141 - Kaden Cassidy (George Mason) maj Freddy Junko (VMI) 9-1 149 - Alex Madrigal (George Mason) fall Seth Fillers (VMI) 3:36 157 - Avery Bassett (George Mason) dec Blake Showers (VMI) 5-4 165 - Tyler Kocak (George Mason) dec River Carroll (VMI) 8-4 174 - Logan Messer (George Mason) dec Jon Hoover (VMI) 3-1 184 - Zach Brown (VMI) tech Kyle Davis (George Mason) 16-1 197 - Tyler Mousaw (VMI) dec Jon List (George Mason) 5-3 285 - Austin Stith (George Mason) dec Josh Evans (VMI) 8-6SV Iowa 33 Northwestern 6 125 - Drake Ayala (Iowa) dec Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) 6-5 133 - Chris Cannon (Northwestern) dec Cullan Schriever (Iowa) 5-3 141 - Frankie Tal-Shahar (Northwestern) dec Drew Bennett (Iowa) 10-6 149 - Max Murin (Iowa) dec Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) 4-3 157 - Kaleb Young (Iowa) dec Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) 6-4 165 - Alex Marinelli (Iowa) FFT 174 - Michael Kemerer (Iowa) fall Ankhaa Enkhmandakh (Northwestern) 2:37 184 - Abe Assad (Iowa) tech Jack Jessen (Northwestern) 16-0 197 - Jacob Warner (Iowa) maj Andrew Davison (Northwestern) 11-2 285 - Tony Cassioppi (Iowa) dec Lucas Davison (Northwestern) 7-3 Oregon State 34 Little Rock 0 125 - Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State) maj Jaden Carson (Little Rock) 12-4 133 - Devan Turner (Oregon State) maj Jaylen Carson (Little Rock) 12-2 141 - Grant Willits (Oregon State) dec Conner Ward (Little Rock) 10-3 149 - Cory Crooks (Oregon State) dec Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) 3-1 157 - Hunter Willits (Oregon State) dec Chase Tebbets (Little Rock) 7-2 165 - Matthew Olguin (Oregon State) dec Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) 6-1 174 - Aaron Olmos (Oregon State) dec Triston Wills (Little Rock) 8-5 184 - Trey Munoz (Oregon State) tech Tanner Mendoza (Little Rock) 25-10 197 - Ryan Reyes (Oregon State) dec Brooks Sacharczyk (Little Rock) 16-14 285 - Gary Traub (Oregon State) dec Josiah Hill (Little Rock) 11-6TB

2x NCAA qualifier Jackson DiSario (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) The weekend's action started Friday, when conference leader, #6 Arizona State was stunned by #25 Pittsburgh, 24-19, in enemy territory. The Sun Devils won six of ten bouts, but conceded a few too many bonus points on the evening. On the West Coast, #23 Oregon State spoiled Little Rock's conference-season opener with a definitive 34-0, ten-match sweep. (More on these duals in the upcoming recap!) Upcoming Saturday, January 15th Little Rock at Stanford - Live via Pac-12 Insider (TV)/Pac-12 Plus Stanford (Web) @ 5pm PST - *Pac-12 Dual-Meet The Trojans have little time to pity themselves as they face another talented conference foe in Stanford in the second and final leg of their West Coast road-trip. Projected Line-ups: Little Rock vs. Stanford 125: Jayden Carson vs. Logan Ashton 133: Jaylen Carson vs. #29 Jackson DiSario 141: Conner Ward vs. #6 Real Woods 149: Joseph Bianchi vs. #13 Jaden Abas 157: Chase Tebbets vs. Charlie Darracott 165: Tyler Brennan vs. #4 Shane Griffith 174: Triston Wills vs. #29 Tyler Eischens 184: Tanner Mendoza vs. Colbey Harlan OR Judah Duhm 197: Brooks Sacharczyk vs. Nick Stemmet 285: Josiah Hill vs. Peter Ming OR Seamus O'Malley Sunday, January 16th CSU Bakersfield at the Chippewa Challenge - Live via ESPN+ (TV/Web) @ 8am PST Cal-State Bakersfield looks to rebound at the Chippewa Challenge dual-meet event after a humbling, 44-0 defeat to the #8 Iowa Cyclones earlier in the week. They'll have three opportunities to notch their first dual-victory of the year, as they face host Central Michigan (8am PST), Campbell (10am), and American (12pm), respectively. Projected Line-ups: CSU Bakersfield vs. Central Michigan vs. Campbell vs. American 125: Eddie Flores vs. Brock Berglin OR Sean Spidle vs. Korbin Meink OR Zurich Storm OR Anthony Molton vs. Max Leete 133: #16 Chance Rich vs. Ja'Kerion Merritt OR Vince Perez vs. Domenic Zaccone vs. Andy Fallon OR Jack Maida 141: #27 Angelo Martinoni OR Louie Ramos vs. #13 Desden Simon OR Drew Marten vs. Shannon Hanna OR Chris Rivera vs. Ethan Szerencsits 149: Josh Brown vs. #27 Corbyn Munson OR Mason Breece vs. #9 Josh Heil vs. Patrick Ryan OR Ryan Zimmerman 157: Brock Rogers vs. #18 Johnny Lovett vs. Matthew Dallara OR Jake Chisholm vs. Elijah White OR Antonio Segura 165: Augustine Garcia vs. Tracey Hubbard OR Alex Jacobs vs. Troy Nation vs. Breon Phifer 174: Albert Urias vs. Bret Fedewa vs. #18 Austin Murphy vs. Tim Fitzpatrick OR Ben Root 184: Jacob Hansen vs. Ben Cushman vs. #25 Caleb Hopkins OR Cameron Andrews vs. Colin Shannon 197: Josh Loomer OR Mateo Morales vs. Aaron Bolo OR Cade Dallwitz vs. Chris Kober or Levi Hopkins vs. Carsten Rawls OR Connor Bourne 285: Jake Andrews OR Jacob Sieder vs. #9 Matt Stencel vs. #25 Taye Ghadiali vs. Issac Righter #6 Arizona State vs. Princeton - Live via ESPN+ (TV/Web) @ 9am PST The Sun Devils look to finish their East Coast travels with a victory before they start their conference-dual slate at Cal Poly and at CSU Bakersfield, next weekend. The marquee bouts of the morning will likely be at 125lbs and 157lbs, when Sun Devil and Tiger All-Americans collide. Project Line-ups: #6 Arizona State vs. Princeton 125: #4 Brandon Courtney vs. #2 Patrick Glory 133: #4 Michael McGee vs. Nick Masters 141: Julian Chlebove vs. Danny Coles 149: #11 Kyle Parco vs. Marshall Keller 157: #3 Jacori Teemer vs. #11 Quincy Monday 165: #6 Anthony Valencia vs. Jake Marsh 174: Zane Coleman vs. Nate Dugan 184: Josh Nummer vs. #22 Travis Stefanik 197: #9 Kordell Norfleet vs. #16 Luke Stout 285: #3 Cohlton Schultz vs. Matt Cover

Michael McGee (left) and Micky Phillippi (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The Panthers welcome their second top-10 team to Fitzgerald Field House in the past week as the Sun Devils of Arizona State come to Pittsburgh for a Friday night dual. 125: #32 Gage Curry vs. #4 Brandon Courtney Courtney has continued to impress after an NCAA finals appearance last season and he looks very dangerous every time he steps on the mat. Curry has competed well for the Panthers and has some great wins on the year, but he will have a fight on his hands against Courtney. 133: #7 Micky Phillippi vs. #4 Michael McGee This is definitely one of the more intriguing matchups of the dual. McGee has been on a tear and has shown some impressive offensive skill against tough competition. Phillippi, as always, has been consistent and methodical in controlling his matches en route to a 9-2 record to start the year. If Phillippi can slow the pace of the match, he has the ability to use his counter-offense to score off of McGee's shots. This could be a very entertaining match. 141: #22 Cole Matthews vs. Julian Chlebove Matthews has been on a roll and is the reigning ACC Wrestler of the Week after upsetting #3 Stevan Micic on Sunday. He has been very impressive this year and has won three of his last four by pin. He'll look to continue this streak and help the team by trying to pick up bonus points. 149: Dan Mancini/Luke Kemerer vs #11 Kyle Parco Parco has looked strong and very offensive since transferring from Fresno State. This will be a tough task for Mancini or Kemerer as they look to limit the team damage. 157: #21 Elijah Cleary vs #3 Jacori Teemer This one has the potential to be closer than the rankings may indicate. Cleary is very difficult to score on, and as of late, has been much more offensive and putting up more points of his own. Teemer can score points in bunches and is very dangerous. Cleary will look to control the pace of the match and limit the opportunities for Teemer. If Cleary is able to keep this a low-scoring match, he has the ability to win what would be a huge statement match for him. 165: #13 Jake Wentzel vs. #6 Anthony Valencia This is another big clash of styles and the result will be based entirely on who is able to inflict their style on the other. Wentzel is controlling, loves to work from ties in neutral and has a punishing top game. Valencia is wide open and attacking and uses his length incredibly well on top. 174: Hunter Kernan/James Lledo vs. Zane Coleman In terms of team score, this match could play a big role. The Panthers will need some points here to stay in the race. 184: #31 Gregg Harvey vs. Josh Nummer Great chance for Harvey to help the team. He has slowed down a little since a strong start but is still wrestling well. If he can push for bonus here, it would be big for Pitt's chances. 197: #8 Nino Bonaccorsi vs #10 Kordell Norfleet This will be the second top-10 opponent for Bonaccorsi this week after falling to then-#9 Patrick Brucki against Michigan. Another battle of contrasting styles, but I like Nino in this one. He commands the mat so well and is able to control matches; I think he is able to do that to Norfleet and can neutralize his offensive power. 285: Jake Slinger vs #3 Cohlton Schultz Slinger has played a huge role in icing duals for the Panthers this year. Could he pull off a huge upset here? I'm not betting against Schultz--he will be looking to make a statement and pick up the team win with bonus points. It will be a big test for Slinger to slow him down. This dual favors ASU on paper, but Pittsburgh has the talent to keep it close and possibly pull off the upset in front of their home crowd. It will take a near-flawless performance by the Panthers, but there is a route to victory. The Sun Devils have a solid dual team with threats up and down the lineup. This will definitely be a fun night of wrestling in Pittsburgh.

Josh (left) and Justin Portillo (right) (Photos/Josh by Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com, Justin by Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com) #1 Grand View (NAIA) vs #4 Nebraska-Kearney Saturday, January 15th Kearney, Nebraska Twitter: Vikings Lopers Watch Live What is bigger than 110 straight dual wins? What is bigger than two perennial wrestling powers finally meeting? What could be bigger than two universities that finished as runner-up at their last national championship tournament? Is there anything bigger than a Saturday battle between titans in the wrestling world? Go back to Ali versus Foreman in the jungle. Do you remember the Miracle on Ice? How about the Yankees versus Red Sox in game seven? All of these massive matchups pale in comparison to what we have brewing Saturday. Really, the only fight that could have been close was "Holyfield v Schwartzkopf," but we all know that the heavyweight champ punked out of the "War on the Shore." There will be no ducking or bumping this Saturday in Kearney. Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, I present to you, Josh Portillo versus Justin Portillo. There has been a great history of wrestling brothers: Banach, Schultz, Steiner, Brands, Sanders, the list goes on and on. What those families were able to avoid was being on opposite sides of the mat in college. We have all heard the stories of the Brands having to be separated in the Iowa room, but what would have happened if they had gone to opposing powers and had to actually wrestle? I am not 100% certain, but I feel like Bonnie would have had to come down from the stands and it would not have been to hug the boys. I asked Papa Portillo his thoughts on the battle this Saturday and what he expected, "no punches thrown" was his reply. Regino Portillo and I met in 2019 on our way to Cleveland for the national championship and ever since then, I have always enjoyed the quick interactions I have had with him. I can recognize him, which is a huge problem I have with his sons. You see, Justin and Josh are twins. And when Justin is at the Division II national tournament, he sports his brother's Loper's logo. More than twice and closer to three times, I have spoken to him like he was Justin with zero clue. What makes it even sadder for me, in 2020, Josh and I sat down for one of the best talks I have ever had with a young man on camera. We are talking about a soul-bearing reflection. And still, I somehow cannot tell the two of them apart unless I really take the time. I can tell the Brands apart at a glance! The two actually shared a title at the Ridgewater Open way back in their redshirt season in 2016-2017 while members of the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits. I do not want to point fingers, but we all know which one did not want to scrap. I kid. Honestly, teammates share titles all the time. I really wish I could be in Nebraska to watch this. That should tell you how badly I want this; I never want to be in Nebraska. Their corn is trash. Their Huskers "sell-outs" are a joke. It is the only state you can drive across on cruise control without touching your wheel if your vehicle is properly aligned. But I want to be there, dang it. The Clarion, Iowa natives spent a year in Brookings before departing. Justin headed to Grand View University back in his native state. Josh left for the state of Nebraska and the Division II powerhouse Nebraska-Kearney. They have each found success in their new homes. They are both multiple-time All-Americans. They have both excelled on the mat and in the classroom. They have both grown as young men. What Justin has had, though, is the chance to hoist a team national championship trophy with his squad. Josh has been close but is still reaching for that lofty goal. In 2021, Josh and the Lopers were one match away from their own banner raising ceremony. Kearney is going to battle for a national championship this season. Grand View will be doing the same. There is a video making the rounds on Twitter from an "Iron Sharpens Iron" camp wherein an absolute barnburner of an exhibition, the brothers are apparently about to start OT in a 15-15 match. Josh (in blue) hits a deep firemans into a lift and takes Justin (in red) off his feet. The return is a nice drop that allows Josh to pull his head and finish the takedown to the gleeful shouts of all the campers. The quote from Justin on it should tell you all you need to know about his motivation. "I've replayed this match in my head countless nights. About 2 years ago, @p2funky_ embarrassed me in front of many kids who looked up to me at this wrestling camp… this Saturday, I seek to avenge my honor and regain my spot as Alpha Portillo once and for all!" I know dad said "no punches thrown," but he did not say anything about fireworks. Frankly, given the exciting styles of the brothers, I expect everything plus a kitchen sink to be thrown. I hope that they start all three periods in neutral. Justin is not going to take it easy this time around. "Been waiting for this one for a long time… people always ask which one of us is better. We are both usually pretty humble about answering that, but it's time to find out the answer once and for all. There's a lot on the line this match, and I just hope Josh is ready, because I will not be holding anything back this time around!" Josh, you have been put on notice. And #D2Wrestle, you have been given your warning as well. We cannot allow this aggression to stand man! I made sure to reach out to the best student in #D2Wrestle; that's not just my opinion. The NCAA literally gave him an award last year for being wicked smart. Josh already has "unofficial" win under his belt, but he wants more. "Anytime you put two wrestlers as dynamic and funky as us Portillo Bros, you get a scramblefest. We both like to wrestle open and score lots of points. We aren't holding anything back, we've wanted this match for as long as we could remember, not only for us but for our teams. Looking forward to a great dual and figuring out who the best Portillo is… well, for that day, at least." Do not let the hidden emoji fool you (it was one of those big smiley faces). Josh wants to win this one not just for bragging rights for him, but for the Lopers as well. Maybe no one understands all the storylines of this dual better than the one and only Jason Bryant. "This is some made-for-tv type drama that could be unfolding. Why doesn't Grand View put the streak on the line - well, here's one of the top Division II programs with Nebraska-Kearney - so it might answer a couple of questions. Is the NAIA's best comparable to Division II's best? How would Grand View do against the best from other divisions? But then to consider a 110-match win streak is also on the line and it could potentially come back to a set of brothers deciding it one way or another? Are you kidding me? I'll be doing everything I can to watch this, even while working the Virginia Duals this weekend." For me personally, I love grudge matches. And you may have noticed I have been doing my best to stir the pot a little on Twitter this week. Not that I needed to. Justin and Josh have been ribbing each other for this whole lead-up. But I seriously cannot believe that Portillo's Hot Dogs have not caught on to this. This has promotion written all over. Show up, bring some food, treat the fans and take the press. I really hope that they decide to start the dual at 133. Everyone deserves to see this match as the finale of what is going to be a great day of wrestling. And like Regino said, "guarantee that Portillo will win."

Army West Point 149 lber PJ Ogunsanya (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Friday 1/14 Brown vs. Drexel – Providence, RI (7PM) Bucknell @ Harvard – Cambridge, MA (6PM) Columbia @ Lehigh (#21) Franklin & Marshall @ Davidson – Davidson, NC (12PM) LIU @ Buffalo – Buffalo, NY (5PM) Saturday 1/15 Army @ Cornell (#9) – Ithaca, NY (1PM) Binghamton vs. Drexel – Vestal, NY (5PM) Brown vs. Bucknell– Providence, RI (12PM) Harvard vs. Sacred Heart – Cambridge, MA (3PM) Hofstra vs. Buffalo – Hempstead, NY (1PM) Lehigh vs. Navy – Bethlehem, PA (2PM) Sunday 1/16 American vs. CSU Bakersfield, Central Michigan, & Campbell – Mt. Pleasant, MI (11AM, 1PM, 3PM) Columbia vs Oklahoma State (#4) & West Virginia – Morgantown, WV (12PM & 3PM) Hofstra vs. Navy – Hempstead, NY (4PM) Princeton vs. Arizona State – Princeton, NJ (12PM) *ALL STARTING TIMES ARE LISTED IN EST* What I'm Most Excited For: Below is a match of probable matchups of ranked opponents we can see this weekend – in order by weight class. I'm sure there a few I'm missing, but these caught my eye. 125lb. Glory (#2) Princeton vs Courtney (#4) AZ State 125lb. Manchio (#20) Columbia vs Lane (#15) Lehigh 125lb. Manchio (#20) Columbia vs Mastrogiovanni (#6) Oklahoma State 133lb. Koderhandt (#23) Navy vs Hines (#19) 141lb. Kazimir (#19) Columbia vs Young (#18) 149lb. Yianni (#1) Cornell vs Ogunsanya (#22) Army 157lb. Cerniglia (#20) Navy vs Humphreys (#8) Lehigh 157lb. Teemer (#3) AZ State vs Monday (#11) Princeton 165lb. Hartman (#18) Bucknell vs Conigliaro (#12) Harvard 165lb. Ogunsanya (#22) Columbia vs Wittlake (#5) Oklahoma State 197lbs. Stout (#16) Princeton vs. Norfleet (#10) AZ State Where you'll find me: Once again, I'll be at the Lehigh match on Saturday as they take on the Navy Midshipmen. Let's see if Lehigh can keep the momentum rolling after their big win over Cornell last week.

Cavalier 165 lber Justin McCoy (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The Hoos travel east to the Virginia Duals at Hampton Coliseum for action Friday and Saturday. They will face Chattanooga, Lock Haven, Kent State and Oklahoma over the two days. Due to COVID procedures within the program, all duals will be contested as Extra College Matches and the results will not count toward team points, but individual bouts will count toward the season record. I'm hopeful that we still get some solid matches out of the lineup that UVA will send. The lineup for the weekend will consist of the following: 125-Patrick McCormick 133-#14 Brian Courtney 149-Jarod Verkleeren 157-Jake Keating, Jon Errico 165-#16 Justin McCoy 174-Robby Patrick 184-Michael Battista 197-#16 Jay Aiello There are a few significant (potential) matchups that I'm keeping an eye on this weekend. Against Chattanooga: McCormick vs #22 Fabian Gutierrez and #14 Courtney vs #21 Brayden Palmer. I'm also interested to see a new transfer from Northern Illinois, Nicholas Benton, take on #16 Jay Aiello at 197. In the Lock Haven match, we will only see one ranked opponent, but it will be a great test for McCormick. Anthony Noto is 17-1 on the year and ranked #27 in the country. He is a transfer from ACC foe NC State and has looked very impressive this year. It will be a solid match for McCormick to see if he can continue his momentum coming off a good weekend at the F&M Open. On day two, they will face Kent State and Oklahoma. Kent State doesn't currently have anyone ranked, but has a couple tough lightweights that will be good matchups for UVA. Jake Ferri at 125 and Brenden Fenton at 133 will both be solid matchups. The final match against #21 Oklahoma could provide the most fireworks for the Hoos. At 125 will be the return to VA for #16 Joey Prata, who transferred from VT and is a familiar opponent for McCormick. #14 Courtney could face #13 Anthony Madrigal--but he isn't listed in the probables for OU. Jarod Verkleeren could face a tough test in Dom Demas for the Sooners at 149-he only has one match at 149 this year, but #15 Mitch Moore (also a VT transfer) has been out with injury. At 157, Jake Keating made his return to the lineup at the MatMen Open and will face #16 Justin Thomas for the Sooners. #16 Justin McCoy will put his 9-0 record on the line against #28 Joe Grello at 165. Michael Battista will face #21 Darrien Roberts, who has had a quietly strong start to his season at 10-3. The final match will be the biggest! #16 Jay Aiello returned to the lineup over the winter break and has started off 3-0. He will face his toughest task of the year with #11 Jake Woodley. Both are three-time NCAA qualifiers and Woodley made his breakthrough to become an All-American, placing 6th last season. Both are very strong wrestlers who are able to control the match, so it will be a fun one to watch. The Hoos return to action next week to open ACC competition at Pittsburgh on 1/21.

Myles Amine (left) and Kaleb Romero(photos courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) One of the best things about collegiate athletics is the rivalries. Now there's a difference between a school in your conference, that you compete against regularly, or one in your neighboring state, and an actual rivalry. Ohio State and Michigan. It's one of the best rivalries in intercollegiate athletics. There's such dislike between the two Big Ten powers that they refuse to acknowledge each other by name. Rivalries are great in and of themselves, but what's even more fun for the general public is when both teams are good. Not only is there natural disdain between the two institutions, but there are also great athletes on the field/court/mat and actual stakes involved. Tonight, live on the Big Ten Network, Ohio State will host their hated rivals to the north, Michigan. Both teams come in unbeaten and ranked in the top ten. Michigan is loading up for a potential national championship and comes in at #3, while Ohio State has a team that could be looking at an NCAA trophy, too. They are currently ranked #7. This dual is jam-packed full of ranked wrestlers and enticing matchups, with national implications. Below is the probable lineup for both teams, along with some notes about the teams and competitors. 125: #1 Nick Suriano (Michigan) vs. #18 Malik Heinselman (Ohio State) 133: #8 Dylan Ragusin (Michigan) vs. Will Betancourt (Ohio State) 141: #4 Stevan Micic (Michigan) vs. #21 Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State) 149: Cole Mattin (Michigan) vs. #2 Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) 157: #15 Will Lewan (Michigan) vs. Jashon Hubbard (Ohio State) 165: #10 Cameron Amine (Michigan) vs. #7 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) 174: #6 Logan Massa (Michigan) vs. #7 Ethan Smith (Ohio State) 184: #2 Myles Amine (Michigan) vs. #7 Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) 197: #8 Patrick Brucki (Michigan) vs. #20 Gavin Hoffman (Ohio State) 285: #2 Mason Parris (Michigan) vs. #12 Tate Orndorff (Ohio State) This dual pits the #3 and #7 dual teams against each other. The two have combined to go 9-0 so far in 2021-22. 17 ranked wrestlers are slated to be in action. Every match has at least one wrestler ranked in the top-15 nationally. There is one past NCAA champion expected to compete (Nick Suriano: 2019) Four wrestlers in the dual have appeared in the NCAA finals (Suriano, Stevan Micic, Sammy Sasso, Mason Parris). Ten past All-Americans should suit up, combined for both squads. (Suriano, Micic, Sasso, Cameron Amine, Taylor Massa, Ethan Smith, Myles Amine, Patrick Brucki, Parris, Tate Orndorff). Two matches are expected to feature All-Americans clashing (174 and 285). Michigan's squad has loads of international experience on their side. Dylan Ragusin (2 Cadet Greco world teams), Steven Micic (2020 Olympian), Will Lewan (Cadet World Champion), Myles Amine (Olympic bronze medalist), Mason Parris (Junior World Champion). Ohio State has Gavin Hoffman, who was a Cadet World bronze medalist and Malik Heinselman, who made two Cadet teams and one Junior squad. Five wrestlers come into this matchup with perfect records. Suriano, Massa, Myles Amine, and Parris for Michigan. Romero is the lone unbeaten for Ohio State. While Ohio State has taken seven of the last 12 meetings between these two schools, Michigan has won the last two (both by two points). Both teams have been able to recruit at elite levels. Suriano #2, Parris #3, Kharchla #4, Massa #4, Sasso #4, Hoffman #10 were all ranked in the top ten of their respective high school graduating classes.

Oklahoma 133 lber Tony Madrigal (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Friday 01/14 Oklahoma vs. Lock Haven at Hampton, VA, 1:00 PM Kent State vs. Oklahoma at Hampton, VA, 3:00 PM Northern Iowa at Air Force, 8:30 PM (6:00 PM) Iowa State at Wyoming, 9:00 PM (7:00 PM) Saturday 01/15 California Baptist at Bloomsburg, 1:00 PM South Dakota State vs. Chattanooga, at Hampton, VA 2:00PM California Baptist vs. Lock Haven at Bloomsburg, 3:00 PM Oklahoma vs. Virginia at Hampton, VA, 4:00 PM South Dakota State vs. Maryland at Hampton, VA, 4:00PM Maryland vs. Oklahoma at Hampton, VA, 6:00 PM Sunday 01/16 North Dakota State at Wyoming, 3:30 PM (1:30 PM) Iowa State vs. Montana State-Northern at Belgrade, MT, 4:00 PM (2:00 PM) Iowa State vs. Providence at Belgrade, MT, 6:00 PM (4:00 PM) If this schedule holds up (Unfortunately, we know it won't due to a rash of cancellations from COVID), this is a great slate of duals for the Big 12 this week. What I'm Most Excited For: Iowa State-Wyoming. If both teams send out a full healthy roster, I think Iowa State is a pretty solid favorite, but Wyoming is a gritty team that could pull an upset if the chips fall in the right spots. Great matchups at 125, 133, 184, and 197 will decide if Wyoming can do it. This Just In: This morning South Dakota State announced that they would travel to participate in the Virginia Duals and face Chattanooga and Maryland on Saturday. Previously, the Jackrabbits were slated to travel to Utah Valley, but that was canceled due to Covid concerns.

Four-time All-American Jaydin Eierman (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Well, here we are over three months in on the mailbag and I have to be honest, I didn't know if I could make it past three weeks. I feel like we're settling into a groove here and apparently, there are awards that will further feed my ego, so my drive to better is sky-high. So strap in because it's time to earn some hardware and annoy the real writers out there. Seth Duckworth! I'm coming for you! But seriously, congrats Seth on winning NWMA Journalist of the Year. I'm honored to use your parking spot when you're at one of your other fifteen jobs. To your questions, and there were plenty of them. What does Jags make of Jaydin Eierman's start to the year? Bonus rate is sub 50% for the first time since 2017. Concerned? @Rhino184 So Jaydin Eierman, who's still undefeated, won a few matches by an outcome that was apparently not up to snuff with wrestling fans. Well, let me ask you this. Who says his opponents haven't just got better? The Riddler has been in school so long now he's nearly done a full four-year cycle at two schools. I assume he's hit his peak at folk and really isn't going to improve anymore at this point. Meanwhile, his competition is still getting better and you know he's getting every guy's best match, so no cakewalks here. His main concern now is March and that elusive title. Might there be some bumps in the road along the way? Sure, it's a tough season and his first full season since 2019. Maybe he's trying some new methods of preparation. Perhaps he's not showing his full hand on the mat. Either way, I still expect him in the semifinals on Friday night, likely against an opponent he's familiar with, and it's on him to get the job done. Jaydin's a pro's pro; he knows this. I'm not that concerned. With the continued success of #JaggerNight at the Jersey Mike's Arena, do you see a partnership budding between yourself and @RUWrestling? Clearly, it was a hit with fans. I had several celebrities ask me when the next one would be.@UWW_Creative Jagger Night at Rutgers was huge! On Twitter, that is. With the masks and the lack of indoor smoking, I was able to move about the arena unnoticed. But my boys showed up to kick some butt and we all had a good time watching it. I hope to make it back soon to watch with my dudes Brian and Dan and maybe then they'll get to crack some skulls when the paparazzi mob me at the turnstiles. Long-time listener, first-time question tweeter. How long till @keithgavin84 is verified on Twitter? And will it be before or after he turns the Pitt program into a perennial top-ten program?@babygravy3rdtry No real coach concerns themself with getting verified. (But I do, make it happen, Willie!) He or she knows the best way to that blue check is with success. Two finalists last year and another guy with a win over Micic leads me to believe he's doing something right over there. What they need is that one big recruit to put them over the top and open the floodgates to that top Western PA talent. If he makes that happen, I'm thinking top-ten every year. What does it feel like to be the hottest man on wrestling Twitter? @Gut_Bench69 So hot I went up in flames a while back. I appreciate the compliment and I guess I was alright for my age level, but now I'm hideous. Not as much a question but …. Discuss @MTorriero and his Twitter explosion. @Jkos11 Sheesh..has anyone burst onto the scene quite like Mike has? Ever wanted a running count of follows? Mike's got you. Ever wanted to be publicly shamed for not liking tweets? Mike's got you. I don't know what Mike's endgame is here, but I'm strapped in and ready to see how it gets there. That's all I can really say. Who the hell is Mike Torriero? @JonnyG7613 You're dead, man. You're so dead. Which Portillo are you taking & who wins @GVWrestling or @loperwrestling? @bvillaD2wrestle Family drama in the Great Plains! In the rarest of circumstances, twin brothers Justin and Joshua Portillo will be locking horns this Saturday as NAIA juggernaut Grand View travels to D2 powerhouse Nebraska-Kearney for an interpromotion dual meet. Not since Bret and Owen Hart squared off at WrestleMania X have we anticipated blood being spilled by men who share the same blood. Ok, maybe we want to see the Pauls bash each other, but that's beside the point. I have no idea how many sibling matches we've had in college. I'm not sure Jason Bryant even knows. This one should be fun as neither seems interested in holding anything back. I spoke to the brothers to see how their nerves were heading in and they do not seem to be rattled in the least. Slightly older brother Justin had this to say: “Last time we got into a fight, he called for our mom. This seven long minutes of pain, he will have nowhere to hide.” Interesting. Not to be outdone on the mat or by trash talk, Joshua chimed in with this: “The second twin is always the better one and that's a known statistical fact.” He's right. I googled it. With any luck, this will end up with proud papa Regino Portillo dragging them off the mat by the ears like the old days. Need your go-to order at the bagel shop. I'll hang up and listen. @damonfick Always a dozen, without a doubt. You never know what might happen. All-everything bagels, of course, but I'll mix in some plain in case I'm hosting communists that day. He's got a foking mailbag Man (facepalming emoji) @Tork76 It's more like extended Twitter replies, but my code still works at HQ. Well, that's about it for this week. I wanted to keep going, but you'll stop caring eventually, so I don't want to wear you out. An action-packed weekend with round one of the NFL playoffs and tons of great duals that appear to be full-steam ahead as of press time. Mix in a frozen Northeast and most of you don't have any excuse to do anything else, so fire up those screens. Take it sleazy, everyone.

Wisconsin freshman Dean Hamiti (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) One of the main storylines of the 2021-22 collegiate wrestling season has been the extra year of eligibility doled out by the NCAA, which has led to some sixth-year super seniors (and beyond). Those seniors, that otherwise would have moved on, have made for some stacked weight classes. For instance, at 141 lbs, the top-three wrestlers #1 Nick Lee (Penn State), #2 Jaydin Eierman (Iowa), #3 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers), all have already qualified for four NCAA Tournaments. In a normal circumstance, all three would not be wrestling in 2021-22. Additionally, #4 Stevan Micic has been aided by a regular redshirt, two Olympic redshirt years, and the free year. Sticking with 141 lbs, other members of the top ten that would have normally exhausted their eligibility include #5 Dylan Duncan (Illinois), #7 Kizhan Clarke (North Carolina), and #9 Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska). So with all of the super-seniors back for one last ride, what are some of the unintended consequences of their return? One seemed to be, fewer opportunities for true freshmen to stand out. My hypothesis was that the 2021-22 season would feature less prominent freshmen getting thrust into starting roles, because of the presence of their highly-decorated veteran counterparts. The first step was to determine who exactly gets the label of prominent or blue-chip freshmen? While the exact number could probably vary on a yearly basis, for the sake of this study, let's say that blue-chip freshmen are those ranked in the top-25 of their graduating class of high school. The easy part was figuring out which true freshmen have been given the green light this year. As the idea for this article was just a thought in my head, only Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) and Carter Young (Oklahoma State) had been stripped of their redshirts and allowed to compete immediately. That seemed like an extremely low number; just two of the top-25 seniors in the country had broken into their respective starting lineups as freshmen. Before I could get pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), Spencer Lee announced he would not be able to continue the 2021-22 campaign and Drake Ayala was pulled from redshirt, bringing the total up to three. So what does three mean? Is that higher/lower/equal to past years? Let's find out. Since the Class of 2013 (the first year of availability for MatScouts BigBoard), 5.5 of these “blue-chip” true freshmen have initially competed. That's vibes with my initial instinct that three was a low number. A big variable that was excluded in this exercise was counting wrestlers from the Class of 2020. Since the 20-21 season was counted as a free year, many true freshmen were used in dual action and it did not impact their eligibility, like it would in a typical year. Just for argument's sake, 13 wrestlers from the Class of 2020 got the nod from their schools in the 2021 postseason. That number would be higher than any other year surveyed. It still is not an apples-to-apples comparison, because some many now have started had it been a normal year. To take it a step further for the Class of 2021 (the current true freshmen). Let's see how many have been blocked by a sixth-year (or more) senior. #5 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) - 2021 NCAA champion Nick Lee is back at 141 lbs. It's reasonable to think that if Lee was unavailable, some combination of Bartlett and Van Ness would have handled 141/149. #8 Chance Lamer (Michigan) - Chance Lamer has competed at 141 and 149 lbs this year. At both weights, the Wolverines have wrestlers who have taken advantage of extra eligibility (Micic and Kanen Storr). While they have depth in this area, it's a possibility that Lamer may have gotten the call this year. #9 Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (Oklahoma) - Sixth-year senior Justin Thomas is Oklahoma's current starter at 157 lbs. Herrera-Rondon certainly would have been in the mix without Thomas in the lineup. #13 Cael Valencia (Arizona State) - Both of ASU's main options as 174 lbs have freshman eligibility, so Valencia is not blocked. With the Sun Devils in the NCAA trophy hunt, there's still the possibility we see Valencia this season. #16 Wyatt Henson (Iowa) - Starter Jaydin Eierman is in his seventh year of collegiate competition. His return certainly could have prevented Henson from starting immediately, though Hawkeye head coach Tom Brands can be reluctant to start true freshmen. #18 Caden McCrary (North Carolina) - The Tar Heels have Clarke at 141 lbs, who is a super-senior. It's not a lock that McCrary would have gotten the nod, as there are plenty of options for Coleman Scott's team in this range. #20 Cooper Flynn (Virginia Tech) - At first glance, it may not seem like Cooper Flynn was impacted by the extra year, but how about this? It's evident that 2021 All-American Sam Latona is huge for 125 lbs and will need to go up in the future. If AA Korbin Myers didn't return this year, maybe Latona is already up. If so, that would open a slot for either Flynn or possibly Eddie Ventresca to start at 125. Without the extra year of eligibility, it's not a given that all seven of these blue-chippers would have been starting in year one, but a few of them would have, for sure. Now, we have to remember, just because a wrestler is currently in redshirt, doesn't mean he'll stay there for the remainder of the year. Mark Hall made his official debut on January 20th. Mason Parris came out of redshirt during Michigan's first dual in January of 2019. Below are wrestlers since the Class of 2013 that competed immediately as true freshmen. Those that delayed enrollment for a year/grayshirted are not included. Numbers next to a wrestler's name indicate their ranking within their respective class. 2021 (3) #4 Drake Ayala (Iowa) #6 Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin) #11 Carter Young (Oklahoma State) 2019 (7) #3 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado) #5 Jordan Decatur (Ohio State) #6 JoJo Aragona (Rutgers) #11 Ryan Anderson (Centenary) #16 Ridge Lovett (Nebraska) #19 Michael Colaiocco (Penn) #24 Reece Witcraft (Oklahoma State) 2018 (4) #1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) #3 Mason Parris (Michigan) #12 Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State) #17 Patrick Glory (Princeton) 2017 (5) #2 Spencer Lee (Iowa) #3 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) #9 Nick Lee (Penn State) #14 Quentin Hovis (Navy) #17 Austin DeSanto (Drexel) 2016 (9) #1 Mark Hall (Penn State) #2 Nick Suriano (Penn State) #9 Luke Pletcher (Ohio State) #10 Isaiah White (Notre Dame) #11 Jack Mueller (Virginia) #12 Drew Hughes (Michigan State) #13 Mitch McKee (Minnesota) #19 Matt Correnti (Rutgers) #22 Dakota Geer (Edinboro) 2015 (4) #5 Myles Martin (Ohio State) #7 Joseph Smith (Oklahoma State) #10 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State) #15 David McFadden (Virginia Tech) 2014 (4) #1 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) #8 Micah Jordan (Ohio State) #20 Tyler Smith (Bucknell) #21 Ryan Millhof (Oklahoma) 2013 (11) #2 Zain Retherford (Penn State) #4 Joey Dance (Virginia Tech) #5 J'den Cox (Missouri) #9 Adam Coon (Michigan) #13 Eric Morris (Harvard) #14 Domenic Abounader (Michigan) #18 Edgar Bright (Pittsburgh) #21 Mike Racciato (Pittsburgh) #22 Brandon Jeske (Old Dominion) #24 Russell Parsons (Army West Point) #25 Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State)

Jonathan Millner (left) and Josh Finesilver (Millner photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com; Finesilver photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The Blue Devils will host in-state foe Appalachian State in Durham on Thursday night. Duke is off to their best start since 2014-2015, bringing a 6-4 record into the second half, and are looking to add to the win column. I've been very impressed with the scrappiness of this Duke squad and the ability of teammates to pick up for each other if someone has a down performance. They have been great about earning bonus points at any opportunity they can; five starters have a bonus rate of 40% or above. Logan Agin, Josh Finesilver, and Kaden Russell have a 50% bonus rate and Matt Finesilver is sitting at a 62% bonus rate. This is how they have had team success this year, but it will be tough to get bonus points against a stingy Mountaineer squad. 149 will be the marquee matchup of the night with #5 Jonathan Millner from App State squaring off with #8 Josh Finesilver. Finesilver is 21-1 on the year, with his only loss coming to the All-American from Boone. They also met in the bloodround last year at the NCAA tournament, with Millner also coming out on top. Finesilver has been incredible since that loss, winning 16 straight matches and earning the title at the Southern Scuffle; it feels like he has the momentum going right now to flip the result from the last two matches. The other ranked matchup will be at 174, where #13 Josh Finesilver will face #31 Thomas Flitz. Finesilver is 21-2 on the season, with both of his losses occurring at the Southern Scuffle. He was able to finish the tournament with a big win and captured back some of the momentum from the losses. Flitz has a couple nice wins on the year, but this should be Finesilver's for the taking and possible bonus points. The other two matches I'm keeping an eye on; at 125, Logan Agin returns on a three-match win streak to face #27 Caleb Smith. The other is at 165. Gabe Dinette has looked good in his last few matches and seems to be getting in stride in Durham. It will be interesting to see where he is against #21 Will Formato.

2x NCAA runner-up Daton Fix (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) As it has been in the past few seasons, we have seen more and more situations of top wrestlers not wrestle in duals and tournaments or wrestlers medically forfeiting out of competitions before hitting tougher/higher-ranked opponents. It's a bad story we seem to re-read every season. Compound that with the recent situation of schools canceling and postponing duals due to the recent precautions with COVID. Since my last article, several other programs have postponed or canceled their scheduled competitions for this week (Week 11), though not to the degree of last week (so far). This isn't going to be a rant on "how to fix the system" or how "wrestlers today don't love the sport" (like Kirk Herbstreit's comments). It's more of a short, succinct reminder. Wrestling isn't like football or basketball that has that next level with lucrative contracts or guaranteed salaries. There is the Senior level, which has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years, but it's nothing close to a guarantee except for a few. With the quick (and often misguided) trigger fingers in athletic departments today, any dual, tournament, season, even program, can be taken away in an instant (See Boise State, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State, Old Dominion, and the attempt on Stanford as recent examples). Even though we joke about Stevan Micic, Michael Kemerer, and Demetrius Romero getting AARP cards before they graduate, the truth is that those four (maybe five) years go by fast. Enjoy the time you have competing NOW. Don't look back years from now about matches that shoulda, coulda, woulda. And that's all I have to say about that. Anyway, on to week 11. Duals, Duals, Duals, and more Duals. That's the theme of this week as 72 of the 78 D1 teams are in competition (originally scheduled) and 17 of the Top-20 from last season's NCAAs also are slated to take the mat. There are a few non-scheduled tournaments this week, but entries are slowly being disclosed. Turn those notifications to "ON" to updates and changes. Got a question? Got a Recommendation? Let me know and message me@FantasyD1wrestl. Wrestlers I Like This Week Wrestler (School)- competition for the week [Proj Score] *organized by tournament name first, then by school name* 125: Anthony Noto (Lock Haven)- Virginia Duals, Vs Cal Baptist, Vs Bloomsburg [+14] Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley)- Vs North Dakota, Vs South Dakota, Vs Air Force [+11] Brock Bergelin (Central Michigan)- Vs American, Vs Cambell, Vs CSU Bakersfield [+9] Fabian Gutierrez (Chattanooga)- Virginia Duals [+9] Tristan Daugherty (Buffalo)- @ Hofstra, @ Long Island [+7] Pat McKee (Minnesota)- Vs Nebraska, Vs Wisconsin [+7] Joey Prata (Oklahoma)- Virginia Duals [+7] Vito Arujau (Cornell)- Vs Army [+4] Nick Suriano (Michigan)- @ Ohio State [+4] Noah Surtin (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Brody Teske (UNI)- @ Northern Colorado [+4] Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State)- Vs Little Rock [+4] Sam Latona (Virginia Tech)- Vs George Mason [+4] Joseph Fischer (Clarion)- Vs Cleveland State [+3] Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State)- Vs Rutgers [+3] Devin Schroder (Purdue)- Vs Michigan State [+3] Logan Ashton (Stanford)- Vs Little Rock [+3] 133: Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)- Vs Columbia, Vs West Virginia (@WVU) [+10] Derek Spann (Buffalo)- @ Hofstra, @ Long Island [+9] Tony Madrigal (Oklahoma)- Virginia Duals [+7] Austin DeSanto (Iowa)- @ Northwestern, @ Illinois [+6] Joshua Koderhandt (Navy)- @ Lehigh, @ Hofstra [+6] Anthony Sobotker (Binghamton)- Vs Drexel [+4] Dylan Ragusin (Michigan)- @ Ohio State [+4] Connor Brown (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Kyle Biscoglia (UNI)- @ Northern Colorado [+4] Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)- Vs Rutgers [+4] Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech)- Vs George Mason [+4] Todd Carter (Gardner-Webb)- @ Bellarmine [+3] Rayvon Foley (Michigan State)- @ Purdue [+3] Devan Turner (Oregon State)- Vs Little Rock [+3] Jackson DiSario (Stanford)- Vs Little Rock [+3] 141: Dresden Simon (Central Michigan)- Vs American, Vs Cambell, Vs CSU Bakersfield [+10] Matthew Kazimir (Columbia)- Vs Oklahoma State, Vs West Virginia (@WVU), Vs Lehigh [+10] Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)- @ Northwestern, @ Illinois [+9] Kaden Cassidy (George Mason)- @ VMI, @ Virginia Tech [+8] Ryan Anderson (Binghamton)- Vs Drexel [+4] Seth Koleno (Clarion)- Vs Cleveland State [+4] Grant Willits (Oregon State)- Vs Little Rock [+4] Clay Carlson (South Dakota State)- Vs Utah Valley [+4] Real Woods (Stanford)- Vs Little Rock [+4] Sidney Flores (Air Force)- @ Utah Valley [+3] Wil Gil (Franklin & Marshall)- @ Davidson [+3] Stevan Micic (Michigan)- @ Ohio State [+3] Allan Hart (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+3] Chad Red (Nebraska)- @ Minnesota [+3] Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado)- Vs UNI [+3] Parker Filius (Purdue)- Vs Michigan State [+3] Cole Matthews (Pittsburgh)- Vs Arizona State [+3] 149: Josh Heil (Campbell)- Vs American, Campbell, & Central Michigan (@CMU) [+15] Alex Madrigal (George Mason)- @ VMI, @ Virginia Tech [+8] Kyle Parco (Arizona State)- @ Pittsburgh, @ Princeton [+8] Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State)- Vs Columbia, Vs West Virginia (@WVU) [+8] Manzona Bryant (Lehigh)- Vs Columbia, Vs Navy [+7] John Aceri (Buffalo)- @ Hofstra, @ Long Island [+6] Peyton Omania (Michigan State)- @ Purdue [+4] Josh Edmond (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)- Vs Michigan [+4] Zach Price (South Dakota State)- Vs Utah Valley [+4] Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)- Vs Army [+3] Ridge Lovett (Nebraska)- @ Minnesota [+3] Yahya Thomas (Northwestern)- Vs Iowa [+3] Alec Hagen (Ohio)- @ Northern Illinois [+3] Cory Crooks (Oregon State)- Vs Little Rock [+3] Austin Gomez (Wisconsin)- @ Minnesota [+3] 157: Justin Thomas (Oklahoma)- Virginia Duals [+13] Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan)- Vs American, Vs Cambell, Vs CSU Bakersfield [+9] Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State)- Vs Columbia, Vs West Virginia (@WVU) [+7] Chase Saldate (Michigan State)- @ Purdue [+4] Jarrett Jacques (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Hunter Willits (Oregon State)- Vs Little Rock [+4] Will Lewan (Michigan)- @ Ohio State [+3] Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)- Vs Iowa [+3] 165: Justin McCoy (Virginia)- Virginia Duals [+14] Troy Nation (Campbell)- Vs American, Campbell, & Central Michigan (@CMU) [+13] Alex Marinelli (Iowa)- @ Northwestern, @ Illinois [+8] Anthony Valencia (Arizona State)- @ Pittsburgh, @ Princeton [+7] Austin Eyler (Lock Haven)- Virginia Duals, Vs Cal Baptist, Vs Bloomsburg [+7] Jared Franek (North Dakota State)- @ Utah Valley, @ Wyoming [+7] Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State)- Vs Columbia, Vs West Virginia (@WVU) [+6] Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+5] Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois)- Vs Ohio [+4] Tanner Cook (South Dakota State)- Vs Utah Valley [+4] Shane Griffith (Stanford)- Vs Little Rock [+4] Dean Hamiti (Wisconsin)- @ Minnesota [+4] Rodrick Mosley (Gardner-Webb)- @ Bellarmine [+3] Tracy Hubbard (Central Michigan)- Vs American, Vs Cambell, Vs CSU Bakersfield [+3] Carson Kharchla (Ohio State)- Vs Michigan [+3] Clayton Ulrey (Virginia Tech)- Vs George Mason [+3] 174: Michael O'Malley (Drexel) - @Binghamton, @ Brown) [+8] Michael Kemerer (Iowa)- @ Northwestern, @ Illinois [+8] Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma)- Virginia Duals [+8] Austin Murphy (Campbell)- Vs American, Campbell, & Central Michigan (@CMU) [+7] Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State)- Vs Columbia, Vs West Virginia (@WVU) [+7] Carter Starocci (Penn State)- Vs Rutgers [+4] Garrit Nijenhuis (Purdue)- Vs Michigan State [+4] Cade DeVos (South Dakota State)- Vs Utah Valley [+4] Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)- Vs George Mason [+4] John Worthing (Clarion)- Vs Cleveland State [+3] Peyton Mocco (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+3] Tyler Eischens (Stanford)- Vs Little Rock [+3] 184: Caleb Hopkins (Campbell)- Vs American, Campbell, & Central Michigan (@CMU) [+17] Darrien Roberts (Oklahoma)- Virginia Duals [+12] Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)- Vs Columbia, Vs West Virginia (@WVU) [+8] Abe Assad (Iowa)- @ Northwestern, @ Illinois [+7] Jonathan Loew (Cornell)- Vs Army [+4] Jeremiah Kent (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Parker Keckeisen (UNI)- @ Northern Colorado [+4] Trey Munoz (Oregon State)- Vs Little Rock [+4] Travis Stefanik (Princeton)- Vs Arizona State [+4] Hunter Bolen (Virginia Tech)- Vs George Mason [+4] Aaron Brooks (Penn State)- Vs Rutgers [+3] Taylor Venz (Nebraska)- @ Minnesota [+3] Brit Wilson (Northern Illinois)- Vs Ohio [+3] 197: Levi Hopkins (Campbell)- Vs American, Campbell, & Central Michigan (@CMU) [+15] Jake Woodley (Oklahoma)- Virginia Duals [+12] AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State)- Vs Columbia, Vs West Virginia (@WVU) [+9] Jacob Warner (Iowa)- @ Northwestern, @ Illinois [+6] Jay Aiello (Virginia)- Virginia Duals [+6] Louis DePrez (Binghamton)- Vs Drexel [+4] Rocky Elam (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+4] Nick Stemmet (Stanford)- Vs Little Rock [+4] Tyler Mousaw (VMI)- Vs George Mason [+4] Braxton Amos (Wisconsin)- @ Minnesota [+4] Pat Brucki (Michigan)- @ Ohio State [+3] Eric Schultz (Nebraska)- @ Minnesota [+3] Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State)- Vs Utah Valley [+3] 285: Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma)- Virginia Duals [+12] Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)- Vs American, Vs Cambell, Vs CSU Bakersfield [+11] Gable Steveson (Minnesota)- Vs Nebraska, Vs Wisconsin [+8] Zachary Knighton-Ward (Hofstra)- Vs Buffalo, Vs Navy [+7] Anthony Cassioppi (Iowa)- @ Northwestern, @ Illinois [+7] Jordan Wood (Lehigh)- Vs Columbia, Vs Navy [+7] Luke Surber (Oklahoma State)- Vs Columbia, Vs West Virginia (@WVU) [+7] Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State)- @ Pittsburgh, @ Princeton [+6] Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force)- @ Utah Valley [+5] Joe Doyle (Binghamton)- Vs Drexel [+4] Taye Ghadiali (Campbell)- Vs American, Campbell, & Central Michigan (@CMU) [+4] Mason Parris (Michigan)- @ Ohio State [+4] Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)- Vs Rutgers [+4] Nathan Traxler (Virginia Tech)- Vs George Mason [+4] Lewis Fernandes (Cornell)- Vs Army [+3] Zach Elam (Missouri)- @ SIU-Edwardsville [+3] Michael Woulfe (Purdue)- Vs Michigan State [+3] Gary Traub (Oregon State)- Vs Little Rock [+3] AJ Nevills (South Dakota State)- Vs Utah Valley [+3] Think I missed someone? Disagree with someone on the list or their projection? Want to know our thoughts on a matchup? Let me know! Win the week!

(photo courtesy of David Jablonski; Dayton Daily News) COLUMBUS, Ohio - In a historic move Thursday, the Ohio High School Athletic Association Board of Directors voted unanimously to add girls wrestling and boys volleyball as emerging sports beginning with the 2022-23 school year. In addition, the board voted to move girls and boys lacrosse out of the emerging sports category into the list of OHSAA recognized sports, and also committed to discuss partnering with a group to provide a tournament in Esports (gaming). The Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association has been conducting a girls wrestling tournament since 2020, and the Ohio High School Boys Volleyball Association has been conducting its tournament since 1988. "The OHSAA has been talking with the boys volleyball and girls wrestling leaders for several years and we are now in the position to bring these two sports into the OHSAA," said OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute. "This move will help those sports continue to grow and allow those student-athletes to compete for an OHSAA state championship. It gives more kids opportunities and that is the mission of the OHSAA." As emerging sports, girls wrestling and boys volleyball will be administered like the OHSAA's current 26 recognized sports, but will have additional requirements according to OHSAA General Sports Regulation 16 that could lead to full sanctioning in the future. "We will look to keep a very similar format for the girls wrestling and boys volleyball tournaments as what the coaches associations have been doing," Ute said. "The girls wrestling state tournament is held in mid-February and the boys volleyball state tournament is held in the spring. We have not yet developed tournament regulations, but we'll start working on that so that those two sports hit the ground running next fall for the start of the 2022-23 school year." The OHSAA added lacrosse in 2016 and the sport has continued to grow and now moves out of the emerging sports category, effective immediately. With the addition of girls wrestling and boys volleyball, the number of OHSAA sports grows to 28, with 14 for girls and 14 for boys. The OHSAA has been in conversation with Esports, as it has grown rapidly at both the high school and college level in the last several years. The OHSAA will look to partner with a group that specializes in Esports, similar to how the OHSAA partnered with Varsity Spirit for its sideline cheerleading competition that was held for the first time this past December.

Ian Parker (left) and Angelo Martinoni (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) A midweek treat aims to help us forget the matches that “were to be” as CSU Bakersfield travels to the heartland to face the #8 Cyclones of Iowa State. The late addition for both teams, scheduled for 5pm Pacific in Ames, Iowa (LIVE on ESPN+), provides the Roadrunners a serious tune-up ahead of the “Chippewa Challenge” event this weekend, when Central Michigan alum, Coach “Lightning” Luke Smith will introduce his Bakersfield team to his old stomping grounds in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, in the form of three duals against fellow Chippewa-led programs in Central Michigan, Campbell, and American. Before the Roadrunners can enjoy Smith's homecoming, however, they'll need to focus their efforts against a resurging Iowa State lineup that may feature as many as five returning NCAA qualifiers – a defending National Champion among them. The Cyclones could potentially field eight-ranked competitors, with the marquee match likely to be at 141lbs, where #27 Angelo Martinoni of Bakersfield could square off against 3x NCAA Qualifier and sixth-year senior, #11 Ian Parker. #16 Chance Rich may have his work cut out for him against currently unranked but talented Ramazan Attasauov, a Russian-native who has brought a unique flair in his approach to American collegiate wrestling. Although Iowa State wrestlers are favored, on paper, at the majority of weights, it is also true that there are just as many opportunities for upsets on the part of the Roadrunners. Currently, unranked Albert Urias (174) has spent time in the national rankings this season and a quality victory over #20 Joel Devine would put him right back in the conversation, while Brock Rogers will have his hands full with a Hodge-hunting David Carr at 157lbs. To bookend the lineups, Eddie Flores (125) will have a quality opponent in #24 Kysen Terukina, while either Jake Andrews or Jacob Sieder will aim to take out #29 Sam Schuyler at heavyweight. Potential Lineups 125: Eddie Flores (CSU Bakersfield) vs. #24 Kysen Terukina (Iowa State) 133: #16 Chance Rich vs. Ramazan Attasauov 141: #27 Angelo Martinoni OR Louie Ramos vs. #11 Ian Parker 149: Josh Brown vs. #23 Jarrett Degen 157: Brock Rogers vs. #1 David Carr 165: Augustine Garcia vs. Austin Kraisser OR Isaac Judge 174: Albert Urias vs. #20 Joel Devine OR Julien Broderson 184: Jacob Hansen vs. #9 Marcus Coleman 197: Josh Loomer OR Mateo Morales vs. #13 Yonger Bastida 285: Jake Andrews OR Jacob Sieder vs. #29 Sam Schuyler

2022 Southern Scuffle champion Cade DeVos (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Thursday 01/06 Iowa State DEF Northwest Kansas Tech 56-0 Friday 01/07 Northern Colorado at Cal Poly-Postponed Saturday 01/08 Oklahoma State DEF Little Rock 35-6 Sunday 01/09 Northern Iowa vs. Wyoming at South Dakota State-Extra matches only Wyoming at South Dakota State-Extra matches only ADDITIONAL MATCHES 125: Tanner Jordan (SDSU) dec. Brendon Garcia (WYO), 6-4 125: Tanner Jordan (SDSU) dec. Jake Svihel (WYO), 3-2 133: Gabriel Tagg (SDSU) tech. fall Darrick Stacey (WYO), 19-1 (4:07) 133: Job Greenwood (WYO) dec. Trayton Anderson (SDSU), 3-0 149: Jaron Jensen (WYO) dec. Daniel Kimball (SDSU), 4-2 157: Colin Realbuto (UNI) dec. Kenny O'Neil (SDSU), 8-2 165: Cooper Voorhees (WYO) dec. Jack Thomsen (SDSU), 6-4 [SV-1] 165: #29 Tanner Cook (SDSU) def. Cooper Voorhees, by fall 2:40 285: Terren Swartz (WYO) dec. Bowen McConville (SDSU), 5-3 285: #23 A.J. Nevills (SDSU) dec. Terren Swartz (WYO), 8-2 South Dakota State DEF Northern Iowa 27-13 Binghamton vs. West Virginia vs Virginia Tech-Round Robin Final Results 133: No. 32 Anthony Sobotker (BU) SV Michael Dolan (WV), 4-2. 141: Ryan Anderson (BU) TF Caleb Rea (WV), 16-0. 149: Nick Lombard (BU) FALL George Johnson (WV) 157: Alex Hornfeck (WV) FALL Tyler Martin (BU) 165: Brevin Cassella (BU) WFF No. 11 Peyton Hall (WV) 174: Scott Joll (WV) FALL Jacob Nolan (BU) 184: Anthony Carman (WV) FALL Sam DePrez (BU) 197: No. 11Lou DePrez (BU) FALL Jackson Moomau (WV) 285: No. 20 Joe Doyle (BU) FALL No. 22 Michael Wolfgram (WV) 285: Tristan Kemp (WV) 3OT WIN Over Collin Burns (BU). (RT) 133: Christian Gannone (BU) DEC Michael Dolan (WV), 5-0 141: Ryan Anderson (BU) MD Lucas Seibert (WV), 9-1. 184: Anthony Carman (WV) FALL Cory Day (BU) 133: No. 4 Korbin Myers (VT) major dec. Fr. Michael Dolan (WVU), 17-5 141: Sam Hillegas (VT) won by fall Caleb Rea (WVU), [T - 2:47] 149: Kylan Montgomery (VT) dec. Trey Johnson (WVU), 7-1 157: No. 16 Connor Brady (VT) dec. Alex Hornfeck (WVU), 8-6 165: Clayton Ulrey (VT) won by forfeit 174: No. 3 Mekhi Lewis (VT) dec. Scott Joll (WVU), 10-4 184: Anthony Carman (WVU) major dec. Simeone Holmes (VT), 10-1 197: Andy Smith (VT) dec. Jackson Moomau (WVU), 9-5 HWT: No.13 Nathan Traxler (VT) dec. No. 20 Michael Wolfgram (WVU), 5-2 141 Sam Hillegas (VT) major dec. Lucas Seibert (WVU), 14-4 California Baptist at Stanford-Canceled Northern Colorado at CSU Bakersfield-Postponed Iowa State at Arizona State-Canceled Best Event: South Dakota State over Northern Iowa 27-13 We got one complete in-conference dual off this weekend and this was it. There were a few guys missing here, but this was a solid conference win for South Dakota State that was anchored by falls from Tanner Cook and Cade Devos. Biggest Storyline: Everything getting canceled/postponed Unfortunately, this is a reality we're probably going to see some more of in the sport this season. Duals will be canceled/postponed and replaced by individual matchups slotted in their place. It's not good. It's not good for fans, it's not good for the sport, all the way around, it's just not good. That said, I have no idea what you do about it?! So, it's something we're probably just going to have to deal with it to an extent.

Wisconsin's 149 lber Austin Gomez (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) The Top-10 performances from the last week in the Big 10 Conference: 1. Austin Gomez, Wisconsin - A very formal welcome back to the show to you, Mr. Gomez. He knocked off both Rutgers' Mike Van Brill, a two-time NCAA qualifier, and Northwestern's Yahya Thomas, a returning All-American, this weekend. Gomez took Yahya down twice in the third period to win, 8-6, then took Van Brill feet-to-back in the third for a crucial 11-1 major decision. The Badgers won both duals, too, 19-15 over Northwestern, and 19-14 over Rutgers. Scared money don't make money. 2. Michael DeAugustino, Northwestern - Made his season debut this week, and all he did was beat a pair of All-Americans. On Friday, DeAugustino won 9-5 over Wisconsin's Eric Barnett, using a reversal and four-point turn in the second period to seize the lead. On Sunday, he took Minnesota's Patrick McKee feet-to-back in the third period to turn a 6-2 deficit into a 6-6 tie, then turned him again in the final 30 seconds for two more quick back points and won, 8-7. Another tremendous welcome back. 3. Michael Kemerer, Iowa - Tom Brands officially let the Kem Daughg out. Kemerer made his long-awaited season debut this weekend too, and very casually opened a can on both Minnesota's Bailee O'Reilly and Purdue's Gerrit Nijenhuis, beating both by a combined 26-2. He scored three takedowns in a 9-2 win over O'Reilly on Friday night, then rolled up a 17-1 technical fall on Nijenhuis on Sunday, turning a 2-1 first-period lead into a 13-1 advantage by the end of the second thanks to a cradle that netted a takedown and four back points. Pretty spry performance from an old man. 4. Drew Hildebrandt, Penn State - One more valiant return to kick off this week's list. Drew Hildebrandt, an All-American at 125 pounds last year for Central Michigan, made his Penn State debut this weekend. He won twice, including a 98-second pin in his very first match in Nittany Lion blue. His second victory was a workmanlike 6-2 win over Indiana's Jacob Moran. Penn State needs big points from this dude to win what's expected to be a hotly-contested team race in March. 5. Pat Brucki, Michigan - Took down a returning NCAA finalist in Pittsburgh's Nino Bonaccorsi - as if this weight isn't already weird enough - rallying from an early Bonaccorsi takedown to win, 6-3. Brucki went escape-takedown in the second period to lead 4-2, then added another in the third period to ice it. 6. Aaron Brooks, Penn State - AB was honored as the league's wrestler of the week for the third time this season after beating both Indiana's #8 DJ Washington (Indiana) and #12 Kyle Cochran (Maryland) this weekend. He major'd them both by a combined 32-11 - 13-4 over Washington, 19-7 over Cochran - and scored 13 takedowns between both matches while allowing just one. He's ranked #1 for a reason. 7. Gerrit Nijenhuis, Purdue - Yes, we talked about how Nijenhuis lost big to Kemerer, but did you SEE his big 6-4 win over Nebraska's Mikey Labriola on Friday night? This was a back-and-forth thriller. Nijenhuis led 2-0 in the first, then Labriola stormed to a 4-2 lead in the second, then Nijenhuis escaped, and went escape-takedown in the third to win. Combine this result with Max Lyon's upset win over Taylor Venz (more on that in a second), and that's partly how the Boilermakers beat Nebraska for the first time since 1985. Not bad, guys. 8. Drake Ayala, Iowa - Iowa's superstar true freshman rebounded from a Friday night defeat to knock off then-No. 5 Devin Schroder for his first win in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It's pronounced EYE-YALL-UH, for those who don't know, and Young Drizzy scored a pair of takedowns and clocked more than three minutes of riding time for the first of many big wins in Iowa's all-black singlet. Welcome to the show, young man. Let the good times roll. 9. Brayton Lee, Minnesota - Lee closed Minnesota's loss to Iowa on Friday night with a dramatic 4-3 win over Kaleb Young. After surrendering a takedown out of a scramble in the first period, Lee scored a takedown with less than 30 seconds left and rode Young out to win. That levels their all-time series at 2-2, and all four matches have been decided by a single point. Wild. 10. Max Lyon, Purdue - Previously mentioned Lyon's win, but he was previously 0-3 against Venz during his collegiate career, so this 7-2 win on Friday night was a nice monkey off Lyon's back. He led 4-0 after a takedown in the first period and escapes in both the second and third. Venz scored to close within 4-2, but Lyon went escape-takedown to ice another crucial win for the Boilermakers' upset win.

2020 NAIA National Duals champion Life University(photo courtesy of NWCA) NAIA Women's Wrestling took a back seat to no one when it came to competitiveness, strategic moves and upsets at the nation's biggest dual tournament last week. The top 5 NAIA teams in the country, and 7 of the top 10, showed up in Louisville for the NWCA National Duals, and they were ready to rock. Here's a recap, with a look at the surprises and the upsets. The 1st seed went to #1 Campbellsville, while the 4th seed went to #5 ranked Grand View. Campbellsville looked the part in a 45-2 thrashing of #7 Indiana Tech in the quarterfinals. Grand View battled to a 26-19 win over #5 Texas Wesleyan 26-19 in the quarterfinals, but in the semifinals, it would be Campbellsville who would prevail with the 26-18 win to move to the finals. On the other side were #2 Life University and #3 Southern Oregon. SOU downed #8 University of the Cumberlands 34-10 in the quarters, while Life knocked off #14 Baker University 33-10. In the semis, it would be Life with the 28-15 victory over SOU. That set up a final between Campbellsville and Life. Life would lead by 1 point going into the final match, between Campbellsville's 6th ranked Liliana Vergara and Life's 7th ranked Gabrielle Hamilton at 191. Hamilton secured the fall, giving Life the 25-19 victory and the NWCA championship. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Life's championship performance is that they started each dual with a 5 point deficit, as they did not have a 101 for the tournament. In the 3rd place match, Southern Oregon dispatched Grand View by winning 7 of 10 bouts, and #5 Texas Wesleyan held seed by defeating #14 Baker University 27-21. Oh yeah, there were some moves and a number of upsets. Here are some of the ones we noted (rankings courtesy of the most recent NAIA Coaches' Poll with apologies to any I missed): At 101, Indiana Tech's #7 Sydney Kutzke had a tough outing. She held her own against Providence's #1 Ivy Navarro, losing 8-3, but was taken down by Campbellsville's unranked Mia Diaz and Cumberlands' unranked Elizabeth Dosado. At 109, another unranked Campbellsville wrestler, Kelsey Bilz, should make an appearance in the next rankings after taking down Indiana Tech's #5 Tehani Soares and Grand View's #14 Chloe Krebsbach. #5 Soares also had a tough outing, also dropping matches to Missouri Baptist's #12 Jessica Corredor and Texas Wesleyan's #6 Jasmine Godinez. Campbellsville's McKayla Campbell, ranked #4 at 109, has not wrestled there yet this year. But at 116, she did find Life's Payton Prussin, ranked #1 at 109, who moved up for the tournament, and they delivered a wild one - 19-14 for Prussin. You might think Prussin won't stay there long, with teammate Salyna Shotwell ranked #1 at 116, but Shotwell bumped up to 123 for the event - and 123 is the only weight at which Life does not have a ranked wrestler. Or maybe not. While Shotwell did pin Campbellsville's ninth-ranked Jacqueline Ghent at 123, she lost to Baker's #2 Nichole Moore 1-5. Notably, SOU bumped 116 #3 Tara Othman up to wrestle Shotwell, but Shotwell prevailed, 10-6. While she wasn't able to knock off Shotwell, #9 Ghent did upset Grand View's 6th ranked Adrienna Turner. Another wrestler who bumped up for the event was SOU's Carolina Johnson, ranked #6 at 116. The move paid off, as she went 3-0, including a 9-3 victory over Grandview's 6th ranked Turner at 123. Not an upset, but you always love to see a 2 vs 3, and we got that at 123 when Baker's #2 Nichole Moore beat Texas Wesleyan's #3 Devin Patton. An interesting thing happened at 130/136, as Texas Wesleyan's Mea Mohler, #1 at 130, went up to 136, and teammate Lexi Basham, #2 at 136, went down to 130. The move fared well, as both wrestlers went 5-0 during the 2-day event. Another move here last week was Grand View's Andrea Schlabach, ranked #7 at 136, going down to 130 for the event. She lost 8-4 to Basham (#2, 136), but she turned around and pinned Campbellsville's Angela Vitiritti, #2 at 130. Also at 136 - recall that Life won the championship in the last match of the dual - it helped that #14 Olivia Mottley upset Campbellsville's #6 Randi Robison in that final dual. Earlier, Mottley also upset SOU's #8 Julissa Taitano. At 143, just a couple of matches of real note. Campbellsville's #5 Emma Walker downed Grand View's #3 Alexis Gomez in an 8-8 tie. Not a colossal upset, to be sure, but in her next match, Gomez would go out and get the fall against SOU's Emily Se, who moved up to 143. Se holds the 3rd ranking at 130, but she has yet to compete there this year, having wrestled 24 matches at 136. Louisville marked her first appearance at 143. There was a big move at 155, as Baker's Kaylynn Albrecht, ranked 8th at 170, dropped down and teched Missouri Baptist's #3 Tiyahna Askew. Also at 155, we got one of those #1-#2 matches you hope for at an event like this, as SOU's #1 Sienna Ramirez outlasted Life's #2 Destinee Rivera 4-1. More action at 170, starting with Life's #4 Jordan Nelson earning a 6-1 win over Baker's #5 Elisa Robinson. Shortly after that, Robinson was upset by Cumberland's #10 Chamira Cooper. And in the big one at 170, Grand View's #3 Abby McIntyre teched Texas Wesleyan's #1 Brittyn Corbishley. Finally, there was one big upset at 191, as SOU's unranked Karrah Smith pinned Cumberlands' #3 Jesse Kirby. All this tells us is what we already know - rankings mean nothing when you step inside the circle. And at the end of the day, what happens in January doesn't really mean much. A lot of these matches are likely to be repeated in February and March in the conference and national championships Let's wrestle!

(photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) We've got a great slate of duals over the next week. A staggering 65 duals are on the schedule for Wednesday-Sunday. Since it can be difficult to figure out where and when to watch all of these events, InterMat has put together a list of all of the live-streamed events occurring this weekend. Below are the dates/times and how to watch each match. Wednesday, January 12: CSU Bakersfield at Iowa State, 8:00 PM ESPN+ Thursday, January 13: Appalachian State at Duke, 7:00 PM ACC Network Extra Friday, January 14: Franklin & Marshall at Davidson Davidson All-Access Chattanooga vs. Virginia at Virginia Duals 1:00 PM FloWrestling Kent State vs. Maryland at Virginia Duals 1:00 PM FloWrestling Oklahoma vs. Lock Haven at Virginia Duals 1:00 PM FloWrestling Chattanooga vs. Maryland at Virginia Duals 3:00 PM FloWrestling Kent State vs. Oklahoma at Virginia Duals 3:00 PM FloWrestling Lock Haven vs. Virginia at Virginia Duals 3:00 PM FloWrestling Buffalo at Long Island, 5:00 PM NEC Front Row Bucknell at Harvard, 6:00 PM ESPN+ Drexel at Brown, 7:00 PM ESPN+ Cleveland State at Clarion, 7:00 PM Clarion Rokfin Columbia at Lehigh, 7:00 PM FloWrestling Michigan at Ohio State, 7:00 PM Big Ten Network Arizona State at Pittsburgh, 7:00 PM ACC Network Extra Illinois at Rutgers, 7:00 PM BIG+ George Mason at VMI, 7:30 PM ESPN+ Northern Iowa at Northern Colorado, 8:00 PM FloWrestling Iowa at Northwestern, 8:00 PM BIG+ Nebraska at Minnesota, 9:00 PM Big Ten Network North Dakota State at Utah Valley, 9:00 PM FloWrestling Iowa State at Wyoming, 9:00 PM FloWrestling Little Rock at Oregon State, 10:00 PM Pac-12.com Saturday, January 15: Chattanooga vs. Kent State at Virginia Duals 10:00 AM FloWrestling Bucknell at Brown, 12:00 PM ESPN+ California Baptist at Bloomsburg, 1:00 PM Army West Point at Cornell, 1:00 PM ESPN+ Buffalo at Hofstra, 1:00 PM YouTube Kent State vs. Virginia at Virginia Duals 2:00 PM FloWrestling Navy at Lehigh, 2:00 PM FloWrestling California Baptist vs. Lock Haven at Bloomsburg, 3:00 PM Sacred Heart at Harvard, 3:00 PM ESPN+ Oklahoma vs. Virginia at Virginia Duals 4:00 PM FloWrestling George Mason at Virginia Tech, 4:00 PM ESPN+ Drexel at Binghamton, 5:00 PM ESPN+ Lock Haven at Bloomsburg, 5:00 PM Maryland vs. Oklahoma at Virginia Duals 6:00 PM FloWrestling Michigan State at Purdue, 7:00 PM B1G+ Air Force at Utah Valley, 7:00 PM FloWrestling Ohio at Northern Illinois, 8:00 PM NIU All-Access Little Rock at Stanford, 8:00 PM Pac-12.com South Dakota State at Utah Valley, 9:00 PM FloWrestling Sunday, January 16: American vs. Campbell at Central Michigan, 11:00 AM CSU Bakersfield at Central Michigan, 11:00 AM ESPN+ Arizona State at Princeton, 12:00 PM ESPN+ Columbia vs. Oklahoma State at West Virginia, 12:00 PM ESPN+ American at Central Michigan, 1:00 PM ESPN+ Campbell vs. CSU Bakersfield at Central Michigan, 1:00 PM Presbyterian at VMI, 1:00 PM ESPN+ Oklahoma State at West Virginia, 1:30 PM ESPNU Edinboro at Cleveland State, 2:00 PM Wisconsin at Minnesota, 2:00 PM B1G+ Missouri at SIU Edwardsville, 2:00 PM ESPN+ Gardner-Webb at Bellarmine, 3:00 PM American vs. CSU Bakersfield at Central Michigan, 3:00 PM Campbell at Central Michigan, 3:00 PM ESPN+ Columbia at West Virginia, 3:00 PM ESPN+ North Dakota State at Wyoming, 3:30 PM FloWrestling Iowa at Illinois, 4:00 PM Big Ten Network Iowa State vs. Montana State-Northern at Belgrade, MT, 4:00 PM Navy at Hofstra, 4:00 PM YouTube Rutgers at Penn State, 5:00 PM ESPNU Iowa State vs. Providence at Belgrade, MT, 6:00 PM

Bucknell's 141 lber Kurt Phipps (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Below is a recap of last week's EIWA action, with individual highlights worth noting. Notable News Lehigh remains at the top of the EIWA. Jake Logan and AJ Burkhart each upset ranked opponents back-to-back to help Lehigh defeat Cornell. Army adds another last-minute road match against a ranked opponent to their schedule. Aidan Conner pins Isaac Trumble (#13 – 197). American – no action last week Army The Black Knights traveled to Lancaster, PA, to compete in the Franklin & Marshall Open on Friday. They had 29 wrestlers in action at the open. Then, they headed west across the beautiful state of Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh to take on #25 Pittsburgh on Sunday. Mark Montgomery earned 2nd place at 133lb. He had a win over Dylan Chappell of Bucknell. At 141lb, Julian Sanchez walked away with 6th place. He had a first-round loss to Zach Redding (#17) of Iowa State. Then, he rallied off 5 straight wins, including a win over ranked teammate Corey Shie (#33). PJ Ogunsanya (#23 – 149) was the champion. He had a great win over former Cadet World Champion Jarod Verkleeren of Virginia in the finals. Markus Hartman (#28 – 157) took home silver. He had two falls, a major, and a decision en route to the finals. Also, at 157lb, Nate Lukez earned 5th place after losing in the first round. He defeated Jack Bokina of Brown and Ben Barton of Lock Haven. At 165lb, Dalton Harkins finished in 6th place. He had a loss to Clayton Ulrey of Virginia Tech. At 174lb, Ben Pasiuk (#29) wrestled six matches, plus received a FFT in his final bout. His only loss on the day was to Nick Fine of Columbia. He had an EIWA win over Shane Finney of Navy. Sahm Abdulrazzaq was the runner-up at 184lb. He had two EIWA victories over Cory Day of Binghamton and Dom Mata of Harvard. Also, at 184lb, Daniel Lawrence wrestled to a 4th place finish. He also had a win over Mata of Harvard. JT Brown (#25 – 197) lost first round to Dakota Howard (#33) of Virginia Tech. He won five consecutive matches for a 5th place finish. Boxscore: Pittsburgh 29 – Army 10 165: #13 Jake Wentzel (Pitt) dec. #32 Dalton Harkins (Army), 1-0 174: #29 Ben Pasiuk (Army) pins Hunter Kernan (Pitt), 4:37 184: #31 Gregg Harvey (Pitt) dec. Sahm Abdulrazzaq (Army), 6-4 197: #8 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) dec. #25 J.T. Brown (Army), 8-4 285: Jake Slinger (Pitt) dec. Brandon Phillips (Army), 5-0 125: #31 Gage Curry (Pitt) maj. dec. Ryan Chauvin (Army), 12-4 133: #7 Micky Phillippi (Pitt) maj. dec. Mark Montgomery (Army), 14-5 141: #23 Cole Matthews (Pitt) pins Thomas Deck (Army), 2:59 149: #23 P.J. Ogunsanya (Army) maj. dec. Luke Kemerer (Pitt), 15-5 157: #21 Elijah Cleary (Pitt) dec. #28 Markus Hartman (Army), 4-2 With 29 competitors at the F&M Open, the Black Knights had a few weight classes with multiple placers. They have depth that many teams wish they had. Ogunsanya is still competing at a high level. Once again, Army added a dual meet last-minute to compete against the 25th ranked Pitt Panthers. These guys may be the most battle-tested squad in the country. I was talking to Coach Ward at the open, and someone came up to him and said, “I love watching your guys wrestle. They wrestle hard for seven minutes. I love it” I couldn't agree more. Binghamton The Bearcats were on the road all weekend. First, they battled Lehigh Friday night. They returned to action on Sunday wrestling round-robin-style matches against Virginia Tech and West Virginia, at Virginia Tech. Ryan Anderson continued his winning ways at 141lb against Lehigh. Nick Lombard (149lb) earned a solid 5-0 win over Jimmy Hoffman, who was an EIWA runner-up last season. At 174lb, Jacob Nolan defeated Jake Logan in sudden victory. The following night, Logan had a win over #10 Chris Foca of Cornell. At 197, Lou Deprez (#11) won in dominant fashion over Lehigh. Even though Joe Doyle (#20 – 285) lost the bout, he did have the only takedown over Jordan Wood (#8). Boxscore: No. 21 Lehigh 24, Binghamton 14 125 – Jaret Lane (Lehigh) Fall Nick Curley (BU) 0:48. Lehigh leads 6-0. 133 – No. 20 Malyke Hines (Lehigh) dec. No. 32 Anthony Sobotker (BU) 8-4. Lehigh leads 9-0. 141 – Ryan Anderson (BU) dec. Drew Munch (Lehigh) 6-4. Lehigh leads 9-3. 149 – Nick Lombard (BU) dec. Jimmy Hoffman (Lehigh) 5-0. Lehigh leads 9-6. 157 – No. 7 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) tech fall Tyler Martin (BU) 16-0, 2:39. Lehigh leads 14-6. 165 – No. 25 Brian Meyer (Lehigh) dec. Brevin Cassella (BU) 4-3. Lehigh leads 17-6. 174 – Jacob Nolan (BU) dec. Jake Logan (Lehigh) 6-4, SV. Lehigh leads 17-9. 184 – AJ Burkhart (Lehigh) major dec. Sam DePrez (BU) 12-4. Lehigh leads 21-9. 197 – No. 11 Lou DePrez (BU) tech fall Eli Grape (Lehigh) 24-5, 7:00. Lehigh leads 21-14. 285 – No. 8 Jordan Wood (Lehigh) dec. No. 20 Joe Doyle (BU) 3-2. Lehigh wins 24-14. Binghamton's matches against Virginia Tech and West Virginia were wrestled, but no team scores were kept. See results below: 133: No. 32 Anthony Sobotker (BU) SV Michael Dolan (WV), 4-2. 141: Ryan Anderson (BU) TF Caleb Rea (WV), 16-0. 149: Nick Lombard (BU) FALL George Johnson (WV) 157: Alex Hornfeck (WV) FALL Tyler Martin (BU) 165: Brevin Cassella (BU) WFF No. 11 Peyton Hall (WV) 174: Scott Joll (WV) FALL Jacob Nolan (BU) 184: Anthony Carman (WV) FALL Sam DePrez (BU) 184: Cory Day (BU) DEC Simeone Holmes (VT), 1-0. 197: No. 11 Lou DePrez (BU) FALL Jackson Moomau (WV) 285: No. 20 Joe Doyle (BU) FALL No. 22 Michael Wolfgram (WV) 285: Tristan Kemp (WV) 3OT WIN Over Collin Burns (BU). (RT) 133: Christian Gannone (BU) DEC Michael Dolan (WV), 5-0 125: No. 16 Sam Latona (VT) TF Nick Curley (BU), 22-7. 7:00 133: No. 5 Korbin Myers (VT) MD Anthony Sobotker (BU), 13-1. 141: Ryan Anderson (BU) DEC Sam Hillegas (VT), 4-0. 149: Nick Lombard (BU) DEC Kylan Montgomery (VT), 8-2. 157: No. 23 Connor Brady (VT) FALL Tyler Martin (BU) 165: Clayton Ulrey (VT) DEC Brevin Cassella (BU), 6-1. 174: No. 4 Mekhi Lewis (VT) FALL Jacob Nolan (BU) 184: Simeone Holmes (VT) DEC Sam DePrez (BU), 14-8. 197: No. 12 Lou DePrez (BU) DEC Andy Smith (VT), 10-4. 285: No. 13 Nathan Traxler (VT) FALL Joe Doyle (BU) 133: Brandon Wittenburg (VT) FALL Christian Gannone (BU) 141: Ryan Anderson (BU) MD Lucas Seibert (WV), 9-1. 184: Anthony Carman (WV) FALL Cory Day (BU) The Bearcats had a good weekend, overall. It seems like this team is starting to hit their stride. A ten-point loss to Lehigh is nothing to hang your head about. Doyle won the takedown battle with Wood of Lehigh, but lost the match overall. Then he won via fall over Wolfgram (#22) of West Virginia. Both matches are a great confidence boost for him. Ryan Anderson is on a roll lately, winning all four matches this weekend. I am excited for this team. Brown The Bears took the trip to Pennsylvania to compete in the F&M Open on Friday. They had one placewinner, but still won many matches. Cade Wilson was the only placer for the Bears. He earned 6th place at 197lb. His two losses came to ranked opponents in JT Brown (#25) of Army and Dakota Howard (#33) of Virginia Tech. Blake Saito went 2-2 on the day at 149lbs. At 165lb, Harrison Trahan won three of his five matches. Hunter Adrian also won three matches on the day while competing at 125lb. Also winning three matches, Jack Bokina (157lb) had a nice day. Ricky Cabanillas lost in the quarters to runner-up Jarod Verkleeren of Virginia. He won 3 matches on the day at 149lbs. At 141lb, Tim Levine lost to Kizhan Clarke (#7) of North Carolina in the first round. He ended his day winning 3 matches. The Bears got a lot of matches in on Friday, which is what they need. They may not have had as many place finishers as they'd like, but they had a number of guys win at least three matches. It's the little things that this team needs to focus on in order to keep improving. Coach Beckerman recently hired 2X NCAA Champ, Jesse Delgado, to the staff. He is providing a nice spark, especially at the lower-weight classes. This team will keep getting better. Bucknell The Bison traveled to the state of New York to dual both LIU and Hofstra. They won both matches. They had a few competitors at the F&M open as well. The lone placewinner at the open was Dylan Chappell at 133lb. He had a win over previous EIWA placer Angelo Rini of Columbia as he placed 3rd. Brandon Seidman (125), Kurt Phipps (133), Kolby DePron (149), and Nick Delp (157) all went 2-0 on the day in their duals. Boxscore: Bucknell 29 – LIU 10 125: Brandon Seidman (BU) dec. over Robbie Sagaris (LIU) 3-2 133: Kurt Phipps (BU) maj. dec. over Bryce Cockrell (LIU) 10-0 141: Noah Levett (BU) maj. dec. over Devin Matthews (LIU) 12-1 149: Kolby DePron (BU) maj. dec. over Drew Witham (LIU) 13-3 157: Nick Delp (BU) fall over James Johnston (LIU) 2:09 165: Blake Bahna (LIU) dec. over Matt Kidwell (BU) 7-3 174: Ryan Ferro (LIU) maj. dec. over Sam Barnes (BU) 11-3 184: Logan Deacetis (BU) maj. dec. over T.J. Franden (LIU) 9-1 197: Mason McCready (BU) maj. dec. over Karl Osmond-Bouyer (LIU) 14-3 285: Tim Nagosky (LIU) dec. over Luke Niemeyer (BU) 5-2 Boxscore: Bucknell 21 – Hofstra 15 125: Brandon Seidman (BU) dec. over Jacob Moon (HU) 3-1 (SV-1) 133: Kurt Phipps (BU) dec. over Ty Cymmerman (HU) 4-2 141: Justin Hoyle (HU) dec. over Noah Levett (BU) 8-6 149: Kolby DePron (BU) fall over Michael Leandrou (HU) 2:20 157: Nick Delp (BU) dec. over Joe McGinty (HU) 5-1 165: Ricky Stamm (HU) dec. over Matt Kidwell (BU) 7-3 174: Sam Barnes (BU) inj. default over Ross McFarland (HU) 6:13 184: #27 Charles Small (HU) dec. over Logan Deacetis (BU) 8-2 197: Trey Rogers (HU) dec. over Mason McCready (BU) 3-2 285: #19 Zachary Knighton-Ward dec. over Luke Niemeyer (BU) 6-2 The Bison went 2-0 on the day. More impressively, they beat a tough Hofstra team without their 18th ranked stars Zach Hartman (165) and Darren Miller (141). They jumped out to an early lead against Hofstra, which was enough to overcome Hofstra's strong upper third of the lineup. DePron and Delp have been hot lately in the middle of the lineup. Bucknell has a nice-looking squad. They will be battling to finish in the top 5 at conferences, which I think is doable with a full-strength lineup. Columbia The Lions traveled to wrestle at the F&M Open on Friday. Then hosted Long Island on Sunday. At 141lb, Matt Kazimir (#14) was the highest placer for the Lions, ending his day in fourth. He had wins over Tyler Hunt of Navy and Michael Jaffe of Harvard before suffering a loss to Gabe Willochell of Edinboro. Angelo Rini and Zach Witmer (133) both shared a 6th place finish. Also finishing in 6th was Nick Fine at 174lb. He defeated Pasiuk (#29) of Army and then beat his own teammate Aaron Ayzerov. The Lions earned a shutout victory over LIU, coming away with 5 pins. Boxscore: Columbia 46 – LIU 0 149: Danny Fongaro (Columbia) def. Drew Witham (LIU) maj. 14-2 157: Andrew Garr (Columbia) def. James Johnston (LIU) dec. 8-2 165: No. 22 Joshua Ogunsanya (Columbia) def. Blake Bahna (LIU) fall (2:37) 174: Nick Fine (Columbia) def. Ryan Ferro (LIU) fall (4:11) 184: Brian Bonino (Columbia) def. Gavin Claro (LIU) fall (4:45) 197: Michael Baker (Columbia) def. Karl Bouyer (LIU) fall (2:42) 285: Danny Conley (Columbia) def. Timothy Nagosky (LIU) dec. 2-0 125: No. 19 Joe Manchio (Columbia) def. Robert Sagaris (LIU) dec. 3-2 133: Angelo Rini (Columbia) def. Bryce Cocknell (LIU) fall (3:17) 141: No. 14 Matt Kazimir (Columbia) def. Devin Matthews (LIU) dec. 4-0 The Lions wrestled only their second dual meet on Sunday. They lost to (#4) Michigan in November. With such a variety of results, it is tough to tell where this team ranks in the EIWA. With three ranked wrestlers, this team most likely ends up in the middle tier of the conference. Once they start competing against EIWA teams, we'll find out more about where they stand. I like what I've seen from them thus far. Cornell (#9) The Big Red took the trip to Bethlehem, PA, to dual Lehigh on Saturday afternoon. Julian Ramirez (#9 - 165) and Vito Arujau (#2 - 125) both had decisions over ranked opponents. Jacob Cardenas (#18 – 197) and Yianni Diakomihalis (#1 – 149) each earned bonus-point victories. Boxscore: No. 17 Lehigh 18, No. 8 Cornell 15 157: #9 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) dec. Hunter Richard (Cornell) 9-2 165: #9 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) dec. #25 Brian Meyer (Lehigh) 3-2 174: Jake Logan (Lehigh) dec. #10 Chris Foca (Cornell) 5-2 184: AJ Burkhart (Lehigh) dec. #13 Jonathan Loew (Cornell) 7-6 197: #18 Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) major dec. Eli Jones (Lehigh) 19-4 285: #8 Jordan Wood (Lehigh) dec. #18 Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) 9-3 125: #2 Vito Arujau (Cornell) dec. #11 Jaret Lane (Lehigh) 9-3 133: #20 Malyke Hines (Lehigh) dec. #31 Dom LaJoie (Cornell) 10-4 141: Connor McGonagle (Lehigh) dec. Cole Handlovic (Cornell) 3-2 149: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) tech fall Steven Storm (Lehigh) 21-6, 5:35 The Big Red had a long lay-off, as most starters did not wrestle since before Christmas break at the Collegiate Duals. It definitely showed against the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh. Cornell lost a few matches they were favored to win on paper. This is not an excuse, just an observation from a neutral bystander. Am I worried about them? Heck, no. They still have the firepower to take the EIWA title, but there are other schools who think otherwise. Expect the Big Red to bounce back in a big way. Drexel – no action last week Franklin & Marshall – no action last week Harvard The Crimson sent a limited roster to compete at the F&M Open in Lancaster, PA. Dom Mata (184) was the team's highest placer on the day. He went 3-1. His lone loss was to Sahm Abdulrazzaq of Army in the semifinals. At 149lb, Robert Groves won two of his four matches on the day. In addition, the Crimson had nearly a dozen wrestlers win at least one match. They brought a majority of non-starters, so we expected them to take some losses. Getting mat-time is important for the young competitors, as they may have their number called at any time due to injury or COVID protocols. Harvard returns to a dual meet-focused schedule this weekend and will have their starters back on the mat. I am intrigued to see them compete against EIWA teams. Hofstra The Pride hosted the Bucknell Bison to a dual on Saturday afternoon. Hofstra won five matches by decision, while Bucknell had two matches with bonus-point wins, which was the ultimate difference. Grabbing wins were Justin Hoyle (141), Ricky Stamm (165), Charles Small (#27 – 184), Trey Rogers (197), and Zachary Knighton-Ward (#19 – 285). One thing to note, Trey Rogers joined Ricky Stamm as the team's only two current wrestlers with 50 career wins. Boxscore: Bucknell 21, Hofstra 15 125: Brandon Seidman (Bucknell) dec. Jacob Moon (Hofstra), 3-1 (SV-1) 133: Kurt Phipps (Bucknell) dec. Ty Cymmerman (Hofstra), 4-2 141: Justin Hoyle (Hofstra) dec. Noah Levett (Bucknell), 8-6 149: Kolby DePron (Bucknell) WBF Michael Leandrou (Hofstra), 2:20 157: Nick Delp (Bucknell) dec. Joe McGinty (Hofstra), 5-1 165: Ricky Stamm (Hofstra) dec. Matt Kidwell (Bucknell), 7-3 174: Sam Barnes (Bucknell) inj. default Ross McFarland (Hofstra), 6:13 184: #27 Charles Small (Hofstra) dec. Logan Deacetis (Bucknell), 8-2 197: Trey Rogers (Hofstra) dec. Mason McCready (Bucknell), 3-2 285: #19 Zachary Knighton-Ward (Hofstra) dec. Luke Niemeyer (Bucknell), 6-2 The Pride split matches with Bucknell, but did not gain the bonus points needed to come away victorious. The injury at 174lb to McFarland did not help either – hopefully, he is okay and back competing soon. The Pride have two ranked wrestlers, plus Stamm and Rogers have been ranked at some point this season. This team has the potential to be in the top 5 in the conference. If they can stay healthy, and win a match or two, they shouldn't on paper; I like them to be in the top 5. Lehigh (#21) The Mountain Hawks hosted Cornell to a dual on Saturday afternoon. They wrestled incredibly well in front of their home crowd to win six of ten bouts. Jake Logan (174) and AJ Burkhart (184) pulled the two biggest upsets of the night for Lehigh, which helped propel them into victory. Logan defeated #10 Foca, while Burkhart beat #13 Loew. Logan and Burkhart both had losing records coming into this bout. Boxscore: No. 17 Lehigh 18, No. 8 Cornell 15 157: #9 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) dec. Hunter Richard (Cornell) 9-2 165: #9 Julian Ramirez (Cornell) dec. #25 Brian Meyer (Lehigh) 3-2 174: Jake Logan (Lehigh) dec. #10 Chris Foca (Cornell) 5-2 184: AJ Burkhart (Lehigh) dec. #13 Jonathan Loew (Cornell) 7-6 197: #18 Jacob Cardenas (Cornell) major dec. Eli Jones (Lehigh) 19-4 285: #8 Jordan Wood (Lehigh) dec. #18 Lewis Fernandes (Cornell) 9-3 125: #2 Vito Arujau (Cornell) dec. #11 Jaret Lane (Lehigh) 9-3 133: #20 Malyke Hines (Lehigh) dec. #31 Dom LaJoie (Cornell) 10-4 141: Connor McGonagle (Lehigh) dec. Cole Handlovic (Cornell) 3-2 149: #1 Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) tech fall Steven Storm (Lehigh) 21-6, 5:35 The Mountain Hawks came ready to wrestle on Saturday. The home crowd was intense, making the atmosphere even more amazing. This rivalry is always passionate, and the results are always close. Lane at 125lb impressed me. He rode out Arujau the entire second period, while Arujau dominated the match on their feet. I believe Lane will close this gap next time. He's an All-American threat with his mat skills. Lehigh is in the hunt to claim yet another EIWA title in March. Long Island The Sharks hosted Bucknell on Saturday. On Sunday, they took the short trip to Columbia for a dual. At 125lb, Robbie Sagaris lost both matches via 3-2 decision. Seidman of Bucknell is very tough, while Manchio of Columbia is #19 in the nation. He is right in the mix with these guys. Ryan Ferro (174) had a major decision against Bucknell. Blake Bahna (165) and Tim Nagosky (285) both had decisions against Bucknell. Boxscore: BUCKNELL 29, LIU 10 125: Brandon Seidman (B) def. Robbie Sagaris (LIU), dec 3-2 133: Kurt Phipps (B) def. Bryce Cockrell (LIU), major dec, 10-0 141: Noah Levett (B) def. Devin Matthews (LIU), major dec., 12-1 149: Kolby DePron (B) def. Drew Witham (LIU), major dec. 13-3 157: Nick Delp (B) def. James Johnston (LIU), fall (2:09) 165: Blake Bahna (LIU) def. Matt Kidwell (B), dec. 7-3 174: Ryan Ferro (LIU) def. Sam Barnes (B), major dec. 11-3 184: Logan Deacetis (B) def. T.J. Franden (LIU) major dec., 9-1 197: Mason McCready (B) def. Karl Osmond-Bouyer (LIU), major dec. 14-3 285: Tim Nagosky (LIU) def. Luke Neimeyer (B), dec. 5-2 Boxscore: COLUMBIA 46, LIU 0 149: Danny Fongaro (Columbia) def. Drew Witham (LIU) maj. 14-2 157: Andrew Garr (Columbia) def. James Johnston (LIU) dec. 8-2 165: No. 22 Joshua Ogunsanya (Columbia) def. Blake Bahna (LIU) fall (2:37) 174: Nick Fine (Columbia) def. Ryan Ferro (LIU) fall (4:11) 184: Brian Bonino (Columbia) def. Gavin Claro (LIU) fall (4:45) 197: Michael Baker (Columbia) def. Karl Osmond-Bouyer (LIU) fall (2:42) 285: Danny Conley (Columbia) def. Tim Nagosky (LIU) dec. 2-0 125: No. 19 Joe Manchio (Columbia) def. Robbie Sagaris (LIU) dec. 3-2 133: Angelo Rini (Columbia) def. Bryce Cockrell (LIU) fall (3:17) 141: No. 14 Matt Kazimir (Columbia) def. Devin Matthews (LIU) dec. 4-0 The Sharks came away with a handful of wins against Bucknell. Ferro is winning a bunch of matches lately. It looks like Crowley at 197 was out for these matches, who has had the best results up to this point in the season. Sagaris at 125lb looks to be in the mix with the mid-tier of EIWA wrestlers. They have some talent, and I'm looking forward to seeing them develop. The Sharks have some ground to gain on the EIWA, and it will not come overnight. Navy The Midshipmen sent 24 wrestlers to compete at the Franklin & Marshall Open. At 125lb, Jacob Allen, earned 2nd place. He had three wins by decision for his finals loss. Andrew Cerniglia (#20 – 157) won three matches before injury defaulting out in the semifinals. At heavyweight, Ryan Catka earned 6th place. He had two decision losses to Nathan Taylor of Lehigh-unattached. Sammy Starr won three matches at 165lbs. Also at 165lbs, Val Park won four of his six matches. Navy is a tough team. They wrestle hard in all positions, and wrestle the entire seven minutes at a high pace. They may not have had the results they wanted at the open, but they were in the majority of matches they lost. Cerniglia's injury could be a huge blow to the team, if he is out for an extended period of time. Let's hope he heals up, as he is the team's highest-ranked wrestler at the moment. With a slate of duals upcoming, it will be fun to see them compete against more EIWA competition. Penn – no action last week Princeton The Tigers welcomed #5 North Carolina State to a home dual on Sunday afternoon. With three coaches out with COVID-related protocols, volunteer assistant Nate Jackson was acting head coach. Boxscore: NC State 32, Princeton - 9 285: Tyrie Houghton (NCSU) wins by decision over Matt Cover (P), 6-3 125: Jakob Camacho (NCSU) wins by FFT 133: Jarett Trombley (NCSU) wins by major decision over Nick Masters (P), 11-3 141: #15 Ryan Jack (NCSU) wins by major decision over Danny Coles (P), 14-3 149: #3 Tariq Wilson (NCSU) wins by decision over Marshall Keller (P), 6-4 157: #11 Ed Scott (NCSU) wins by decision over #5 Quincy Monday (P), 6-4 165: Jake Marsh (P) wins by decision over AJ Kovacs (NCSU), 5-4 174: #5 Hayden Hidlay (NCSU) wins by technical fall over Nate Dugan (P), 17-2 (7:00) 184: #3 Trent Hidlay (NCSU) wins by major decision over #22 Travis Stefanik (P), 17-4 197: Aidan Conner (P) wins by fall over #13 Isaac Trumble (NCSU), 2:44 The Tigers dealt with some adversity, between injuries and COVID-related issues. They still found a way to make the dual happen, even though they were outmatched on paper. Props to the Princeton community for making it happen, as they easily could have canceled the dual. Keller gave #3-ranked Wilson all he could handle at 149lb. Marsh had a nice debut in his 165lb match. The big takeaway was Conner at 197lb pinning a ranked opponent. That is a great win for Luke Stout's (#16) backup. The Tigers have a bunch of talent on the team. They will be in that top 3 conversation at EIWAs in March. Sacred Heart – no action last week

Edinboro's 141 lber Gabe Willochell (Photo courtesy of Edinboro athletics) Buffalo Tri-Meet: The Bulls hosted Cleveland State and SIU-Edwardsville in a tri-meet on Sunday in Alumni Arena. Buffalo swept both Cleveland State (19-17) and SIUE (24-12), going a perfect 2-0 on the day. Cleveland State had a solid win over SIUE-Edwardsville (24-15), and a close loss to Buffalo (19-17), going 1-1. SIUE dropped both matches, losing to Buffalo (24-12) and Cleveland State (24-15), going 0-2. Buffalo had three standout wrestlers, all of which went a perfect 2-0 on the day, leading the Bulls to a sweeping victory. Derek Spann (133) had a win over Cleveland State by forfeit and over Matt Malavsky of SIUE by fall in 2:04. Hunter Shaut (157) defeated Caleb Cass of Cleveland State by a 6-1 decision, and Max Kristoff of SIUE by a 10-5 decision. Jay Nivison triumphed over Anthony Rice of Cleveland State with a 7-4 decision and Kevin Gschwendtner of SIUE with a 5-3 decision. Spann improves to 10-6, Shaut to 7-6, and Nivison is now 12-6 this season. Cleveland State had five wrestlers who went 2-0 on the day. Logan Heil (125) had a win over Jordan Reyes of Buffalo by technical fall, and Austin Macias of Edwardsville by a decision of 7-5. Marcus Robinson (149) defeated John Arceri of Buffalo by a 7-5 decision, and Caleb Tyus of SIUE by a 7-5 decision. Riley Smucker (165) won by decision over Noah Grover of UB 6-3 and by forfeit over SIUE. DeAndre Nasser (184) defeated Pete Acciardi of Buffalo 3-2 and Sergio Villlalobos of SIUE 4-3 in tiebreakers. Ben Smith (197) won by decision over Sam Mitchell of Buffalo 5-2, and Ryan Yarnell of SIUE 5-1. Heil improves to 6-6, Robinson moves up to 10-2, Smucker is now 11-1, Nassar climbs to 10-3, and Smith gets to 9-3 this season. SIU-Edwardsville had two wrestlers go 2-0 on the day, sweeping their matches against Buffalo and Cleveland State. Saul Ervin (141) defeated Hunter Olson of Cleveland State by technical fall and Ben Freeman of Buffalo by a 2-1 decision. Colton McKiernan (HWT) won by decision over Daniel Bucknavich of Cleveland State 6-0 and Toby Cahill of Buffalo 1-0. Ervin improves to 12-3, and teammate McKiernan improves to 9-5 this season. Edinboro: Two Fighting Scots had a noteworthy weekend, placing at the Franklin & Marshall Open. Gabe Willochell (141) placed second on the podium, while teammate Ryan Burgos (149) took fourth. The two wrestlers have been leading the charge at Edinboro this year. Willochell improves to 14-6 this season, and Burgos improves to 10-8. Two of Willochell's four wins came over past NCAA qualifiers (Matt Kazimir - Columbia and Zach Redding - Iowa State).

NC State 157 lber Ed Scott (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) Duke: The Blue Devils were off this week and will return to action on Thursday when they welcome the Appalachian State Mountaineers in Durham. North Carolina: The Tar Heels sent eight wrestlers to the Franklin and Marshall Open last week. The day was highlighted by two wrestlers bringing home titles--#7 Kizhan Clarke at 141 and #27 Max Shaw at 197. Clarke remained undefeated on the year--9-0 against D1 competition--and wrapped up his championship with three decision wins and a major decision in the finals. Clarke has been a solid addition to the Tar Heel lineup since his transfer and provides another consistent leader in the lineup. Shaw improved his record to 6-2 against D1 competition while winning five matches on the day, including two tech falls to win the title at 197. Shaw picked up wins over three conference foes on the day from Pittsburgh, NC State and VT. Freshman Spencer Moore also found the podium on the day, finishing in 6th after going 3-2 on the day. The Tar Heels are off until 1/21 when they open ACC competition hosting Duke. North Carolina State: The #5 Wolfpack invaded Jadwin Gym and took a decisive team win over the Princeton Tigers. They won eight of ten matches en route to a 38-9 win over the #19 Tigers. Unfortunately, one of the more anticipated matches of the dual didn't happen; #10 Jakob Camacho received a forfeit and did not face #1 Patrick Glory. At 133, Jarrett Trombley won by major decision, as did #15 Ryan Jack at 141. #3 Tariq Wilson took a 6-4 decision over a very scrappy Marshall Keller at 149. In the biggest match of the day, #11 Ed Scott continued his run of dominance to start the year and knocked off #5 Quincy Monday 6-4. Scott showed his offensive prowess with takedowns in both the second and third period to seal the ranked win. This is his second straight top-10 win and third straight ranked win. Ed Scott has definitely been one of the stories of the season for the Wolfpack. He has emerged as a dominant force at 157 and is earning his place, climbing up the national rankings. At 165, AJ Kovacs bumped from 157 to fill the spot for the Wolfpack. He wrestled very well up a weight but lost on a riding time point 5-4. Into the teeth of the lineup, #5 Hayden Hidlay dominated with a 17-2 tech fall, followed by #3 Trent Hidlay controlling #22 Travis Stefanik to earn a 17-4 major decision. Mark this down as another dual where both brothers get BONUS. In an unexpected turn, #13 Isaac Trumble was pinned in the first period by Aidan Conner to give the Tigers their final points of the match. At 285, Owen Trephan got the nod and took a 6-3 decision over Matthew Cover. The Wolfpack will be off next week and are preparing to open ACC competition by hosting the #10 Virginia Tech Hokies to open conference duals on 1/21. Pittsburgh: The #21 Panthers welcomed both Army and #3 Michigan to Fitzgerald Fieldhouse on Sunday and treated the crowd to some big matches. They opened the day with the Black Knights from Army and had a solid performance across the team to take the 29-10 win. The dual started at 165 with #13 Jake Wentzel snatching a 1-0 decision over #32 Dalton Harkins. Hunter Kernan was pinned by #29 Ben Pasiuk at 174 before the Panthers started a run of six wins in a row. #31 Gregg Harvey won by decision at 184, followed by #8 Nino Bonaccorsi getting a ranked win with a decision over #25 JT Brown 8-4. At 285, Jake Slinger won by decision before a streak of bonus-point wins at the lower weights. #31 Gage Curry won by major at 125, followed by another from #7 Micky Phillippi at 133. #23 Cole Matthews got his first of two big wins on the day with a pin over Thomas Deck. #23 PJ Ogunsanya took a major decision win over Luke Kemerer for the final Army win of the day. The dual wrapped up with a ranked win for #21 Elijah Cleary taking a decision over #28 Markus Hartman. The second dual of the day was a battle with #3 Michigan. The Wolverines have a formidable lineup and are putting themselves in position to be on the podium in March--the lineup is equally strong as a dual team and as a tournament team. The dual opened with back-to-back pins for Michigan--#6 Logan Massa at 174 over Hunter Kernan and #2 Myles Amine over Nicholas Meglino at 184. In one of the most anticipated matches of the dual, #9 Patrick Brucki gave #8 Nino Bonaccorsi his second loss of the season with a 6-3 decision. At 285, #2 Mason Parris picked up a major decision over Jake Slinger. The much-discussed Michigan debut for National Champion Nick Suriano ended with a major decision for the Wolverine over #31 Gage Curry. The second half of the dual started better for the Panthers with #7 Micky Phillippi winning by decision at 133. In a seismic upset across the national landscape, #23 Cole Matthews put on a display of offense and scrambling to knock off #3 Stevan Micic. Matthews was dialed in from the whistle and wrestled arguably his best match of the year against his most formidable opponent. It was an impressive performance by Matthews and the win gives him tremendous momentum moving into ACC competition. The team momentum was short-lived as Dan Mancini lost by decision at 149, followed by #21 Elijah Cleary losing a tight 3-1 decision to #15 Will Lewan at 157. The dual ended with #13 Jake Wentzel getting his hand raised with a victory by forfeit. Michigan 29 Pittsburgh 12 Pittsburgh has another top-10 team making the trek to the Fitzgerald Field House on Friday as they welcome the #6 Arizona State Sun Devils. There will be some solid matchups in this dual that we will dive into later this week. Virginia: The Cavaliers sent a squad to the F&M Open on Friday made up of starters, backups and redshirts. The Hoos brought four placewinners back to Charlottesville. Jarod Verkerleeren finished in second at 149 after a strong performance. Verk picked up three tech falls and a pin en route to the title match against #18 PJ Ogunsanya of Army. Ogunsanya won in the finals 4-3 in a tight match. Also making the finals was #29 Quinn Miller at 285. Miller won four bouts, including a decision over #27 Riley Smith of Navy, before getting pinned by a very dangerous #7 Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force in the finals. Hendrickson is 11-0 on the season with a 100% bonus rate and nine pins--very impressive stats for the big guy. Also placing for the Hoos was Patrick McCormick at 125. Patches won three matches, including two by major, before falling in the semis to Jacob Allen of Navy. He took third after a disqualification by Jared Van Vleet of Air Force in the bronze match. The final placer was Denton Spencer at 157; he won three matches, including a pin, before falling in the semis to #28 Markus Hartman of Army by pin. He won the third-place match by medical forfeit by #18 Andrew Cerniglia of Navy. The other big note for the tournament was the return of Vic Marcelli at 174 and the debut of Gabe Christenson, a transfer from Iowa at 197. Both went 3-2 on the day and Coach Garland was very optimistic about their performance. The Hoos will travel east on I64 to the Virginia Duals this weekend. Virginia Tech: The Hokies hosted a modified tri-meet with Binghamton and West Virginia on Sunday in Cassell Coliseum and picked up wins in 16 of 21 matches wrestled on the day. #16 Sam Latona looked great in his first match of the second half of the season. He racked up 8 takedowns and earned back points to win by tech fall 22-7. #5 Korbin Myers went 2-0 on the day, winning both by major decision and not allowing a takedown in either match. His first win was a 13-1 controlling victory over #32 Anthony Sobotker of Binghamton. At 141, Sam Hillegas returned to the starting lineup for the Hokies and went 2-1 on the day. He lost 4-0 to Ryan Anderson of Binghamton, but then picked up a pin over Caleb Rea and a major decision over Lucas Seibert of West Virginia. Colin Gerardi has been manning 141 and has looked great this season; adding Hillegas gives them another weapon--with an impressive top game at 141, going into conference duals. Kylan Montgomery went 1-1 on the day, filling in at 149 for Bryce Andonian. At 157, #23 Connor Brady improved to 11-2 on the year, going 2-0 on the day with a decision and a first-period pin. Clayton Ulrey won a decision over Brevin Casella of Binghamton and received a forfeit from West Virginia when Peyton Hall did not wrestle. #5 Mekhi Lewis continued to look dominant, going 2-0 with a 10-4 decision and a pin. Virginia native Simeon Holmes was in at 184 for the Hokies and went 1-2 on the day. At 197, Andy Smith saw his first dual action of the year in Cassell and split matches, winning by decision over Jackson Moomau of West Virginia and losing by decision to #12 Louie DePrez of Binghamton. #13 Nathan Traxler had another big day for the Hokies, winning both matches over ranked opponents. He controlled the pace in the first match against Binghamton and finished a first-period pin over #20 Joe Doyle. He followed that up with a match that was closer on the scoreboard than on the mat, winning by decision 5-2 over Michael Wolfgram of West Virginia. The Hokies are off next week and will travel to Raleigh to face the Wolfpack to open ACC duals on 1/21.

J'den Cox at the 2019 World Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club has added two-time world champion J'Den Cox to its senior-level freestyle roster, the club announced on Monday (Jan. 10). Cox has claimed five total Olympic and world medals since 2016. "Everyone looks forward to J'Den's full-time arrival to Ann Arbor," said Michigan head coach Sean Bormet. "His work ethic and achievements speak for themselves, and he is hungry to be the best in the world again this cycle. In addition to all his international accolades, J'Den is also a three-time NCAA champion and will be able to relate exceptionally well to his collegiate training partners. This is the overall RTC balance that continues to elevate wrestling in the United States and at Michigan. "Thanks to all of our supporters, we are building one of the best wrestling environments on the planet here at Michigan. J'Den already has a long-standing, close relationship with Coach [Kevin] Jackson, and the rest of our coaching staff is excited to begin working with him." Cox won back-to-back world titles at 92kg in 2018 and 2019. He defeated Belarus' Ivan Yankouski, 4-1, in his 2018 gold-medal match and then in 2019, he did not sacrifice a point through four matches at the world championships, ultimately beating Iran's Alireza Karimi, 4-0, for gold. He was named the 2019 John Smith Award winner as USA Wrestling's Freestyle Wrestler of the Year. Cox claimed 86kg Olympic bronze in 2016 while still in college and followed with world bronze at the same weight in 2017 before transitioning up to 92kg. Most recently, Cox earned 92kg bronze at the 2021 world championships last October. Cox captured three NCAA titles during his career at Missouri (2014-17), winning at 197 pounds as a freshman, junior and senior. He was a four-time NCAA All-American, taking fifth place at 197 pounds as a sophomore (2015). He finished second in Hodge Trophy voting after his senior season. He compiled a 136-5 record in college, including a near-perfect 61-1 mark over his last two seasons, and earned bonus points in nearly 60 percent of his wins. He was a four-time MAC champion and three-time MAC Wrestler of the Year. He was named Mizzou's Male Athlete of the Year in 2016 and 2017 and, in 2020, the Tigers named Cox their Male Athlete of the Decade. Originally from Columbia, Missouri, Cox will relocate to Ann Arbor this month.

Little Rock's 174 lber Triston Wills (right) (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com) A previously populated schedule for the Pac-12 was left nearly barren after COVID cancellations. The lone event across the conference this past week was a home-dual for Little Rock, which saw the Trojans play host Coach Neil Erisman's alma mater, the #3 Cowboys of Oklahoma State. Little Rock vs. #3 Oklahoma State (January 8th) In front of a program-best crowd of 1,524, the Trojans were tested by a star-studded Cowboys lineup. The defenders managed two bout wins as it confronted eight-ranked opponents, including national runner-up, #2 Daton Fix (133) and national champion, #1 AJ Ferrari (197), in an eventual 35-6 Cowboy victory. The Trojans took advantage of the "holes" in the Cowboy lineup, earning victories against the only unranked Cowboys on the mat that evening. At 149lbs, Oklahoma State's Joey Sanchez stepped in for #15 Kaden Gfeller, and Little Rock's Joey Bianchi was ready for him. A four-point first period, on a takedown and turn, coupled with a second period rideout was good enough for a 5-0 decision victory for Bianchi. The other victory for the Trojans came at 174lbs, when standout Triston Wills squared off against Cowboy Jalin Harper (traditionally a 157), who stepped in for #8 Dustin Plott. Wills employed a second period, six-point reversal and riding-time to prevail over Harper, 7-1. A pair of Trojans performed well despite losing their respective bouts. Leading off the dual at lightweight, Jayden Carson scored the first takedown and earned a crucial third-period escape to avoid conceding riding-time, holding #9 Trevor Mastrogiovanni to an 8-3 decision. At 165lbs, Tyler Brennan used a four-point third period to counter an attempt at a major from #5 Travis Wittlake. Down 5-0 with riding-time for Wittlake in the final period, Brennan earned back-to-back escapes as Wittlake pursued the major. Down 7-2, Brennan scored a takedown in short time to halt Wittlake's advance, eventually conceding a 9-4 decision. Coach Erisman was proud of his program, despite the loss. The ability to bring such a large crowd, in the context of dozens of canceled events, was a victory to go alongside the individual match victories for the Trojans. Regarding the meet, Erisman reinforced the intent of Little Rock to wrestle against the best competition available. "This is why we wrestle the schedule that we do. We have an incredibly tough dual schedule. When you win here, it's for real. We're wrestling top teams in the country." And quite the schedule it is set to be. This upcoming weekend, Little Rock will travel to the traditional conference region to face #23 Oregon State (on January 14th) and Stanford (on January 15th), followed by a road trip to North Carolina the week after, when they will face Virginia Military Institute and Appalachian State (both on January 21st) followed by #22 North Carolina (on January 23rd). With the wrestling gods' blessing, each of those meets will come to pass.

Northwestern's 125 lber Michael DeAugustino (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com) When doing college rankings, some Mondays only require a slight touch-up with a fine-toothed comb, while others require a massive overhaul. Weekends with super-tournaments like the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational or the Midlands (MatMen)/Scuffle can typically mandate that a few weight classes get blown up and we start over from scratch. It's rarer that these types of wholescale reworkings come during the dual season, but that's what we have after the first full week of January 2022. While wacky results were aplenty up-and-down the rankings slate, look no further than the top-five for some potentially head-scratching results. From Friday-Sunday, seven top-five wrestlers suffered losses, which will undoubtedly shake up rankings at their respective weights. While this is may have been unexpected, maybe we should have seen it coming. It was the first full weekend of intra-Big Ten competition and of the seven big upsets we're highlighting, five came in B1G on B1G action. 125 #4 Eric Barnett (Wisconsin) #5 Devin Schroder (Purdue) Not only will the top-tier of 125 lbs look different after losses by Eric Barnett and Devin Schroder, but the next set of rankings will also include Nick Suriano (Michigan) and Drew Hildebrandt (Penn State). But that's for a different day. Barnett was the victim of #17 Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern), who proved to be a buzzsaw in his season debut. This looks like a much bigger upset on paper than in real life. DeAugustino drifted down the rankings after having no 2021-22 data to work with. He was a 2021 Big Ten fifth-place finisher and the #12 seed at nationals. He lived up to that billing by advancing to the NCAA Round of 12, where he fell to Sam Latona (Virginia Tech) in sudden victory. DeAugustino finished his weekend with another top-ten win and second over an AA this weekend, when he knocked off Patrick McKee (Minnesota), 8-7. Last season, DeAugustino split matches with McKee and did not face Barnett. In the most anticipated bout of Iowa and Purdue's Sunday dual meet, Devin Schroder led things off by taking on Drake Ayala. Two nights earlier, Ayala was taken out of redshirt and inserted into the Hawkeyes lineup for a dual with Minnesota. Ayala fought valiantly, but ultimately fell to McKee. The young Hawk showed he has a short memory and rebounded by getting a pair of takedowns and riding time on the Purdue veteran. He never needed to go on bottom, which was Schroder's best position. Friday, Ayala and DeAugustino will square off. 141 #3 Stevan Micic (Michigan) Monday saw Stevan Micic make his season debut and compete at 141 lbs for the first time in his long collegiate career. Micic responded with an 8-6 win over Julian Chlebove (Arizona State), that was a bit of an anomaly in folkstyle and appeared closer than the actual match was. The Wolverines and Pittsburgh hastily put together a dual meet slated for Sunday after the Panthers Friday match with Penn was canceled due to Covid concerns with the Quaker team. That meant Micic's second test at 141 lbs would come against two-time NCAA qualifier #23 Cole Matthews. Matthews hung an eye-popping 11-5 defeat on Micic, one that was strongly due to the scrambling ability of the Panther 141 lber. He notched a takedown off a Micic attack, after a prolonged flurry. Matthews later blew the match open after putting Micic on his back for four points. The three-time All-American Wolverine, was slowly attempting to stand up; however, Matthews briefly looked for a cradle, before sucking Micic back for exposure points. This one will hurt Micic as #1 and #2 Nick Lee (Penn State) and Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) are both Big Ten wrestlers that are unbeaten, as is #4 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers). 149 #4 Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) Last season, Yahya Thomas took the country by storm when he finished third in the country at 149 lbs, despite needing an at-large berth to qualify for nationals and being saddled with the #25 seed. This year, he has been much more consistent and was 6-1 heading into Friday night's dual with Wisconsin and their 149 lber, Austin Gomez. Gomez missed the entire 2021 campaign as he was set to retire from a host of injuries. In the offseason, Gomez decided to give it another shot and transferred to Wisconsin. He's been great for Chris Bono's team, up a few weight classes and even made the MatMen finals. In Friday's bout, Thomas and Gomez exchanged takedowns in the second period, before the Badger pulled away in the third. A pair of final stanza takedowns by Gomez tilted the match in his favor and he hung on to win, 8-6. Looking at the Big Ten, returning conference champ Sammy Sasso is clearly the class of the league. After Sasso, there are a handful of wrestlers who could vie for a spot in the finals. It's conceivable that these two could meet in a Big Ten semifinal; however, there still is a lot of action between now and March. 157 #5 Quincy Monday (Princeton) Moreso than any indictment of Quincy Monday, I believe this is a statement on the continued growth of Ed Scott. The second-year freshman Scott continues to impress. He had a breakout performance at the Collegiate Duals, edging Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) before pinning Kaleb Young (Iowa) in the pool finale. This time, Scott gave up the first takedown to Monday, but later responded by getting a hustle takedown after a half-shot by the Tiger. He would go ahead by looking for his trademark headlock. Although it didn't land, he generated a flurry which resulted in the go-ahead takedown. Once the smoke clears after the conference tournaments, we'll see if this match ends up having seeding implications. Both have imposing opponents standing in the way of a respective conference title. Monday needs to go through Josh Humphreys (Lehigh) and Scott has 2021 NCAA champion Austin O'Connor (North Carolina) in the way of an ACC title. 174 #3 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) Perhaps the most unexpected of these upsets came at 174 lbs in Purdue's dual with Nebraska. There #21 Gerrit Nijenhuis and the Boilermakers went on the road and dropped the #8 Cornhuskers. Nijenhuis' 6-4 win over #3 Labriola was one of the difference makers. Nijenhuis got on the board first as he came out atop a scramble between the two, in the opening period. The Boilermaker almost added more points as he was inches away from putting Labriola on his back after securing the takedown. After a back-and-forth second period, the match was left to be decided in the third. Once again, the two were engaged in a crazy scramble and it was Nijenhuis who came out on top. Nijenhuis managed to ride out Labriola and get his hand raised in a battle of former Pennsylvania state champions. The win was so surprising because of Labriola's consistent track record. Last year, he suffered a loss to Bernie Truax (Cal Poly) at nationals (before avenging it for third place) and Carter Starocci (Penn State). In 2019-20, his only losses came to All-American types like Mark Hall (Penn State), Michael Kemerer (Iowa), Jordan Kutler (Lehigh), Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa), Devin Skatzka (Minnesota), Dylan Lydy (Purdue). With a match against Logan Massa (Michigan) still on Labriola's schedule, he can probably still get the third seed at the Big Ten's. That could set up a match with Nijenhuis perhaps in the conference quarters. 285 #5 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) The final upset in a wild dual between the Badgers and Wildcats took place at 285 lbs, where #5 Trent Hillger went down at the hands of #14 Lucas Davison (Northwestern). This was one that maybe we should have seen coming, as Davison has continued to improve since moving up from 197 lbs. Throughout his collegiate career, Hillger has been known as one of the better Big Ten heavyweights from the top position. In this bout, it was Davison's whose mat wrestling made the difference. In the second period, Hillger was on top and threw in boots, which is normal for him. Maybe Davison's experience at the lower weights made him more equipped to deal with such a strategy and he was able to catch a leg, elevate it and eventually turn it into a reversal. In the third period, Davison turned the table and rode Hillger for the entire period. Prior to the buzzer, Davison almost had the Badger in nearfall criteria. As of now, it's difficult to see either penetrating the top-three in the league with Steveson, Parris, Kerkvliet currently atop the weight class. That means barring a monumental upset, we could see these two tangle again somewhere deep in the Big Ten consolations. These were top #10 ranked wrestlers that were upset over the weekend as well: 125: #7 Patrick McKee (Minnesota); 8-7 to DeAugustino 174: #10 Chris Foca (Cornell); 5-2 to Jake Logan (Lehigh) 184: #10 Taylor Venz (Nebraska); 7-2 to #23 Max Lyon (Purdue) 197: #8 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh); 6-3 to #9 Patrick Brucki (Michigan)